Retronauts 164: Online Pioneer Days & Mailbag
Added 2018-08-06 12:57:12 +0000 UTCAs you'll notice right away, this week's episode was originally intended to be a Micro feature. But, inevitably, despite my assuming we'd be lucky to squeeze half an hour of conversation out of the topic, we went on for a full hour. And that was when I decided, heck, let's just make it full episode with the mailbag backup feature I've been wanting to run as a Micro for a few months now.
I guess what I'm saying is that two Micros per month aren't enough. We gotta get to that next Patreon funding tier so I can have the excuse to publish the backlog of content I'm sitting on, folks.
In the meantime, please enjoy this compound Micro feature. First, Ben and Benj talk about their early online experiences with dial-up gaming, BBSes, MUDs, MUSHes, and more. Then, we turn to the B-side of our Suikoden episode from a while back as Shivam helps us work through a listener mail segment about Suikoden, Final Fantasy VI, Mega Man X, and more.
It's a little bit Retronauts East, a little bit Retronauts West, and a whole lot of old video games and game experiences.
Spoilers: Next week will also be a compound episode, but of a different nature. That's Retronauts for ya. There's just no such thing as a consistent format 'round these here parts.
Episode description: A potpourri of topics this week as Ben Elgin and Benj Edwards talk Jeremy through the early days of dial-up gaming and BBS madness. Then, Shivam Bhatt and Bob help tackle a long-overdue listener mailbag.
Comments
Thanks for reading my mail, and for running an awesome and informative podcast. Hearing the enthusiasm of that read made my evening!
Daniel Greenberg (Winterion Game Studios)
2018-08-16 23:59:01 +0000 UTCGreat idea -- to view SMB in its context via video. Brilliant!
2018-08-15 19:43:16 +0000 UTCDoes anyone have that link to the Opera and Video Games thesis?
2018-08-13 15:20:01 +0000 UTCLoved the episode! On the tangent on how it's hard to grasp the greatness of SMB in the context of 1985 without having Been There: you can get a sense of how forward-looking it was by watching all of Chrontendo up to that point. You get a lot of data for comparison and the BOOM, what that game does in relation to previous NES titles is preeeetty impressive. But I do think you need to spend the time watching all that footage of the previous games first so you get a sense of scale, so to speak.
Eino Keskitalo
2018-08-08 22:57:09 +0000 UTCNow I understand why people like this show.
Retronauts
2018-08-08 18:26:53 +0000 UTCthe first hour of this one was great. Please do another one that talks about the Dreamcast online stuff!
Christopher Hyde
2018-08-08 12:09:37 +0000 UTCAfter this episode, I had to watch the "tears in the rain" clip from Blade Runner. All joking aside I thought this was a great episode.
Elliot Long
2018-08-07 20:58:02 +0000 UTCI must have been on the edge of extinction for web directories. I worked for a company from 2012 to 2014 where my job was to write articles directing people to our multiple Web directories for business, video games and consumer goods. It was a bizarre place to work, and I wasn't surprised when we shut down.
Phazonmasher
2018-08-07 12:29:07 +0000 UTCJeremy has now become his audience on the first segment.
Normallyretro
2018-08-07 08:04:26 +0000 UTCFile this away for the future episode when you talk about Dreamcast online services. I know Retronauts isn't the best place to talk about wrestling games, but Firepro D on the Dreamcast is the first instance of free DLC on a console game that I can recall. The developers had fans vote on content to be added to the game, which was released for free download. I recall having the first GBA game and reading over the Firepro D page at gamefaqs, wishing I had access to those moves!
Mat Segal
2018-08-07 07:10:26 +0000 UTCI was in a Super NES launch window mood!
Retronauts
2018-08-06 20:20:34 +0000 UTCsoyo oka BGM <3
This Town Is Doomed, LLC
2018-08-06 17:42:46 +0000 UTC
