Episode 929: James Jones – Exploring Neanderthal Art – Radio Free Nintendo

I’m staring at this ancient aurochs, and honestly? Kinda meh. You know how most of that cave art, especially around Montignac-Lascaux, is from the Magdalenian culture? Yep, that’s modern humans’ work, painting some 20,000 to 10,000 years ago. Not to say Neanderthals didn’t dabble with brushes—or whatever they used—leaving marks here and there, especially in Spain. Their stuff is more about handprints and dots, not those detailed animal portraits we see in later times. Maybe that’s why their art seems spotty. I mean, it’s old as heck, bound to crumble away, right?

In essence, their art was kind of… underwhelming.

Look, I’m just throwing this out there without checking it—except to spell Magdalenian and Montignac-Lascaux right. Imagine me daring someone to “fact-check this,” gesturing wildly.

Picture this: James without a Neanderthal brow-ridge, maybe wearing a beret critiquing this art. Kind of like “Hot Tub Time Machine,” but actually, you know, funny.

Jon got his grubby hands on the new Switch 2, courtesy of bestbuy.com. He tossed out his early thoughts while diving deep into Mario Kart World. It’s like shell carnage—red shell, red shell, red shell. Can you see Jon sitting in his living room, bombarded by these shells? Weirdly, it’s kind of calming.

Oh, and, hey, a new single-player Splatoon game is on the horizon.

Anything can happen on this show. It’s baffling.

We paused for sanity’s sake, only to dive back in. Guillaume passionately argues for checking out F-Zero GX on the Switch 2 NSO Expansion Pack. I’m not on board—mostly because Guillaume’s enthusiasm borders on sinister. To quench his violent tendencies, he’s also diving into Valfaris—a 2D platform shooter packed with big guns and bigger enemies.

Greg explored the Switch 2 patch for Splatoon 3. He’s got opinions on the HDR pop and the framerate smoothness that the Switch 2 touts. Seriously, they should call it “super-stable framerate.” Am I doing Nintendo’s marketing now?

Yes, yes I am. Again.

And then there’s me, James, your fabulous guide through this chaos. I’m tackling the Switch 2’s Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. I’ve dealt with all kinds of time thieves—kids, bosses, auditors—but a kid time thief? That’s a new one.

Wait… where was I? Oh, right. Anyway. I was just getting into the game as we recorded, so mostly just fumbling through the tutorial. Next week, I should be deep in it. Unless, you know, life happens.

Feel free to share your own Stone Age masterpieces.