Retronauts

Our second Retronauts Radio looks at notable retro-themed game music releases for February: Castlevania II, a Final Fantasy Tactics tribute, Revenge of Shinobi, Etrian Odyssey remixes, and a ton of SEGA jams! Art by Jon Stachewicz. Be sure to visit our site, which includes a complete listing of this episode's musical selections and where to find them, at Retronauts.com. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way to help support this weekly show, please head on over to our Patreon page!

Steve Lin and Jaz Rignall join Jeremy and Bob again to look back at one of the most important game creators of all time: Activision, the company that established the concept of third parties.

It's hard to believe, but the Wii celebrated its tenth birthday last year, putting it within our extremely loose definition of "retro." And thankfully, it's a topic worthy of the Retronauts treatment. Not only does the Wii amount to Nintendo's biggest success, it's also unlikely any subsequent system will ever sell more than this underpowered little box that made our motion-control dreams come true... when we still had them. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Brett Elston, and Mikel Reparaz as the crew looks back on a not-too-distant past full of Wiis and waggle. Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

When The Simpsons took off like a rocket in its first few years, it was only a matter of time before someone scooped up the video game rights. And that "someone" in this case turned out to be Acclaim, those notable purveyors of trash who introduced the concept of "buyer's remorse" to generations of gamers. On this special Talking Simpsons crossover episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, and Chris Antista as the crew thoroughly explores Bart vs. the Space Mutants, the strangely ambitious but all-around bad production that taught us all to be forever suspicious of Simpsons games. Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

It's an all-music episode of Retronauts as Jeremy looks at recent classic game soundtrack releases of note. Includes looks at Panzer Dragoon, symphonic Final Fantasy, Castlevania: Dracula X, Metroid, and more! Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, now updated daily! This show is an entirely independent and a self-sustaining concern for 2017. Please help support our livelihoods through Patreon!

Having survived the Bubble Bobble episode, Jeremy mops up the franchise with a look at its most popular (or at least most imitated) branch: The iconic color-match puzzler Bust-A-Move... more sensibly known as "Puzzle Bobble." Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, now updated daily! This show is an entirely independent and a self-sustaining concern for 2017. Please help support our livelihoods through Patreon!

The original Power Trio — Bob, Ray, and Jeremy — follow up their recent look at Wonder Boy to take on the next needlessly convoluted franchise: Taito's Bubble Bobble (et al.). Confusion guaranteed for all! Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, now updated daily! This show is an entirely independent and a self-sustaining concern for 2017. Please help support our livelihoods through Patreon!

After yet another year of podcasting, it's time to tie a bow on 2016 with an annual trip to the Retronauts Holiday cabin in Parts Unknown. And this time around, we set our sights on Christmas Comes to Pac-Land, a TV special that gently lulled a generation of chomp-obsessed children to sleep when it premiered way back in 1982. On this very special episode, join Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, and Chris Antista as the crew examines this televised lump of Christmas coal in much greater detail than any of its creators ever did. Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

Ah, Sonic the Hedgehog: a designed-by-committee character born out of pure cynicism that nonetheless won over a generation and continues to be extremely popular today. Despite the brand's notoriety throughout the 21st century, Sonic earned his place in gaming history with the three-and-a-half Genesis releases that made him a household name. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Ray Barnholt, and Tim Turi as the crew explores Sonic's origins and the brief period where he shone the brightest. Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

Enjoy this delightful yarn about the legal wrangling over the matter of Donkey Kong's true parents. Is Shigeru Miyamoto really his dad? And who has custody over this simian tyke, anyway? Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

Let's get technical! With this, the first of a series of Micro episodes focused on specific technologies and how they shape the games we love. We begin here with a podcast-appropriate aural treat: The iconic sound of FM synthesis. Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

TOSE! Towa Chiki! VAP! Meldac! SunSoft! Atelier Double! These are but a few of the studios we (that is, Jeremy, Dr. Sparkle, and Frank Cifaldi) explore in this look at weird, often terrible games made by vanished Japanese developers in the '80s. Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

Chris Kohler joins Jeremy and Bob to revisit a topic from the earliest days of Retronauts: Virtual Console. Boy, what a difference 10 years makes! Remember when we were optimistic about that? Also includes some NES Classic Edition spitballing or whatever. Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

As part of our post-10th birthday victory lap, friends Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross of Watch Out for Fireballs! (and several other shows) join Bob for a laid-back discussion about the podcasting game, the true meaning of "retro," and why you should get your butt to Portland next October. Thanks for listening, and we swear we'll actually be talking about video games next week! (And, presumably, for several hundred weeks to come.) Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

It's hard to believe, but the podcast devoted to discussing old games is now old itself! On this special live episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Chris Kohler, and special guest Scott Sharkey as the crew discusses a decade spent stuck in the past. (Special thanks to twitter user @RPeavyhouse for the cover photo!) Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

If you lived through the NES era, the words "Fester's Quest" likely make you break into a cold sweat. (Sorry about that.) A few years before Raul Julia and Christopher Lloyd danced the Mamushka, kids of the '80s mostly knew The Addams Family via Sunsoft's 8-bit hit and its absolutely unforgiving difficulty. On this episode of Retronauts Micro, join Bob Mackey, Chris Antista, and Henry Gilbert as the crew works through their shared trauma, and uncovers the fascinating history of this odd little game. Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

Like every type of media still in its early years, gaming is viewed (by some) as a world-destroying force bent on stealing our time and warping our innocent minds. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Henry Gilbert and Mikel Reparaz as the crew traces how our anxieties over this new form of entertainment have caused society to push back and demand sometimes-hilarious changes. It's bowdleriffic! Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

Hey folks, we'll be in Portland this coming weekend for the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, and a special afterparty at QuarterWorld! Here's all the info you need: Our panel: We'll be celebrating Retronauts' 10th anniversary with a PRGE panel on Sunday, October 23 at 3:00pm in Auditorium B. (Click here for the full schedule.) The afterparty: Join us after the panel from 8:00pm - 10:00pm for a party at the great arcade QuarterWorld, located at 4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. in Portland. To attend, you MUST RSVP at our Eventbrite page, which you can access by clicking here. Please bring either a printout of your ticket, or a digital copy of the RSVP confirmation e-mail via your smartphone. Access to our party is free, but you'll still need to pay QuarterWorld's cover charge, which should be $3.00. If you can't access links via your MP3 player or program, the link to the Eventbrite page can be found pinned to the top of both our Twitter and Facebook pages. Hope to see you there!

Jeremy muses over one of the greatest arcade games of all time: Taito's oddly out-of-time cooperative shooter, Elevator Action II (Elevator Action Returns if you're nasty). Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!

Game preservation advocates Frank Cifaldi, Mike Mika, and Steve Lin of The Video Game History Foundation discuss the challenges and obsessions that drive the search for and archiving of the information and materials surrounding the classics. Be sure to visit our blog at Retronauts.com, and check out our partner site, USgamer, for more great stuff. And if you'd like to send a few bucks our way, head on over to our Patreon page!