November 17/18, 2002: Bounty hunter business booms
by Diamond Feit
Desire is a hell of a drug. If I want pizza, then I want pizza, and no amount of delicious curry, sushi, or chocolate will placate me. I think making u...
2022-11-21 00:54:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Nintendo might be flying high with the Switch, but the last generation of hardware sent them into a bit of a tailspin. 10 years ago (to this very day) saw the release of the Wii U, which evolved the company's decades of dual-screen experiments into a console unlike anything that came before it. But did Nintendo simply think too far outside of the box? On this episode, join Bob Mackey, 2022-11-18 08:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Who’d be a Lemming? If the traps don’t get you, it’ll be the slime, lava or – every Lemming’s worst enemy – gravity. Still, I’d take any of those over having to play 3D Lemmings ever again.
Yes! It’s true!! Stuart Gipp and Dave Bulmer have emerged from the pea soup (Lemmings reference) in order to discuss what’s left of the series following Jeremy Parish and the Retronauts East gang’s retrospective episode and developer interview. For that reason, we don’t...
2022-11-14 14:15:59 +0000 UTC View Post
November 12, 2002: Mark it zero
by Diamond Feit
Video game sequels tend to be no-brainers. If a concept works, it works, and the audience won't object to another round of the same exciting gameplay. If a concept didn...
2022-11-13 12:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi folks,
Bob here. You know, we celebrate anniversaries pretty regularly here on Retronauts, so we'd be utter hypocrites if we didn't celebrate our own. That said, if you haven't been paying attention to the little number next to every episode, we're quickly approaching our 500th release as an independent podcast! Of course, we've published over 600 episodes if you count the various Retronauts...
2022-11-11 20:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
You have logged onto Patreon, where you thought it was safe. Yet…you have entered the world of survival hootenanny. Diamond Feit here and if my many, many columns on the subject weren't evidence enough, I love Resident Evil, so I happily accepted the honor of ranking the entire series. And while the best...
2022-11-07 11:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
November 1, 2007: Land, World, Sunshine…Galaxy
by Diamond Feit
Space. The Final Frontier. That's not just a clever line from a classic television program, it's the objective truth. Sure, we haven't quite explored e...
2022-11-06 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
At this point, I think we can all safely assume that live Retronauts panels are back. And, since they tend to be accessible only to people who have the ability to travel to said shows, we'd like to continue making them available in podcast form as much as possible. I think we've just about sorted out the mechanics of recording after a shaky re-start, and these presentations sound pretty good to my ear! You can tell they're live, but there's no echo or distortion, and our voices sound pretty c...
2022-11-04 20:51:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Throughout the '90s, Star Fox transitioned from technical showpiece to extremely reliable rail shooter; but in the following decade, Fox McCloud and the gang didn't fare nearly as well. The 2000s saw the Star Fox brand transform into a sandbox for gameplay ideas, with each attempt disappointing players still chasing the high of Star Fox 64. Then, the series went into hibernation for a decade, only to emerge when the Wii U desperately needed a hit. Still, one question remains: are these variou...
2022-10-31 07:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
October 27, 2002: Rockstar releases That '80s Game
by Diamond Feit
Considering the amount of visible affection for the 1980s we now see in films, video games, fashion, and just about everything nowadays, back when the ac...
2022-10-30 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
After putting together a lengthy episode of NES Works on Blaster Master and editing Stefan Gancer's excellent The History of Sunsoft, I've had that series on my mind quite a bit this year. Naturally, I decided to scrape as much content from my work as I could. I work harder and smarter. I'm halfway to being successful!
Fellow Blaster...
2022-10-24 11:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
October 22, 1982: John Rambo takes his first steps on a long road
by Diamond Feit
Fictional characters have a way of developing lives of their own. Whatever their inspirations, whatever their scripted beliefs or motivati...
2022-10-23 14:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We're coming up on the 30th anniversary of Nintendo's oft-mistreated furry-friendly franchise, so there's never been a better time to peer back through the mists of history to investigate Star Fox. This unlikely British/Japanese co-production first debuted as a Super Nintendo technical showpiece, and though the series has had more downs than ups over the past three decades, Star Fox's best moments are certainly worth celebrating. On the first of a two-part series, join 2022-10-21 07:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Get some graph paper and start charting routes to Rainbow planets, because Retronauts isn't done talking about Star Control and The Ur-Quan Masters. This time, Nadia Oxford, Shivam Bhatt, and Scott Sharkey are joined by the Ur-Quan Masters' masters: series creators Paul Reiche and Fred Ford. Our fibers grow turgid, indeed.
The conversation that ensues is livelier than a Zoq-Fot-Pik conversation about Frungy. How did fantasy artist George Barr influence the aliens' pers...
2022-10-17 13:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
October 16, 1997: Love's Labour's Won (eventually)
by Diamond Feit
I love video games, but even I can recognize that video games have a violence problem. The medium is capable of telling absolutely any kind of story the ...
2022-10-16 14:10:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Few series are so divisive as the Jak (and, arguably, Daxter) games, spread far too thinly across PlayStation 2 and PSP in their short but glorious reign. Join host Stuart Gipp and guests John Linneman and Thomas Nickel for a hop, skip, jump and headshot across the fantasy-turned-futuristic world of Naughty Dog's all-but-forgotten franchise.
Every game in the series is covered—yes, including that one. We've got anecdotes, we've got technical insight, we've got secrets and, best...
2022-10-10 13:19:39 +0000 UTC View Post
October 1992: More like Beatdown of the Three Kingdoms
by Diamond Feit
If your memories go back that far, I'd like you to recall April of 1993. New president Bill Clinton enjoyed a 60% approval rating. North Carolina won...
2022-10-09 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
What: Our "History of Food Mascot Games" panel, live at PRGE 2022
When: Saturday, October 15th at 11:00 AM
Where: Auditorium A (E141-E144)
Who: Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, and Gary Butterfield
Please check out the official PRGE 2022 schedule for more information!
2022-10-08 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
This week, it's another one of what I like to call a "softball episode"—that is, one that doesn't involve a structured history or conversation around a particular game or series but rather a more freeform discussion of a more general topic. That topic this time around is misunderstood games—that is, games that either we failed to appreciate back when they first debuted, or that you failed to appreciate. We're all the bad guys here, really. Jared Petty, Joe Modzeleski, and Kurt Ka...
2022-10-07 12:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
It's been 11 years since the last proper Monkey Island entry, and more than three decades since series creator Ron Gilbert left Guybrush and company in the hands of others. So it goes without saying fans were more than delighted when mid-2022 saw the announcement of Return to Monkey Island, a proper sequel to 1991's Monkey Island 2—and one that somehow doesn't discount all the installments made in between. And now it's here! On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey and 2022-10-03 16:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post
October 2, 2012: Survival Horror has a Ship of Theseus moment
by Diamond Feit
Ever heard of "Last Blockbuster Syndrome"? It's got nothing to do with a certain 2022-10-02 13:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Final Fantasy IV, the beloved genre-defining JRPG from Square Enix, has a direct sequel called The After Years. If you try to talk to FFIV fans about said sequel, however, they're likely to stick their fingers in their ears and hum the Red Wings theme until you go away.
Why is The After Years so looked down upon—even reviled? Maybe Nintendo's WiiWare was a poor marketplace for a chapter-based JRPG. Maybe The After Years' choppy, unbalanced ...
2022-09-26 12:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
September 24, 1992: You can call it the Art of Fighting with storytelling
by Diamond Feit
In pondering this week's topic, a query occurred to me in the shower that I had no immediate answer to: When did fighting games ha...
2022-09-25 12:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
This video is intended as a supplement to Episode 484: Live from PAX West 2022 - Video Games Based on TV Shows. Watching it as a singular piece of entertainment will bring you no joy. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to Seattle!
2022-09-23 07:02:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey folks,
Bob here with my first live show since PRGE 2019—and unfortunately it's the first live show that also gave me COVID. Was it worth it? YOU make the call. But, infections aside, I definitely enjoyed presenting this panel; and if for some reason you couldn't make it, you're in luck! For this one, I dusted off a topic I originally covered on Retronauts a half-decade ago, selected the choicest (or funniest) subject matter, and then assembled a reel of clips to add context,...
2022-09-23 07:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi, it's Diamond Feit! We've got another patron request episode this week, and like last time, I feel like Allan Berry is really twisting my arm here: A podcast about a movie? Set in New York? Jeez, I'm way out of my wheelhouse here, but for you Allan, I'll stretch my legs.
I kid, I kid. Really, this topic prov...
2022-09-19 13:33:21 +0000 UTC View Post
This week, I have a long-overdue Retronauts Radio episode for you. I believe the last time I recorded and assembled was of these was back in May of last year, and, as I mention in the episode, there's a good reason for that: New boutique-label music shipping took it on the chin during last year's supply chain crunch. But boy did the industry catch back up with a vengeance this year; this episode only covers about half the releases I wanted to cover. So please look forward to the Fall 2022 epi...
2022-09-12 11:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
September 11, 2012: Brothers don't shake hands. Brothers gotta HIGH FIVE
by Diamond Feit
Do you remember the 1980s? I certainly do, and those memories have fueled many pages of this column over the last few years. The de...
2022-09-11 13:35:29 +0000 UTC View Post
Apologies for the belated upload today. Retronauts has been mobile lately—I've traveled three of the past four weekends for live events, and I've seen Bob and Nadia along the way. While it's been great to meet up with so many listeners have several years of lockdown, the travel routine has been a little rough on recording schedules.
But hey, at least today you can enjoy some of the fruits of those journeys, even if you weren't able to attend the events in question. And ...
2022-09-09 22:10:14 +0000 UTC View Post
We don't venture into 1970s video game history too often, if only because there wasn't all that much video game history to discuss in the ’70s. A handful of consoles, a handful of breakout titles, and a whole heck of a lot of derivative works—there's only so much you can say about Pong clones and variants on Gran Trak 10, you know? But the games that did matter back then really, really mattered, and Atari's Breakout certainly qualifies in the regard.
