retronauts

This Week in Retro: Pit-Fighter [1990]

August 1990: Pit-Fighter Beats Mortal Kombat to the Punch

by Diamond Feit

In the long history of video games, innovation doesn't alway...

Episode 320: A Castlevania Deep Dive

Yes, we've talked about the original Castlevania before, but the last time was as part of a general survey back in the Kickstarter era, which was—brace for it—seven years ago. It's almost retro itself at this point.

I was motivated to create this episode once I learned that I'll be involved (to some small degree) with the Castlevania collection release at my day job, Limited Run Games... though we recorded ...

This Week in Retro: SNK Vs. Capcom [2000]

August 13, 2000: Capcom & SNK! Fighting Together! Mass Hysteria!

by Diamond Feit

Media conglomeration has done irreparable damage to our society as a whole, but one of the lesser-discussed impacts is the erasure of w...

Episode 319: Super Mario Galaxy

We keep hearing rumors that Nintendo's going to remaster its 3D Mario games for Switch—an enticing prospect, although the tendency of these rumors to group them all into a single collection makes them a little suspect. These are big, meaty games that would require a fair amount of tinkering, which means a piecemeal approach seems more likely. Case in point: The Super Mario Galaxy duology, which put Mario back on the right track afte...

Episode 318: Cowboy Games

Believe it or not, there are topics we've never covered in the past 14 years of Retronauts, so it's always a treat to shine the podcasting spotlight on a subject that's gone untouched. And this week, we're talking all about cowboy games: the genre that traces its roots back to the very beginning of the medium, and only recently came back into vogue thanks to the wildly popular Red Dead Redemption series. On this episode, join Bob Mack...

This Week in Retro: Castlevania Harmony of Despair [2010]

August 4, 2010: Konami Shrugs the Final 2D Castlevania Game Into Existence

by Diamond Feit

Tell me, Castlevania fans, what is it that you love best about this series, w...

Episode 317: Chrono Cross

Here's an episode near and dear to my heart. I could explain why, but then this episode (wherein a rave about Chrono Cross for an hour and a half, and Nadia Oxford and Jared Petty listen with bemusement) would be redundant. So, instead, please buckle in and enjoy the show. I'm sure there will be some "not a fan" responses on this one, as it's quite a controversial game—and that's fine! Differences of opinion make the world go 'round...

This Week in Retro: Dr. Mario [1990]

July 27, 1990: Nintendo Invents The Only Good DRM

by Diamond Feit

Does Mario make games better? Nintendo's original mascot hero was envisioned as an everyman, a character who could be anyone and do anything. Today we con...

Episode 316: Nintendo Leaks

In just the past week, the world of retro games has been rocked and shocked by a data breach that's revealed some tantalizing Nintendo information to the general public. But what are the ethics of talking about illegally stolen data? Do we have the right to pore over historically important information obtained through nefarious means? And, most importantly, are you a cop? On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, 2020-07-31 16:31:42 +0000 UTC View Post

Episode 315: Samurai Shodown

To tie in with the recent launch of SNK's comprehensive Samurai Shodown Collection, this week sees myself and Diamond Feit (Neo•Geo fan supreme) connect with friend of the show Brandon Sheffield to discuss the series' history. Brandon, who worked extensively on the Collection, has spent plenty of in-depth time with the franchise after working as an embedded historian at SNK's offices and spending face time with both the 2020-07-27 13:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

This Week in Retro: The King of Fighters ’95/2000 [1995/2000] (with audio bonus)

This week's patron-exclusive column contains an audio element—let us know what you think in the comments! Is this something you'd like to see (or, uhh, hear) more of?—Jeremy

July 25/26, 1995/2000: The King of Fighters Dabbles in Fire and Ice

by Diamond Feit

2020-07-26 14:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Episode 314: Ape & Escape & The History of History

The pandemic has had quite an impact on Retronauts—there's only one podcast recording remaining from The Before Times, when we could all sit in the same studio!—but it's not all bad. This week's episode is a case-in-point example. I interviewed game historian Leonard Herman (author of the groundbreaking book Phoenix) a couple of years ago at Long Island Retro Expo, but that recording has languished in the vaults since then. It was...

This Week in Retro: X-Men [2000]

July 14, 2000: X-Men heralds the coming of the modern comic book film industry

by Diamond Feit

Let's open this week's column with a disclaimer: It's fine if you don't like comic book movies. It's also fine if you liked t...

Episode 313: Weird Controllers, Pt. II

Well, this is it (...maybe). The final journey of the Retronauts East crew (...probably). 

This follow-up to the first "Weird Controllers" conversation (from 30 episodes ago!) is a blast from the past that sees the East ensemble banding together, unknowingly meeting for the last time before the world went topsy-turvy to become a planet where we can no longer record shows together in the same room. It's a sad state of affairs, but I'...

Episode 312: Deadly Premonition

We're just a few days out from the release of Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise, so it's about time we take a look back at the first game that just happened to turn ten years old earlier this year. Back when it launched in 2010, Deadly Premonition stood as a budget oddity, at first only seen as a wacky, broken game that cribbed a little too much from Twin Peaks. But over time, this open-world mystery became something of a mini-pheno...

This Week in Retro: Suzuki Bakuhatsu [2000]

July 6, 2000: Enix welcomes us to the new millennium with a bang

by Diamond Feit

When we laud the video games of the 1990s, we don't talk enough about the creative freedom that came about due to the birth of the CD-ROM f...

Episode 311: Tales of Toad

I have had a note jotted down in the columns of our Retronauts planning docs to put together some episodes focusing on Mario spinoffs focused on minor characters for several years, but they always get pushed aside in favor of bigger topics. With the surprise announcement of a new Paper Mario game due out in a couple of weeks, though, now seemed the perfect time to make one of those intended topics happen—one focused, quite fittingly...

This Week in Retro: Jet Grind Radio [2000]

June 29, 2000: Sega Releases, Does Not Condone Jet Set Radio 

by Diamond Feit

It's not uncommon while revisiting old video games to encounter material or subject matter that has become dated. Everything is a product...

Episode 310: Silent Hill 2

It's been nearly nine years since we touched upon Silent Hill, so it's high time we revisited Konami's beloved series by focusing on its finest moment. Way back in the fall of 2001, Silent Hill 2 was truly ahead of its time in both storytelling and production values, giving the world an unforgettable sequel that would inspire many games to come. And on this episode of Retronauts, we're bringing back our 2011 guest 2020-07-03 07:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Episode 309: Assassin's Creed & Virtual On

Once again, we're squeezing lemonade from the pandemic lemon with another episode in which the remote segment format opens up an opportunity to tackle a couple of topics that might be much harder to arrange with the traditional in-person recording process. First, I finally get my former USgamer collaborator Mike Williams on the show (after years of good intentions and near-misses!) to talk about one of his all-time favorite games: The...

This Week in Retro: Missile Command [1980]

June 1980: Sky Rockets in Flight, Arcade's Delight.

by Diamond Feit

One of the funnier contradictions in world history is the rise of computer technology during the Cold War. For decades American kids (and Soviet kids as...

Episode 308: Sid Meier's Civilization & Magic: The Gathering

The topics covered in this week's two segments may not seem too closely related, but in point of fact there is a common thread linking them: Specifically, long-time friend of the show and regular guest Shivam Bhatt has made both topics into a life-long passion. In our first hour, he schools me in the ways of Sid Meier's Civilization; in the second, he teams up with Patron Bill Nielsen to reveal the mysteries of Magic: The Gatherin...