Retronauts

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, and Caty McCarthy look to the present to talk about a game that succeeds by looking to the past: Sega's 2017 hit Sonic Mania. See, we CAN say nice things about Sonic.

The last survivors of the Nostromo—Jeremy Parish, Benj Edwards, Chris Sims, and Ben Elgin—transmit from deep space to pay tribute to Ridley Scott's film Alien and its influence on pop culture and video games.

This time on Retronauts, we're talking about something that's rarely a featured topic on the show: ourselves! On this special Friday installment, Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross of the Duckfeed.tv network join us in our Midwest Gaming Classic hotel room to discuss the wild and woolly world of being a self-employed podcaster. Is it exciting and exotic, with danger around every corner? Or fairly stra...

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Flip Grip design engineer Mike Choi talk about the most beautiful and memorable game console designs through the years. Even though podcasts, uh, aren't exactly a visual medium.

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and James Eldred reminisce about the halcyon days before digital distribution and demo discs... back when we had bike over to the video store so we could rent games we wanted to try out.

Live! Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Chris Kohler, and Caitlin Oliver discuss the Game Boy's 30-year legacy. Then Jeremy and Bob talk up the magic of Mindware's Heiankyo Alien in an impromptu chat recorded bootleg-style. [Art: Cassie Hart Kelly]

This time around, we're shining the spotlight on another newer game that, like Shovel Knight, feels like the platonic ideal of a specific retro experience. If you ever liked Harvest Moon, still like Harvest Moon, or fell off the series years ago, Stardew Valley is the game for you: it takes the fundamentals of Natsume's storied farming sim, sands off its many rough edges, and expands on the import...

By patron request, Wes Fenlon and Henry Gilbert join Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey go a little buggy as they explore the history and influence of Hayao Miyazaki's manga and anime classic Nausicäa of the Valley of Wind

With the Sonic the Hedgehog live-action movie just around the corner, there's never been a better time to look back on all the actors who once brought life to Sega's little blue speed rat. Though improv master Ben Schwartz will play Sonic in the sure-to-be-great film, he's just the latest in a long line of actors—in both America and Japan—who convinced all of us that a hedgehog could speak. On thi...

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 d...

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 thi...

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 Pla...

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--t...