Podcast / Power Pros

Nintendo News & Views

"Hello, and welcome to Power Pros Podcast! I am your host, "The Hoff" Chris Hoffman, and with me is my co-host and nemesis, Pete Michaud..."

What happens when the former staff of Nintendo Power keep going long after the magazine's end? You get the Nintendo Power podcast...or you get Power Pros, the unofficial podcast where Nintendo staff past and present talk news, play games, and drink a whole lotta milk.

First started in 2015 by ex-Nintendo Power editor Chris Hoffman and former editor-in-chief Chris Slate, in 2016 Slate was launched into space and replaced by a group of rotating co-hosts. Beginning in April 2017 and continuing to the present, this is most commonly Hoffman's Arch-Enemy Pete Michaud.

The regular format of the show begins with a breakdown of the current news in the world of Nintendo, followed by impressions on recent releases, a musical intermission, and then the week's special topic, before ending on a Dramatic Reading.

More recently, the show has brought back the Don't Hassle the Hoff column from Nintendo Power magazine, with Pete hassling the Hoff with a Sadistic Choice...over something video game-related.

You can start listening to the podcast on its official website or on iTunes. Podcast-related updates show up on the Power Pros Twitter, as well as on Hoff and Pete'sfeeds.

The podcast provides examples of:

• Arch-Enemy: Invoked by both Hoff and Pete to describe their relationship, but see Sitcom Archnemesis below.
• Brick Joke: The old joke about launching editors into space came back as Chris Slate's chosen means of departure from the podcast.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Hoffman is a rabid Amiibo-collector with a love for capybaras, an expansive Mega Man toy collection, and a flair for Dramatic Readings. He also Wrote the Book on many of the games of the mid-2000s, including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Chris Slate and Pete Michaud both act as the Straight Man to Hoff's wise guy at different times.
• Christmas Episode: Annually, tending to to involve a holiday buyers' guide of some sort.
• Covers Always Lie: Episode 35 "Why We Love Nintendo/The Final Fight," captioned "...is this the end for the Power Pros?!" It's not.
• Cuteness Proximity: Hoff responds this way to Capybaras. Unfailingly.
• Deadpan Snarker: The Hoff has his moments.

Hoffman: Well they're already calling the PlayStation Vita a legacy system...

• Dramatic Reading: Every episode ends with Hoff doing a reading from old video game boxes, badly-translated eShop descriptions, or even actual Nintendo Power issues.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The early episodes were recorded in a period when Nintendo was at one of its all-time lows with the Wii U and some people were actually calling for the company to go third-party. Considering that most time in the podcast post-Nintendo Switch launch is taken up by the flood of new releases every week, going back and listening to these earlier episodes, where the lack of new game releases lead to much more retro discussion and content, can be jarring to say in the least.
• Frothy Mugs of Water: Milk. Hoff had too much of it while making a Drinking Game out of Captain N: The Game Master.
• Halloween Episode: Every year, often as an opportunity to talk about Castlevania and LuigisMansion.
• Kayfabe: Hoff and Pete's archnemesis status slides into this. They know it isn't all that, and the fans know it isn't all that, but at this point they've been "archenemies" for so long there's practically nothing else for them to be.
• Later-Installment Weirdness: The rotating co-hosts, new recurring sections like Don't Hassle the Hoff, and emphasis on Running Gags. This is arguably closer to what the original Nintendo Power was actually like when Slate was editor-in-chief, while the earlier episodes are what happens when there aren't that many new Nintendo games to talk about.
• Noodle Incident: Michaud deleting Hoff's Final Fantasy VI Advance save file when they were working on a feature for it for Nintendo Power back in 2006. The incident defines their entire relationship and even influenced a reader-submitted Fanfic, read on the show in place of a normal Dramatic Reading. The circumstances of the deletion were eventually explained, but it continues to be brought back as a sore point for Hoff.
• Revolving Door Casting: Post-Slate, the co-host slot has rotated through Cody Martin, Scott Moschella, David Oxford, Chris Johnston, and Pete Michaud.
• Running Gag: Several.
  • Calling a game "a baby game for babies."
  • Bringing Pro Wrestling back for a sequel, or getting a character from it in Super Smash Bros.. The game is a show favorite, and tends to crop up on any of Power Pros' various Top Ten Lists as a dark horse pick wherever it can be relevant.
  • Hoff's amiibo collection and the pain it's inflicted on his wallet, because it includes nearly every single one.
  • Capybaras.
  • Milk.
  • Quoting "Physical" whenever a conflict between owning a game digitally or physically comes up.
  • Hoffman's weird affinity for chicken games, of all things.
  • Hoff and Chris hating each other and disagreeing on everything. If they agree on anything, they will do their best to pretend they didn't.
• Signing-Off Catchphrase: Every episode before the closing Theme Tune.

Hoffman: For myself, Pete Michaud, and our good friend [video game character of the day], we will see ya next time.

• Sitcom Archnemesis: Pete Michaud to Chris Hoffman...despite being the most common recurring co-host. (Pete has actually appeared in more episodes than Scott Moschella and Chris Slate combined.) How much of it is still real is anyone's guess, but it started with Pete deleting Hoff's Final Fantasy VI Advance save file over a decade ago and has been going ever since.
• Spiritual Successor: To Nintendo Power. Ironically, the official Nintendo Power Podcast is as much a successor to Power Pros as it is to the magazine—Chris Slate was instrumental to the creation of both.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Hoff and Pete may be archenemies, but they'll work together if it's to save Nintendo Power.
• The Stinger: Episodes will occasionally have a quip from one of the co-hosts or a humorous character quote after the Theme Tune.

Hoffman: That it?

Slate: Yeah, I think that's it.

• Theme Tune: A Chiptune piece by Stenobot, Shark Flower, serves as the official Power Pros intro/outro theme.
• Top Ten List: Any Nintendo anniversary is an excuse for the Power Pros to run down their top games/systems/characters. These sometimes serve as springboards for talking about whatever was going on at Nintendo Power at the time a game came out.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Pro Wrestling is very well-liked on the show, as are piledrivers, suplexes, and wrestling moves of all kinds. Hoff was overjoyed when Incineroar made it into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, if only to finally have a wrestler in Smash.
• Wrote the Book: Hoffman can legitimately claim to have written the book on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, as he literally wrote its Nintendo Power guide. Most of the other hosts have also done this for one or more games, being ex-NP editors themselves.