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Remember staying up past midnight to grab San Andreas from a 24-hour supermarket aisle? We go back to November 2004, a month that felt like gaming’s golden hour, when bus-stop posters sold franchises and every genre had a real fight on its hands. We relive the thrill of Pro Evolution Soccer breaking past FIFA on pure gameplay, unpack why San Andreas worked despite rough edges, and trace how Red Dead Revolver’s arcade bones eventually gave way to open-world legend.
We talk Driver 3’s big talk and bigger bugs, Spider-Man 2’s still-satisfying swing that set the blueprint for Insomniac, and Burnout 3’s glorious slow-motion pileups. Konami’s 2004 run gets its flowers—Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater with its cinematic ambition, Silent Hill 4 bending horror rules, and the sheer playability of PES that still echoes through modern career modes. Along the way, we hit the UK charts that saw Need for Speed Underground 2 overtake GTA, and the living-room phenomenon of the iToy turning family gatherings into chaotic mini-arcades.
We also zoom out to the industry moves: Nintendo easing toward online on its own terms, Xbox Live accelerating the future, and PS2’s library stacking classic after classic in the same twelve months. It was the last era where choice defined your identity—GTA or Driver, PES or FIFA, sim or arcade. If you were there, you’ll feel it all over again; if you missed it, this is your map to why 2004 still matters.
Enjoy the ride, then jump into the comments with your top three from late 2004. If this hit your nostalgia nerve, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find the show.

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Chapters

1. Welcome To Flashback And 2004 (00:00:00)

2. Setting The Scene: November’s Game Flood (00:02:00)

3. What We Were Playing Then (00:02:40)

4. Red Dead Revolver’s Odd Origins (00:03:10)

5. Pro Evo’s Rise Over FIFA (00:07:20)

6. Marketing Zenith And Bus-Stop Posters (00:13:30)

7. San Andreas: Scope, Systems, Stories (00:15:30)

8. Driver 3 Vs GTA: Hype And Bugs (00:28:20)

9. Spider-Man 2’s Swing And Aging (00:35:00)

10. Burnout 3 And Mid-2004 Zeitgeist (00:38:30)

11. Konami’s Hot Streak On PS2 (00:41:00)

12. Silent Hill 4 And PS2 Horror (00:47:10)

13. Controls, Cameras, And Design Quirks (00:51:30)

14. Charts Snapshot: NFSU2 Tops GTA (00:55:20)

15. iToy Mania And Living Room Chaos (01:01:40)

16. Stingray’s Boot: December Wishlists (01:10:30)

17. Sports Wars And Konami’s Fall (01:19:30)

18. Picks, Films, And Nostalgia (01:26:00)

19. What We’ll Play Next And Closing (01:33:20)

4 episodes