Unmuted #003 - Troopa Interview
Hey everyone, and welcome to another edition of Unmuted! Today, I’m excited to interview Jonathan (aka Troopa). Jonathan is one of my longest-standing subscribers, arguably the oldest active member of our community, and he’s also a dedicated Patreon supporter.
I’ve enjoyed engaging in gaming discussions with him on our newsletter Discord. I enjoyed reading his responses and am thrilled to share his thoughts with you today.
Tell me a bit about yourself (you can share as little or as much as you want here, like your name, where you’re from, your age and what do you work with).
Hey, I’m Jonathan (aka Troopa) from the east coast of the USA. I’m officially middle-aged at 40 years old. I’ve got a degree in computer science and work as the head of technology in the health and fitness industry where I build web sites, mobile apps, and oversee everything tech-related for the company. I’ve created a handful of little video games, mostly during my time in university. One of them was a clone of Flappy Bird, but instead of a bird, you played as one of our professors. Students thought it was funny. Not so sure about the professors…
What got you into gaming in the first place? Do you have any memories of the first time you played a game?
It must have been my older brothers that got me into it. I was born in 1984, and some of the earliest photos I’ve seen of myself are with an NES controller in my hand, so I believe I started playing video games around 2 or 3. We also had the ColecoVision, Atari and Commodore 64.
Come to think of it, I’m not really sure how we managed to have all that, because my family didn’t have a bunch of money. They must have collected it over time before I was born.
My earliest memories are playing Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle on the ColecoVision and Popeye on the NES.
Can you describe your gaming setup? What equipment or accessories do you use, and how do they enhance your gaming experience? What platforms do you play?
I’ve currently got the Xbox Series X, Sony PS5 Slim, Nintendo Switch, Meta Quest 3, Nintendo DS Lite, and a Lenovo Legion laptop with a 4060 GPU. For Xbox and PC I use the Sky Cipher controller, which I like the look of and reminds me of the glory days with the Nintendo 64 funtastic consoles.
Most of my gaming time is on the Xbox and PC. But I’ve got the PS5 for its hit exclusives, like Spider-Man and Astro Bot. Ditto for the Switch with Nintendo’s big hits and an occasional indie game. And I just recently started getting into VR with the Meta Quest 3, which has taken some time to get used to, but I really like it. Batman: Arkham Shadow is amazing. You “really feel like Batman” – sorry, I had to say it.
Here’s something unusual I do with the Switch: gaming while walking. I have a TV mounted on a wall in front of my treadmill and it’s nice to play a casual/slow game on the Switch. Since the joycons can be held in each hand, your arms can sway naturally while you’re walking and it’s a good way to get some light exercise and gaming in at the same time. I’m thinking I’ll play Pokémon Legends: Arceus this way next.
For most of my life I’ve preferred console gaming, but decided to experiment more with PC gaming and bought the laptop last year. I figured if I liked it then eventually I’ll upgrade to a more powerful desktop. A few things I like about PC gaming are the cheap Steam sales, how I can easily take it with me while traveling, and not needing to pay a subscription to play online games, like Helldivers II, which is a recent favorite.
With that said, there’s something about playing on consoles that feels more natural and fun to me. I think my brain associates PCs with working at my job, so for me to have the most fun, I need to “get away” from the PC and play on a console. I know this is a bit silly, since game consoles are computers too, but it’s real psychologically. I’ve talked with other gamers who feel this way. And yet others don’t feel it at all.
So, I’m not sure if I’ll stick with PC gaming in the long run. But don’t get me wrong – I do enjoy it.
You’ve recently started getting into VR with the Meta Quest 3 and mentioned some initial hurdles. What aspects of VR do you find most promising, and where would you like to see improvement?
What’s exciting about VR for me is that it’s practically the closest thing we have to the Holodeck from Star Trek. The immersion is remarkable. The best example I’ve experienced was during a demo of the Apple Vision Pro with their “immersive videos.” The quality was exceptional, and I thought about how incredible it would be if you could explore a virtual world in real-time with friends. I believe this could be the ultimate gaming experience.
VR still needs continued improvement in visual quality and ease of use. While VR has come a long way — the Quest 3 is a standalone wireless unit and probably the easiest to set up so far — I think for mass adoption, VR needs to become as effortless and comfortable as putting on sunglasses, with complete reliance on our hands and body as controllers.
What are some of your all-time favorite games and/or genres, and why do they stand out to you?
My favorite genres have changed over time. For the first 15 years, I had a great time with JRPGs. I’d often replay Final Fantasy 4. After Final Fantasy 6, it was like something clicked in my brain and I didn’t really like them anymore. I’ve tried multiple times to get into Final Fantasy 7, and I just can’t.
One constant has been sports games. When I was a kid some favorites were Championship Bowling, WCW Wrestling, and Bases Loaded 2 on the NES. Then the Madden and NBA Live games on the SNES. NFL Blitz, WCW/nWo Revenge and WWF No Mercy on the Nintendo 64. NBA2K and NFL2K on the Sega Dreamcast. It goes on and on.
As for all-time favorite games, my #1 single-player is Ghost of Tsushima. For me it was the perfect mix of gameplay, graphics, story, sound and open-world activities. I’m looking forward to Ghost of Yōtei. Besides that, I loved both of the Ori games. They’re beautiful and put me in a zen mood when I’m playing.
For multi-player, my favorites have been Halo (especially 2 & 3), Overcooked and Helldivers II.
Split Fiction might need to join the top ranks too. It’s really good. Easily my game of the year so far for 2025.
I’m a huge fan of co-op games, or at least working with a team against another team. It was so exciting when Halo 2 came out and Xbox Live was so new. I was working with my brother at that time from his home, and we took frequent breaks every day to hop online for an hour or two of Halo 2.
If you could erase one game from your memory to experience it fresh again, which one would it be?
Wow, I’m sure this is a tough question for most to answer.
I gotta go with Halo 2. It was the only game I ever attended a midnight launch at GameStop to buy. Other people were there and we were all just so excited to play this game. Up until around that point, I was always mostly a Nintendo guy, and Nintendo didn’t have any official online system.
There was the XBand modem service for the Super Nintendo, and that was a cool way to play NBA Jam with other people, but to play Halo 2 with my brother on Xbox Live felt like a huge leap forward for console gaming. I know online gaming was old news for PC gamers, but the way they did it with Halo 2 was amazing at the time. Most people had their microphones enabled. We talked with so many strangers. You made online buddies. People were excited. It was fun.
How do you balance gaming with other aspects of your life, like work, family, or other hobbies?
This is actually something I struggle with at times. I have plenty of time available in my life, mostly because I don’t have children, but I still often get that feeling like I “should” be doing something else besides playing a video game. Ryan George posted a video that shows what I mean. It’s like your brain argues with itself and tries to make you feel guilty for trying to have fun. But for me, this feeling is specific to video games and not any other leisure activities.
I have three ways I combat this feeling. First, I try to schedule gaming time. If I schedule five hours of gaming time per week and commit to it, then it’s like my brain knows I’m not going to “waste every night” playing video games. I’ve got a dedicated time slot to play guilt-free, and still have plenty of time for other things going on in life.
Secondly, I never feel guilty playing multiplayer. These feelings of “I should be doing something else” only appear when I’m gaming by myself. By making gaming a social experience with my wife or my friends, not only is it more fun for me to begin with, it’s also inherently easier for that annoying part of my brain to accept as not a waste of time.
Finally, if I’m feeling this way because I’m playing a huge open-world game that feels like it’ll never end, then I commit to playing shorter games instead. Plenty of retro and indie games can be finished within 5 hours. There are plenty of Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games that I’ve yet to play.
On the other hand, if you’re someone who is feeling this way, it could be a sign you’re genuinely not interested in gaming for now and should take a break. No need to force yourself to engage in a hobby. I’ve taken long breaks from gaming and come back when I naturally feel compelled to.
Do you have a “comfort game” that you always go back to?
Helldivers II is currently this game for me. If I want to play something enjoyable without having to think much, I like jumping in and spreading democracy. I’m really familiar with the game’s mechanics. It’s always fun calling down an airstrike and watching things explode.
Besides that, sports games like NBA 2K, NBA Live or WWF No Mercy (Nintendo 64) served that purpose.
Can you share a memorable gaming moment or achievement that you’re particularly proud of?
I’ll share two!
- My wife and I love playing the Overcooked games together, and we’ve played so much that we know our roles and what each other is thinking without really having to speak. At one point we were looking over the ‘unofficial’ world record scores people were posting on YouTube, and there were a couple I thought we could beat. We played a lot for a week and we did it. We broke the known records at the time. That was a fun and exciting challenge. Our scores have been overtaken since then, but at least for a little while we held some unofficial world records in the game. Who knows, there may be some other players who totally destroyed our scores to begin with and never shared it publicly, but at least as far as the Internet leaderboards were concerned, we did it.
- Back when I was a kid, the Blockbuster Video store held their world video game championships. I entered at my local store and won it on the Super Nintendo side, so I became one of the store champions. They gave me a champion’s card (someone posted a photo here), and the most exciting part for me was a year of free rentals where I could rent two games for free every month. I’m sure my parents were happy about that because renting games was somewhat expensive.
What do you enjoy most about gaming? Is it the story, the competition, the social aspect, or something else?
I love just about all of it, but the social aspect is definitely #1, given my preference for multi-player and co-op gaming. Nearly all of the best video game memories I have include other people. All of the great matches of Halo 3 I had in college with my buddies, playing Starcraft with my friend down the street using our 56k modems, staying up all night having a Sega Dreamcast game fest… I could go on and on.
I’m also really interested in the business and development aspect of it. Sites like GameDeveloper.com have a ton of information, and people like Timothy Cain and Alanah Pearce have made some really interesting videos over the years.
If anyone out there is interested in developing video games or learning more about what makes them enjoyable, I can recommend Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton. It’s a hefty book at 522 pages, but it covers so much.
How do you think gaming has changed or influenced you as a person?
GameSpy.com was a popular gaming site back in the day, and they had a network of video game sites they hosted. I created one for Mario Kart and became part of their network. At one point it was the #1 Google result if you searched for “mario kart”, which I was proud of. Here’s an old copy of the site. That’s how I decided on the nickname of “Troopa”, since Koopa Troopa was my favorite character in Super Mario Kart. I learned a lot about creating web sites back then, which helped grow my interest in computer programming, and eventually led into my career as a software engineer.
So, it definitely had an influence on my career. Besides that, if I try to go deeper, I think playing so many JRPGs as a child and teenager helped influence my appreciation of good stories and morality. Doing the right thing and being a good person were strong themes in cartoons of the 80s, with TV shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I feel that games had an influence on me in that way too. Fighting against evil, having integrity, and all that sort of thing.
Maybe that sounds like a bit of a stretch? I’m not sure. I think it made a difference.
Do you have any gaming rituals or habits that you follow before or during a gaming session?
I’ve got a little one. I like to make sure our dog, who is a high energy Jack Russell Terrier, has been recently walked or played with so she’s happy to relax and take a nap. I make a 20oz cup of hot tea with some sugar and milk, and settle in to enjoy some gaming.
How do you choose which games to play next? Do you have a specific genre or criteria you look for?
I rely on newsletters such as The Gaming Pub, sites like OpenCritic, and YouTube channels like The Co-Op Bros to help keep me informed. Sometimes I’ll browse Steam to see their bestseller list and “new & noteworthy”. I’m also active on some forums and Discord servers where my online buddies recommend games all the time.
I’ve got a spreadsheet where I track games I’m interested in, my interest level, and the estimated hours it would take to finish the game. I liked doing that, though sometimes I think it encourages me to rush through games so I can “cross it off the list”. Lately I’m thinking I’d be better off just winging it, playing whatever I feel like, and not concern myself with finishing a game unless I naturally want to. That’s how it was when I was a kid.
Do you prefer single-player or multiplayer games, and why?
Definitely multi-player. I think that’s always been the case. And in particular, I prefer co-op gaming over player-vs-player. But I’ll play PvP if the gameplay is fun and evenly matched. I don’t like stomping people, and don’t like getting stomped either. A good matchmaking system is important here.
In my adult years, there was a period of time where I only played multi-player games. Gaming had to be a social experience for me, otherwise I didn’t want to do it. I’d rather read or do something else instead. I was tempted by some of the awesome games I saw coming out, so I started introducing single-player back into it. I’m glad I did, so I could experience games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Ghost of Tsushima. I’ve got the 100% platinum trophy for both of those.
I’ve also been a fan of superhero games like Batman: Arkham Knight and Marvel’s Spider-Man. And the best of them all – Superman 64.
What role does nostalgia play in your gaming preferences? Are there any older games you still love to revisit?
I gotta go with WWF No Mercy on the Nintendo 64. That’s the one I revisit the most. I love doing a Royal Rumble match and just beating up on the CPU. There have been some really cool mods that dedicated fans have made for the game too.
WWF No Mercy is an important game in my history because when I was around 15 years old, I decided to give up video gaming.
I remember feeling very off-put with it and wanted to focus entirely on other things. So, I sold all of my stuff.
It took about six months, but one day the urge to play WWF No Mercy came back. It just popped into my head. That was the only game I wanted to play. So, I bought a Jungle Green Nintendo 64 and No Mercy, and that’s all I played again for a while.
Eventually, I started picking up other games again, and though my level of interest varies over time like it does for everyone, I haven’t ever given up the gaming hobby since.
If you could preserve one game for future generations to understand gaming culture, which would you choose and why?
I know the younger generation would probably say Fortnite or Minecraft, and I understand why that could be true for them, but as a 40 year old I’m gonna say Super Mario World. Nintendo is still very relevant with the Switch being the best-selling console, and the recent Mario movie made over a billion dollars. The gaming industry would not be what it is right now if not for Nintendo, and Nintendo’s characters are iconic. In my opinion, Super Mario World is the best of the old games, and it introduced important characters like Yoshi.
Are there any upcoming games or releases that you’re particularly excited about?
For sure. Here’s my top three!
The Nintendo Switch 2, the follow-up to arguably the best Nintendo console of all time. And finally a new Mario Kart game that looks fantastic. There’s a lot to be excited about here.
Ghost of Yōtei. Will it replace Ghost of Tsushima as my #1 single-player game of all-time? I hope so. I can’t help but look forward to this one.
Grand Theft Auto VI. Rockstar always delivers. Red Dead Redemption 2 was released in 2018 and it’s still one of the most beautiful games out there, with so many game systems working together, and they managed to do that with weaker Xbox One hardware. Really curious to see what they can pull-off with GTA 6.
Have you ever made real-life friendships or connections through gaming?
Totally. I’ve been a member of some video game forums for decades, and many of the members have met up over the years, attended each other’s weddings, sent Christmas gifts, played multiplayer games, etc. Some of the forums are still going, and some of us have moved on to talking in Discord servers instead, but we’re still in touch.
Besides these online connections, video gaming has been an ongoing hobby with local friends while growing up and in college. My best childhood friends had a Sega Genesis, and I had a Super Nintendo, so that worked out well.
The second date I had with my wife was going to her apartment and playing some Grand Theft Auto 5 together. The online multiplayer had a scooter racing mode and it was hilarious. She was into Rockstar’s games and had an Xbox 360 Elite console back then, which I thought was cool.
Do you think gaming will look completely different in 10 years? How so?
I don’t think it will be completely different. It will probably be mostly the same, but with more refinement and iterations on ideas. I feel that gaming hasn’t changed very much since the Xbox 360 days. Games have become prettier, smoother, bigger, and load faster, but the general feeling of the gameplay is roughly the same as it was back then.
However, consoles are becoming more similar to PC gaming, and I think we’ll see that continue. There are rumors right now that the next Xbox will have support for Steam games. I’d personally like that to happen, as long as it doesn’t destroy the console experience of games being optimized for the specific hardware.
I’m iffy on how much Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality is going to affect gaming. Sometimes I think that could be the future, but other times it seems dead in the water. It’s hard to predict. Meta is pumping a lot of money into their VR Quest headsets, but it’s nowhere near profitable, and I wonder how long they’ll continue with it.
We may start to see more dynamic storylines playing out as AI keeps progressing. There are already people who use AI services like ChatGPT to run their D&D campaigns, and I can imagine seeing stuff like that make it into mainstream video games.
The industry needs to figure out how to make AAA game development more sustainable. The games are too expensive to produce, and many developers lose their jobs even when a game is successful. We’ll see how that plays out.
You mentioned the sustainability challenges of AAA game development. Players want bigger, more ambitious games like GTA 6 and The Witcher 4, but they also don’t want to wait 7+ years for them — or see studios struggle with layoffs if a game underperforms. How can the industry balance these expectations while ensuring a healthier development cycle for studios and developers?
Investment in better development tools is possibly the biggest opportunity. Game engines like Unreal and Unity have made development more efficient, but there’s still room for improvement with AI-assisted development and procedural generation. In my line of software development, I’ve experienced how AI tools have boosted my productivity tremendously.
Right-sizing projects is underappreciated. Not every sequel needs to be bigger. Ghost of Tsushima is my all-time favorite not because it was the biggest open world ever, but because it was focused and well-crafted.
The “crunch culture” and layoffs that happen at so many game studios is just unhealthy. Studios need to realize that well-rested developers with good work-life balance produce better games in the long run.
For players, we need to accept that either games will take longer to make, or they won’t be as massive. And sadly, with inflation how it is, games are going to cost more. That seems to just be how it is. With that said, I appreciate what Hazelight Studios did with their new hit game Split Fiction, which was only $49.99 and includes a friend pass. They are a bright example of being consumer friendly.
This was a great interview. Troopa has been gaming for most of his life, growing up alongside the rise of gaming consoles. He’s been a part of this community for a long time. I’m looking forward for Ghost of Yōtei as well, they nailed with the first one and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us.
Like always it’s been a pleasure to interview him and I invite anybody that wants to be part of the series to access the link below or to reply to the newsletter.
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