Another poll: Extracurricular activities

Also as far as movies go, the Back to the Future ones were gold. I’m desperately looking forward to part 3. The BTTF movies are my favorite of all time. I just wish they were longer.

Frankly I could listen to Jeremy, Bob, and the other usuals talk about anything. I do prefer Nintendo first party topics but I’m game (pun intended) for anything that interests you as my interests generally align.

I like the change of pace. You are keeping it game related so rock on! I actually would not mind you guys doing horrible game based movies. It is a good exercise to look back on the Prince of Persias and Max Paynes to see where the director completely just Joel Schumachered the intellectual property to oblivion.

If you must have these episodes, please make them more focused. Rambling conversations are fine for other podcasts but my favourite Retronauts shows are the episodes where it’s pretty clear the hosts have done a decent amount of research. At the end of the day, if you must talk about Star Wars, please try and put some kind of novel spin on it. Otherwise, what are you bringing to the table?

Michael Hanretty

I don't mind too much until you talk about horrible movies based on games. So like Tron was good. Street Fighter the movie, not so good. The Wizard edge case. Super MARIO Bros movie bad.

Sean Clements

I've really liked the Tron and Lucasfilm discussions. I think they fit well in Retronauts not just because of the licensed games they spawned, but the for the ways game genres of the time were adapted to fit them, and also for the ways that seminal film and tv have inspired gaming through time. E.g., Indiana Jones -> Pitfall -> Lara Croft -> Uncharted. The context of those movies shows is an important part of such discussions.

I subscribe because you guys make the things you find interesting, interesting to me. Movies & TV away!

docbrownn

Random idea. An episode on Twin Peaks influences in the game industry. Be it Link’s Awakening, Deadly Premonition, Thimbleweek Park, etc. And then there’s the cancelled NES game. Make it so!

Eric Plunk

I really appreciated the Goonies, Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark episodes (can’t wait to listen to the Tron entry!). My time as a gamer taught me that video games work best alongside other forms of entertainment rather than as an exclusive hobby. So, connection or not, I’m all for these digressions.

Federico Mazza

I always find the movie connected shows to be really interesting. More so than the episodes music games and irritating noise games. But even those I’ll listen to, the only one I skipped completely was the one about ‘rasslin, hopefully that is a subject that is never covered again.

Phillip

I like the diversions. The video games we're all so interested in did not arise in a vacuum; considerations of the wider culture that created or influenced those works absolutely has a place in the wider purview of this show, I believe.

Aaron Schafer

I like the occasional change of pace. I like being surprised.

While I don't care for them personally, I have zero problem with y'all doing episodes about movies and TV shows as they relate to video games even if the connection isn't that closely connected. Keep up the good work!

I think there should always be a video game connection to an episode of Retronauts but I am 100% okay with that connection being tenuous. The recent Raiders of the Lost Ark episode was a great example: were there games? Sure! But the meat of the discussion was the film.

Diamond Feit

I would prefer if you stick to games. Every game media source I’ve liked eventually strays away, so I’m definitely hungry for game content. That being said, the Star Wars episode was one of the best episodes the show has ever had. So I have mixed feelings. But looking at the poll, it looks like I’m in the minority/niche yet again.

Stephen “Seven” Perteet

I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes info in the Star Wars episode. That being said, I feel like these are a different category of podcasts. Why not give these movie-inspired game episodes a name so we can anticipate there will be a good focus on the movie themselves? Call it "Flicks and Joysticks" or something to differentiate it from the other Micro topics.

Games and other visual media are so intertwined, it's sometimes impossible to talk about the history of one without mentioning the other

Matt from Hidden Machine

I guess I'm torn on this. I'm generally not as big a fan of iconic 80s movies as I am of iconic 80s games (I have a LOT of gaps in my knowledge...), but it is fun to hear you talk about the ones I've seen and I definitely understand how the retro-games well can run dry. I agree with those above that it may help if you spread them out more.

Jon Heiman

I like it all. Doesn’t need to be about games. Literally anything you find interesting makes a good episode to me.

Chris Rowland

I have really liked the game/movie episodes. As I kid it blew my mind when a game got a cartoon or a toy. While I wasn’t a huge gamer I saw it as something from my world “making it” to the mainstream. I’d love to hear episodes about when this was done right, and cartoons/toys took great ideas from the games. Or when cool ideas from the cartoons/toys made it back into the games. When it comes down to it, things like Pokèmon were a cultural phenomenon across games, tv, toys and movies, so it only makes sense to treat them that way.

Nate M

I'm here just as much for the personalities as I am for the content. Hearing you and the crew offer opinions on topics that are just outside retro gaming is nice treat!+

Ryan Shapiro

Well if you can have episode about advertising and merchandise I see no reason why you can't talk about Video Game Movies and Board Games.

Tentomon4

You should do one about the James Bond games, the James Bonding Podcast keeps promising to do one but they've been saying that since two years ago.

SilverHairedMiddleAgedTuxedoMask

Some of the movie episodes don’t make sense. Why do you keep going to Bob’s remote cabin instead of somewhere with fewer murder wolves? How do you all get out every year? It’s nonsense!

Ian Derk

I prefer the game episodes (the recent game dev interviews have been AMAZING and they wouldn't exist if you hadn't done them), but you all are good enough at research to make any topic interesting. I trust you.

Andrew Eikum

I don't mind TOO much. You guys put out enough content that I skip the rare episode that doesn't interest me and that's fine. That said, I don't mind the episodes that start with talking about a movie, but I feel like they're unbalanced. Like the movie should only make up at most half of the discussion compared to the games. I'd have to check if this was actually the case, or just my feeling at the time, but I felt like the Indy episode spent forever on the movie and just blew through the games.

Mike M

I’m not a fan of the non-gaming episodes but I can just delete the ones that don’t interest me. Do what you love!

Whoa, I didn't expect the overwhelming majority on this one in such short order. I guess that settles that!

Jeremy Parish

If you don't think prog rock is related to games, you've never played anything developed in Japan in the '80s or '90s!

Jeremy Parish

Bring it on. Video games are neat on their own merits, but as a kid they were also a delivery system for pop culture influences I couldn't otherwise get. Games were influenced by (or outright plagiarized) media that I was too young to know firsthand, Japanese media, and even prog rock. At this point I'm more interested in exploring those influences.

Chip Calhoun

Honestly, I’ve been meaning to voice how much I’ve loved the direction you guys have been taking lately. It feels to me that doing episodes less focused on gaming has given you a burst of energy. Maybe it’s doing something different to break the possible monotony of always talking about games. I love when you guys can connect a pop culture property to a video game, but I don’t feel it’s always necessary.

Justin McCrindle

There’s enough episodes in a month to warrant different flavored episodes.

I enjoy the forays into other media particularly when it helps put things into historical / cultural perspective. This works both ways - how games influence other media, and how other media influences games. Tangentially, one of my favorite things about Retronauts is when you guys dig up contemporary reaction or analysis.

Ryan Middleton

I'm only mildly embarrassed to admit my favorite Retronauts episodes of all time have been the ones about TV Christmas specials.

dvertov

As long as there's a connection like Tron or The Wizard. No offense but I wasn't a fan of the prog rock episode.

Holland Hume

I've enjoyed the movie and other nostalgia related franchise talk that can be pulled back to games. My opinion is that it should be infrequent, like a few times per year, rather than regular.

Kevin

I see Retronauts as an exploration of nostalgia. I appreciate the connection to gaming but I find the occasional extra-curricular episode to be a welcome change. :)

The Indiana Jones ep was dope. As was the Labyrinth one. I would love to hear more.

Normallyretro

I don’t mind the occasional TV/Movie podcast as long as it has some kind of gaming connection, but I wouldn’t want them to become a majority of the coverage.

El Pescado

I think as long as things don't devolve too much into pure nostalgia, its ok to cover other media. What I like about Retronauts is that its often historical in tone, so the material under discussion is contextualized connected to the circumstances which produced it. If I could wish for any type of content, I'd want more platform-studies style stuff, though, related to games.

i’m fine with the tangental stuff, especially if it means we get a 40th anniversary Urusei Yatsura episode in a couple weeks

I like video games, music and film. These episodes are awesome! Especially the progressive rock episode; down with the haters! More Krautrock talk. ❤️

Luis Naranjo

I’ve loved the excursions into retro movies. I don’t think the podcast has to just be about games. It is nice to get a variety of topics falling under the retro theme. Games have always been influenced by movies, books, and TV.

Beau Borchardt

I would have picked a 4th option that said it's fine even if there isn't a game connection. I've really enjoyed the movie pods, even if I wasn't familiar with the movie. The enthusiasm of the discussion is much more important than how germane the topic is to the perceived subject of the podcast. You gotta branch out to keep things fresh after doing this for so long. Do what you want; I'm along for the ride.

mordak

Better coverage of non-Nintendo centric stuff has been good lately, there's a lot of gaming that Retronauts hasn't touched on to be getting *too* distracted, though!

Justin Hamrick

All things retro is cool.

private

I like them. If you were only doing one episode a month I would want to stick to games, but you do enough episodes that the occasional detour is enjoyable. The Raiders episode was fantastic.

Kal-el