Retronauts

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, and Jared Petty look back at 30 years of Game Boy. The memories! The classics! The music! The inevitable eyestrain from trying to play games in the dark in the backseat of a car!

The Retronauts East crew continues their ongoing survey of Namco's legendary arcade output through the ’80s, tackling classics like Rolling Thunder and Pac-Mania as well as obscurities like Marchen Maze.

Legendary game programmer Rebecca Heineman discusses her journey to becoming a game developer, her most interesting projects through the years, and what comes next.

Have we really never done an episode on Kingdom Hearts? Well, it's surprisingly old, and now that the long-awaited third game finally exists, there's never been a better time. This long-running Square franchise has a history as long and complicated as its plot, and we dedicate the first half of this episode to discussing the origins of Kingdom Hearts and just where it's been going for nearly two decades. Then, on the other side, we take on Kingdom Hearts 3: a very new game that still feels remarkably old in good and bad ways, and one that refuses to be anything but itself. This week, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Henry Gilbert, and USgamer's Caty McCarthy as the crew straps into their gummi ships to fly the friendly skies of Kingdom Hearts. This is one episode where we're not a-hyuckin' around.

Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey finally leave Midgar to explore the remainder of Final Fantasy VII with the help of their fellow party members, Chris Kohler and Kat Bailey.

On April 15, 2019, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime will step down from his role, bringing about an end to an era. But who was Reggie, and why was his tenure at Nintendo so unique? On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, and Henry Gilbert as the crew examines the life and times of Reggie Fils-Aime during Nintendo's highest highs and lowest lows.

East meets West, and then some! Jeremy Parish and Chris Sims (east) meet with Bob Mackey and Nina M. (west) to talk about the franchise that brings people of all coasts together: Capcom's Disney games for NES.

Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey once again meet with Chris Kohler and Kat Bailey to deep-dive their way through the history of Final Fantasy. This time they've hit the Big One: Final Fantasy VII, a game SO monumental in impact it's a two-episode discussion.

Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey roll up Benj Edwards and Ben Elgin into an ever-growing ball of garba—errr, that is, an ever-growing podcast retrospective about Namco's delightful trash-gathering simulation Katamari Damacy.

We left you hanging for over a year after our first exploration of Spider-Man games (episode 135), and now we're back to see what the world of polygons held for Marvel's arachnid hero. Spidey had quite a bit of video game history between his 2000 self-titled game and his... 2018 self-titled game, and we're here to comb through the webs of the past to see if there's anything worth salvaging. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, and Jeremy Parish as the crew activates their Spider-Sense to figure out which of Spidey's past interactive adventures should be gently shooed out the front door, and which should be swatted with a rolled-up newspaper.

Jeremy Parish talks to Martijn Reuvers and Collin van Ginckel about the history of their development studio, Two Tribes, a company that bluffed its way into existence in the sunset days of Game Boy and became indie game pioneers with Toki Tori and Rive.

It's been six months since Bob's last listener comments episode, and plenty of feedback has built up since then, practically screaming to be read live on the air! And in this episode, Bob and guest Henry Gilbert will be doing just that: reading and responding to various questions and comments (left on the Patreon and Retronauts dot com) on topics as varied as BioShock, Pokemon, Wario Ware, the PlayStation 2, and more! Plus: A song about Lou Albano that may surprise you.

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Nadia Oxford, and Kallie Plagge look back at some the greatest publishers of all time and the games that helped define them in our eyes. From Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. to The Sims and Halo, it's an episode chock-full of meet-cutes!

Continued from episode 191! The whole Retronauts East gang gathers once again to complete their look back at the years that have come before—the most notable gaming (and pop culture) events of 1989 and 1999.

Live from MAGfest 2019! Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Chris Sims explore the musical legacy of Nintendo R&D1 from Donkey Kong to the grand culmination of the studio's love for brilliant music and sound design: Rhythm Heaven. Special thanks to Trey Johnson for an assist with the audio!

Every once in a while, we like to focus our attention on (gasp!) modern games to see how well they've stuck to tradition over the passing decades. And there's no series more traditional than Dragon Quest, which still plays pretty close to how it did 30-some years ago. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, and Henry Gilbert as the crew takes a look at how Dragon Quest XI--the newest entry in the series--thoroughly modernizes its many old-school qualities for one of the best installments of the series to date.

Kurt Kalata and Rob Russo of Hardcore Gaming 101 join Jeremy Parish to explore the alternate reality version of Konami's legendary run of NES games: Their extensive MSX home computer library. From Metal Gear to Nemesis, it's all familiar, and yet... not.

You've heard of Hudson's Adventure Island, but how about Hudson's adventure games? Though the developer was mostly known for platforming and bomber men, in their pre-console-development years, Hudson cashed in on the adventure game craze. And one remnant from this era managed to sneak over to American shores: the NES port of Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Nina Matsumoto, and Chris Sims as the crew ponders this clunky-but-charming vegetarian adventure.

Chris Kohler joins Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey to tackle the topic of piracy. It's not the same thing as emulation! But it's closely related? And it's bad! But it's important, good, and essential to game preservation!? There's a lot to unpack this week!

Interplay and InXile boss Brian Fargo offers fresh insights into his pioneering work with role-playing games like The Bard's Tale, Wasteland, and Fallout.