Retronauts

It's a double dose of Ultima! First, Jeremy and Bob chat with Jason Wilson and Rowan Kaiser from Gamesbeat to explore the RPG series' legacy, then Richard Garriott (Lord British himself) shares anecdotes about the origins and evolution of the games.

We're back with our follow-up to Retronauts Micro 87, which dives even deeper into the history of video game advertising. This time around, we leap from the "Have you played Atari today?" era of TV spots to the brilliant-but-now-amusing way Nintendo carefully worked around Americans' anxiety about video games with their focus on R.O.B. And, unfortunately, this era also sees basically everyone but boys being phased out of the marketing--a decision that had some pretty big effects we're...

Nintendo followed up the modest success of the N64 with the GameCube: A small, sleek little system devoted solely to playing games. But in an era where the PlayStation 2's exclusives, backwards compatibility, and DVD playback features obliterated the competition, Nintendo found their nice little piece of hardware unable to gain any true traction. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Kat Bailey, Jeremy Parish and Dave Rudden as the crew explores the console best known as "half of...

All SEGA, all the time! First, a chat with Phantasy Star designers Rieko Kodama and Toru Yoshida. Then, an in-depth look at DataDiscs' releases of the classic OSTs for After Burner II, Space Harrier, and Streets of Rage 3. Special thanks to Alex Aniel!

Jeremy follows up on last year's interview with Enhance Games boss and all-around video game design savant Tetsuya Mizuguchi, this time exploring the origins of musical PSP puzzle masterpiece Lumines. Just in time for the new remaster!

Jeremy and Bob discuss the greatness of Konami's first two Suikoden RPGs, yet fail to acquire all 108 Stars of Destiny (all we recruited were Shane Bettenhausen and Shivam Bhatt). Plus: Remembering Retronauts contributor Andrew Fitch.

Play this show before you go-go In case you're planning on seeing "Solo" Jeremy, Ben, and Chris talk about the original Star Wars and the games based on it. Just the original Star Wars. None of these newfangled prequels or sequels!

Whether you like it or not, advertising is everywhere, and it's always been everywhere—which is why the jingle for some now-nonexistent product has likely obliterated some important memory in your brain. And video games, being a product that's sold for money, have never been a stranger to advertising. On this first part of a two-part series, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Matthew Jay, and Henry Gilbert as the crew explores the earliest days of video game ads, as well as the many baffling...

When Sega made their first true leap into polygonal gaming with the incredibly rushed Sonic Adventure, they delivered a fascinating and ambitious mess. Thankfully, the inevitable sequel saw Sonic Team working with more time, resources, and expertise, making it a much more polished game... but one that still has its share of problems. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, and Michal (@Miexriir on Twitter) as the crew digs into Sonic's sophomore stab into the world...

A two-parter from Midwest Gaming Classic 2018. First, Kevin Bunch and Brian Clark talk the history of Atari 7800 with Jeremy. Then, as a backup, Marty Goldberg (and Bob!) join Jeremy and Kevin to explain how the Atari Crash wasn't totally Atari's fault.

Recorded live at Super Famicon in Greensboro NC! Jeremy Parish and Chris Sims chat with Josh Fairhurst from Limited Run Games about the mad adventure of bringing schlock-horror FMV classic Night Trap to modern consoles.

Steve Lin and Frank Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation join Jeremy and Bob to comb through the convoluted story of one of the most popular and addictive video games of all time: Tetris!

Jeremy, Chris, and Benj take a comprehensive journey through the catalog of an arcade legend: Namco. From their humble beginnings through mega-hits like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and Galaga, it's wall-to-wall coin-op classics up in this episode. This is the first of a series of Namco retrospectives and covers the years 1978-1982!

Thanks to the magic of planning, I (Bob) have scheduled three episodes in a row about 3D Sonic games. Earlier this week, we talked about Sonic Adventure, and next month we'll talk about Sonic Adventure 2. And as for this episode? Well, if you're one of those weirdos who reads the title last, allow me to inform you that this Micro is fully dedicated to YOUR thoughts about the 3D Sonic games. So sit back and relax as Henry Gilbert and myself read and respond to listener questions about...

Sonic the Hedgehog essentially sat out the 32-bit generation, which dealt a serious blow to Sega's financial situation. But by the time the company was ready to launch their new hardware, Sega finally delivered what a generation of gamers had been screaming about for years: a TRUE 3D Sonic game. On this week's episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Ray Barnholt, and Caty McCarthy as the crew digs into Sonic's first 3D outing and decides if it's a stellar success or an...

Nintendo never created a follow-up to 2002's Metroid Fusion, but this week Jeremy interviews the developers who did: Dan Kratt and Graham Scott, who put together DS/GBA cult classic Scurge Hive, and Joakim Sandberg, creator of Iconoclasts.

Benj Edwards has long dreamed of curating a museum of vintage PC history, and he's amassed hundreds of classic computers to make it happen. We talk about the unique challenges of preserving so many aging machines… especially finding room for them all.

Jeremy and Bob convene with Chris Kohler and Henry Gilbert to take another look at the ways a recent hit release draws on the heritage of a long-running game franchise. It's Super Mario Odyssey, and it celebrates 35+ years of Mario (and Donkey Kong!).

By request of patron Jeff Vlasek, we circle back around to go deep on Brøderbund, a company whose catalog we've touched on numerous times over the past year under the aegis of other subjects. This episode, though, it's all Brøderbund, all the time!

With Metal Gear Survive flopping and Hideo Kojima absent from Konami, the future of Metal Gear is fuzzy—or completely nonexistent. But, thankfully, Retronauts is a past-based operation, and there's plenty of Metal Gear behind us to look back on and discuss. On this episode, join Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert as the two-man crew tackles you most burning questions about Metal Gear.