I don't know if any publication has had quite so much impact on Retronauts over the years as Wikipedia. It's not that Wikipedia is some comprehensive repository of human knowledge (though it does make a very handy starting point for most research); it's that it simply exists. When I kicked off this show back in 2006, the mere...
2022-03-14 12:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
March 6, 1992: Jobe 3:16 says "I AM GOD HERE"
by Diamond Feit
Virtual reality is a paradox. A simula...
2022-03-13 13:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark, and one of the most important movies of the 1990s. So, in our continued mission to discuss movies that influenced and spawned video games, it only makes sense that we cover Spielberg's dinosaur film that captured countless hearts and wallets nearly 30 years ago. And we got so...
2022-03-11 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Dizzy the Egg. For as long as Stuart Gipp has been involved with Retronauts, he has taken every opportunity to raise awareness of and appreciation for the shell-cased superhero. And now—in accordance with the prophecy—he's finally done an episode of the podcast all about Dizzy. And he's done it with Dave Bulmer, ...
2022-03-07 12:32:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Previously on This Week In Retro: Japanese video game publisher Sega releases a big-budget science-fiction shooter, Binary Domain, to lukewarm reviews overseas and underwhelming sales. The failure of Binary Domain add... 2022-03-07 01:09:09 +0000 UTC View Post
We have once again entered the world of survival horror. Yes, Retronauts has been here before, but our last dedicated Resident Evil episode was six years ago and it summarized the entire PlayStation 1 trilog...
2022-02-28 12:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post
February 16, 2012: Do Hollow Children dream of electric sheep?
by Diamond Feit
It is the 21st centur...
2022-02-27 14:39:29 +0000 UTC View Post
You can tick off a handful of video game characters that even people who are indifferent to the medium know through sheer exposure, at least if they're older than 30. Pac-Man. Donkey Kong. Mario. Sonic. And... Q*Bert. What makes Q*Bert so unique is that nothing much has ever come of him since his debut 40 years ago—Gottlieb...
2022-02-25 13:13:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Despite existing for nearly 30 years beforehand, it took until nearly the '90s for the X-Men to find their way into video games. And it should come as no surprise that the IP's Renaissance during that decade coincided with some of the most notable games to ever feature Professor X's collection of special youngsters. (Though t...
2022-02-21 08:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post
February 1997: Talkin’ ‘bout New Generation
by Diamond Feit
When can inevitability and evitabili...
2022-02-20 13:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
This week brings us simultaneously an informative public service episode and a call back to the podcast's past. Back in 2016, nearly six full years ago, we hashed out a rundown of the many different options available for playing classic games on modern devices. It was a little tech-oriented, but most existed as a breakdown of...
2022-02-14 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
January 26, 2012: How does CAPCOM spell portable survival horror? R-E-V-E-L-A-I-T-O-N-S
by Diamond Feit
In the early '00s, Nintendo wasn't doing particularly well. With the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance (outside of Pokemon) failing to light the world on fire, the company had no chance but to work with the hand they dealt themselves. As the Sonys and Microsofts of the world ventured into the uncharted territory of "online," ...
2022-02-11 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
It's official: After three full-length episodes on Capcom's groundbreaking video game, we'...
2022-02-07 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
January 31, 1997: Square hits the PlayStation with a meteor
by Diamond Feit
I was always a science-f...
2022-02-06 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
When you think about "32-bit era Squaresoft," what comes to mind? If you're a normal human being, you automatically think of Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Cross, or Xenogears. But if you're an ancient like myself and my guests on this week's Retronauts (Jeremy Parish and Andrew Vestal), you might also g...
2022-01-31 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostDiamond here! I got sick this week (not COVID) and was unable to file my usual column this week. The subject was decided and I started writing, but it just won't be ready at this time. I'll share it when it's finished, I promise. Thank you.
2022-01-30 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Sometimes, the presence of the words "part one" in an episode title can seem like a goof where a topic got away from us. Or maybe sometimes it even sounds like a threat. In this case, it's an inevitability. We've talked about Pokémon before, of course, but never in significant depth—an oversight that changes today...
2022-01-28 13:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
At the dawn of the '80s, director John Carpenter released Escape from New York, an action thriller that went on to be a modest hit. Sometime after this, and halfway around the globe, a man named Hideo Kojima saw this movie, and it lit his brain on fire. What do these two seemingly unrelated facts have to do with each other? W...
2022-01-24 08:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
January 18, 1947: こんなゲームにまじになっちゃってどうするの？
by Diamond Feit
This week's episode is one of those slightly recursive "documenting the process of documenting game history" episodes, but, hey... stick with what you know, right? I've been wanting to get Richard Moss and Evan Amos on the show for quite a while, since both of them have created some invaluable resources for anyone with an int...
2022-01-17 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
January 14, 1987: No errors detected
by Diamond Feit
I'm not sure another video game will ever have ...
2022-01-16 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
"What if David Lynch made a TV show?" Shockingly, it happened in the early '90s, and the American public couldn't help but gawk at the surreal antics of Agent Dale Cooper and the quirky citizens of Twin Peaks. And while we sadly never saw an official video game adaptation, Lynch's two-season series inspired quite a number of ...
2022-01-14 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Zool! Those four fearsome letters that strike such terror into the heart of the Americas.
What is Zool? Why is there so much fruit? Why do you press "up" to jump? All these questions and more are answered in Retronauts episode 429, hosted by—of course—Stuart Gipp, who is joined by Dave Bulmer...
2022-01-10 13:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
January 1982: Take off every 'ZAXX'!!
by Diamond Feit
Here's a hot take to keep everyone warm during...
2022-01-09 14:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy New Year! Some months ago, I went to Kyoto to the not-so-secret headquarters of Vitei, an independent game studio that will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2022. Vitei was founded by Giles Goddard, a young man from the United Kingdom who came to Japan as a teenager to work for Nintendo. Can y...
2022-01-03 11:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
January 1982: Women be hoppin'
by Diamond Feit
We've arrived in 2022, a year that is rich with major...
2022-01-02 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
So, it's come to this, has it? The Sony PlayStation has hit the alarming milestone that is its 10-year anniversary. Well, OK, we missed it by a couple of weeks if we're going by the Japanese launch date, but at least we remembered! Unlike a certain someone we could name whose name starts with an S and rhymes with "ba...
2021-12-31 13:02:05 +0000 UTC View Post
2021: An Unexpected Journey
by Diamond Feit
We made it, folks. This time last year, a lot of us felt...
2021-12-27 09:26:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Let's be honest: things weren't too hot in the year 2002. In between two pointless wars, and in the midst of a huge economic downturn, Americans couldn't even turn to their friend the television for comfort—this was the explosion of reality TV, after all. But in the midst of all this chaos and depression, the video games we...
2021-12-27 08:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
