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Retronauts

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The original classic gaming podcast continues its endless quest to explore the history of video games, one game at a time. Join hosts Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey each week as they team up with a host of expert guests to chronicle the creations that have paved the way for today's hits. From forgotten black-and-white arcade machines to modern-day remakes, Retronauts spans more than four decades of vintage gaming greatness!

Episodes

Retronauts Episode 273: Years in Revue: 1980/1990

The Retronauts East crew (Jeremy Parish, Benj Edwards, Ben Elgin, Chris Sims) attempts to explore the highlights and disasters of gaming history in 1980/1990/2000/2010 in our annual by-the-decade recap... but only make it to 1990. It was a big year, OK?

Jan 20, 20201 hr 24 min

Retronauts Episode 272: The Matrix

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Kat Bailey, and Shane Bettenhausen revisit the themes, legacy, making of, and (of course) video games based on the Wachowski siblings' mind-bending 1999 sci-fi classic: The Matrix.

Jan 13, 20202 hr 30 min

Retronauts Episode 271 Preview: List Inventory/The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Session 1

The Retronauts East crew (Jeremy Parish, Ben Elgin, Benj Edwards, Chris Sims) don their peril-sensitive sunglasses and attempt to escape the planet before the Vogons arrive in this real-time playthrough of Infocom's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The full content of this episode is exclusively available to Patreon supporters at the $5/mo. level and above. Retronauts is crowd-funded by listener support. Please see patreon.com/retronauts for more details!...

Jan 10, 20208 min

Retronauts Episode 270: Video Game Apparel

Since the dawn of the medium, humans across the globe dreamed of wearing video game representation on their bodies—a practice that's only become commonplace in recent years. We've come a long way since the days of too-large or too-small pre-order t-shirts as the rare video game wearable, to the point where just about any character or logo can be found emblazoned on a well-fitted shirt, hat, or the odd pair of parachute pants. On this episode of Retronauts, special guest Nina Matsumoto of Fangame...

Jan 06, 20202 hr 37 min

Retronauts Episode 269: Command & Conquer with Louis Castle

The Retronauts East crew offers a (very) loose overview of Westwood Studios' Command & Conquer series as a lead-in to Jeremy Parish's interview with Woodwest founder Louis Castle on the creation of the original game (among other topics).

Dec 30, 20191 hr 4 min

Retronauts Episode 268: Holiday Special 2019 - Pokemon Christmas Bash

It's time once again to head to the Retronauts cabin in Parts Unknown for yet another look at a video-game-adjacent Christmas thing! We've worked our way through quite a few video game cartoon Christmas specials over the past few years, so this time around we're going to switch gears and explore another medium entirely. The late '90s/early '00s Pokemon Boom brought us many cheap cash-ins, so of course it spawned one of the cheapest cash-ins of all time: a cheesy Christmas album! Is it truly the ...

Dec 24, 20191 hr 20 min

Retronauts Episode 267: The Holy Grails of Collecting

Hide your wallets: Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Chris Kohler, and Steve Lin discuss the pricing perils, pitfalls, and occasional perfidy surrounding the rarest/costliest/most non-existent video game collectibles in history.

Dec 23, 20192 hr 41 min

Retronauts Episode 266: The Empire Strikes Back

Just in time for the "conclusion" of the Star Wars saga (sure, whatever), take a look back at the franchise's cinematic high point (and all the related games) with Jeremy Parish, Benj Edwards, Ben Elgin, and Chris Sims.

Dec 16, 20191 hr 21 min

Retronauts Episode 265: The Messenger

Take a look into the genesis, classic inspirations, and development of Sabotage Games' double-retro indie hit The Messenger as Jeremy Parish speaks to creators Thierry Boulanger and Martin Brouard.

Dec 13, 201951 min

Retronauts Episode 264: PAX West 2019 - The Dreamcast 20th Anniversary Necromancy Jam

Two decades ago, Sega summoned into the world the mightiest of its consoles: The Dreamcast. And then, almost as quickly, it took the poor thing into the woods out back and ran it through proverbial the wood chipper. Dreamcast died too young, but its sudden demise wasn’t the end. We pick up the story 20 years later, exploring the ways in which Dreamcast represented Sega’s spirit at its finest and how its legacy persists even today. Panelists: Jeremy Parish, Morgan Shaver, Mike Drucker. Originally...

Dec 09, 20191 hr 4 min

Retronauts Episode 263: Donkey Kong

We put together a classic Retronauts lineup (Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, and Chris Kohler) to discuss the history of an all-time arcade classic: Donkey Kong. (And also its lesser ’80s sequels.)

Dec 02, 20192 hr 43 min

Retronauts Episode 262: PAX West 2019 - Super Metroid Vs. Symphony of the Night

It’s the ultimate metroidvania showdown as we settle once and for all which was truly the greatest, the most ambitious, the most influential work of the genre: Nintendo’s Super Metroid or Konami’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? Strong opinions will be expressed! Harsh words may be exchanged! Blood might even be spilled (only to be absorbed by a dhampir ensorcelled by Dark Metamorphosis)! Panelists: Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, USgamer's Nadia Oxford , and Mike Drucker . Originally recorded Se...

Nov 29, 201952 min

Retronauts Episode 261: The MiSTer Revolution

Jeremy speaks to retrogaming curators Artemio and SmokeMonster about their efforts to help preserve and improve the state of classic gaming through projects like MDFourier and MiSTer.

Nov 25, 20192 hr 46 min

Retronauts Episode 260: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

Our informal LucasArts miniseries rolls on with another episode exploring the developer's adventure game output! This time, we focus on 1991's Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, the second entry in the Monkey Island series, and one that marked the departure of creator Ron Gilbert from LucasArts. Though it only came one year after the original game, LeChuck's Revenge expands on this formative adventure in some big, bold ways, and still remains an incredibly impressive showpiece—in terms of both ...

Nov 18, 20192 hr 38 min

Retronauts Episode 259: Limited Run Goes Retro

Jeremy Parish talks to Josh Fairhurst and Douglas Bogart of Limited Run Games about the company's growing line of classic game reissues, and the behind-the-scenes details of selling new retro game releases.

Nov 15, 20191 hr 16 min

Retronauts Episode 258: 2009 (It's Retro Now)

Jeremy Parish, Benj Edwards, Chris Sims, and Ben Elgin wrap up some unfinished business by tackling the year that got away: 2009. Yeah, 2009 is retro now. Sorry, we don't make the rules. Actually, wait... we do.

Nov 11, 20192 hr 41 min

Retronauts Episode 257: Metal Gear Solid

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Kat Bailey, and Shane Bettenhausen celebrate Death Stranding by revisiting the game that allowed Hideo Kojima the luxury of spending millions of dollars on name-dropping self-indulgence in the first place: Metal Gear Solid.

Nov 04, 20192 hr 36 min

Retronauts Episode 256: Link's Awakening Remake

Over two years ago, we sat down to gush about The Legend of Zelda's underappreciated Game Boy installment, Link's Awakening. And once again, time has made fools of us all, as the Switch remake of this classic game stands as one of Nintendo's biggest fall titles—so it's safe to say Link's Awakening is FULLY appreciated at this point. But does Grezzo's very literal remake improve on the original experience? On this episode, join Bob Mackey, Kat Bailey, and Henry Gilbert as the crew explores this r...

Nov 01, 20191 hr 3 min

Retronauts Episode 255: Castlevania's Oddballs

Jeremy Parish summons the eldritch forms of Castlevania experts Kurt Kalata, Rob Russo, and Kevin Bunch to discuss the enigma that is... Castlevania games that don't fit into any other specific grouping, like Haunted Castle and Bloodlines. Spooky!

Oct 28, 20192 hr 31 min

Retronauts Episode 254: Mega Man 11's Classic Roots

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Nadia Oxford get equipped with opinions about the latest entry in the Mega Man series and how it upholds the franchise's lengthy legacy. This one's been in the vaults so long that Mega Man 11 is almost retro now!

Oct 21, 20192 hr 34 min

Retronauts Episode 252: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

For a little over a decade, Castlevania keeper Koji Igarashi cut his own path with the famous side-scrolling series by backing away from its traditional hardcore action and platforming, and leaning more towards RPG elements and exploration. The result was what we now know as the "Metroidvania," a genre that thrived for the ten years Igarashi found himself away from the style of game he and his team popularized. But does our current glut of Metroidvanias make his newest creation, Bloodstained: Ri...

Oct 14, 20192 hr 33 min

Come See Retronauts LIVE at Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2019!

We're coming back to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this year for another live appearance! When: Saturday, October 19 at 9:00pm Where: Auditorium A at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo What: Our latest live panel, "When Celebrities and Video Games Collide!" For more info, check out the official PRGE schedule , or the official website . We hope to see you there!...

Oct 10, 201956 sec

Retronauts Episode 251: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Retronauts East (Jeremy Parish, Benj Edwards, Chris Sims, and Ben Elgin) returns to the ’30s to evaluate the failings and successes (mostly failings) of Indiana Jones's most Problematic-with-a-capital-P adventure—and its impact on games, of course. Frickin' mine carts....

Oct 07, 20191 hr 13 min

Retronauts Episode 250: Loom

As Lucasfilm Games began to refine their philosophy of fairness, designer Brian Moriarty doubled down on this concept with his idea of a video game expressly designed to be completed. This would eventually take the form of Loom, an adventure game far different than anything that would come before or after it. With no inventory, no verbs, and music as your only means of interacting with the world, Loom stands some 30 years later as an interesting evolutionary dead end for the genre. On this episo...

Oct 04, 201941 min

Retronauts Episode 249: Roguelikes—The Road to Spelunky

Finishing out our patron request series on roguelike role-playing games, Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Jason Wilson, and John Harris explore latter-day roguelikes and how we got to the weird, wonderful world of Spelunky.

Sep 30, 20192 hr 38 min

Retronauts Episode 248: Contra

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, and Shane Bettenhausen use the Konami Code to tackle the challenge of recapping the Contra series, just in time for the latest entry in the franchise.

Sep 23, 20192 hr 40 min

Retronauts Episode 247: Classic gaming in Germany

We often talk about the U.S., Japan, and the U.K., but what about the rest of the world? Games journalist and historian Thomas Nickel takes time out of his Tokyo Game Show work to share some insights into the classic gaming experience in Germany.

Sep 20, 201937 min

Retronauts Episode 246: Demon's Souls

In the past decade, developer From Software went from making poorly reviewed oddities to being one of the most important developers in our modern era. And it all started with Demon's Souls, a humble, slightly janky game that challenged the new standard of frictionless gameplay in the HD era, and delivered an experience we didn't know we were so hungry for. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy's Parish, USgamer's Kat Bailey , and Duckfeed.tv's Gary Butterfield as the crew explor...

Sep 16, 20192 hr 38 min

Retronauts Episode 245: Lemmings (With Mike Dailly)

Jeremy Parish teams up with the Retronauts East crew to discuss PC classic puzzle-action game Lemmings before jumping into a one-on-one interview with one of the game's designers, Mike Dailly of DMA Designs.

Sep 09, 201956 min