January 26, 1996: I Have Legendary Hunger for more Guardian Heroes
by Diamond Feit
In the troubled history of Sega's video game hardware, is any machine more cursed than the Saturn? I say this not because the Saturn was bad, but because its troubled 1995 launch in the U...
2021-01-31 14:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Another patron request this week, and it's a good one. Matthew Salisbury put in a bid to ask us to revisit Xenogears, a topic I briefly touched on yeeeears ago in a Micro episode. But this is the real deal: A full-length episode about the game, featuring not only Matthew and myself, but also former Square.net and Gaming Intelligence Agency boss Andrew Vestal. My thought was, if we're going to talk about a game, why not reach out to its biggest advocate in the U.S. semi-pro media at t...
2021-01-29 13:15:09 +0000 UTC View Post
This week on Retronauts, we're easing off on the heavy-duty research for the sake of responding to your questions and comments from our recent round of episodes. And because a little thing called "the pandemic" drastically transformed the way we all live for nearly a year now, we'll also cover just how COVID-19 has affected Retronauts, and read some responses from listeners about how the new normal changed their retro gaming habits. Since we recorded this one on Election Day, it's delightfull...
2021-01-25 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
January 21, 2011: The most dangerous game...is Pac-Man
by Diamond Feit
The author, with Pac-Man (right) in 2010
For a little yellow disc that was 2021-01-24 14:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Good morning, or afternoon, or whatever position the sun happens to be in on your sector of the planet. We have another "One With the Lifestream" patron request episode this week, once again from Bravewave boss Mohammed Taher to discuss (unbelievably!) another game with a bangin' soundtrack: Nintendo and Retro Studios' Metroid Prime. Well, I say "bangin'", but really the appeal of Metroid Prime's OST is how it reworks familiar Metroid tunes and motifs into arrangeme...
2021-01-18 14:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
January 15, 2001: The Greatest/Worst Website in the World Debuts [citation needed]
by Diamond Feit
As my journey forward through time continues unabated, I find myself increasingly aware of my unique place in history. I grew up with computers at an early age, but the in...
2021-01-17 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Though the Looney Tunes characters shone their brightest during the Golden Age of Hollywood, they wouldn't reach critical mass until a few generations later, when seemingly endless reruns, revivals, and spinoffs made them inescapable throughout the '80s and '90s. And with this new era of old cartoons came the rise of video games, and a shocking amount of adaptations that tried to capture gag-based violence in an entirely new medium. On this episode, join Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, and OK K.O....
2021-01-15 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Exactly 10 episodes after the first part of this conversation, here is the second. I'm making a serious effort this year to be timely with multi-part topics like this—though of course the best-laid plans and all that. At least it's going well so far! (Less than two weeks into the year.)
Matt Alt, Bill Mudron, and I reconvene for another conversation about the work of Gunpei Yokoi, which ended last time around before we even got to his video game stuff, somehow. This time, it's all...
2021-01-11 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
January 5, 1981: Finally, a comedy about Life, the Universe, and Everything
by Diamond Feit
Considering how we are descendants from apes who still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea, human beings can be a complicated bunch. We spend our entire lives reading, o...
2021-01-10 13:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Is 350 a notable anniversary number? It has a multiple of the kind of big round-ish number people like to celebrate. I mean, if my marriage manages to last for 350 years, we're definitely gonna be pulling out all the stops. With podcast episodes, I'm not so sure. But nevertheless, on this possible occasion, we've decided to address a longstanding oversight: One of the big three's main mascot characters from the 32-bit era. In this case, Sony's (and Naughty Dog's) Crash Bandicoot seri...
2021-01-04 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
January 1991: Marvel Fans Welcome Two New Superhero Beat-Em-Ups to their Universe
by Diamond Feit
Welcome to 2021, true believers! Let's turn the clock back 30 years to 1991 and a simpler time, when 16-bit game consoles were the new hotness yet 8-bit consoles remained t...
2021-01-03 14:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Good morning (?) and happy new year to everyone! Here's Retronauts doing its best to usher in a happier flip of the calendar for everyone, with a 15-stone first-footer of a podcast.
This episode is a patron request (thanks Christopher Hansen!), and given its timing, format, and patron-exclusivity, I decided to go all-out and make this one extra special. This is, as you can see from the title, a Retronauts Radio episode—the first one I've put together in more than a year, I belie...
2021-01-01 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
With the movie series (seemingly) finished, LucasArts capitalized on the public's slowly fading love for Indiana Jones with a brand-new adventure game. And instead of adapting one of his previous adventures, the developer instead developed a wholly unique story for the intrepid archaeologist—one players had to trek through three different times if they wanted to see everything. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey and 2020-12-28 08:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
2020: My Attempt to Put a Bow on a Year No One Wanted
by Diamond Feit
So...2020.
Christmas has come and gone. New Year's Eve is so close, I've got milk in the fridge that will survive the changeover. This year, this interminable year, is about to end.
For most of us, this year will be remembered in one word: Pandemic. This was the year we all learned how fragile our lives and society as a whole can be, as one simple virus managed to send every...
2020-12-27 13:59:59 +0000 UTC View Post
We're heading into a new year, and you know what that means: It's time for the annual Years In Review Revue. Remember when we used to hit all the relevant years in the space of a single episode? Yeah, well, you can forget about that this time around. Once again, despite my very careful planning, we end up going into so much detail on a few of these topics that we still only make it about halfway through the intended conversation. It wouldn't be Retronauts East otherwise, you know? 2020-12-21 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
December 17, 2010: Disney Tries to Overwrite History with Tron: Legacy
by Diamond Feit
Greetings, programs! Like a lot of Retronauts fans, I was a child in the early 1980s, and some of my earliest memories revolve around video games. The nature of that era meant I was a...
2020-12-20 14:29:57 +0000 UTC View Post
It's the yuletide season, which means it's time to head to the Retronauts Holiday Cabin in Parts Unknown yet again for another look at a Christmas-related video game thing. And even thought this is our tenth (!) holiday special, we haven't hit the bottom of the barrel just yet! This time around, we'll be looking at the Christmas (and final) episode of Earthworm Jim, the short-lived Kids' WB cartoon that, 25 years later, stands as one of the better games-to-animation adaptations out there. So ...
2020-12-18 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Retronauts is all about old stuff and all about traditions, and there aren't many ongoing pop culture phenomena older and more steeped in tradition than the Doctor Who series. After taking a trip over the past year through nearly half the Doctor Who episodes ever created, I figured it would be appropriate to chat with Retronauts regulars Diamond Feit and Stuart Gipp to talk about the show, its legacy, and (alas) its video game adaptations. And since Doctor Who's ann...
2020-12-14 15:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
December 9, 2010: Shiren Wanders for One Last Time—Forever
by Diamond Feit
Is there any genre better than the role-playing game? Obviously not, as the test of time has proven; these days, every video game is at least a little bit RPG-influenced. It's also wor...
2020-12-13 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Yes, this is a Die Hard conversation running in suspiciously close proximity to Christmas. But you know why this isn't some tired "Die Hard is a Christmas movie!" joke? Because this episode was recorded half a year ago with no thought given to timing it for the holidays. It just happened to fall that way—and, really, the holiday spirit is an indelible part of the movie. The Santa jokes! The holiday party! The mounds of snow on Ellis' desk!
In this episode, Bob and He...
2020-12-07 15:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
December 6, 2005: Sega and Arc System Works Declare: "You Are Already Dead"
by Diamond Feit
Grab a seat, kids: It’s time to tell the tale of Post-Apocalyptic Martial Arts Jesus.
The year is 1983, the place is Japan, and the two names you need to know are Tetsuo ...
2020-12-06 15:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
We recorded a Wario Land podcast waaaay back at the relaunch of the show.
That was seven years ago. Seven! What the heck?
Anyway, in keeping with our current approach to podcasting, ergo to discuss topics in greater depth and spend less time breezing through top-level overviews, it seemed a good time to revisit Wario. It helps that I've put together comprehensive video retrospectives on a couple of Wario Land games in recent years, so I've co...
2020-12-04 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Our non-chronological exploration of LucasArts adventure games continues with an episode all about the legendary developer's final entry in the genre: Escape from Monkey Island. Unfortunately, EMI ended this era of LucasArts with a whimper, as the clunky 3D interface and questionable puzzles make Guybrush Threepwood's Y2K adventure feel more like a voodoo curse than a barrel of monkeys. On this episode, join Bob Mackey and Ni...
2020-11-30 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
November 1990: Newly-formed Triple Dragons Make it a Trilogy
by Diamond Feit
With video games, timing is everything. Whether it's a rhythm game, a fighting game, or even a visual novel, pressing the right button at the wrong time will mess things up. This fact applies t...
2020-11-29 14:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We have touched on the work of Gunpei Yokoi many times over the years, but this is the first time Retronauts has taken a comprehensive look back at his work and career like this. Pure Invention author Matt Alt shares the extensive historic research he's done into 20th century Japan's post-war industrial revolution to bring remarkable depth of context to Yokoi's career—so much depth, in fact, that we didn't even manage to reach Yokoi's work in video games this episode! Artist and Ja...
2020-11-23 14:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
November 17, 2000: 20 Years Later, We Can Still Smell What AKI Was Cookin'
by Diamond Feit
Hot take: Professional wrestling is real.
I'm well aware it's not a "sport" in the same way that baseball or rugby are sports—professional wrestling has scripted sto...
2020-11-22 14:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Back in 2000, Final Fantasy IX represented the end of an era for Square. Series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi was seemingly on the road to becoming a hotshot Hollywood director, and the company as a whole was poised to be an entertainment monolith. But in the midst of all this excitement—and with the long-awaited PlayStation 2 having launched just weeks before—this love letter to all things Final Fantasy got lost in the shuffle.
So how did this underdog become a beloved classic o...
2020-11-20 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Why should the Final Fantasy VII remake get all the love? Just because Final Fantasy VII is one of the most popular games of all time, sheesh. Overshadowed by that game's release this past spring there was another Square Enix remake for modern consoles: A surprisingly solid 3D recreation of Trials of Mana, the third entry in the Seiken Densetsu series, which spent nearly a quarter of a century sans formal localization and now is available in Englis...
2020-11-16 13:12:09 +0000 UTC View Post
November 12, 1980: Berzerk takes the "maze game" to dark places
by Diamond Feit
Next to dinosaurs, no concept holds a stronger grip on the imagination of children more than robots. As creatures that we know once lived but are now no more, dinosaurs represent the distant...
2020-11-15 13:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
This episode is what passes for a live panel recording in 2020: A recording from the virtual version of this year's Long Island Retro Expo convention. Different energy, same content. Since not everyone could join for our live talk at this summer's online show, I still felt it was important to have this conversation in the archives for future reference—and, of course, to share it with the Retronauts audience, for whom the subject matter should hit close to home.
The Video Game History ...
2020-11-09 14:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
