This interview contains heavy swearing.

This interview was recorded on October 26th, 2025 over voice chat using Discord.

Ryal

C’mon Kolton. It’s time. C’mon boy! C’mon.

Kolton

No shit it’s interview time. Is it ready yet?

Becca

I’ve been ready for 5 minutes.

Ryal

(laughs)

Becca

So this interview has been a long time coming since June. Here we are, hello.

Ryal

Hello.

Kolton

Hello.

A brand new brew

Becca

Today we’re talking about Homebrew Tea. It’s been more than a year right? Let’s go back to the origins of the series. Homebrew Tea was originally part of our original slate of pitches for WiiLink Originals in 2024. Do you guys remember where the idea of Homebrew Tea came from?

Ryal

That’s all him.

Kolton

The idea started, actually, as a homebrew developer interview series, and as time went on I realized I could report on homebrew news as well. It was still mainly going to be mainly a developer interview thing. The original script had me interviewing a homebrew developer, but that didn’t make it to the final cut.

Ryal

(laughs) I’m sorry what are you doing? You keep reaching over here [pointing to the edge of the screen].

Kolton

Pistachios.

Ryal

(laughs) I know it’s not related it was just fucking with me.

Becca

We gotta include the pistachios into the final cut.

Ryal

Wait, Kolton can you reach over with your hand there and take a screenshot so we can use it for the article? (laughs)

Becca

(laughs)

Kolton

Yeah hold on.

Becca

Absolute cinema.

Ryal

(laughs) Okay.

Becca

So you said the idea originally came as an interview series. Do you think that aspect is something that you would want do? Or is the current format just better for what you do?

Kolton

Homebrew developer interviews is something I’ve always still wanted to do. It’s just a matter of time and scheduling which… I’ll say no more.

Ryal

(laughs) Yeah.

Becca

Speaking of scheduling, there’s a lot of our shows that we make as they come out, but Homebrew Tea is the only one that has to be made that way, while it’s still relevant. How is an average episode produced?

Kolton

Ryal do you wanna…?

Ryal

Well it’s a two step process. You do the first half, I do the second half. I think it’d make chronological sense if you started.

Kolton

First thing’s first, you need a script. I look through different homebrew Discord servers*, different homebrew news sites and pile up a script to talk about. After the script we film, and after all that’s done I send it to Ryal.

_{*Discord server - A term for communities in Discord. A place for people to discuss one shared topic.}

Ryal

It’s pretty much as simple as it sounds. I take all the things Kolton talks about and I edit it to make it look nice and professional. I uh- I know where this is gonna lead into. (laughs) I assume there’s gonna be a question later on, so I’ll go more into detail about that.

Becca

You’d be right. Nice and professional is a way to put it.

Ryal

(laughs) It’s a count- It’s- (laughs) We all know what’s about to happen, and I don’t know how it’s gonna go.

Becca

6 minutes in and this is the most fucked up interview we’ve done.

Ryal

(laughs) Yeah.

Kolton

Fuck.

A constant refresh

Becca

For filming, there’s been a bunch of format changes with Homebrew Tea. It was briefly hosted by two people, you’ve introduced and retired some segments, so I was wondering why some of these changes happened.

Kolton

Whenever I tried co-hosting with Autumn, it was fine but admittedly it was something she wasn’t used to doing. And secondly, we did break up for a bit and I did move back home. I guess I should also say we are still together. It was just that in that moment we really needed space. I was living in a very unfamiliar location, I was away from all my friends and family, I lost my mind a bit, so I had to come home. We’re still doing long distance, but we’re still together.

Becca

I do want to make sure, are you okay with releasing that?

Kolton

Yeah. Because some people have asked me “is Autumn doing okay?” And yeah she’s fine.

Ryal

I thought Becca was interrupting like-

Kolton

No she’s fucking dead. (laughs)

Ryal

(laughs)

Kolton

She’s fucking dead and I strangled her. That’s why we’re single host now.

Ryal

Kolton’s been having an affair with me for a very long time, we just decided she had to go. It was the only way we could be free. (laughs)

Becca

(laughs) We strike the entire segment about Kolton’s explanation, we just only include Ryal’s explanation.

Kolton

Yeah. As for segments that has come and gone, such as homebrew game recommendations, there just isn’t enough worth recommending.

Ryal

Although there are some that we have been discussing a little bit.

Kolton

A lot of the games I’ve been recommending, this is gonna sound like I’m being lazy, I just read it off of Wiibrew Wiki*. Maybe we could get some recommendations from the community to talk about. It just kinda felt like filler.

_{*Wiibrew Wiki - Online resource for Wii homebrew information.}

Becca

It makes sense. The Wii’s not super advanced, but it’s not as simple as something like the GBA or NES, or even quirky like the Virtual Boy to give it homebrew games.

Ryal

There’s Virtual Boy homebrew games?

Becca

Many!

Ryal

Really? I had no idea.

Kolton

It’s no Dreamcast* that’s for sure.

_{*Dreamcast - Sega console during the 6th generation. Due to how the console will read any CD as a official game, it has become very popular for homebrew.}

Becca

Okay man.

Ryal

Well it is a Sega console.

Kolton

Dude! Have you seen the amount of homebrew games that are on that console?

Ryal

No because mine is still fucking broken.

Becca

(laughs)

Kolton

Well, boohoo. Fix it.

Ryal

I don’t wanna spend 40 bucks on a laser. No, I’m not getting a stupid GD- well maybe I will I don’t know.

Becca

I didn’t even know you had a Dreamcast. I thought you hated anything Sega related.

Ryal

No I’ve had a Dreamcast since like, 2018, but me being a stupid child, when my disks stopped working, I took apart the laser to see what was wrong, and I think ripping out the wires probably isn’t gonna fix it. And then I threw it away. 7 years ago. I got a sealed copy of Sonic Adventure for it and everything. That has nothing to do with the interview or the show or anything.

Becca

This is all useful insight. There’s been a couple of format changes. Do you foresee more format changes happening in the future?

Kolton

Absolutely, stuff is always changing. There’s already a new segment, which is the Tea Briefing.

Ryal

Oh yeah.

Kolton

If that one leaves too, don’t be surprised. Stuff always comes and goes. I expect Tea Briefing to stick around, just because it lets me talk about smaller things.

Becca

If you introduce a new segment you should call it the Boston Tea Party. It doesn’t need to be related at all.

Ryal

Becca, do you know what the Boston Tea Party was about, because I don’t think you’d be super happy to know.

Becca

Was it bad?

Ryal

It wasn’t good for specific people. It happened during the revolutionary war.

Becca

Wait I thought it was- wait- who did it? I might be thinking of a different demographic.

Ryal

(laughs) I know it’s not your fault, it’s just really funny.

Becca

I’m not American.

Ryal

Yeah no. It was the British, Becca.

Becca

Yeah! So I am right in that. Wait, what am I missing.

Ryal

We did the Boston Tea Party to protest the British. That’s why I was saying not good for you.

Becca

Tha-

Ryal

What are you confused about?

Becca

(laughs) I’m more confused as to why you thought an uh-oh moment. I don’t give a shit about the British in the revolutionary war!

Ryal

Well you called it the Boston Tea Party and I didn’t know if you knew what it actually was.

Becca

You made me think I didn’t know what it was.

Ryal

(laughs) How is that my fault?

And then everybody died

Becca

You were saying a minute ago that when we were talking about editing, there’s a specific part of the show that has a lot of editing.

Ryal

(sighs)

Becca

Particularly the intros.

Ryal

The intros. The intros, the intros, the intros. The weird crazy shit that happens for about a minute before normal stuff happens.

Becca

Yes. I was wondering- well, I’m wondering a lot of things. But how did that come into play? The intros isn’t something you’d immediately associate with homebrew news.

Ryal

It’s probably one of the greatest stories that could ever be written. (laughs)

Kolton

(laughs)

Ryal

Basically, from what I remember, I’m heavily biased by the way, but the original idea for the first episode was a basic no thrills, stock footage of a tea kettle. Basic stuff. I had something more LGR*-like in mind, with jazz and that kind of thing. We edited the first episode in a single day. It was kind of a slog editing the intro because I thought it was boring, and I didn’t know what direction I wanted to go in. So I had about half of it done, it was just people eating at a café, and the Homebrew Tea logo would show up. And then I distinctly remember thinking “Y’know this intro’s kinda boring. How do we spice it up?”

_{*LGR - YouTube games channel. Short for Lazy Game Reviews.}

Becca

(snorts)

Ryal

And I was like, “what if they just all die?” (laughs)

Becca

(laughs)

Ryal

What if they just all died? I don’t remember if Kolton has hangups about it.

Kolton

No. I really didn’t. I was like, alright.

Ryal

I literally could not think of anything else, so I was like “Okay, so they’re eating at the café, and the whole thing floods and everyone’s screaming and drowning and the Homebrew Tea logo shows up”. (laughs) And that is where that came from.

Becca

Absolute cinema.

Kolton

Why do you keep saying that? Haven’t you said it like every Forming Links?

Ryal

Yeah she’s kind of a basic bitch. (laughs) Don’t include that.

Kolton

No absolutely include that.

Ryal

Me and Kolton spent at least 10 minutes just laughing at the muffled sound effects of everyone screaming. We just played it over and over again. (laughs) Even remembering it now it’s so funny.

Becca

(laughs)

Ryal

I don’t know if it’s because it’s funny because it subverts expectations or if it’s just funny to hear people die horribly. (laughs)

Kolton

Holy shit.

Ryal

It’s not like the first time it happened. Remember for Wii Series V* I had you flipping off the camera and you didn’t know what it was for. (laughs)

_{*Wii Series V - The final part of Ryal’s retrospective on the Wii series, available on YouTube and Wii Room.}

Becca

Oh my god.

Ryal

So that’s where the intros come from.

The Santa saga

Becca

There’s been a couple of intros. I distinctly remember a conversation after the Christmas intro, which I want to say was about a full minute, or even longer, you felt it was too long.

Ryal

Here is where I stand with that intro. It went on a lot longer than it needed to, because I thought I was able to get it done quicker. On the other hand, I do believe it is the greatest thing I have ever made. (laughs) The intros all formed a particular style where I would take stock pictures and have them-

Becca

And just kill them.

Ryal

Yeah. There’s the Dolphin one which- (laughs) had a whole story behind it.

Kolton

Oh my god. Birthing scene. Don’t remind me.

Ryal

We actually talked about this in the SatellaNite* interview we had. When I was finishing the intro, Kolton didn’t know anything about it, because I do that stuff separately from his part.

_{*SatellaNite - A radio show on Satellaview+, a revival service for Satellaview.}

Kolton

I was also in Vegas.

Ryal

Yeah he wasn’t even at home.

Kolton

I was in a fucking airport, and I wasn’t able to see any of it because I was about to get on a plane.

Ryal

I don’t remember if you asked me or if I was asking you, but I was asked about how the video edit was going, so I’m like “yeah, I got the intro finished. It’s gonna be like this crazy lovecraftian short film with dolphin-human hybrids, there’s gonna be like a birthing scene”. There wasn’t really any thought to it, I was just trying to fuck with him. (laughs) I do really like that one, because I just stumbled across it. I was looking for scary dolphin pictures, and I find the video of that guy in the latex mask. I love it because he’s so nonchalant. “Hello! This is this face mask I made. I’m not a creep, or anything like that. This is a totally normal thing that people do.” It was funny to fuck with Kolton for a bit. I weren’t that far off from what I said. Where do you think the tiny evil baby dolphins came from?

Becca

(laughs)

Kolton

Hmm. Never thought about that.

Ryal

Anyways, the Christmas one. I honestly don’t remember where it came from. I wanted to do something big for Christmas, because it’s special, and for some reason I have that compulsion to do a big thing for Christmas, which I think is unrealistic because almost every time I do a Christmas special I’m either late or overstress myself so hard, so I might not do that thing anymore. But what I planned- I don’t remember what the original plan was, It wasn’t too far off from what I had, but the idea came from the intro for November’s episode, which was kind of a disaster. Because I had to finish for Thanksgiving, and I was working on a regular intro for that episode, but I couldn’t finish it, so I instead cobbled together just the beginning and putting the logo over it, so it was just a table with the logo. And I felt really disappointed that it happened, because I had this amazing idea for it (that I might reuse), and I was so disappointed by it that I wanted to make a better intro to outdo it. And I definitely did that, I came up with a whole- I think I wanted to just kill Santa?

Becca

(laughs)

Ryal

I don’t know if I changed that part way through. So I ended up with the whole plot of a government organization keeping Santa locked up in a prison, torturing him with the boring Homebrew Tea intro, just so it connects, and then he escapes and the government goes after him, for some reason that I think I just made up as I went along, and it ended up with this big finale with SWAT cars surrounding Santa’s house- this is a show about Wii homebrew by the way- and Santa gets away at the last minute, and I found this cool text generator site that lets you write text as if it’s been written in snow, so that’s what that was. Kolton was not happy with me.

Kolton

Though in hindsight, it was worth it. That intro was fucking crazy.

Ryal

Are there any other intros that peak your interest? (laughs)

Becca

All of them are unique and insane in their own way, but I think we can call it there for now.

Ryal

(laughs)

A side of coffee

Becca

The regular Homebrew Tea series exists, but there’s also a bonus show, Homebrew Tea Xtras. I don’t exactly how or why it was made originally. Do you remember why?

Ryal

(to Kolton) It was your idea man.

Kolton

Fuck. Um. I don’t know man. Just thought it would be cool I guess.

Ryal

(laughs)

Kolton

I’m being serious. No one asked about it, I kind of just made it a thing. I didn’t tell anyone, it was just “hey, Xtras exists”.

Ryal

I think it was when we were making the second episode, you just told me to say “look out for the bonus episode” in the outro, and I guess that turned into that.

Kolton

There was gonna be a bonus episode. It wasn’t gonna be it’s own separate thing. I will say that, Xtras was not planned as a separate thing, and it is basically is now.

Becca

There isn’t really a set format for Xtras, is there any kind of direction you want to take it?

Kolton

I mainly just want to talk about interesting things about the show’s development, while also being able to talk about other things that I think the Homebrew Tea audience would enjoy watching. One planned Xtras is me trying to fix a broken Wii, and playing a Homebrew Tea episode on it.

Becca

If things go accordingly, the episode should be up by the time we release this.

_{(Editors note: Things did not go accordingly.)}

Ryal

Don’t jinx it.

Kolton

It would literally take one day, I could do it tomorrow.

Becca

Ryal you say don’t jinx it, we said back in March that No More Pineapple News* would come out in mid-June. So I think we’re good.

_{*No More Pineapple News - Series finale for WiiLink Original series Pineapple News.}

Ryal

That’s why I said don’t jinx it. You’re doing it right now.

Becca

We’ll know if it has been jinxed next month.

Kolton

I will say if it doesn’t come out literally tomorrow, it will, like early next month.

Becca

Ryal seems extremely doubtful of the idea, but we’re gonna roll with it.

Ryal

I just did this. (adjusts head to face the camera directly) That’s all I did.

Becca

The evil Ryal stare.

Ryal

Even my family says I have the stare of Jeffery Dahmer when I don’t have any expression. And everyone on Omegle*.

_{*Omegle - Defunct website that let users video call a random stranger. Currently has unofficial continuations.}

Becca

(laughs)

The collapse

Becca

When we launched Homebrew Tea alongside Wii Room, I think all of us were surprised by how large the following became. How did you feel about the reception of it?

Kolton

I absolutely was. I wasn’t expecting the show to get the following that it has. In the past I’d done video related content, and it never really went anywhere. Whereas this has genuinely had a bit of a following, even if it’s a niche following. The fact that it’s gotten more views than my YouTube was pretty cool to see.

Ryal

I distinctly remember a conversation where I said “Kolton, this is the most popular thing we’ve both done”. This is crazy. Because I’ve had my own trouble with YouTube. I will be back, I swear to you. Although I edit for Homebrew Tea so don’t make my promises too seriously.

Kolton

(frozen)

Ryal

I think Kolton had too many pistachios and it’s breaking his Internet.

Kolton

It’s crazy weather right now. It might be fucking up my Internet.

Ryal

You’d think he’d be using dialup considering your whole thing. I don’t know if the Internet originally worked like this, but imagine a can connected to a string.

Kolton

(laughs)

Becca

(laughs) That’s basically what LAN is.

Kolton

I’m getting a phone call. Can’t be by Autumn, she’s at work. Yeah it’s mom.

Becca

This is a disaster.

Kolton

Hey mom.

Kolton’s Mom: (unintelligible)

Kolton

Yeah I’m home.

Becca

(laughs) This is a fucking mess!

Kolton‘s Mom: (unintelligible)

Kolton

Yes, Lilah’s in the bed. Yup. Yeah I had a good day at work.

Becca

That’s cool man.

Kolton

No no, I missed yall too. Alright mama. Alright love you. Love you, bye mom.

Ryal

(sighs)

Kolton

Guest star appearance, Mrs. Ramos.

Becca

Well guys, (laughs) I think that’s a great way to end it.

Kolton

Unless we wanna talk about the shitty first draft of the Homebrew Tea logo. There’s an original draft and it looks like dogshit.

Ryal

It’s not that bad.

Kolton

The text, you literally can’t read it.

Ryal

Okay the text is bad but other than that it’s the same thing.

Kolton

Well it’s a little different.

Ryal

(mockingly) “well it’s a little different” Yeah, the gradients are slightly different. I distinctly remember making fun of the text like, immediately after seeing it.

Kolton

Here you go.

Becca

Huh.

Ryal

Home Bhew.

Becca

(laughs) It looks like Home BMW Tea.

Kolton

No, it does not look good. I do have the timelapse for the logo, that’d be kinda cool to show off.

Ryal

For this?

Kolton

Yeah. I have a timelapse for this stuff. Fuck, I minimized out of Discord.

Becca

I think this is the most swearing we’ve had on an interview.

Kolton

Fuck, shit, bitch, ass, cunt, fuck.

Ryal

Titties.

Kolton

Oh fuck, I already said fuck. Fuck.

Ryal

Testicles.

Kolton

Here’s the kettle video we were gonna use.

Ryal

You could’ve added this to the OST.

Becca

(laughs)

Kolton

Oh yeah. Just as a singular track. I can give yall the original script.

Ryal

This feels like you’re grabbing shit out of your drawer.

Becca

I need you to understand, this will make absolutely no sense reading it.

Ryal

(laughs)

Kolton

Good. I’m glad it doesn’t. Here’s the original script.

Hello everyone, Kolton here, and welcome to the first episode of Homebrew Tea. I’ll be “spilling the tea” on the latest Nintendo homebrew news! Whether its about the Wii, DSi, 3DS, Wii U, Switch, I’ll be reporting on it! With that said, you may have noticed some changes with Wii Room since the 1.0 release. Lets check out the new and improved Wii Room! Wii Room News The TV, which used to always display thunderstorms, now shows the weather correctly. You can now start the Internet Channel from rooms. PAL (60hz) no longer crashes, and PAL (50hz) no longer has a pink line. Completely new translations for multiple languages are available, including German, Italian, Castilian, French, and languages that weren’t even on the Wii, such as Brazilian Portuguese! There are plenty of other additions and fixes added as well, which overall make the channel more polished than ever! We hope you enjoy the new and improved Wii Room. Pretendo StreetPass Relay Report If you have Pretendo on your Nintendo 3DS, you may want to check out the new StreetPass feature it adds! If you add a friend using Pretendo, you’ll StreetPass with them OVER THE INTERNET! This opens up many opportunities to StreetPass in the modern era, so in case you are struggling to get some StreetPasses, this will make it a little easier!Wrap Weird Skit (Forecast Channel shows hot weather, I feel hot in my room) (Thinks…) (Idea! Changes location in Forecast Channel to different location for rainy weather) (Starts thunderstorms outside, I make a confused face) szsHaxx Report A new Wii exploit has been released. SzsHaxx exploits a Mario Kart Wii save file from your SD card, and lets you install the Homebrew Channel! Here you can see it in action. (shows exploit) Man, even in 2024, new Wii exploits are coming out. Crazy honestly! Pretendo Interview When did you get into programming? What motivated you to make Pretendo? How did Bandwith, the mascot, come to be? Which system is easier to work on, Wii U or 3DS? What is the next step for Pretendo? Wii Room Anywhere Showcase Wii Room… anywhere?!?!?!?!?! Well, kind of. With this DSiWare application, you can send yourself videos and coupons from the Wii to your DSi or 3DS. So for example, if I click this button right here after watching a video, and then tap this, the Wii will start sending the video over to the DS! Pretty neat huh? Wii Room Anywhere is currently in beta, but you can access it by becoming a tester for WiiLink!Visit www.wiilink24.com for more info on how to become a tester. Homebrew Game Recommendation Sonic Mania has a Wii port? Dang right it does! Using your PC copy of the game’s rdsk file, you can play the game straight from your Wii. This game is one of the best 2D Sonic games, and is a love letter to fans of the franchise, and is a must-have homebrew game for your Wii! Conclusion And that wraps up this episode of Homebrew Tea. More WiiLink Originals will be coming soon to Wii Room, so be on the look out for those shows, alongside this one. Thank you very much for watching, and I’ll catch yall’ later. Seeya!

Becca

How do I make this make sense?

Ryal

Just copy paste the script in there.

Becca

I guess.

Becca

I’m just gonna call it right there. This is- holy shit.

Ryal

Oh yeah, I remember seeing this.

Kolton

Wait, where’s the rest of the script?

Ryal

Oh yeah. Because you improv’d the whole Wii Room Anywhere bit.

Kolton

There’s a whole thing missing.

Ryal

Are you sure? I feel like that’s it. Oh, there’s the Mario Kart Wii thing. “I feel hot in my room”. Actual line from the original Homebrew Tea script. I’m sorry, is the Forecast Channel supposed to detect the temperature in your room?

Kolton

(completely unresponsive)

Becca

(laughs)

Ryal

(laughs) No response?

Kolton

I was supposed to have the window open. And it’s Texas, so typically if it’s hot outside, even if you have the AC going, it can get fucking hot depending on how big the window is.

Ryal

So is this like a silent film? Like the Family Guy Fortnite trailer? (laughs)

Kolton

I guess. It was supposed to be a silent thing. It was supposed to be quirky. I just didn’t put it in.

Ryal

Did you actually film it?

Kolton

Yeah I think I did. I don’t know where the footage is though.

Ryal

Homebrew Tea Xtra: Lost Homebrew Tea footage.

Becca

Lost media!

Kolton

I would have to look on my phone.

Becca

Okay, I think we can call it there. (laughs)

Kolton

Nah, hold on.

Becca

(laughs) I want to fucking end this!

Ryal

(laughs) Have you ever done a Forming Links where we drive you insane by the end of it?

Becca

No! We’ve been doing this interview for 40 minutes!

Ryal

That’s not that long.

Becca

The longest is like, 27 minutes.

Ryal

Well that’s a skill issue right there.

Becca

I don’t have any more topics.

Ryal

Here’s a question for you. What is the meaning of life? While you figure that one out, Kolton’s gonna go find his thing.

Becca

(laughs) Oh my god.

Kolton

Here.

Ryal

That’s not even remotely related. That’s just the WiiLink Orignals thing you did.

Kolton

Anyway, I think this is a good place to end the interview.

Becca

Kill yourself.

---

New episodes of Homebrew Tea are available to watch every two months on Wii Room. The entire series is also available on Wii Room.

Featuring:

Kolton Ramos (GamerKGR) - @gamerkgr on Discord

Ryal Coulter (Ryaltheamazing) - @ryaltheamazing on YouTube and Twitter