Retronauts Episode 97: BRO-totypes
Added 2017-04-24 12:39:27 +0000 UTCThis week's episode is a project I've had in mind for years. Back in 2013, I started developing an independent bimonthly magazine called 2 Dimensions that was going to follow on the heels of my GameSpite Quarterly project and expand its coverage beyond video games to classic comics and cartoons as well. But a short time later I was kinda pushed into reluctantly taking the EIC role at USgamer — "reluctantly", in part, because those new duties put the kibosh on ambitious side projects such as 2 Dimensions. This episode topic was going to be a multi-page feature in the first issue of that venture.
An interesting idea never dies, which is why I built that same magazine concept into the Retronauts Patreon goals. Alas, it seems unlikely we'll ever get to that level, so instead I decided to turn that twice-zombified feature idea into an episode. And even then, it didn't quite work out! I invited Frank Cifaldi to join us for this episode, since he has something of a fascination with this area of gaming, but he had to drop out at literally the last minute. As a result, we had to scramble madly to fill in the gaps of content he was going to bring to the table.
I've been dreading this episode's production ever since we recorded it, because I remembered it being an awkward and aimless conversation. But now that I've edited and assembled it, it's actually... really good? Although there's a lot of me monologuing here, it turned out a lot better than it felt at the time. (The fantastic listener mail selection helped — thanks to all who wrote it!) It's a "big picture" episode of the show, one that is as much about social and pop culture forces that shaped games — forces like Conan the Barbarian, Image comics, and America's growing awareness/acceptance of the LGBT community beginning in the ’70s — as the games themselves.
Anyway, it's a different kind of episode than usual, and I'm sure plenty of people will find something to criticize or complain about in it... but I'm personally pretty happy with it, and hope we can create more episodes like this in the future.
Steve Lin joins Jeremy and Bob to discuss that most primal of video game forces: Manly video games about manly men. We explore the pop social forces behind the rise of rugged 8-bit heroes, and how those beefy classics shaped modern game sensibilities.
Comments
Another classic Conan type game that came out in 1987 for the commodore 64 was barbarian. It was a 1v1 fighting game where you looked an awful lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger. The musical theme also had a lot of similarities to the battle music from one of the two Conan movies. I remember it had a distinct finishing move where you could lop your opponents head off, and a little goblin would come and kick it off the screen.
Dennis H
2020-08-11 13:13:05 +0000 UTCOh man, I forgot all about that weird interpretation of the character!
Retronauts
2017-05-01 21:47:01 +0000 UTCKarateka did come out on one home console in the US: The Atari 7800! It uh... well, it looks good, anyway.
Kevin Bunch
2017-04-28 01:37:26 +0000 UTCDig Dug actually did turn into a "bro" for Namco x Capcom. <a href="http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h255/cricket-inc/Taizo_Hori__2.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h255/cricket-inc/Taizo_Hori__2.jpg</a>
K-S-O
2017-04-26 03:55:52 +0000 UTCI think Liefeld is admired for breaking up the very oppressive Comic industry and bringing Image to the market. Regardless of what you think of his style, Liefeld did bring about lot of good things in a chaotic, roundabout way. Today's Image publisher is a lot more creator friendly and daring than either DC or Marvel at the moment.
2017-04-25 05:35:03 +0000 UTCBoris Vallejo? I think we mentioned him!
Retronauts
2017-04-24 23:11:43 +0000 UTCThis all reminds me of that Boris dude and his fantasy art he drew for so many different companies.
Normallyretro
2017-04-24 20:12:57 +0000 UTCHere's the Rob Liefeld and Todd McFarlane video that Bob mentions. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmLFGWAyajU" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmLFGWAyajU</a> I'm split by Rob Leifeld hate. Supposedly, he's a super nice guy, and his style defined a certain period of comics. It looks so, so dated now, though. His comic Prophet also spawned Brandon Graham's utterly magnificent re-imagining that's probably one of the best books in recent memory.
Chris
2017-04-24 19:33:12 +0000 UTCIt happens. I'm sorry for pointing it out, I'm not one of those people that will get angry and cancel their subscription or anything like that. You could always dub it over "Mr. Black" style.. >_>
RoryDropkick
2017-04-24 17:45:59 +0000 UTCNoticed those while editing, but at that point there's not much we can do.
Retronauts
2017-04-24 17:38:47 +0000 UTCMagic Sword by Capcom. You guys were trying to remember the name, but did remember you climbed a tower. *lol* Also Rastan is Taito, and the music is none other than Zuntata... sorry, usually dont nitpick but those two were pretty noticeable..
RoryDropkick
2017-04-24 16:45:09 +0000 UTC
