Ag gag gag gag gag! Right, that's it—no more Popeye impressions. Except, of course, the impressions of the Popeye games covered by myself (Stuart Gipp) and my nemesis-cum-pal, the hilarious Dave Bulmer. We talk about Nintendo's brilliant arcade title as well as subsequent handheld efforts, not to mention an extended digression to talk about Don Priestly's utterly amazing ZX Spectrum title. Plenty of Popeye memories, childish jokes and general retrogaming silliness abound, including...
2023-02-06 12:42:00 +0000 UTC
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February 4, 2013: Young, dumb, and full of dust
by Diamond Feit
After more than three decades, I think we've all simply grown accustomed to the series over the years, but The Legend of Zelda is a strange affair. The hero, inexplicably named Link,...
2023-02-05 12:00:03 +0000 UTC
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It's impossible to talk about Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and its bigger, bulkier sequel Abe's Exoddus without talking about farting. Okay, that's not true, but we do talk about farting in this episode, because we want to, dammit! I, Stuart Gipp, am joined by the prestigious John Linneman of Digital Foundry, and the persuasive RJ Lake of D-Cell Games, in this first discussion of Lorne Lanning's moneyhatted magnum opus, Oddworld! It's too big a subject for just one episode, but here we get into th...
2023-01-30 08:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Greetings, patrons! Behold, a brand-new podcast devoted to YOU, our faithful supporters, as Diamond Feit and Stuart Gipp present the first-ever Retronauts community podcast, This Month in Retronauts.
Our goal is to replace Diamond's weekly column once a month with a program focused on your comments, your questions, and catching up on al...
2023-01-29 12:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Hello, all, I'm attempting to upload this episode from an airplane, which is probably not the best idea I've ever had. We'll see how it goes. Anyway—cramped quarters here, difficult to write something pithy. Thankfully, this episode speaks for itself, and we speak for ourselves herein. And, thankfully, it seems as though the multiple intended participants who had to drop out due to COVID or other grim concerns have all recovered. Thanks to Diamond Feit, Stuart Gipp, and especially Kevin Bun...
2023-01-27 14:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Hello, all—the past couple of episodes have gone live here without proper artwork, but I'm here to put an end to all that. Well, that's perhaps optimistic. Who can say what the future holds!? But I can at least upload those images for you to repatriate with your MP3 files. Please glom, enjoy, and catalog Leeann Hamilton's Sonic Frontiers artwork and Amanda Pruitt's Stephen King homage. Thank you and good night.
2023-01-25 13:11:19 +0000 UTC
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Gotta go fast, indeed: This very special episode about a very recent video game was scheduled for next week but a behind-the-scenes shakeup pushed it forward. It's like Sonic couldn't wait his turn, that rascal!
Speaking of "waiting," what's all this about a Retronauts episode in 2023 about a video game released in 2022? Was this scheduled for 2032? Did we mix up our years? Not at all, for once host 2023-01-23 11:00:04 +0000 UTC
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January 21, 1998: Survival horror takes a licking but keeps on ticking
by Diamond Feit
This may sound sacrilegious in our current media landscape, but no one should plan for a sequel when making art. I'm as selfish a...
2023-01-22 12:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Hello, friends. This week's host Nadia, as the song goes, isn't well and stayed back at the hotel... metaphorically speaking. However, she did manage to connect with Shane Bettenhausen and Andrew Vestal to put together a podcast about the influence of Stephen King's work on video games. That's the formula for a quality hour and a half! So gather 'round, turn on the lights, and enjoy this episode, and send a well-wishing thought into the universe for a speedy recovery.
Episode descriptio...
2023-01-16 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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January 15, 2013: What's in a name?
by Diamond Feit
I cannot think of an artistic medium more driven by and yet more adverse to change than video games. Technological advancements, digital distribution, and decades o...
2023-01-15 12:00:03 +0000 UTC
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2003: It certainly was a year, wasn't it? On this episode, join Bob Mackey, Stuart Gipp, Diamond Feit, and Henry Gilbert as the crew peers 20 years back into the past to see what fate these 365 days of the early '00s he...
2023-01-13 08:00:04 +0000 UTC
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While Bob is busy traveling, the rest of us have decided to get together this weekend and record an episode in which we field questions and comments from you. Yes, YOU. The person reading this post.
It's going to be pretty much a free-for-all! So have a look down the page at the topics Jeremy, Nadia, Diamond, and Stuart have hosted recently for inspirations, or just toss out some sort of random retrogaming-related question for the heck of it. You can post here or send an email to ...
2023-01-11 19:26:02 +0000 UTC
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Video games go hand-in-hand with escapism: That's arguably been the case since Atari's Pong technically let us role-play as tennis paddles that enjoy being hurt. But video games have long been more than an escape for vulnerable people in the queer community. For LBGTQ+ folks, video games can be a means of self-discovery—and from there, a means of finding friends, partners, and communities that would otherwise remain inaccessible.
For this very special episode of Retronauts, N...
2023-01-09 14:53:11 +0000 UTC
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January 3, 1993: Star Trek explores a new kind of frontier
by Diamond Feit
A long time ago in a galaxy not far away at all, Star Trek was not a billion-dollar globa...
2023-01-08 12:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Oh holy lord. You know, I (Stuart Gipp, hullo) knew that my hobby horse obsessions would eventually become part of Retronauts, but who knew that I’d get around to retro compilations this soon? Indeed, I sat down (virtually) with my good pal Lewis Clark of SegaDriven.com to sort the Taito Legends from the Capcom Generations from the Namco Museums, with a good bit of Sonic along the way.
It makes sense to me that an episode about compilations s...
2023-01-02 12:47:29 +0000 UTC
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2022: Surviving the new normal
by Diamond Feit
After two years of what felt like non-stop chaos, including global viral outbreaks, economic upheaval, and a presidential election which took weeks (and one armed insurr...
2023-01-01 09:15:00 +0000 UTC
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Hi everyone, and apologies for the late post on this one. I miscalculated how long this new Retronauts Radio episode would take to pull together. But here were are. Just remember: Delays are temporary... something something forever. Yeah.
I decided to try a slightly different approach to this episode. Rather than interjecting commentary between each track, I've simply grouped music by album, picking multiple key selections per album and segueing directly from one track to the next. I am...
2022-12-31 04:12:18 +0000 UTC
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As the console wars heated up, Nintendo needed something big that wouldn't necessarily involve investing in new hardware that could potentially wreck the company. And that "something" arrived in the form of Donkey Kong Country, a fairly simple platformer by the technical wizards at Rare that nonetheless impressed millions with its newfangled pre-rendered graphics. This week on Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, 2022-12-26 08:00:04 +0000 UTC
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December 25, 1992: Half boy, half girl, 100% harbinger
by Diamond Feit
I've got a pretty strong memory when it comes to pop culture and personal milestones. I not only have just about every line and moment from G...
2022-12-25 14:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Well, well... what do you know. We said we'd follow up on the 1973 & ’83 podcast soon, and here we are just a couple of weeks later with the promised continuation. That's the kind of high-end service you have come to expect from Retronauts! Well, no, actually, you've probably come to expect the opposite. That's what makes it such a fun surprise, I guess.
Anyway, a good time will had by all. (That's not a promise, though. It's a threat.)
Art by Nick Wanserski, edits by Greg L...
2022-12-19 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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December 18, 1997: Dig, Mega Man! For everlasting peace!
by Diamond Feit
2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Pong, the first hit arcade game. 50 years of history is nothing compared to other mediums, most of ...
2022-12-19 10:30:01 +0000 UTC
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We've reached the holiday season once again, so it's time to strap on your survival gear and head out for yet another trip to the Retronauts Cabin in parts unknown. For this year's Christmas-appropriate topic, we've landed on Home Alone: the humble 1990 family comedy that went on to dominate the box office with its slapstick antics and important messages about the importance of togetherness or whatever. And since it's a kids' movie from the early '90s, oh you better believe there's a bunch of...
2022-12-16 08:00:02 +0000 UTC
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At the risk of tooting my own horn, ever since I (Diamond Feit) received clearance to prepare and host my own episodes of Retronauts, I've set a quiet goal for myself: Make the show gay. This week, I'd like to think I've taken one small step for podcasters and one giant leap for mankind towards that goal by detailing the legacy of a shooter series infamous for its usage of homoerotic imagery, Cho Aniki.
Far too o...
2022-12-12 12:00:08 +0000 UTC
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December 10, 1992: Again, legendary men return
by Diamond Feit
When Fatal Fury debuted on the NEO•GEO in November of 1991, it ...
2022-12-11 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Here's a shocking fact for you: Since we started this crazy ride back in 2013, we've released 500 full-length podcasts. (And a whole bunch of other stuff on top of that.) It's been quite a wild ride since we started our independent run, and we've had our share of ups, downs, and global pandemics over the last near decade. So instead of turning the spotlight on a video game topic, on this very special episode, it's time to learn a little something about... ourselves. Now take a seat w...
2022-12-05 08:00:07 +0000 UTC
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November 30, 1997: You can call this the New World Order of wrestling video games, brother
by Diamond Feit
I cannot recall when I developed a fascination with professional wrestling. It must have begun at an early ag...
2022-12-04 12:54:48 +0000 UTC
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Hello friends, apologies for the somewhat late post on this week's exclusive. We didn't have cover artwork for it, and I faffed around with a few different sketch concepts before realizing—I've forgotten how to draw! So, apologies also for the iffy cover. I don't know that anyone really considers our cover art a dealbreaker, but I hate to put anything besides our best foot forward.
HOWEVER.
I am pleased to say that the actual content of t...
2022-12-02 23:16:43 +0000 UTC
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Honestly, you should know the drill by now. We sit down for a concise conversation, and two hours later the discussion has spiraled out of control and we've barely touched on half of the intended material. In this case, Ray and Brandon and I wanted to follow up on and complete our Taito retrospective series, which began in Episode 451 and continued in 463, but it turns out that we've started getting into the Taito era that Brandon really, really loves, and somehow what was meant to b...
2022-11-28 12:00:00 +0000 UTC
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November 1992: Time heals all wounds—even dismemberment
by Diamond Feit
Violence and video games have gone hand-in-hand from the earliest days of the digital medium's existence. For decades, gaming's abstract graph...
2022-11-27 12:00:07 +0000 UTC
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We normally try to space these ranking episodes further apart, but some stuff happened, things shuffled around, and suddenly here we are with another one hot on the heels of the Resident Evil hootenanny. But who's gonna complain about two hours of hot takes and informed debate by some of the top experts on the franchise (host Jeremy Parish said, humbly)? No one. Well, maybe a couple of weirdos. But basically no one. Jeremy, Kat Bailey, and Shane Bettenhausen lay down the hard truths ...
2022-11-21 11:59:59 +0000 UTC
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