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This Week In Retro: Syphon Filterhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-98637760Sun, 18 Feb 2024 12:00:04 GMTFebruary 16, 1999: she syphon' me 'til I filterby Diamond FeitAfter decades of Cold War paranoia cast the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" across the breadth of American pop culture, the 1990s brought about a period of narrative turmoil. With our traditional enemies now looking friendlier than ever, who could Hollywood turn to take up the mantle of top heel? For a spell it looked like the War on Drugs might suffice as a Cold War substitute, as James Bond and Harrison Ford faced off against thinly-veiled caricatures of actual narcotics kingpins. Yet power-hungry dealers with private armies just cannot offer the same level of looming danger as a single superpower supposedly plotting to destroy our entire way of life.In view of this imbalance, a pattern emerged as post-Cold War action movies turned the crumbling USSR into a breeding ground for dozens of smaller, less-predictable enemies. This new approach had its advantages, as the lack of an opposing nation state removed the threat of mu...
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Episode 593: The Contra Ranking Hootenannyhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-593-98305032Mon, 12 Feb 2024 12:00:08 GMTStuart:Hello there, my darlings. Would you like to listen to a really, really long mega-ranking of every single Contra game ever? You’d think myself, John Linneman, Thomas Nickel, and Audi Sorlie might tire in the process of such a task, but… we didn’t. The energy stayed high, the opinions and anecdotes stayed flowing, and… in my admittedly biased opinion… I think we got a pretty damn good episode out of it!See, WayForward are beavering away on a brand new entry in the series, Contra: Operation Galuga. Before that came out, I wanted to line up the other console and handheld games in the series and get them all nice and ranked, but I wasn’t sure who to bring in. Thankfully, what I’m now calling the Euronauts were all keen to pass around the Conch...tra. That joke didn’t really work at all. It was a Lord of the Flies thing, you know, the conch shell. For talking. Because it’s a podcast, and—look, just forget it.Sixteen games are covered here. You know the format. We all rank the games th...
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This Week In Retro: Jazzpunkhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-98211204Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:00:05 GMTFebruary 7, 2014: Mission: Impeccableby Diamond FeitI'm not sure if the timing of my childhood or my Jewish upbringing caused me to grow up in a parody-rich environment, but I feel like I was inundated with satirical takes on pop culture from a young age. I loved MAD Magazine for giving me comedic summaries of movies for adults; "An Officer Ain't No Gentleman" remains the definitive version of Richard Gere's 1982 dramatic film in my mind since I have yet to see the real thing. My father introduced me to the works of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen before I could have possibly understood all of the humor, but I still loved them. When I sat down to watch Spaceballs in 1987, I laughed at scenes mocking Planet of the Apes and Alien despite my ignorance of the source material.Naturally, "Weird Al" Yankovic immediately cemented his place as one of my favorite performers of all time. Throughout his long career he has written many parodies that closely resemble established songs, only to change the...
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Episode 592: Retronauts Radio Winter ’24
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-592-24-98134149
Fri, 09 Feb 2024 12:00:10 GMTJeremy: Another day, another massive file download. I hope you're not on a limited data plan for your Retronauts bonus feed, because this one's a doozy—as usual for Retronauts Radio episodes, I've posted this in stereo at maximum MP3 bitrate quality so that you can appreciate the tunes ripped and posted here in the best fidelity possible. Although this episode does include a brief except of the 1942 "soundtrack," so perhaps that effort is inherently wasted? Well, we'll see. As usual, this is my attempt at public access radio... I tried hosting a program on my university's "underground" radio station, but then it turned out that the transmitter didn't actually work. So, you know, working through a lot of pent-up stuff here.This episode contains a blend of new vinyl releases and vintage records. It's a bit less of a crowd-pleaser than some, but that's just how my brain works these days. "Oooh that's interesting" sparks more joy than "oooh that's gonna net the downloads." But bear with me...
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Episode 591: Gaming's Cruelest Challengeshttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-591-97864665Mon, 05 Feb 2024 12:00:08 GMTJeremy: Good morning (or whatever), friends. Welcome to our therapy session. This week I've gone and invited three of my closest friends (read: fellow podcasters) to help me work through some video game neuroses. We've all played video games that randomly just decide "Hey, I no longer want to be fun or enjoyable" and inflict on players pure, abject cruelty. Join us (read: Myself, Ray Barnholt, Jess O'Brien, and Stuart Gipp) for two hours as we express pure, unvarnished rage about our abusive relationship with the medium we love.Also, apologies that my audio sounds a little blown out in places—my recording system is having some power supply issues. I've ordered new equipment to remedy the problem, but that doesn't help the spots where it randomly fluctuated to redline volume on me here!Edits by Greg Leahy; art by Nick Wanserski. 14:38 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Underwater Theme (Super Mario Bros.) 26:07 - Zork I: The Great Underground Empire (PSX): Prologue 34:27 - Monster Party: Dark T...
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This Week In Retro: Art of Fighting 2https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-art-97549651Sun, 04 Feb 2024 12:00:05 GMTFebruary 3, 1994: Whither South Town?by Diamond FeitHordes of developers tried their hand at making fighting games in the early 1990s but no one did it quite like SNK. Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, two former Capcom employees who helped create the original Street Fighter in 1987, ended up helming their own projects for SNK’s NEO•GEO platform. Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting would arrive in arcades well after Street Fighter II but both games are best viewed as responses to Street Fighter I.When the time came to make sequels, however, the market conditions had spoken: Street Fighter II set players’ expectations for what a “fighting game” should be. Regardless of Nishiyama or Matsumoto’s original vision for their creations, any follow-ups would necessarily need to better resemble Capcom’s blockbuster hit.Hence Fatal Fury went from a game about three men ridding their city of a crime lord to an international adventure starring seven men and one woman—coincidentally the exact numb...
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Episode 590: Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime & Slime Morimorihttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-590-97385717Mon, 29 Jan 2024 11:00:08 GMTGreetings, Diamond Feit here! This podcast was a labor of love for me, a chance to highlight a series that deserves more attention. I hope after listening you'll agree with me, or at least feel curious about seeking out these underappreciated video games.Three games on three different handhelds; that's the breadth of Slime Morimori Dragon Quest. Thankfully I found two DQ fans (Jeremy Parish and Alex Fraioli) to help me recount the adventures of one little slime, thus making this a fair three-way conversation. Enjoy the puns, for there are many.Art by Greg Melo, edits by Greg Leahy. Music heard in this episode: 06:41 - Slime Morimori Dragon Quest: Happy Slime Town 15:57 - Slime Morimori Dragon Quest: Intermezzo 24:36 - The Dark Half (Motion Picture OST): Prologue 32:03 - Slime Morimori Dragon Quest: Oh No! It's the Boss! 42:02 - Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime: Tank Battle 51:24 - Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime: Slival Battle 59:50 - Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime: Dragon Quest ...
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This Month In Retronauts: January 2024 editionhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-month-in-97284690Sun, 28 Jan 2024 12:00:05 GMTDiamond Feit here and it's my pleasure to kick off another year of community podcasts made just for you, our supporters. While not a jumbo-sized episode the likes of last month's, Stuart Gipp and I do run through a great many of your comments and all your picks for Game of the Year 2023. Please enjoy the musical choices this month, I tried to get creative give the themes of 30/20 years ago.Don't forget to leave your responses below for our latest audience question; I'm very curious what everyone's answers will be! Specific items mentioned in this episode include: Ted (series) and the overall oeuvre of Seth McFarlane Borderlands 2 Halls of Torment Home Safety Hotline Exiled SPISPOPD & Dr. Lunatic Supreme Mega Man X5 Hyperdimension Neptunia The Citadel Symphony of the Night for Sega Saturn Another Code Recollection Steamboat Willie Lost & J.J. Abrams Permission to Land & Elephant (unfortunately these were both 2003 releases) Rocket Knight "They Saved Lisa's Brain" (The Simpso...
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Episode 589: Super Mario Bros. Wonder
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-589-bros-94095119
Fri, 26 Jan 2024 08:00:02 GMTWowie zowie! After the untold tyranny of 15 years of New Super Mario Bros. games, Nintendo's flagship series returned with a bang in the form of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. This absolutely charming collection of 2D platforming ideas stunned the public last fall with its sheer abundance of variety, all executed to the standard of excellence we expect from a Mario game. But how did it all come together? And, most importantly, did we actually like it? On this episode, join Bob Mackey, Kevin Bunch, Stuart Gipp, and Henry Gilbert as the crew discusses the next evolution of the Super Mario series.
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Episode 588: Videopac Insidershttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-588-96899759Mon, 22 Jan 2024 10:00:05 GMTKevin: You may recall that I recently hosted an episode about the Magnavox Odyssey2, the silver superstar sold and supported by Magnavox in the late 1970s and early '80s. While that far-ranging conversation touched on many aspects about the platform's history and what makes it interesting, it was centered on the American Odyssey2 experience. Given the console's success in other parts of the world—particularly in Europe under the Videopac name—I wanted to give space for that story as well.Fortunately, in this episode I'm joined by two men with a unique and fascinating perspective on the Videopac. Oscar Groosman and Ton Kemmere both worked at Philips in the Netherlands on the Videopac project in the early ’80s as the product manager and the head of advertising and promotions, respectively, and agreed to jointly sit down and talk about their memories and experiences getting the console into homes across European countries. The stories they tell in this podcast are rarely told in the Engli...
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This Week In Retro: Superman [1989]https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-96652178Sun, 21 Jan 2024 12:00:03 GMTJanuary 1989: Neither a bird nor a plane, it's a mediocre gameby Diamond FeitI love superheroes, though I don't really think I had a choice in the matter. The sheer timing of my birth meant I grew up as these characters exploded in popularity, both on the printed page and in other mediums. I've previously written about how Spider-Man introduced me to comic books, holding my hand and leading me down a path directly towards the Marvel Universe. However, Spidey wasn't my first superhero; that honor fell to the most famous and arguably most important cape-wearing crime-fighter of all time, Superman.Superman's stranglehold on the top of the heap was hardly a fair fight. Not only did his 1938 debut make him one of the very first superheroes in the United States, but in 1978 he starred in his very own live-action movie. Director Richard Donner's big-budget affair carried the tagline "You'll Believe a Man Can Fly" and put young Christopher Reeve on the map as he perfectly embodied the earnest ...
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Episode 587 [fixed]: Sonic 3 + Knuckles Pt. 3
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-587-3-pt-96535476
Mon, 15 Jan 2024 14:39:31 GMTNote: Audio error has been corrected in this new upload! Apologies for that, and for the fact that Patreon's system refused to let us simply update the existing post.Stuart:Look, we’re three parts deep into what has ended up being five. You cannot claim that we did not go deep and hard on Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sorry for saying “deep and hard”, it implies that we experienced the game sexually, which I am sure is not true of my esteemed guests. I myself refuse to confirm or deny that such an event took place. What am I even typing at this point? To quote the icon of cinema known as The Mask, somebody stop me. Smoking!Seriously – we love this game and I expect that’s quite clear from the effusive treatment we have given it. And yet, you must understand that we are approaching the game from a critical perspective as well as a gushing one; where we feel it makes any kind of misstep, we’ve tried to highlight it. But the goal of this series was always the kind of forensic examination of a s...
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This Week In Retro: Nidhogghttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-96396841Sun, 14 Jan 2024 12:00:03 GMTJanuary 13, 2014: A good death is its own rewardby Diamond FeitAfter millennia of research, countless hypotheses, and straight-up speculation, the human race remains unaware of what happens to us after we die. I can think of no more important question for us to answer as a species, and yet the knowledge we so desperately seek continues to evade our grasp. At our current rate of progress, I suspect I will find out the answer for myself before any scientists or philosophers solve this riddle.Naturally, the looming specter of death, the afterlife, and whatever else comes next have all served as ample fodder for millions of stories over thousands of years. There's even an entire genre called Bangsian fantasy focused on presenting deceased characters who exist on a plane of reality other than our own. I'm particularly fond of any depictions of Heaven or Hell as tragically mundane places; give me fewer floating angels or flaming demons and more clerical offices.Plenty of video games have lik...
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Episode 586: Zelda II & The Action RPGhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-586-ii-96337511Fri, 12 Jan 2024 12:00:09 GMTJeremy: Yes, I know, we've talked about Zelda II before... as part of a double-header... way back in episode 66? Whew, so it's been a while. And that means I don't need to feel bad about revisiting the topic, on its own, with a completely different crew of people (which means different experiences, opinions, and facts). But it's not as though Kevin and Nadia and I (along with Tomm Hulett, returning to the show again in near-record time from the recent Operation Galuga episode) are just talking about Zelda II. Oh, no. We're talking about its place in history—specifically its place in the evolution of the action RPG. So, while Zelda II features here as the centerpiece, it's surrounded on either side by games like Dragon Buster and The Battle of Olympus. Games that either influenced Zelda II or else were shaped by it. It's a dose of video game information-shaped medicine with a delicious Zelda coating to help it go down more smoothly. So open wide.Edits by Greg Leahy. Art by Greg Melo. 10...
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Episode 585: The Years-In-Review Revue - 1994https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-585-in-96059945Mon, 08 Jan 2024 12:00:08 GMTJeremy: Technically, that header should say 1984 & 1994. But we don't talk that much about ’84. It's more of a mop-up, really. A quick wrap-up that takes, uhh, about a third of the podcast's total running time. Barely anything, really.Diamond Feit, Stuart Gipp, Kevin Bunch, and Jared Petty join this episode for a rather crowded room... or a room that would be crowded, if only we weren't all very separate from one another (in some cases by a matter of thousands of miles). But while we can't be together in person, we can at least be united by the fact that we have some opinions about things that happened in 1994. So that's something! Edits by Greg Leahy. Art by Amanda Neipriss. 09:27 - The Transformers (1984 Series): Roll for Home 17:46 - Steve Jobs (Motion Picture OST): Change the World 27:23 - Rare Replay: Jetpac Stage Theme 33:59 - The Tower of Druaga (Arcade): A Dragon Appears 44:17 - Summer Games (C64): Epyx Anthem | The Shawshank Redemption (Motion Picture OST): Shawshank Priso...
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Episode 584: Contra Operation Galuga & Toxic Crusadershttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-584-95625005Mon, 01 Jan 2024 12:00:10 GMTStuart: Wahey! No sooner have I put out one collection of dual interviews in Making of Karateka / Double Dragon Gaiden, I’m straight back in with another double feature, and this one’s a doozy. As well as chatting with the returning Tomm Hulett about his career and the upcoming Contra: Operation Galuga (of which he is the director), I’ve also got a lovely in-depth chinwag with Freakzone Games’ head honcho, Sam Beddoes, the multi-talented director, designer and musician on such titles as Manos: The Hands of Fate, both Angry Video Game Nerd titles and, of course, the upcoming Toxic Crusadersbelt scroller.I’ve been wanting to talk to Tomm for a while as we’ve been chatting on and off via social media and come up with a good deal of ideas for episodes; expect to hear more of us in the future, but this here’s a nice little taster and hopefully it’ll whet your appetite for the new Contra in 2024. You can trust this team to deliver an experience worthy of that series, and if you like Contra s...
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This Week In Retro: 2023https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-95647646Mon, 01 Jan 2024 11:30:01 GMT2023: To the Unforseenby Diamond FeitI've been writing things on the internet for a long time now, and I don't just mean as a professional freelancer. I started my own blog in 2004 and while feitclub.com no longer exists, I've kept up the habit on one site or another for the last two decades. Part of that practice has included an annual look back at each year's end; readers of this column have seen my previous three efforts, but I was posting essays of this nature well before Retronauts offered me this gig.Since social media and online cloud storage make it so easy to revisit my past—Facebook even shows me updates of my posting history each day—I came to notice a pattern emerging in these late December scrawlings. While my particular reasons fluctuated to reflect current events, my overall tone did not, as I consistently spent every New Year's Eve declaring that the preceding 12 months went badly. Nine years ago, I called 2014 "an awful period in my life." As 2015 ended, I wrote "It’s ...
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Episode 583: Gaming in the Year 2004https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-583-in-94095018Fri, 29 Dec 2023 08:00:06 GMT2004: Absolutely a year that happened. And 20 whole years ago! Check your calendars if you don't believe us. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt (of No More Whoppers), Diamond Feit, and Stuart Gipp as they travel back in time to examine gaming in the year 2004.
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Episode 582, but for real this time
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-582-but-95294514
Tue, 26 Dec 2023 03:23:33 GMTIt looks like Patreon choked on this week's episode and duplicated an older episode during the upload, but hopefully this time the proper episode will come through. The audio preview checks out! Cross those fingers....
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This Month In Retronauts: December 2023 editionhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-month-in-95050639Sun, 24 Dec 2023 12:00:04 GMTDiamond Feit here, happy holidays everyone! Here it is listeners, our last community podcast of 2023. It's also our longest (by far) and it's our first to feature not one but TWO guests: regular cohort Stuart Gipp and, for the first time, Retronauts' longtime editor Greg Leahy! We've been thanking Greg in text form for years at the bottom of these posts but this month I wanted to thank him in person. I couldn't do that since he lives in another country, but I could invite him onto the show and he accepted.Before you press play on this month's bonus show, please prepare yourself for twice the Britishness, graphic tales of Stu killing children, and one simple tip for improving your mental health. Naturally, we end the show with a question for you to answer, but since this is the end of the calendar year, I bet you can guess what the question is without opening the podcast (but please do, it took me many hours to edit this).Specific media mentioned in this episode include: Super Mario RPG...
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Episode 581: Holiday Special 2023 - Pac-Man Christmas Album
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-581-2023-94094331
Mon, 18 Dec 2023 08:00:07 GMTThe holidays are here once again, which means it's time for all you listeners to take your thirteenth trip to Parts Unknown for yet another exploration of a Yuletide-related video game creation. And this time around, we're examining the Pac-Man Christmas Album: a collection of holiday songs and sketches that very little to do with Pac-Man, but everything to do with hurting. So remember who you are right now, because the following 90 minutes will change you as Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, and Diamond Feit thoroughly pore over this musical atrocity. Apologies in advance for ruining Christmas.
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This Week In Retro: Mega Man X
https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-man-94762827
Sun, 17 Dec 2023 12:00:03 GMTDecember 17, 1993: X, the Everything Robotby Diamond FeitStating "video games are for everyone" shouldn't come across as controversial given the breadth of the modern gaming industry, but for those of us who grew up alongside the rise of consoles in the 1980s, we might retain some bitterness around this issue. For many years, distributors and advertisers pushed video games as toys—pointedly for boys—and this caused visible growing pains when the medium expanded in the 90s. As the audience grew older and technology grew more sophisticated, the "games are kids' playthings" ethos no longer fit.Different companies responded to this evolution in different ways. Some developers relished the opportunity to feature graphic violence in their projects. Nintendo saw this trend and tried to double-down on its family friendly image, at least until the company realized that expurgating the blood from Mortal Kombat cost them millions in sales. Others took the perceived market climate as license to ma...
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Episode 580: The Mario 3D Ranking Hootenanny
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-580-3d-94665086
Fri, 15 Dec 2023 12:00:10 GMTJeremy: You asked for it... well, actually, maybe you didn't. But we did it anyway. We have followed up at long last on Episode 445, the Mario 2D Ranking Hootenanny, in a new dimension. The third dimension! Now, this is not about Mario games with 3D graphics; it is about Mario games that actually incorporate the third dimension in a meaningful way. Which is to say, they add an extra axis of movement to the action. So Mario Wonder, not even a consideration. New Super Mario? Nope. But Super Mario 3D Land? I mean, it has "3D" right there in the title. So, this is a smaller sample set than some of our other hootenanny efforts, but still one with meaning! As always, we (myself, Nadia, Diamond, Kevin, and Stuart in spirit) rank the games in our hearts, compare and add up those numbers, and then look at the sums to determine which is officially the greatest of the set. These rankings are final and official as always, so please prepare to adjust your personal opinions accordingly.Edits by Greg...
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Episode 579: Writing About Video Game History
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-579-game-94447400
Mon, 11 Dec 2023 12:00:08 GMTJeremy: I hope this episode doesn't come off as too self-indulgent, but at some point we realized that Retronauts speaks to authors about their books on video game history pretty often... and here we are, with a whole bunch of published authors who show up weekly on this very podcast. So we thought, hey, why not talk about the processes involved in creating a book about game history? For anyone who enjoys reading (and anyone who wants to create a book of their own), this will hopefully be an interesting listen! And for anyone who doesn't like reading, well, the great news is that you can absorb this episode without laying a single eye on the page and enjoy the banter among friends.Edits by Greg Leahy. 06:53 - Super Castlevania IV: Library 17:08 - Day of the Tentacle Remastered: Elevator Classics - Snuckey's Greatest Hits Vol. 4 29:25 - Mega Man X: Theme of Zero 41:18 - Mega Man X5: Duff McWhalen Stage 50:33 - Earthworm Jim (MD): Intestinal Distress 1:01:00 - The Bourne Ultimatum (Motio...
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This Week In Retro: DOOM (1993)https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-94388026Sun, 10 Dec 2023 12:00:05 GMTDecember 10, 1993: *racks shotgun* "Moon's haunted"by Diamond FeitMars. The Red Planet. The God of War. Ol' Crimson Cheeseface. Save for our own sun and moon, no celestial body has held greater sway over the imagination of human beings. Ancient cultures spotted Mars in the night sky, Renaissance astronomers observed her features with early telescopes, and for decades modern scientists have launched probes across the vacuum of space to analyze her composition.For all the differences between Earth and Mars, the two planets share a few similar features. A "day" on Mars is only slightly longer than a day on Earth. Mars has Earth-like seasons, with a temperature range that overlaps ours; while it gets quite cold on Mars, the highs never exceed a level of human endurance. Earth has one large natural satellite, while Mars has two smaller moons.These commonalities, along with Mars' relative proximity to our planet, have long driven writers to imagine scenarios where humanity might one day set ...
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Episode 578: Mega Man Comics
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-578-mega-94030776
Mon, 04 Dec 2023 12:00:07 GMTNadia: This month on Retronauts, Nadia still can't shut up about comic books. Doesn't she know those things are full of violence and filth?! Just look at the Mega Man comic series Archie ran through the '10s!We jest, we jest. Not about Mega Man and comics, though. We're very serious about that. Which is why Nadia dragged two specific guests onto this show. We have Ian Flynn, author of the aforementioned non-filthy Mega Man comic series and Image's current Sonic the Hedgehog comic series. We also have David Oxford, Nadia's other half for 20+ years and fellow author of the Mega Man X Maverick Hunter's Field Guide.Archie's Mega Man comic run garnered a lot of praise for its sharp writing and deep exploration of robotic self and sentience. That's on top of a lot of kickass robot fights. But oh, it was gone too soon. Archie put Mega Man on "permanent hiatus" (i.e. Mortis) in 2015, just as everything was getting really good.But what made the Mega Man comic good, exactly? Where was the story ...
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This Week In Retro: Rick and Morty
https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-and-93973588
Sun, 03 Dec 2023 12:00:05 GMTDecember 2, 2013: Wubba lubba dub dub!!by Diamond FeitAs virtues go, I hold intelligence in high regard. Not in video games, stat-wise, I'm talking about real life; I respect witty, clever people and I aspire to become such a person myself one day. Certainly, one of the best rewards of building bridges with developers, writers, and podcasters over the years has been meeting so many thoughtful individuals and getting the opportunity to talk to them about their work and their passions.While I have held these values for as long as I can remember—all my friends growing up were similarly-minded—it is only in recent years that I have dared to ask myself what exact traits determine whether or not someone qualifies as intelligent in my eyes. It's a deceptively difficult question to answer because everyone has their own image of what makes a person smart but few of us actually attempt to connect the dots and explain how we apply that label to others.Without a doubt, one reason this conundrum ha...
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Episode 577: Bowserhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-577-91237642Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:00:09 GMTSo far, we've given many Mushroom Kingdom residents their own episodes. And while Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad have all received Retronauts representation, we've somehow neglected the surly, shelled, series antagonist, Bowser. Since his inception nearly 40 years ago, he's gone through several forms, a name change, and has even become a playable character—and yet, he's still without a game to call his own. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Diamond Feit, and Drew Mackie as the crew assembles to discuss this very large lizard.
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Episode 576: Pitfall! [The Later Years]https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-576-93612300Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:19:15 GMTJeremy: Hello! Hope you Americans survived your holiday weekend, and that the rest of you survived America's exported "holiday" Black Friday. Sorry about that, by the way.This morning's episode brings us the second part of a podcast you may or may not have heard depending on your subscription status here at the Retronauts zaibatsu. Part one of this conversation between myself, Stuart, and Kevin went up a week and a half ago as episode 574, a Friday patron-exclusive bonus episode. This timing was just a function of how my recordings shook out rather than a cunning attempt at tricking everyone into upping their subscription; I fear I'm not that clever or ruthless. Anyway, this episode stands pretty well on its own, since it covers the Pitfall! games that didn't have any direct involvement by creator David Crane, which feel like distinct entities unto themselves.  We begin with the game whose creation was furthest from Crane with Super Pitfall, the one entry in the series to have originat...
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This Month In Retronauts: November 2023 editionhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-month-in-93481105Sun, 26 Nov 2023 12:00:05 GMTHappy Thanksgiving everybody! Whether you live in the United States or not, I (Diamond Feit) hope you ate well this weekend. Our latest community podcast is ready to serve as background listening as you do dishes, reheat leftovers, or begin your holiday shopping.Joining me this month is Jess O'Brien to talk about the latest retro news and releases, share what we've been playing/watching lately, and read your comments and feedback. Also, given our shared American heritage, we do "talk turkey" so to speak; you'll want to have a pen and paper handy to write down Jess' recipe for her signature Thanksgiving dish! Don't forget to answer our latest community question in the comments below. Also, since I live in a nation where Thanksgiving does not exist, any images of your meal would be most welcome as I live vicariously through others' food pics. Specific media mentioned in this episode include: Jess' brand-new podcast Skulltenders  Super Mario Bros Wonder Alan Wake II a number of Team Bloob...
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Episode 575: The Making of The Making of Karateka / Double Dragon Gaidenhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-575-of-93194902Mon, 20 Nov 2023 12:00:06 GMTStuart:Kick, punch, it’s all in the mind. No, obviously that’s a different thing, though kicks and punches to the head could obscurely be described as a blow to the mind. And speaking of mindblowing, this episode of (checks notes)Retronauts packs in two interviews about two very different fighting games. First, there’s a chat with Chris Kohler of Digital Eclipse about the tremendous The Making of Karateka, then an interview with Raymond Teo of Secret Base, director of Double Dragon Gaiden. Worrr! Eh?Of course, the Double Dragon Gaiden bit was recorded a while ago – prior to the game’s release in fact, so it may seem as though it’s coming a bit late to the party. That’s understandable, but I feel as though it’s a game that hasn’t been as appreciated as it deserves, so I’m happy to give it the co-spotight with a very different but still pugilism-focused title in The Making of Karateka.Digital Eclipse’s Gold Master Series is an incredibly exciting new frontier for re-releases, with The Ma...
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This Week In Retro: Half-Lifehttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-93139985Sun, 19 Nov 2023 12:00:06 GMTNovember 19, 1998: Why I can't forget about Freemanby Diamond FeitI know this may sound ridiculous, but I believe every video game tells a story. Yes, every video game. Always has, always will. Even when a game lacks traditional narrative elements like plot and characters, the moment a player presses start, they will begin to construct a tale of their very own.Naturally, the ways in which different games tell their stories varies greatly from genre to genre and title to title. The simplest cases revolve around the thrill of victory versus the agony of defeat. A 100-hour RPG containing enough text to fill an epic novel, on the other hand, can deliver a yarn featuring a massive cast that traverses faith, politics, romance, philosophy, or any number of other topics.The humble first-person shooter lies somewhere in-between these two extremes, for while it can use narration and dialogue to communicate ideas directly to the player, the gun that permanently rests in their on-screen avatar's f...
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Episode 574: Pitfall! (The David Crane Years)https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-574-93032973Fri, 17 Nov 2023 12:00:08 GMTJeremy: Greetings from myself and Stuart and Kevin and Pitfall Harry. Or is that "Pitfall! Harry"? I'm never sure how to parse these things. But I am positive that I will never be able to record a podcast episode that entirely covers the intended roster of content we lay out in advance. This one should have been easy! There are only, what, like half a dozen Pitfall! games? And yet, here we are. This episode only covers Pitfall! and its first sequel, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns. And a sort of spiritual kindred game. That's not even half of the series. Yes, there's nothing for it but to record a follow-up episode....But that's OK. Pitfall! was kind of a big deal. It deserves the spotlight.Speaking of spotlight: Cover art by Amanda Neipris, and edits by Greg Leahy. See what I did there?Anyway, Pitfall. Or, rather, Pitfall! 10:05 - Squeeze: "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)" 19:30 - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: "American Dream" 26:36 - Live and Let Die (Motion Picture OST): Trespassers W...
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Episode 573: DOOM Clones
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-573-doom-92762459
Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:00:06 GMTGood morning, Diamond Feit here. We're fast approaching the 30th anniversary of DOOM, id Software's infinitely replayable & reshapable first-person shooter. And as much as I'd love to spend two hours of my life talking to fellow DOOM-heads about why that game absolutely rules, the truth is Retronauts already has an episode dedicated to that topic.What I did instead was invite Stuart Gipp and David L. Craddock onto the show for a conversation about DOOM clones, the catchall term we once used to describe the first-person shooter genre before that new identifier took over. Together we attempt to define what makes an original game a DOOM clone, highlight our favorite examples from the 1990s, and speculate as to when and why the term died. But first, we open the show by gushing about DOOM and why that game absolutely rules because of course we did.Be sure to watch David's documentary about this perpetually popular genre called simply First Person Shooter.Episode art from John Pading, ed...
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This Week In Retro: Hakaiō: King of Crusherhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-of-92679769Sun, 12 Nov 2023 12:00:03 GMTNovember 12, 1998: Hail to the king, babyby Diamond Feit"Are you tired of being nice? Don't you just want to go ape shitt" [sic]When an anonymous user posted this (rhetorical?) question to Yahoo Answers in 2018, it quickly spread across the internet on its way to becoming a full-fledged meme. By the time a Redditor added the text to an image of Princesses Daisy and Peach from Super Smash Bros, the transformation was complete: People are tired of being nice, and they took this message as a call to arms.I believe impulses to reject social norms and rebel will always resonate with video game fans precisely because so many of us use games as an escape from the humdrum of everyday life. As children, games offer us a break from school and our omnipresent family; as adults, games liberate us—however briefly—from our jobs. Even if you enjoy whatever it is you do as a profession, I'd wager at least a portion of your mental self eagerly wishes to leave said vocation and never return. Lord knows ...
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Episode 572: The Revenge of Listener Comments Catch-Uphttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-572-of-89935201Mon, 06 Nov 2023 08:00:04 GMTWe at Retronauts are pleased to report it's once again time for our listeners to do most of the work. Hey now; fair is fair. And since it's been a good two years since we've done one of these episodes, our fans have generated a wealth of questions and comments worthy of response. (Thanks for that.) So this week, join Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert as the crew turns the tables on their audience—but in a nice way.
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This Week In Retro: The House of the Dead 2https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-of-92268127Sun, 05 Nov 2023 12:00:04 GMTNovember 1998: Suffer, like G did?by Diamond FeitI believe my political leanings have drifted further and further to the left as I get older and realize how much damage decades of far-right rule has done to the United States, but one opinion of mine hasn't changed since childhood: Guns suck. Whatever their usefulness as a hunting tool or sporting equipment, their omnipresence due to lax regulation leads to the deaths of thousands of Americans every year. I remember my great-uncle showed me an (unloaded) handgun once and I was terrified; to date it remains the one and only occasion I have held a working firearm.Staged gunplay, however, is totally awesome. Movies like The Matrix and The Killer (1989) have their heroes wield these weapons like extensions of their own body. I marvel at the effort Keanu Reeves and the rest of the cast puts in behind-the-scenes for each John Wick film. Personally, I have on occasion had the opportunity to fire so-called Airsoft guns which shoot harmless pell...
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Episode 571: FaceBall 2000 & Retronauts Radio Mini
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-571-2000-92193169
Fri, 03 Nov 2023 11:00:06 GMTJeremy: I have one final 2023 live event recording for you this week, but honestly it's probably the best I've ever hosted. Between the sound quality, the structure, and the developer insights, it's a damn good listen!But it's too short to comprise a full episode, so I have also included a half-length Retronauts Radio segment to help pad, er, add value.As usual for Retronauts Radio, this episode has been uploaded in stereo at a high bitrate quality. It's pretty big! But that's to keep the audio quality high, you see.I'll post the video companion to the panel presentation over the weekend if I'm able. Thankfully 98% of the live conversation works as audio-only. Context clues, they're a heckuva thing.Music this episode comes from FaceBall 2000 and the following albums: Ultima Mix SNK Game Music Konami Game Music Vol. I Konamic Game Freaks InterviewNo, the 16-person play session didn't work out. Someday...
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Episode 570: Gex
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-570-gex-91913304
Mon, 30 Oct 2023 12:32:18 GMTStuart: Gex! Now that I’ve got your attention, listen to this podcast about the computer game character “Gex the Gecko”. Thanks. Look, you all knew this was coming, regardless of whether or not Limited Run were putting the entire trilogy out on contemporary consoles. Thankfully, they are, so I (Stuart Gipp, hullo) have a reasonably decent excuse for getting the Euronauts gang back together for a jolly old chinwag about this much-maligned and morosely-misunderstood series. Together! We will delve into the curious history behind this once again Gexually active franchise, from its 3DO roots to the vast gulf in history between the release of the final game, Deep Cover Gecko (Oxford comma), and its resurrection in the Carbon Engine. It was quite fulfilling for me personally to experience the enthusiasm my co-hosts had for this series, because me being me I’ve defended these games against slings and arrows for many years now. It’s nice to find out that I’m not alone and that people with Tast...
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This Month In Retronauts: October 2023 editionhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-month-in-91858197Sun, 29 Oct 2023 12:00:06 GMTListeners, I (Diamond Feit) must apologize upfront for a major gaffe in this episode. Whether I was possessed by a fiendish jackal or exhausted from too much podcasting, I couldn't say, but for some reason I described the iconic one-off powerup from Super Mario Bros 3 as Lakitu's Shoe. Latiku has no shoes; I'm not even sure if he has legs!Otherwise I'm quite proud of our latest community episode wherein Stuart Gipp and myself go over the latest releases, news, and your comments and feedback. Look forward to our thoughts on recent video game-themed anime, unfulfilled Kickstarter campaigns, and which circumstances are best for spelunking. Don't forget to answer our latest question in the comments below, and maybe share a picture if you can!Specific media mentioned in this episode include: Castlevania: Nocturne Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix Saw X A Boy and His Blob Retro Collection Dead Space (2008) Castlevania: Lament of Innocence God Hand Sonic Superstars Dementium: The Ward C...
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Episode 569: The Odyssey2https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-569-91482157Mon, 23 Oct 2023 12:00:07 GMTKevin: Retronauts finally features sync-sound action as we delve into the fascinating history of the Odyssey2! Joining me for this Voice-enhanced podcast recording are fellow Odyssey2 enthusiasts Jared Petty (of Limited Run Games) and Earl Green (of thelogbook.com), as we have a far-ranging discussion about Magnavox's silver beast = touching on the origins of the console, its weird, innovative, and frequently fascinating contributions to game design, and even its never-released successors! The Wizard of Odyssey would want you to listen, and you don't want to disappoint him, do you?Episode description:Retronauts is Voice enhanced with sync-sound action, as Kevin Bunch, Jared Petty and Earl Green delve into the topic of Magnavox's Odyssey2! Join us for a chat about the only game console to feature keyboards, board games AND Killer Bees!Edits by Greg Leahy 10:08 - Kraftwerk: "The Robots" 17:02 - The Swarm (Motion Picture OST): Bees Picnic 27:25 - Theme from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century...
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This Week In Retro: Castlevania: Lament of Innocencehttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-of-91443198Sun, 22 Oct 2023 12:00:05 GMTOctober 21, 2003: Thank you Leon, but our Dracula is in other castleby Diamond FeitFew things angry up the blood of hardcore fans more than debates surrounding canon. The longer a story stretches, the more complicated it becomes for the creative minds behind it to ensure every element in each new installment properly aligns with all the information that came before. If a contradiction emerges between two points in continuity, which one is correct? The situation gets even stickier when a property expands to such a point that new writers or producers take charge; their subjective interpretation of previous material might clash with how the audience viewed past story beats, creating a divide.Canon in video games is notoriously difficult to wrangle due to the interactive nature of the medium. The original Street Fighter II had eight playable characters, each with their own dedicated ending for winning the tournament, a pattern that fighting games still follow to this day. Yet the next entr...
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Episode 568: The Best and Worst of NES Horror
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-568-best-89935039
Fri, 20 Oct 2023 07:00:03 GMTAs the past decade of Five Nights at Freddy's has taught us, kids love horror. But before all the kiddos out there had the opportunity to look up the most stomach-churning images and videos in creation just by picking up mommy's cell phone, one question arose: How do you sell highly inappropriate media to children? On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Gary Butterfield, Dr. Sparkle, and Diamond Feit as the crew explores the best and worst of NES horror games to determine just how blood and guts sold in an era of Satanic Panic and Family Values.
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Episode 567: Night of the Living Deadhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-567-of-91043101Mon, 16 Oct 2023 12:00:06 GMTWe love anniversaries here on Retronauts and we love movies, so I (Diamond Feit) couldn't resist podcasting about both this Halloween as a formative film celebrates 55 years of frights: Night of the Living Dead. Writer/director George A. Romero gave us one for the ages with his debut feature film, delivering plenty of scares and defining the "zombie" as we know it, permanently altering the landscape of horror.Helping me break down this landmark motion picture and its impact on movies, video games, and the American psyche are returning experts James Eldred of Cinema Oblivia and artist Bill Mudron. Both James and Bill also share a personal connection with the city of Pittsburgh, Romero's base of operations, and frankly I needed guests on this episode who know how to use words like "yinz."Reminder: if you've never seen Night of the Living Dead, you should rectify that right away! Its public domain status means it's freely available on YouTube, the Internet Archive, or any site willing to ...
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This Week In Retronauts: Dead Space [2008]https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-90993287Sun, 15 Oct 2023 12:00:05 GMTOctober 13, 2008: CUT THEIR OFF LIMBSby Diamond FeitThe Resident Evil series lives rent-free in my head, as evidenced by its frequent appearances in my work for Retronauts. One of the many reasons I adore it so, particularly the 1996 original, is how it hides a science-fiction twist behind a spooky horror facade. First-time players will arrive in the Spencer Mansion, encounter its seemingly undead inhabitants, and assume this story must involve the supernatural. Instead, the endgame reveals this entire encounter has been an experiment gone wrong, seasoned with dashes of conspiracy and corporate greed. Yes, just like real life, the primary "evil" in Resident Evil is capitalism.Science fiction and horror go together as well as peanut butter and chocolate, since both genres excel at dropping ordinary humans into extraordinary circumstances, often in isolated locations like underground laboratories, remote outposts, or ships at sea. Yet there's one location, ideal for either category, that...
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Episode 566: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-566-year-90612701
Mon, 09 Oct 2023 11:00:04 GMTNadia: Final Fantasy? Dragon Quest? That stuff's for chumps. We're talking about Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the GameCube, one of the system's most celebrated games. Also, it might be the first RPG capable of giving you a paper cut.  The September Nintendo Direct shocked the world when none other than a Thousand-Year Door remake was revealed and pegged for a 2024 release. The roar of approval was deafening; it's almost unbelievable how such an unassuming RPG has the power to make social media flop on its collective side and start speaking in tongues. ("Wahoo! Madame Flurrie supremacy! Wa-haaaa!".)  What, exactly, is the source of energy that keeps Thousand-Year Door's fandom lit up? Nadia hauls her husband, David Oxford, onto the show to talk about their shared love for Thousand-Year Door. They're also joined by Retronauts veteran and Mario devotee Stuart Gipp. They put their heads together and talk about Thousand-Year Door's wonderful visuals, A-tier characters, unique bat...
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This Week In Retro: The Walking Deadhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-90573076Sun, 08 Oct 2023 12:00:05 GMTOctober 8. 2003: When there's no more room in hell…by Diamond FeitI never expected to develop a deep appreciation for horror as I grew older. As a scared little kid, the barrier to entry seemed unsurmountable. If I could barely look at the screen without covering my eyes at the sight of gore, there was no point in buying a ticket to see a scary movie. My early attempts at trying horror video games ran aground in a similar fashion; even though I bought Resident Evil on launch day, I couldn't play it alone, so the only way I could enter the world of survival horror was in the company of my closest friends.I know my tolerance for terror and violence developed slowly over time, and no single piece of media undid my initial cowardice. Access to a wide variety of movies in the DVD era certainly helped, enabling me to explore creations from around the world and from filmmakers large and small. Years later, when digital distribution made buying video games a carefree experience I could enjoy a...
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Episode 565: The Wonder of Mariohttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-565-of-90423104Fri, 06 Oct 2023 11:00:05 GMTJeremy: OK. It's time to come clean. This episode is not about Super Mario Wonder. The title this week? Absolutely and shamelessly an attempt at search engine clickbait. It is, however, about Super Mario Bros. in a more general sense. And about other games and series that landed at the perfect time and place to become classics. It's about the circumstances of their release, the particulars of their design, and the concepts and qualities that make them enduring classics. Stuart, Diamond, and Kevin all join me this time around to share their thoughts on the games they consider part of gaming's timeless canon, and to explain why they rank those masterpieces so highly. Edits by Greg Leahy. Art by Amanda Neipris. Tunes this time: 05:39 - Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Pipe Rock Plateau 15:46 - Shnabubula: "Mario Likes Thorazine" (OC Remix #1599) 30:09 - Super Mario Maker 2: Underground Theme (NSMBU Edit ver.) 41:42 - Myst: Mechanical Mystgate 50:25 - PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC: Perilous Pipes 1:00:54 ...
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See Us LIVE at Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2023!https://www.patreon.com/posts/see-us-live-at-90205041Tue, 03 Oct 2023 19:00:02 GMTWHAT: Our "Many Adaptations of Mario" panel, live at PRGE 2023WHERE: Panel Room 2 at the Portland Retro Gaming ExpoWHEN: Saturday, October 14th at 5:00pmWHO: Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Gary Butterfield, Henry GilbertPlease check out the official PRGE 2023 schedule for more information! And if you happen to be in Portland, be sure to check out the Talking Simpsons Halloween Live Show with Special Guest Bill Oakley that very same night! Tickets are going fast—or perhaps they've already gone!
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Episode 564: Grim Fandango
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-564-grim-89934937
Mon, 02 Oct 2023 07:00:04 GMTIn 1998, Tim Schafer left LucasArts on a high note with Grim Fandango: the Day of the Dead-themed adventure game that leaves pointing-and-clicking in the past—for better or worse. This one-of-a-kind experience mixes the trappings of film noir with Mexican mythology, resulting in one of the greatest gaming backdrops of all time. But after 25 years and despite the endless acclaim, it's hard to ignore the fact that Grim can't help but stumble over itself in its desire to innovate.On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Kole Ross, and Everdraed as the crew lights their totally-safe-for-skeletons cigarettes and sinks into the moody, pulpy vibe of Grim Fandango.And if you'd like to order Bob's Day of the Tentacle book, head on over to Boss Fight Books!
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This Month In Retronauts: September 2023 editionhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-month-in-90062975Sun, 01 Oct 2023 03:59:01 GMTOh hi, Diamond here. We're getting this one out just under the wire because I didn't want to release two monthly podcasts in a row in the following month, but this year September ends on a Saturday so I had to get creative with the scheduling. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Stu as a prelude to Spooky Season because we talk about ghosts, skeletons, and Smurfs.Specific games mentioned in this episode include: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (aka Dracula X Chronicles on PSP or Requiem on PS4) Tekken 7 & 8 Mortal Kombat 1 (2023) Les Schtroumpfs Um Jammer Lammy Now! Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord Pictures at an Exhibition (not a game, an album by Isao Tomita)Art (photo source) & edits by Diamond. Music heard in this episode: 13:36 "THE SINKING OLD SANCTUARY" (Castlevania: Bloodlines) 21:27 "Techno Syndrome 2021" (Mortal Kombat) 30:39 a 41-year-old Smurfs commercial 34:54 "Power Off! Power On!" (Um Jammer Lammy) 45:29 Tim Follin's title theme for the unreleased Ti...
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This Week In Retro: MYSThttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-89958447Thu, 28 Sep 2023 12:00:04 GMTSeptember 24, 1993: Take a look, you're in a bookby Diamond FeitI fell in love with video games at an early age and in some ways, it has afforded me certain privileges. My kids may have access to more games of higher quality than I ever could have imagined in my youth, but they've also grown up in an era where hardware and technological capabilities have crossed a plateau. Games released when my son turned five don't look that different than the ones he'll be able to enjoy on his 15th birthday.Yet I've seen the aesthetics of video games evolve dramatically in my lifetime. The Famicom did not exist on my fifth birthday, but by the time I reached 15 the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx-16 had all hit the market, with the latter two consoles even offering games in the format of the future, compact discs.The arrival of CD-based video games tore through a boundary that had held back computer hardware and software since their inception, as the storage capacity of discs dwarfed th...
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Episode 563: Fist of the North Star
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-563-fist-89768263
Mon, 25 Sep 2023 12:00:00 GMTHi! Diamond Feit here, back from Tokyo, ready with another Retronauts about a topic that's larger than any video game—and yet its history is as closely tied to video games as it is any other medium.As we have done in past episodes about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or Godzilla, this week we're looking at a massive Japanese media property that has had a sizable impact upon pop culture: Fist of the North Star, a 1983 manga that became a 1984 anime that became many, many video games starting in 1986.Together with guests Kurt Kalata and Brian Clark, we go over the origins of this post-apocalyptic gold mine, introduce the major players who appear in most adaptations, and give a run down of notable video games that sprung from Fist of the North Star's violent wake. You don't need to tell us we "forgot" one, by the way, as no list of games from this franchise could ever be complete; it wouldn't surprise me if a new one were to pop up in between now and the live feed release of this very podcast.E...
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Episode 562: Portalhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-562-88403400Fri, 22 Sep 2023 07:00:04 GMTWhen Valve released their incredible The Orange Box in 2007, an audience hungry for more Half-Life content had no idea the main attraction would end up being Portal: a mind-bending first-person puzzle game tied to an inventive and empowering new style of play. And after one brilliant sequel, this unique series left us forever—only to exist in the form of content found in other video games for the past decade-plus. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, Jess O'Brien, and Diamond Feit as the crew assumes the party escort submission position and discusses a series that shone briefly, but brilliantly. The veracity of baked goods will be determined!
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Episode 561: Blade Runnerhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-561-88403338Mon, 18 Sep 2023 07:00:03 GMTRidley Scott's 1982 cyberpunk classic came into being as a total flop, yet managed to claw its way into our collective psyches as the definitive portrayal of a dark future that would shape all sci-fi (and reality) to follow. Over the past 40 years and multiple revisions, this former cult favorite has become a respected part of the canon, but does it truly deserve its lofty status? On this episode, join Bob Mackey, Stuart Gipp, Kevin Bunch, and Henry Gilbert as the crew dons their snazzy raincoats to explore the very wet and very influential world of Blade Runner. Turtles will be flipped!
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This Week In Retro: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero [1983]https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-g-i-89398492Sun, 17 Sep 2023 12:00:05 GMTSeptember 12, 1983: Yo Joe!by Diamond FeitYears before I grew wise to the meaninglessness of schoolwork outside of school itself, my first clue that I didn't jive with the American education system was when I attended my first pep rally. I couldn't tell you from what age it began, only that at some point I had no choice but to attend regular events in the gymnasium for the sole purpose of cheering on my school as an institution. There was no specific game being played, nor were we asked to fete our student athletes after a big win. We just needed to be in the gym and celebrate as music played and cheerleaders danced.My objection had nothing to do with a disinterest in sports; I liked watching sports, be it on TV or in person. What bothered me was the futile nature of our attendance. None of us chose to attend school, least of all this particular school, so I found no value in cultivating or exalting any sense of school spirit. None of my friends played any sports for our school, and al...
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Episode 560: Metroidvania's First Decade / The History of Epochhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-560-of-89067382Mon, 11 Sep 2023 11:00:05 GMTJeremy: Hello again! Another live presentation for you. The sound isn't quite as crisp on the first segment as the second simply because it involves so many people, but the tradeoff is that you get a recording with five Retronauts and friends of the show in a single in-person conversation. The banter, knowledge, and conversation absolutely justify the situation.The second section takes a more modest approach. Rather than five people debating the evolution of an entire genre for an hour, it's simply two men (myself and Kevin Bunch) contemplating the history of weirdo gaming pioneers Epoch.I had hoped to add video versions of this episode alongside the audio, but unfortunately the video recordings I was given don't seem to be valid files. Disappointing! But these conversations still come across clearly without the visuals, so it all works out.Cover art by Nick Wanserski.Music: 16:15 Toilet Kids "Stage One" 31:54 Wing of Madoola "Overworld" 46:06 Zork I [Sega Saturn] "Track 2" 1:01:22 Met...
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This Week In Retro: Mr. Do's Castlehttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-mr-89035231Sun, 10 Sep 2023 12:00:04 GMTSeptember 1983: Heiankyo Harlequinby Diamond FeitIn 1982, Japanese hardware manufacturer and game publisher Universal released Mr. Do! in arcades. In keeping with the company's track record, Mr. Do! transparently borrowed many mechanics from an established arcade hit—in this case, Dig Dug. Yet Universal's take on Namco's drill-em-up added enough distinct elements to give the game a flavor all its own, particularly the eponymous protagonist Mr. Do, a clown armed with a bouncing ball.One year later, Universal bet again on Mr. Do, opting to turn the miniature mirthmaker into a franchise-supporting mascot character. Yet his second-ever video game would not carry on the legacy of his debut; despite the quick turnaround, Mr. Do's return to the spotlight shed nearly every element from his first appearance save for himself. In Japan, this 1983 follow-up carried the title Mr. Do! Vs. Unicorns, but the rest of the world got Mr. Do's Castle.One reason I loved the original Mr. Do! as a child was i...
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Episode 559: Nintendo v. Sega, Link x Zelda at Retro World Expo
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-559-v-x-88938147
Fri, 08 Sep 2023 12:00:06 GMTJeremy: Hey, I think we've finally figured out this live setup thing. After years of making do with whatever haphazard recording system a venue's organizers can bodge together (be it a pro setup or some guy's iPhone), now we just bring our own excellent portable recorder. And it sounds pretty good! So you can enjoy the energy and interplay of a live presentation, but you don't have to wallow in the sadness of godawful audio quality. Anyway, this episode combines two panels from Retro World Expo a couple of weeks ago. First, I lead the group (that is, Diamond and Nadia) in a different take on the Nintendo vs. Sega conversation: Namely, how the two companies' respective pasts shaped their video game output and resulted in "Nintendo game" meaning something very different from "Sega game." In a good way!For the second segment, Nadia takes the reigns and muses the most important question about The Legend of Zelda: Which Links and Zeldas were knocking boots, and which were just good friends?...
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Episode 558: Disney's Illusion Gameshttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-558-88759933Mon, 04 Sep 2023 17:34:49 GMTHey, Mickey! You’re so fine! It seemed pretty apt that I (Stuart Gipp; hullo) eventually got around to an episode about Sega’s totally iconic Thingummy Of Illusion series, given that one of them is my favourite game of all time and one of the reasons I got into this whole “computered games” lark in the first place. Joining me in this extremely important endeavour are the roguish presences of John Linneman and Thomas Nickel, the three of us mutually engaged in our persistent taking of the Mickey. And speaking of Mickey, this episode is far from Minnie. Mini. Because it covers the entire series, with the exception of the recently released Illusion Island, because it was recorded ‘afore that one done comed out. Look, I’ll cover it here, now: it’s alright. Done. Bosho.It’s a series of games with a surprising amount of detail to go into and a nice spread from amazingly brilliant to embarrassingly crappy, though most of the games thankfully err on the side of “v’good”. We’ve got more cartoon...
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This Month In Retronauts: August 2023 editionhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-month-in-88633368Sun, 03 Sep 2023 12:00:02 GMTKept you waiting, huh? I (Diamond Feit) have returned from my month abroad and I bring a small gift: Jeremy and I recorded a podcast just for you, our loyal Patreon supporters, while hanging out in our designated booth at Retro World Expo in Hartford, Connecticut. It's on the short side compared to our other monthly episodes, but I think the presence of Jeremy and the raw experience of hearing NBA Jam's Tim Kitzrow riffing in the background make it a fun listen. Don't forget to answer our question in the comments below; we'll return with another community episode in just a few weeks.(My weekly columns will also return soon, thanks for your patience)Art, photo, & edits by me. The dog's name is Honey, by the way! Music heard in this episode: 7:57 the opening for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 12:19 the opening for Babylon 5 18:13 "Pacific" by Kyoto's own Chip Tanaka 23:01 "Eternal Wheel" by Ozric Tentacles 31:03 "Drive-In At Night" (Street Fighter IV) 42:29 "First Steps" (Celeste) 51:...
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Episode 557: What's So Great About Video Game History, Anyway?https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-557-so-88368331Mon, 28 Aug 2023 11:57:53 GMTJeremy: Here's a topic we surprisingly haven't really tackled before across more than a decade and a half of making these podcasts: Why is video game history worth talking about in the first place? Why even make these podcasts?! There was no monetary consideration in mind when I first started recording Retronauts at 1UP.com; I just knew that all the other podcasts were talking about new releases and current-at-the-time-generation software, and no one was talking about the things that came before. (That's also how I got my start writing about old games at 1UP; I saw a vacuum that, like Nature, I abhorred.)So, I took some time at Long Island Retro Expo this year to put the question to my fellows at the show, or at least as many as I had mics for: Kevin Bunch, Nadia Oxford, and Kat Bailey. But that wasn't enough! Oh no. Since a bunch of other smart, active, impassioned, and talented game journalists and historians were on-site at Long Island, I decided to put the question to them as well....
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Episode 556: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-556-who-86587383
Fri, 25 Aug 2023 07:00:02 GMTIn 1988, filmgoers around the world were introduced to a little guy named Roger Rabbit, who seemingly promised to usher in a new Golden Age of animation. But in terms of this medium's history, he was just a blip on the radar; after five short years and three short shorts, Roger Rabbit left us entirely. (And then came the dawn of Bonkers...) But, believe it not, this half-decade spawned five distinct Roger Rabbit games that tried their best to adapt the frantic adventures of this flailing floofball. On this episode of Retronauts, we implore you to join Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, and Stuart Gipp as the crew dives headfirst into the dip to see if any Roger Rabbit games are worth salvaging. Don't make us say p-p-p-please!
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Episode 555: Street Fighter IVhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-555-iv-87932032Mon, 21 Aug 2023 11:00:06 GMTGreetings fight fans, Diamond Feit here. It's nice to see so much enthusiasm for the recently-released Street Fighter VI in 2023. New and old button-mashers alike seem pleased by Capcom's latest kick-puncher after the lukewarm reception to Street Fighter V.With that in mind, I'm joined on the podcast once again by Shivam Bhatt and John Learned so we can look back 15 years to the summer of 2008 at Street Fighter IV, Capcom's big swing to revive the franchise after the troubled production and mass rejection of Street Fighter III. For those keeping score, this is our eighth episode on the Street Fighter universe, and it will not be the last!Art by John Pading, edits by Greg Leahy. Music featured in this episode: 13:50 - Exile: "THE NEXT DOOR ~INDESTRUCTIBLE~ feat.FLO RIDA" 23:26 - Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting (CPS-1): Blanka Stage 34:23 - TGS 2008 Trailer BGM 46:20 - Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix: Chun-Li Stage 56:00 - Training Stage 1:06:38 - Character Select 1:20:27 - Rufu...
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Episode 554: Valiant's Nintendo Comicshttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-554-87652182Mon, 14 Aug 2023 12:00:09 GMTNadia: Children of the '80s learned a valuable lesson early in life. Why make your parents agonize over a Nintendo addiction or a comic book addiction when you can do both and make them rend their clothes over your enthusiasm for Nintendo-themed comic books? Truly Satan came to our houses disguised as Valiant's Nintendo Comics System, a short-lived series produced by some surprising comic legends. Nadia puts her head together with fellow weirdos Matt Green and Daniel Kaszor and they kibbitz about this weird hiccup in Valiant Comics' history. From Mario's goofy adventures to Link's valiant quests to, "This rendition of Samus is pretty hot, actually," they talk about it all.Art by John Pading, edits by Greg Leahy. 10:20 - Captain N: The Game Master Theme 21:35 - Ocarina of Time Hyrule Symphony: "The Legend of Zelda Medley" 31:20 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Fortress Boss (Super Mario Bros. 3) 39:40 - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES): Prelude 49:37 - Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: Es...
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Episode 553: Retronauts Radio Summer 2023
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-553-2023-87432734
Fri, 11 Aug 2023 11:59:01 GMTJeremy: Greetings, patrons, and welcome to your semi-annual Wow That's A Lot Of Music episode. As usual for Retronauts Radio, this file is much larger than usual in order to preserve the stereo soundstage and convey the original quality of the audio rips here as much as possible without excessive compression. And, as usual, this episode features lots of short excerpts of music but certainly not enough to replace or substitute for the actual albums being discussed here. Please support niche music labels and video game artists!This episode primarily consists of new vinyl releases, many from Ship to Shore Phono, who have begun making an effort to distribute their releases in non-vinyl formats. (In fact, I believe Gimmick! is currently only available on tape.) I did toss a few older titles in here as well, though. For variety.I'll let the music speak for itself. Well, and my recorded podcast voice self. He does a lot of speaking here.Cover art by John Pading, and edits/musical insertions b...
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Episode 552: Phantasmagoria 2 - A Puzzle of Flesh
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-552-2-of-87301064
Mon, 07 Aug 2023 11:00:07 GMTGuest host Jess continues her extremely specific fascination with point-and-click games from the waning years of Full Motion Video games! (Actually, this came out the same year as the other one she's covered: Toonstruck! Boy, 1996 was a big year for big failures.) And this time, she's bringing along two of the actors from the game: Curtis Craig (Stetler) and one of his many in-game romantic interests, Therese (Sigrunardottir)! They discuss this bizarre game and the strange hybrid of movie and game production it underwent, only to bust out on the scene and be one of the death knells of Sierra! Also discussed: how to get into videogames way past the prime age to do so, how not to go crazy during a pandemic, and how awkward it is to shop for bondage gear with your boss! And don't forget to check out Paul's Youtube channel, Conversations with Curtis (https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsWithCurtis), if you want even more behind-the-scenes trivia about this gory and gothic and goofy game. ...
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Episode 551: Retro Indies at BitSummit ’23https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-551-at-86914280Mon, 31 Jul 2023 11:00:06 GMTJeremy: Just a quick heads-up before you begin listening to this week's episode—there's a lot of background noise this time around, and that's because Diamond and I recorded this on the spot. We literally left the convention center as BitSummit closed its doors and immediately began recounting all the cool stuff we saw while said stuff was still fresh in our minds. That means there's a lot of street noise and, later, café noise, but sometimes you gotta strike while the iron's hot. There's also a change in audio quality since one of our portable mics permanently died about 15 minutes into the show. But no matter; neither noisy traffic, defective equipment, questionable cover songs, a terrible espresso drink that tasted like sick, nor the body-melting heat of a Kansai summer sun could deter us from completing our mission to talk about new games that feel authentically old!Also this episode: A brief on-the-spot interview with voice actor and game designer Jörg Tittel. It's quite a random ...
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This Month In Retronauts: July 2023 editionhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-month-in-86679322Sun, 30 Jul 2023 12:00:05 GMTDiamond Feit here: We are BACK and I'm (relatively) disease-free! I feel like I've been podcasting non-stop this month but hey, chatting with Stuart Gipp and recording the community show for you fine people is always a privilege. You gave us a LOT of material to go through this month, so this is an extra-long episode too!Please make sure to leave your answers to our community question in the comment below. August will be an exciting month for Retronauts in general and me in particular, see you then!Specific games mentioned in this episode include: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Blaster Master Zero Splatoon 2/3 Metroid Dread Ratchet & Clank (numerous titles) The Callisto Protocol Yoshi's Crafted World Pikmin 4 AEW Fight Forever the oeuvre of MDickie (Mr.) Gimmick! Mario & Sonic Olympics (numerous titles) BAROQUELinks to media we referenced: Frank Cifaldi's annotated playthrough of (Mr.) Gimmick  my BitSummit story  Lord BBH's Neo Rank Masters playlist  Octavius King c...
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Episode 550: The Missing Retrogames (feat. VGHF)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-550-feat-86774501
Fri, 28 Jul 2023 14:00:00 GMTKevin: Earlier this month, our friends at the Video Game History Foundation published a scientific study finding that 87% of retro video games are commercially unavailable in the United States, with no legal way to access them short of shelling out for old hardware and physical copies. Joining host Kevin Bunch to talk about why this research is important and what it means for preserving these games and making them legitimately accessible are VGHF's Co-Director Kelsey Lewin and Librarian Phil Salvador, who worked on this study. Learn about copyright exemptions, the limitations of relying on hobbyist preservation efforts, and ancient golf games featuring Arnold Palmer in this wide-ranging discussion!Edits: Greg Leahy 14:20 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Trophy Gallery 25:18 - Ratatouille (GBA): Kitchen 36:03 - Street Fighter II (C64): Fighter Select 43:45 - Final Fantasy V Advance: Library of Ancients 53:48 - 3DS eShop BGM (April 2014) | The Operative: No One Lives ForeverTheme 1:00:02 - NFL...
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Episode 549: Video Pinballhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-549-86575811Mon, 24 Jul 2023 12:34:14 GMTStuart: Remember that bit in the best movie ever made, Freddy Vs. Jason, where Freddy pings Jason around like a pinball and there are actual pinball noises, and then he growls, “Tilt”? It makes no sense, I know, but it’s up there with the finest moments in cinematic history for many, many reasons, the most compelling of which being that it reminds me of pinball. Which is what this episode is about!Sort of. It’s about pinball what’s on the telly, so the sort of pinball that you play with a controller and that transcends the reality of what poor, underpaid pinball-table-makers are able to achieve with their meagre resources. You won’t hear about the likes of Pinball Arcade or Pinball FX here, but you will hear about Sonic Spinball, Devil’s Crush, Flipnic and a host of other fine-tastic “pinners”, as pinball enthusiasts famously refer to pinball games.Who better to take you on this wildly ricocheting journey through the storied history of video pinball than Ralph Barbagallo, one of the me...
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This Week In Retro: Crystal Castleshttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-86524904Sun, 23 Jul 2023 12:00:06 GMTJuly 1983: Does a bear collect gems in the woods?by Diamond FeitOld video game genres don't die, they just fade away. I've seen my share of fads in my time. The fighting game boom, the "Doom-clone" era, the race for the next Grand Theft Auto wannabe; all of these came and went. More recently, it feels like we've only just emerged from a deluge of developers trying their hand at battle royale games. Of course, people still play and make all these types of games to this day, but when the gold rush stops paying out, game makers and players alike quietly move on.One of the earliest crazes I can personally recall is the success of Pac-Man. Namco's hit 1980 arcade game trapped players in a maze with hostiles where eating every dot was the only way out. Pac-Man did not invent the genre, but its particular combination of cute characters and a power-up system that let players turn the tables on their pursuers captivated audiences everywhere. Within two years, dozens of creations—some of dubious...
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Episode 548: Mortal Kombat II & 3
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-548-ii-3-86199359
Mon, 17 Jul 2023 10:59:02 GMTPreviously in Episode #447, host Diamond Feit, ko-host Stuart Gipp, and Long Live Mortal Kombat author David L. Craddock united to defend earth from Outworld invaders by podkasting about the original Mortal Kombat. However, their mission was far from Komplete, as there's a lot more Konflict in MK Kanon to Kome.(alright, no more konspikuous Ks, I promise)Therefore, we have reconvened so that we might trek to Outworld to cover the much-celebrated Mortal Kombat II, then return to Earth to stand against the forces of evil and discuss Mortal Kombat 3. These two games—and their revisions—represent the last hurrah of the series as originally imagined: Real actors performing real punches and kicks in order to portray larger-than-life characters. Will there be more Mortal Kombat on Retronauts? Perhaps, but when that day comes, we'll need the power of polygons…Art by Leeann Hamilton, edits by Greg Leahy. Music featured in this episode: 09:14 - MK II: Prologue 21:00 - MK II: Goro's Lair 34:33 - M...
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Episode 547: 1983, the Summer That Changed Everything
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-547-1983-86087088
Fri, 14 Jul 2023 13:22:25 GMTJeremy: Back when Retronauts relaunched (a startling 10 years ago this month), we led with an episode looking back three decades to the advent of the Nintendo Famicom and Sega SG-1000 on the same day: July 15, 1983. Now, we revisit that topic, but now with the maturity and extra insight that the past decade has brought to us podcasters. In the time since that long-ago episode, I've spent a lot more time exploring this period of video game history, including having played the first two and a half years of Famicom releases, the entire SG-1000 library, and games by competitors like Epoch as well, which means I have a much better sense of what the heck I'm talking about this time around. On top of that, I'm joined by historians with a specific interest in that period, Kevin Bunch and Rob Russo, who can speak to those events with authority—not just the Nintendo and Sega part, but the context of what was happening elsewhere in the world and the competition that existed in the Japanese market...
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Episode 546: Ace Attorney, Part 2
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-546-ace-84726452
Mon, 10 Jul 2023 07:00:04 GMTAfter the initial trilogy, Ace Attorney took some find to find itself once the book was seemingly closed on Phoenix Wright. From spinoffs to crossovers to soft reboots featuring new characters, Capcom's beloved adventure game series went through some ups and downs before returning to the steady level of quality we've come to expect. On this weeks episode, join Bob Mackey, Nina Matsumoto, and Maddie Copp as the crew explores just where Ace Attorney has been in the 15 years since its first finale.
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This Week In Retro: Samurai Shodown (1993)https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-85809716Sun, 09 Jul 2023 12:00:05 GMTJuly 7, 1993: いざ尋常にby Diamond FeitThe fervor with which audiences pumped money into Street Fighter II cabinets in the early 1990s kicked off a fighting game boom. An incredible number of games would surface in the subsequent years, all vying for attention. Yet the competition was not just between companies but also internally as each company fielded multiple titles in the newly popular genre. Nowhere was this more evident than at SNK, Capcom's neighbor/rival who found great success bringing fighting games to their hybrid arcade/home console platform, the NEO•GEO.Debuting in 1990, the NEO•GEO initially targeted a wide variety of genres, launching with a shooter, a platformer, a baseball game, and mahjong. Three years later, though, action titles had nabbed the spotlight with burgeoning fighting franchises Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting winning over fans at a rapid pace. Each new one-on-one brawler that appeared on the NEO•GEO had to distinguish itself from its peers, especially since ev...
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Episode 545: Mass Effect
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-545-mass-85482728
Mon, 03 Jul 2023 11:00:00 GMTJeremy: I had hoped to have this episode together and published in time for the 15th anniversary of the game under discussion this week: Mass Effect. That clearly didn't happen, the 15th anniversary being last autumn and all. But hey, that's what happens when you start dealing with the relativistic speeds and time dilation of space travel! For all you know, we recorded this like three years ago and it's only just now reaching Earth due to Einsteinian chicanery. Alternately, it's possible that we simply didn't have the chance to pull all of this together until more recently. Or maybe both explanations are wholly valid until you—yes, you!—codify the answer by making a selection on your dialogue wheel. Player agency: That's the Mass Effect way, baby. That, and smoochin' aliens.In any case, Diamond Feit and Wesley Fenlon join me this week in order to discuss romance options, lunar hot rods, and chthonic horrors from beyond the galactic rim. For that, you see, is also the Mass Effect way. T...
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This Week In Retro: Elevator Actionhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-85412407Sun, 02 Jul 2023 12:00:59 GMTJune 1983: Going down?by Diamond FeitNo one gets full control over how others imagine them, least of all fictional characters. It doesn’t matter how many appearances one can make in books, movies, or video games; executive meddling or an iffy on-screen portrayal might permanently impact people's perceptions.Take James Bond, the esteemed make-believe British secret agent who first began serving the Crown in 1953 in the pages of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale. That version of Bond bears little resemblance to the one who has spent the last six decades engaging in highly un-covert operations on movie screens around the world. Ask a random person what they think of "007" and they will likely mention his tricked-out sports car or his ridiculous sexual appetite before they identify anything related to espionage.Yet despite Bond's outrageous behavior we do, at least on paper, refer to him as a spy, and many unofficial adaptations of the character use that profession as a means to avoid infringing...
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Episode 544: Game Over
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-544-game-83850314
Fri, 30 Jun 2023 07:00:02 GMTAt the tail-end of the late '90s/early '00s prime-time cartoon boom, UPN launched Game Over, an animated series that dared to ask "Did you ever wonder what happens after the game ends?" Over the course of six episodes, it failed to explore this question, and instead wasted the time of talented people who should have been doing much better things. On this episode of Retronauts, join cartoon experts Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert as they explore a thing they regret to inform you about.
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Episode 543: Nintendo Power Comicshttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-543-85137938Mon, 26 Jun 2023 11:18:58 GMTNadia: What's the only thing in the universe that's capable of destroying your mind faster than comic books? (At least according to fussy old people with no sense of fun?) Video games! And what's the only thing in the universe that's capable of liquefying your brain even further than comic books or video games? Comic books based on video games, of course. Whew! Now just throw in a comic book series about video games written for a magazine that only existed to pitch video games to youngsters, and you've got yourself a Rider of the Apocalypse. But as we all know by now, "apocalyptic" is just a term grown-ups use to warn about things that are cool, awesome, and fun. Those are three words that fit Nintendo Power's comics to a tee. This week on Retronauts, Nadia Oxford, Anthony John Agnelllo, and Peter Malamud Smith leaf back in their old issues of Nintendo Power and dredge up the Star Fox and Super Metroid comics by  Benimaru Itoh, the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past comic by Japanese ...
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This Month In Retronauts: June 2023 editionhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-month-in-84894353Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:00:04 GMTApologies in advance, dear listeners: I (Diamond Feit) came down with a summer cold this week and while my health has improved much in the days that followed, during the actual recording of our monthly community podcast, I was still pretty exhausted and a little bit hoarse. Fear not though, for Stuart Gipp and I upheld our promise to you and read your comments, your feedback, and delivered a rundown of recent retro news & releases...and very old Canadian television for some reason.Ironically, some of the info we caught up with this month is now out of date again thanks to the Nintendo Direct that followed our recording session by a few days. I guess we'll find time to react to Super Mario Wonderworld in our July episode, by which point Nintendo will probably announce something else new and exciting. Oh well!Don't forget to leave your answers to our latest community question in the comments below.Art (using a public domain logo) & edits by Diamond. Music heard in this episode: 1...
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Episode 542: Sonic 3 & Knuckles Pt. 2
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-542-3-pt-84794922
Mon, 19 Jun 2023 11:23:05 GMTStuart: I like Sonic 3 & Knuckles. I’m sure this is clear to you if your ears have experienced the first senses-shattering episode of this not-so-mini-series, in which myself (Stuart Gipp), Seumidh MacDonald (ShayMay), and Dave Bulmer (Dave Bulmer) talk and talk and bloody talk about this outstanding Mega Drive classic. Here, we move on from Hydrocity (pronounced Hydro City, do not start with me) to Marble Garden; perhaps the low point of the Sonic 3 portion of the game? You’ll have to listen to find out.Clearly, this isn’t going to be a short series, but I do hope you’ll think the insight, the discussion makes it worthwhile. Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a big deal to us and I want you, the listener, to understand the depth of the thing and just what makes it so gosh darn special to so many people. It’s my full intention to give the same treatment to other games in this often-spectacular series, though nothing is going to experience quite as much analysis as the beloved S3K. By all me...
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This Week In Retro: Spy Hunter (1983)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-spy-84743036
Sun, 18 Jun 2023 12:00:05 GMTJune 1983: Ah, Mancini—the spy's best friendby Diamond FeitI know a majority of Retronauts supporters live in the United States, a country that prioritizes roads over public transportation, but I'm curious if anyone reading or listening to my columns actually enjoys driving a car. I'm approaching the 30th anniversary of getting my learner's permit and I can tell you that while I love the freedom that driving can provide in certain contexts, I do not find any pleasure in the act of operating a motor vehicle. In fact, having experienced multiple jobs that all but required me to commute via my own automobile every day, I know that the more I have to drive, the less I want to do it.Maybe it all comes down to me not being a car guy. I view them as tools or mobile storage solutions, not as an extension of myself or my personality. Countless movies have tried to convince me that asking a man to drive a minivan represents a great affront to his masculinity and I cannot for the life of me under...
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Episode 541: OutRunhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-541-84631377Fri, 16 Jun 2023 08:00:04 GMTJeremy: I recently put together a video about the Master System version of OutRun (or as Sega called it on Master System, Out Run) that led me down the rabbit hole of one of the greatest racing series of all time. Or rather, driving series. I don't care for racing games, but OutRun is something else altogether—fast and often intense, yes, but also curiously chill. For this week's patron bonus episode, I gathered together two retrogaming titans of sufficient stature to weigh in on such a legendary franchise: Shane Bettenhausen and Jaz Rignall. Did we do justice to the game and its history? Or did we stall out before reaching the checkpoint? You'll have to listen to find out for yourself. At the very least, the musical selections are guaranteed to be bangers this time around.... 10:06 - Out Run: Passing Breeze 15:42 - Out Run: Passing Breeze (continued) 27:09 - Safari Race: BGM 42:15 - Hang-On: Main Theme | Ray Stevens: "Cannonball" 47:18 - Out Run: Magical Sound Shower 1:01:35 - Altered...
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Episode 540: Kirby, Part 5
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-540-part-83850268
Mon, 12 Jun 2023 07:00:06 GMTWe've covered every Kirby platformer to date over the course of four episodes, so what territory is left to trod when it comes to Nintendo's pink puffball? If you're a Retronauts listener, it may not surprise you, but Kirby has starred in a shocking amount of games that involve more than just left-to-right traversal. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, Henry Gilbert, and patron Andrew Oliveira—who sponsored this installment—as the crew examines the many, many Kirby spin-off games. This episode is so exciting, you may have a mass attack!
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This Week In Retro: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993)https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-of-84382275Sun, 11 Jun 2023 12:00:07 GMTJune 6, 1993: We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreamsby Diamond FeitIn the 1983 movie WarGames, when young David Lightman suspects his electronic bout of Global Thermonuclear War against an AI opponent might have cataclysmic ramifications, he asks the computer "Is this a game or it is real?" The machine, in its deadpan delivery, answers his question with a question: "WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?" David reacts as we in the audience do, with shock and fear, for this cold-blooded response suggests the AI simply doesn't care.Yet if we look at this query from the computer's point of view, its reply can be read as genuine. A machine installed deep inside a military complex has no concept of human perception; it only knows what we program it to know, and only observes data that we feed to it. In this case, the computer runs simulations of warfare scenarios 24/7. To an intelligence that exclusively understands its existence by conducting digital combat, the line between "real" and...
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Episode 539: Minesweeper + Sharewarehttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-539-84050243Mon, 05 Jun 2023 11:00:06 GMTJeremy: Books! As you may know, we here are Retronauts are what you might call "fans." Sure, we work in this newfangled podcast medium, but that's just because it's where the money's at. Our hearts belong to paper... and to video games, of course. Old meets new, you know? And when the two intersect, well, that's a good conversation just waiting to happen.So: This week, my book-editing compatriot Jared Petty and I put on our newsprint hats and enter print mode by speaking to the authors of two recent books on video game history: Kyle Orland and Richard Moss. Neither is a stranger to Retronauts, and both walk us through not only the history of the topics they've chosen to dissect—Minesweeper and shareware, respectively—but also the process of actually digging up enough substantial info about those topics to create great reads.Please forgive the number of times I accidentally called Minesweeper "Minecraft." Edits by Greg Leahy and cover art by Amanda Pruitt Neipris. 09:12 - Minecraft: Ari...
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This Week In Retro: WarGames (1983)https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-84049685Sun, 04 Jun 2023 13:21:37 GMTJune 3, 1983: Wouldn't you prefer a good game of chess?by Diamond FeitWe've all heard the expression "history repeats itself" but as I approach the half-century mark, I must admit I always assumed it would take longer to see certain attitudes refresh themselves. When a boom in technological advancement in my youth brought computers into American homes and automation threatened the job security of millions of laborers, I can remember the pushback. The innovations I viewed as groundbreaking and futuristic frightened a great many people who worried that we as a society were constructing our own replacements.Yet four decades later, I cannot help but notice that the conversation around artificial intelligence seems rooted in exactly the same mindset. Again, technological advancement has expanded the strength, speed, and reach of computers, this time putting them into the pockets of billions of people around the globe. Not only does this ease of access put people's livelihoods at risk as cor...
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Episode 538: Thimbleweed Park
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-538-park-83638094
Fri, 02 Jun 2023 07:00:05 GMTAfter leaving LucasArts in 1991, Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion creator put traditional adventure games behind him in favor of making point-and-click experiences for the younger set. But after the passing of two decades, the power of Kickstarter—which made the return of this very podcast possible—allowed the veteran developer to create a new adventure game completely on his own terms. The result was 2017's Thimbleweed Park, an adventure that certainly feels like a classic Ron Gilbert game—and one that ended up being just as polarizing.On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey and Thimbleweed Park cover artist Nina Matsumoto as the two walk the Twin Peaks-y streets of Thimbleweed Park to determine if it's worthy of the LucasArts legacy. You'll believe a clown can curse!
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Episode 537: Final Fantasy ROM Hacks
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-537-rom-83698306
Mon, 29 May 2023 11:00:03 GMTThe internet of the '90s was slower than molasses poured on a turtle. Worse, it was only accessible by making a pact with a screaming demon. (Our parents told us it was just the modem, but we knew better.) A jpeg could take ages to load. A three-minute 176 x 144 video could take a lifetime. But we made it work. That is to say, we still found ways to find and download ROMs—and, by extension, how to find and download the fan-made patches that sometimes turned our beloved 8- and- 16-bit games into something else entirely.While the earliest fan games attached a dong to Mario's sprite and called it a day, it wasn't long before enthusiasts got down to serious work. RPGs are popular subjects for patches, and the Final Fantasy series in particular has been blessed with some fan works that are nothing short of astonishing. This month, Nadia hooks up with old friends Andrew Vestal and Steve Tramer, two gentlemen who, like herself, know how much our beloved Final Fantasy games can offer us when f...
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This Month In Retronauts: May 2023 editionhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-month-in-83656581Sun, 28 May 2023 12:00:03 GMTSalutations, patrons! Because you demanded it (and he insisted) Stuart returns to our community podcast after taking last month off. Besides reading your comments on recent Retronauts episodes and your responses to the question we posed in April, Stuart and I also chat about Tears of the Kingdom (how could we not) but also share crucial thoughts on the Fast & Furious franchise and Stu reacts to one of your ideas with "bile and rage." Find out which one by clicking play!Important note: you can watch the video Punchy made about the Left 4 Dead 2 arcade game right here and that Castlevania arcade game is now properly playable on Windows. Also a slew of retro news dropped after we recorded this so if we didn't mention a megaton announcement, that's probably why. And of course, don't miss the new community question which I drew directly from the Retronauts Discord!Art & edits by Diamond (Photo credit). Music heard in this episode:  14:07 "Tokyo Drift" by Teriyaki Boyz 30:07 "Dig" by...
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Episode 536: Below the Root
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-536-root-83357354
Mon, 22 May 2023 10:00:04 GMTWhat's this, an episode about a home computer game from the early 1980s with nary a Brit in sight? Yes, this week Diamond Feit hosts an episode requested by patron Ben Hamilton who asked us to cover Spinnaker Software and their adventure game adaptation of Below the Root.Diamond is joined by Jared Petty as they both grew up with the Commodore 64 in their homes and Spinnaker made a point of producing a variety of edutainment titles for that platform. Some of their games were intended to just get kids used to the idea of pressing keys on a keyboard—an uncommon skill 40 years for youngsters—while Below the Root proved to be a much more ambitious, carefully designed platformer with an inventory to manage, spells to cast, and plenty of living things (not just people) to talk to.Art by Amanda Pruitt Neipris, edits by Greg Leahy. Music in this episode: 14:03 - Commando (C64): Main Theme 28:00 - Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (C64): Towne/Intro 35:42 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (OST): Ma...
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This Week In Retro: BAROQUE (1998)https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-83361246Mon, 22 May 2023 07:30:01 GMTMay 21, 1998: If it ain't BAROQUE, don't fix itby Diamond FeitImagine waking up in a desolate ruin you’ve never seen before, unable to remember your past or even your name. You are not alone, strictly speaking, but no one else you meet qualifies as human. Some claim to be angels and they speak to you derisively, urging you toward a large tower that looms nearby. One of them even hands you a massive gun and tells you to use it.Should you heed his words and enter the tower, you will find it crawling with misshapen creatures that try to kill you. That giant gun you’re carrying only has five shots, so if you want to live you’ll need to find something else to keep the monsters at bay. With a little luck, you’ll make your way to an ethereal chamber where a voice tells you that you’re about to meet…God.The voice insists that you fire your gun at God.What I’m describing isn’t a flash fiction challenge or a nightmare I had after binge-watching Good Omens. No, I’m summarizing the initial experie...
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Episode 535: Hi-Fi Retro Gaming 2023https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-535-hi-83234982Fri, 19 May 2023 11:50:33 GMTAh, the Retronauts Curse continues apace. This latest entry in our ongoing conversation (last touched on in episode 437) about ways to coax the best possible classic gaming experiences from modern machines (which so often fail to do justice to software designed for a completely different for of tech) arrives the same day that Analogue's surprise preorders for their TG16 clone Duo open—a device whose status we speculate about in this very show. Instant obsolescence!But that's just the nature of this field of retro tech. It's constantly on the move, with new options appearing without warning thanks to the hard work of a small, skilled community that largely labors for love rather than for profit. That community includes this week's guest, Matt Pannella, who maintains a humble little script that greatly streamlines the process of pulling all the latest Open FPGA cores from the internet and onto your Analogue Pocket. But wait, you say. What is an Open FPGA? What's a core? Who is an Analogu...
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Episode 534: Fallout: New Vegas
https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-534-new-81568744
Mon, 15 May 2023 07:00:03 GMTWith 2008's Fallout 3 bringing the fabled RPG series to a new generation of players who couldn't—or didn't want to—play the first two games, Bethesda had an audience poised and ready for more post-apocalyptic RPG fun. With Skyrim currently in the works, the developer turned to Obsidian Entertainment to transform an abandoned Fallout project into a fitting sequel in just 18 months. And what could have felt like a cheap cash-in ended up being the series' finest moment to date. On this week's episode, join Bob Mackey, Gary Butterfield, and Kole Ross as the crew drinks plenty of refreshing Sunset Sarsaparilla and talks about the sprawling, somewhat messy masterpiece known as Fallout: New Vegas.
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This Week In Retro: Zoo Keeper (1983)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-zoo-82897408
Sun, 14 May 2023 12:00:03 GMTMay 1983: Zeke no Densetsuby Diamond FeitI think it's fair to describe the relationship between human beings and the remainder of the animal kingdom as "complicated." As Chief Seattle possibly once said, all living things are connected to one another on a fundamental level, and yet as a society we have collectively made many profound decisions that directly impact the lives of thousands of species.I wouldn't consider myself an environmentalist or even a vegetarian, but as I get older I feel more empathy for animals. In my youth I often viewed wandering birds or mammals as pests, shooing away countless pigeons who had just as much right to walk the streets of New York City as I did. Today, I try to give the animals I meet as much respect as I can, for their needs and my own are more similar than dissimilar.As my perception of animals changes over time, my desire to forge new bonds with them grows stronger, and I wish more video games offered me opportunities to do so. All too frequently...
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Episode 533: The Zelda Timelinehttps://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-533-82661413Mon, 08 May 2023 11:00:03 GMTThis week, we grab a big ol' can opener and open a big ol' can of worms—namely, the chronology that underlies the Legend of Zelda series. Does the timeline matter? Does it make sense? Was it a huge mistake for Nintendo to attempt to lock down the way each Zelda game relates to the others? Why is Zelda so horny? We answer all of these questions! Probably!Participants: Jeremy, Stuart, Diamond, AND Nadia! Artwork: Greg Melo! Edits: Greg Leahy! Music: 06:27 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Gerudo Valley (Remix) 16:55 - 30th Anniversary Concert: Ocarina Melodies Suite 27:14 - Breath of the Wild: 10,000 Year Legend 42:19 - Skyward Sword: Zelda's Lullaby | A Link to the Past: Seal of Seven Maidens 50:06 - Ocarina of Time: The Creation of Hyrule 1:01:42 - Wind Waker: Farewell Hyrule King 1:09:11 - Twilight Princess: Song of Healing 1:16:30 - Skyward Sword: Demise Battle 1:25:34 - Twilight Princess: Gerudo Desert 1:33:59 - Ocarina of Time: Temple of Time Closing - Ocarina of Time: Staff Roll
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This Week In Retro: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrowhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/this-week-in-of-82476933Sun, 07 May 2023 12:00:04 GMTMay 6, 2003: Just let your soul globy Diamond FeitAt the dawn of the 21st century, Konami’s Castlevania series of video games had found itself a comfortable, predictable pattern. The franchise was approaching its 20th anniversary and, whether presented in 2D or 3D, on home consoles or handhelds, players had come to expect certain features as a given. Each new Castlevania adventure would star a vampire hunter, they would fight their way through Dracula’s castle, and eventually destroy the Count before escaping and watching his chaotic abode crumble into dust.Beginning with the 2001 debut of the Game Boy Advance, Castlevania made a second home for itself on Nintendo’s latest portable device; Konami released Circle of the Moon as a launch title, then followed with Harmony of Dissonance the following year. Both of these titles sought to carry the torch of the transformative 1997 PlayStation game Symphony of the Night which reimaged the series as an exploration-heavy quasi-RPG instead of as...
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