Retrovaniacs

This episode we visit a past Sega franchise that has been relatively quiet of late, the Shinobi series and master ninja Joe Musashi in what may be the best game in the series -- Shinobi 3 for the Genesis.  How does this one stack up to other 16-bit era platformers, and the rest of the series in general?  Listen to see! We also share our thoughts on several topics such as the Final Fantasy series,...

The sequel to Super Mario World, but featuring Mario's sidekick Yoshi as the main character, Yoshi's Island kicked off the Yoshi series of games.  Did his first solo outing solidify Yoshi as more than a glorified mount for Mario?  We played it again now, and share our thoughts on this beautiful looking 2d title, with some notable flaws. Also discussed what Billy thought about Skate or Die 2, answe...

We take a look at a sequel to the skateboarding game that everyone owned, Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble.  Where the original was more of a collection of skating games, this sequel is a single player skateboarding adventure game.  Does this game end up being a totally radical experience, or a completely bogus waste of time? We also talk about Sekiro way too much, answer a handful of...

After being told we constantly nag on the Sega Genesis system for it's... interesting sound, we picked a game this week that at the very least has a very solid soundtrack, Rocket Knight Adventures!  This was one of Konami's Genesis exclusives, and it led to several sequels that were on multiple platforms, but how well does does Sparkster's initial journey hold up?  We played through the game to fi...

Maybe our most divisive episode yet, we dive into the sequel to one of the undisputed NES classic games (the Legend of Zelda) as we cover the side-scrolling follow-up Zelda II : The Adventure of Link.   Many people swear this game is the worst in the series, while many others love the fact that it's so different while still maintaining many staples of the Zelda series.  Even just the three of us h...

Everyone is playing the new Resident Evil 2 remake, so we thought it was a great time to look at what Resident Evil would look like if it was based on Jurassic Park instead of zombie movies -- Dino Crisis, originally released on the Sony Playstation in 1999! Do Resident Evil tank controls make a dinosaur based survival horror game still worth playing, or is this a case of two great tastes that don...

Join us as we take a look at Sega's 1995 comic-themed Brawler, Comix Zone! Will Sketch be able to save himself and his comic from the evil mutant Mortis?  Why does this game make you take damage when you punch a box?  These questions and more are covered in detail! We also answer some listener mail about a Street Fighter II port none of us knew about, Tiger Handhelds, and if the amount of games we...

A game none of us has played before (or honestly had even heard of before), Firestriker for the Super Nintendo is a weird mash-up of adventure game, pinball, and Breakout -- but does that make for a good game, or an unintelligible mess?  Listen to find out. We also answer some listener questions on the Metal Gear series, Mario Kart 64, and memories of playing games with our families when we were y...

Our first episode of 2019 takes us back to the NES to look at a very beloved game, Battletoads, which is known not only for being a game everyone loves, but also one of the hardest games on the NES.   Does this still hold up today, and is it as hard as we all remember?  Can we even get past those damn speeder bikes?  Listen to find out! We also answer a listener question from "Josh" to discuss som...

UPDATE: Added our voices back in.  Hooray? Ho, ho, ho! It's Christmastime at the Retrovania dot net HQ, and so we've pulled out a holiday classic - Die Hard Trilogy! Ok, so there is nothing in this game that even remotely mentions Christmas, but this is a game that contains 3 completely separate games based on the first 3 Die Hard movies. Is this a rare case where you get a lot for your money, or...

A Treasure game for the Genesis, included on most Genesis collections, and yet none of us have played it?  This is exactly the situation faced this week, as we review listener recommended Dynamite Headdy! Will this game be found deserving to be on the Genesis game collections, or is Headdy just another bad 16-bit mascot? We've gotten more questions via Retrovania.net, so we end the show off answer...

Since the Playstation Classic is coming out next week, and we already looked at several other games that are going to be on the mini-system, we decided to take on the first of the modern era Metal Gear games, Metal Gear Solid!  Does this game deserve to be on the classic, or is this another game that might be better left in our collective memories? We take a listener question on video game music,...

YEEHAW! To be honest, much like everyone else we assumed we'd have been too busy with Red Dead Redemption 2 to play something that wasn't western and / or was a really long game.  So -- we're covering Natsume's Wild Guns on the SNES, a game that is short and western-ish.  Does this game still provide a rootin'-tootin' good time, or should this one be put out to pasture? We also take a listener que...

It's Halloween 2018!  We're celebrating this year by covering maybe the most iconic horror monsters, at least of the 80s - Freddy and Jason, and the most 80s games possible on the LJN-made games for the NES. Sure, they've already duked it out on the big screen, but which of these slashers will have the better NES game? Want to skip around what else we've been doing?  Start at that 9 minute mark! _...

It's the first Halloween episode of 2018, and we've decided to take a closer look at Symphony of the Night before the new HD re-release comes out at the end of the month with Castlevania : Requiem.  Does this game still have fangs, or is it a miserable pile (of secrets)?  We also covered the 16-bit Castlevanias previously, in Episode 35, way back in Halloween 2016. We also answer a listener questi...

We broke from our own set of guidelines for this one, we're looking at Shenmue in honor of the HD re-releases of Shenmue 1 and 2, and the probable upcoming 3rd game in the series in 2019 (maybe).   We dive into the first game in the saga of Ryo Hazuki, who is sent around Yokosuka, Japan to find information on black cars, Chinese people, and of course sailors, as he hunts down Lan Di to get revenge...

Grab your favorite pair of swords and join the Retrovanics crew as we dive into the elemental planes of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water as we play Chakan the Forever Man for the Sega Genesis. We also talk about the new Switch onlien service with NES library, the Mega Man 11 demo, and we answer a listener question from "Seph" who asks us what sort of game we personally would make. Want to skip hearing...

Billy is back this week, as we take a look at a game that is included on the NES Classic that 2/3 of us had never played - Startropics! Join us as we help Mike find his lost Uncle, Dr. Jones, and find out why a parrot tells you to Do Me So Far Do Me. As a reminder, Kyle VonKubik's t-shirt Kickstarter ends in less than a week, however it's been fully funded!  There's still a little bit of time to o...

We revisit the TurboGrafx-16 yet again, as we cover what became the mascot of the system in the US, Bonk, in his first outing. Did the little caveman with a giant noggin have what it takes to hold up to Sonic and Mario and make the TG-16 a force in the market again? Well, obviously not-- but Bonk still had a lot of promise. As a reminder, Kyle VonKubik's t-shirt Kickstarter still has a few weeks l...

A listener request from Kyle VonKubik (see more below), this episode we definitely bit off more than we could chew, covering 2 completely different RPGs on the same source material, the pen and paper FASA RPG, Shadowrun.  Do either of these versions do the cyberpunk classic justice, and what makes them different?  We try to cover a lot in this hour+, and it probably got a little messy. Kyle VonKub...

SURPRISE!  We weren't sure what we were covering this episode when you last heard from us, but due to Jeremy's broken leg situation, we had to make it something you could play on Switch-- and the re-release of Top Hunter: Roddy and Cathy (originally on the Neo Geo) seemed like a solid choice.  None of us played this before, so we went into this with no pre-conceived notions!  Does this one hold up...

This time we take a look at Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo, a game that is highly regarded as a classic game.  Instead of seeing if it's a good or bad game, we instead focus on what makes this game so good-- And does it still play well in 2018? We also take a listener question about our most nostalgic game purchase, and that leads us down memory road as we say goodbye to a retail icon and it...

This time we revisit the Sega Master System, to look at a forgotten mascot of a major gaming powerhouse -- Sega's Alex Kidd, in his first adventure!  How effective is a game where Paper-Rock-Scissors is the method for combat? Listen to find out! We also discuss the other games in the Alex Kidd series, including his foray into the Genesis, before Alex got sent to the rest home for former mascot cha...

It's a pocket-sized episode of Retrovaniacs, this time looking at the first handheld Zelda game -- Link's Awakening (and the color re-release that came out a few years later)!  Does this game hold up to the best the series has to offer, or will this wallow with the later DS entries in the area of "this was a better idea than reality"?  We also discuss the new Atari VCS Indiegogo success (?) and Je...

To celebrate the Mega Man X collections, coming out this summer, we decided it was time to look at the first game in the second major Mega Man series-- Mega Man X for the Super Nintendo.  Also discussed, "go to" classic arcade games, in the arcades of our dreams. Want to skip right to Mega Man X?  Start listening at 9:24! __________________________   If you enjoy this podcast, why not write a revi...