Retronauts Episode 256: Link's Awakening Remake
Over two years ago, we sat down to gush about The Legend of Zelda's underappreciated Game Boy installment, Link's Awakening. And once again, time has made fools of us all, as the Switch remake of this classic game stands as one of Nintendo's biggest fall titles—so it's safe to say Link's Awakening is FULLY appreciated at this point. But does Grezzo's very literal remake improve on the original ...
1hr 3m Nov 01, 2019
1hr 3m
Retronauts Episode 255: Castlevania's Oddballs
Jeremy Parish summons the eldritch forms of Castlevania experts Kurt Kalata, Rob Russo, and Kevin Bunch to discuss the enigma that is... Castlevania games that don't fit into any other specific grouping, like Haunted Castle and Bloodlines. Spooky!
1hr 31m Oct 28, 2019
1hr 31m
Retronauts Episode 254: Mega Man 11's Classic Roots
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Nadia Oxford get equipped with opinions about the latest entry in the Mega Man series and how it upholds the franchise's lengthy legacy. This one's been in the vaults so long that Mega Man 11 is almost retro now!
1hr 34m Oct 21, 2019
1hr 34m
Retronauts Episode 253: Loving Unloved Consoles and How to Play Old Games
Live from Long Island Retro Expo! Jeremy chats with Rob Russo and Kurt Kalata from HG101 about loving unpopular game systems, then muses on the means and philosophy behind playing old games with VGHF's Frank Cifaldi and MLIG's Coury Carlson.
1hr 59m Oct 18, 2019
1hr 59m
Retronauts Episode 252: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
For a little over a decade, Castlevania keeper Koji Igarashi cut his own path with the famous side-scrolling series by backing away from its traditional hardcore action and platforming, and leaning more towards RPG elements and exploration. The result was what we now know as the "Metroidvania," a genre that thrived for the ten years Igarashi found himself away from the style of game he and his ...
1hr 33m Oct 14, 2019
1hr 33m
Come See Retronauts LIVE at Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2019!
We're coming back to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this year for another live appearance! When: Saturday, October 19 at 9:00pm Where: Auditorium A at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo What: Our latest live panel, "When Celebrities and Video Games Collide!" For more info, check out the official PRGE schedule (https://www.retrogamingexpo.com/schedule.php) , or the official website (https://www....
1m Oct 10, 2019
1m
Retronauts Episode 251: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Retronauts East (Jeremy Parish, Benj Edwards, Chris Sims, and Ben Elgin) returns to the ’30s to evaluate the failings and successes (mostly failings) of Indiana Jones's most Problematic-with-a-capital-P adventure—and its impact on games, of course. Frickin' mine carts....
1hr 13m Oct 07, 2019
1hr 13m
Retronauts Episode 250: Loom
As Lucasfilm Games began to refine their philosophy of fairness, designer Brian Moriarty doubled down on this concept with his idea of a video game expressly designed to be completed. This would eventually take the form of Loom, an adventure game far different than anything that would come before or after it. With no inventory, no verbs, and music as your only means of interacting with the worl...
41m Oct 04, 2019
41m
Retronauts Episode 249: Roguelikes—The Road to Spelunky
Finishing out our patron request series on roguelike role-playing games, Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Jason Wilson, and John Harris explore latter-day roguelikes and how we got to the weird, wonderful world of Spelunky.
1hr 37m Sep 30, 2019
1hr 37m
Retronauts Episode 248: Contra
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, and Shane Bettenhausen use the Konami Code to tackle the challenge of recapping the Contra series, just in time for the latest entry in the franchise.
1hr 39m Sep 23, 2019
1hr 39m
Retronauts Episode 247: Classic gaming in Germany
We often talk about the U.S., Japan, and the U.K., but what about the rest of the world? Games journalist and historian Thomas Nickel takes time out of his Tokyo Game Show work to share some insights into the classic gaming experience in Germany.
37m Sep 20, 2019
37m
Retronauts Episode 246: Demon's Souls
In the past decade, developer From Software went from making poorly reviewed oddities to being one of the most important developers in our modern era. And it all started with Demon's Souls, a humble, slightly janky game that challenged the new standard of frictionless gameplay in the HD era, and delivered an experience we didn't know we were so hungry for. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bo...
1hr 38m Sep 16, 2019
1hr 38m
Retronauts Episode 245: Lemmings (With Mike Dailly)
Jeremy Parish teams up with the Retronauts East crew to discuss PC classic puzzle-action game Lemmings before jumping into a one-on-one interview with one of the game's designers, Mike Dailly of DMA Designs.
56m Sep 09, 2019
56m
Retronauts Episode 244: The Secret of Monkey Island
Now that Retronauts has transitioned to deep dives of single titles over the past few years, it's about time to focus on a genre we rarely touch: adventure games. That said, this marks the beginning of a limited series where I (Bob) will be covering the entire LucasArts adventure library—one game per episode—hopefully with new and/or rare guests. Since I'm not covering these games in any parti...
1hr 15m Sep 06, 2019
1hr 15m
Retronauts Episode 243: Final Fantasy VIII
Continuing our journey through the Final Fantasy series, Kat Bailey joins Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey to talk about what makes Final Fantasy VIII such a weird and wonderful chapter in the series—just in time for the remaster! Just mind the spoilers...
1hr 50m Sep 02, 2019
1hr 50m
Retronauts Episode 242: Strider
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Shane Bettenhausen paraglide into Kazakh S.S.R. to profess the glory of a game that remains indelibly cool even 30 years later: Capcom's Strider.
1hr 34m Aug 26, 2019
1hr 34m
Retronauts Episode 241: The Return of Listener Comments Catch-Up
The curse of the podcaster means we usually have so much to say in our limited time that we often don't have space to let you get a word in edgewise. So, every six months, I (Bob) like to collect comments and questions from the last six months' worth of my episodes—from both the main site and Patreon—and respond to them with a guest. So this week, join me and Jeremy as we respond to your though...
41m Aug 23, 2019
41m
Retronauts Episode 240: The Running Man
Just as video game boss fights were becoming more sophisticated, Hollywood gave us 1987's The Running Man, a movie that—whether its writer knew it or not—exists as a 100-minute-long boss rush. Though other big, beefy action movies of the '80s inspired video games more directly, this lower-profile entry in the Schwarzenegger canon might have had an even bigger effect on the way we look at boss f...
1hr 28m Aug 19, 2019
1hr 28m
Retronauts Episode 239: Super Smash Bros.
If you like Smash Bros., you'll be angry about this episode! Jeremy, Chris, Ben, and Benj gather to discuss the classic influences that define Smash Bros. Ultimate, but they get sidetracked and turn what was supposed to be a quick series overview into a full, rambling, off-the-cuff episode that veers wildly beyond what they had prepped and researched for. Whoops!
1hr 30m Aug 12, 2019
1hr 30m
Retronauts Episode 238: Nathan McCree on Composing Tomb Raider Tunes
Composer Nathan McCree reminisces about his groundbreaking work creating the soundtrack for Lara Croft's earliest adventures, the challenges in revisiting that material decades later, and... The Spice Girls?!
56m Aug 09, 2019
56m
Retronauts Episode 237: X-Wing
By patron request, Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey recruit Kat Bailey and Jason Wilson to scramble all fighters and mount an unrelenting assault of knowledge against the topic of LucasArts' classic Star Wars sandbox shooter series X-Wing (and TIE Fighter).
1hr 35m Aug 05, 2019
1hr 35m
Retronauts Episode 235: Mailbag—New Super Mario, FF Tactics, Gaming Holy Grails
The Retronauts East crew (Jeremy Parish, Benj Edwards, Ben Elgin, and Chris Sims) responds to YOUR letters about episode topics that may or may not have already been published, including New Super Mario Bros. and Final Fantasy Tactics.
59m Aug 02, 2019
59m
Retronauts Episode 236: Super Mario Maker
We're living in the era of the gig economy, and now our apartments are hotels, our cars are taxis, and we even have to make Marios ourselves. But that's okay, because Nintendo's Super Mario Maker series has thrived over the past half-decade as not only a celebration of Mario's 2D legacy, but an amazing toolset that lets budding creators put together levels that aren't even in the wildest dreams...
1hr 34m Jul 29, 2019
1hr 34m
Retronauts Episode 234: Spider-Man 2 with Jamie Fristrom
The Retronauts East crew looks back at the legacy of beloved superhero classic Spider-Man 2 for PlayStation 2. Then, Jeremy Parish talks to designer/tech lead Jamie Fristrom about the game's creation.
1hr 5m Jul 22, 2019
1hr 5m
Retronauts Episode 233: Final Fantasy Tactics
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Kat Bailey, and Shivam Bhatt equip their Dictionaries and set their Reaction Skills to "Podcast Debate" as they form up into a squad and take on Final Fantasy's all-time greatest spin-off: 1998's Final Fantasy Tactics for PS1.
1hr 49m Jul 15, 2019
1hr 49m
Retronauts Episode 232: Nester
Mario might be Nintendo's big-time mascot, but for six years of Nintendo Power, one banana-haired brat served a similar role. In what amounted to one of the first manga series snuck into the hands of American children, Nester existed as the foil to the real-life know-it-all Nintendo rep Howard Phillips, who used his insider info to humiliate a small child through a few dozen very entertaining a...
54m Jul 12, 2019
54m
Retronauts Episode 231: Kemco-Seika
Jeremy Parish and Anthony Schwader look back at the checkered history of publisher Kemco-Seika—from iffy original works to beloved conversions of computer classics. And lots of Crazy Castles.
1hr 7m Jul 08, 2019
1hr 7m
Retronauts Episode 230: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1989
Before the launch of the go-go '90s, a certain green foursome closed out the decade with a bang. Though the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles entered the comic book world in 1984 and debuted on television in 1987, 1989 belonged to the Turtles, with weekday cartoon episodes, a movie in the works, and, at long last, a chance to be the Ninja Turtles in both console and arcade forms. On this episode of ...
1hr 25m Jul 01, 2019
1hr 25m
Retronauts Episode 229: Retrotainment on Creating Modern NES Games
Tim Hartman and Greg Caldwell from Retrotainment talk to Jeremy Parish about the art and science of creating brand-new NES games such as Full Quiet.
30m Jun 28, 2019
30m
Retronauts Episode 228: Console Launch Lineups
By patron request, Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey revisit the topic of classic console launch lineups from Atari 2600 to Super NES with Chris Kohler and Steve Lin. How did these first games speak to their systems—and to the state of gaming at the time?
1hr 45m Jun 24, 2019
1hr 45m
Retronauts Episode 227: Console Roguelikes through Mystery Dungeon
The second part of our journey into roguelike history sees experts Jason Wilson and John Harris join Bob Mackey and Jeremy Parish to explore the protoplasmic origins of the genre's console renditions through the near-perfection of Shiren the Wanderer.
1hr 47m Jun 17, 2019
1hr 47m
Retronauts Episode 226: Aladdin Games
Now that Disney's live-action Aladdin movie is out, we finally have a great excuse to jump back in time 25 years to examine the animated version of that property—one that was oddly important to the 16-bit console wars. Virgin Interactive's Genesis game mostly overshadowed Capcom's SNES interpretation thanks to some still-impressive technical tricks, but the conventional wisdom about the Sega ve...
1hr Jun 14, 2019
1hr
Retronauts Episode 225: Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4 has quietly been one of the most influential games of the past 20 years, and now that a shiny new port is available on the Nintendo Switch, there's never been a better time to dig into the game that redefined the third-person shooter genre. Capcom took an incredible risk by throwing out nearly everything that defined the series for its fourth iteration, and even though it took f...
1hr 25m Jun 10, 2019
1hr 25m
Retronauts Episode 224: Virtual Boy Revisited
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Caitlin Oliver, and Brian Clark convene to discuss Nintendo's least-successful console ever: The benighted Virtual Boy. And it's not as dire a discussion as you might expect—in fact, you might even call us fans.
1hr 15m Jun 03, 2019
1hr 15m
Retronauts Episode 223: Epoch's Game Pocket Computer
Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey consult with handheld connoisseur Alex "kraeman" Forsyth about the impressive portable system that beat Game Boy to the punch by five years: The Epoch Game Pocket Computer.
28m May 31, 2019
28m
Retronauts Episode 222: Sonic Mania's Classic Roots
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, and Caty McCarthy look to the present to talk about a game that succeeds by looking to the past: Sega's 2017 hit Sonic Mania. See, we CAN say nice things about Sonic.
1hr 26m May 27, 2019
1hr 26m
Retronauts Episode 221: Alien
The last survivors of the Nostromo—Jeremy Parish, Benj Edwards, Chris Sims, and Ben Elgin—transmit from deep space to pay tribute to Ridley Scott's film Alien and its influence on pop culture and video games.
1hr 18m May 20, 2019
1hr 18m
Retronauts Episode 220: A Podcast About Podcasting
This time on Retronauts, we're talking about something that's rarely a featured topic on the show: ourselves! On this special Friday installment, Gary Butterfield (https://twitter.com/GaryBuh) and Kole Ross (https://twitter.com/koleross) of the Duckfeed.tv network (https://www.patreon.com/duckfeedtv) join us in our Midwest Gaming Classic hotel room to discuss the wild and woolly world of being ...
59m May 17, 2019
59m
Retronauts Episode 219: Classic console hardware design, Pt. 1
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Flip Grip design engineer Mike Choi talk about the most beautiful and memorable game console designs through the years. Even though podcasts, uh, aren't exactly a visual medium.
1hr 31m May 13, 2019
1hr 31m
Retronauts Episode 218: Rental stores
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and James Eldred reminisce about the halcyon days before digital distribution and demo discs... back when we had bike over to the video store so we could rent games we wanted to try out.
1hr 10m May 06, 2019
1hr 10m
Retronauts Episode 217: Game Boy at Midwest Gaming Classic
Live! Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Chris Kohler, and Caitlin Oliver discuss the Game Boy's 30-year legacy. Then Jeremy and Bob talk up the magic of Mindware's Heiankyo Alien in an impromptu chat recorded bootleg-style. [Art: Cassie Hart Kelly]
1hr 5m May 03, 2019
1hr 5m
Retronauts Episode 216: Stardew Valley
This time around, we're shining the spotlight on another newer game that, like Shovel Knight, feels like the platonic ideal of a specific retro experience. If you ever liked Harvest Moon, still like Harvest Moon, or fell off the series years ago, Stardew Valley is the game for you: it takes the fundamentals of Natsume's storied farming sim, sands off its many rough edges, and expands on the imp...
1hr 37m Apr 29, 2019
1hr 37m
Retronauts Episode 215: Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicäa
By patron request, Wes Fenlon and Henry Gilbert join Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey go a little buggy as they explore the history and influence of Hayao Miyazaki's manga and anime classic Nausicäa of the Valley of Wind
1hr 40m Apr 22, 2019
1hr 40m
Retronauts Episode 214: The Many Voices of Sonic the Hedgehog
With the Sonic the Hedgehog live-action movie just around the corner, there's never been a better time to look back on all the actors who once brought life to Sega's little blue speed rat. Though improv master Ben Schwartz will play Sonic in the sure-to-be-great film, he's just the latest in a long line of actors—in both America and Japan—who convinced all of us that a hedgehog could speak. On ...
57m Apr 19, 2019
57m
Retronauts Episode 213: Game Boy
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, and Jared Petty look back at 30 years of Game Boy. The memories! The classics! The music! The inevitable eyestrain from trying to play games in the dark in the backseat of a car!
1hr 49m Apr 15, 2019
1hr 49m
Retronauts Episode 212: Namco's Arcade History, Pt. 3
The Retronauts East crew continues their ongoing survey of Namco's legendary arcade output through the ’80s, tackling classics like Rolling Thunder and Pac-Mania as well as obscurities like Marchen Maze.
1hr 44m Apr 08, 2019
1hr 44m
Retronauts Episode 211: A Conversation with Rebecca Heineman
Legendary game programmer Rebecca Heineman discusses her journey to becoming a game developer, her most interesting projects through the years, and what comes next.
59m Apr 05, 2019
59m
Retronauts Episode 210: Kingdom Hearts 3
Have we really never done an episode on Kingdom Hearts? Well, it's surprisingly old, and now that the long-awaited third game finally exists, there's never been a better time. This long-running Square franchise has a history as long and complicated as its plot, and we dedicate the first half of this episode to discussing the origins of Kingdom Hearts and just where it's been going for nearly tw...
1hr 35m Apr 01, 2019
1hr 35m
Retronauts Episode 209: Final Fantasy VII, Pt. 2
Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey finally leave Midgar to explore the remainder of Final Fantasy VII with the help of their fellow party members, Chris Kohler and Kat Bailey.
1hr 40m Mar 25, 2019
1hr 40m
Retronauts Episode 208: Goodbye, Reggie Fils-Aime
On April 15, 2019, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime will step down from his role, bringing about an end to an era. But who was Reggie, and why was his tenure at Nintendo so unique? On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, and Henry Gilbert as the crew examines the life and times of Reggie Fils-Aime during Nintendo's highest highs and lowest lows.
56m Mar 22, 2019
56m