Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle
The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast
Games media writers Matthew Castle (NGamer, Rock Paper Shotgun) and Samuel Roberts (PC Gamer, gamesTM, TechRadar) talk about video games and their years covering them professionally. Our logo is by John Strike, and our theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch' Topping (@nostoppingepoch on Twitter). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Author
Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle
Category
Podcast website
Latest episode
Jul 10, 2026
Where to listen?
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Episodes
Episode 121: Two Giant Men Play Resident Evil 4 Remake 24.03.2023 1:57:08
We've both finished Resident Evil 4 Remake, which is out now! The original was an era-defining game for us, so what's the deal with this one? There are two parts here: a non-spoilery section then a more spoiler-y one. We hope you like it. This week's music is from the Resident Evil 4 soundtrack by Misao Senbongi and Shusaku Uchiyama. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 120: From PC Zone to Writing Games (with Will Porter) 17.03.2023 1:30:11
Will Porter, former PC Zone editor turned game developer, is our guest this week. Hear about Zone's epic rivalry with PC Gamer and how it gradually died down over time, and learn about how Will ended writing for games like Alien: Isolation and Mafia: Definitive Edition. This week's music is from the Mafia: Definitive Edition soundtrack by Jesse Harlin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...
Episode 119: The Capcom Games Draft 10.03.2023 1:54:35
The draft is back! Matthew and Samuel compete to pick the 10 best Capcom games from the developer/publisher's extensive and dazzling library. If you like fighting games, apologies in advance. Samuel won this draft. This week's music is from the Devil May Cry 5 soundtrack by Casey Edwards and Ali Edwards, and the Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny soundtrack by Taro Iwashiro. Hosted on Acast. See acast....
Episode 118: Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Games Worth Grabbing Before The eShop Closes 03.03.2023 1:24:13
On this week's shorter episode, Matthew fires through a whole bunch of recommendations to check out on 3DS and Wii U before their respective eShops close on March 27th. The full list can be found on Patreon.com/backpagepod if you miss any of it. This week's music is from the Affordable Space Adventures soundtrack by Harry Damm. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 117: The Wii U Hall of Fame (with Ashley Day) 24.02.2023 2:34:52
Our task this week is to construct a 10-game hall of fame (or perhaps hall of infamy?) for the Nintendo Wii U. Joining us to assemble the list is Team17's Ashley Day, formerly of Nintendo UK and gamesTM magazine. It's a good episode, and hopefully fair to a weird console that's rightly been mined to form the backbone of the Nintendo Switch's killer library. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...
Episode 116: The Last of Us Revisited – and our Verdict on the HBO Show 17.02.2023 1:50:20
On this week's episode, we go deep on The Last of Us. We recall our original thoughts on the game from back in 2013 and give our verdict on the HBO show so far. Plus, Matthew talks us through his thoughts on the PS5 remake of the game. Apologies for the half-remembered bits. We'll explain the spoiler rules in the episode. This week's music is from The Last of Us soundtrack by Gustavo Santaola...
Episode 115: The Wii and DS Years of Official Nintendo Magazine 10.02.2023 1:39:40
Former ONM editor and Mobilegamer.biz founder Neil Long is this week's guest. Learn what it was like to run the official UK magazine during the dominance of the Wii and DS era – including a few horror stories he'd probably rather forget. This week's music is from the Dragon Quest 6 soundtrack by Koichi Sugiyama. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 114: What We've Been Playing (GoldenEye, Hi-Fi Rush, Fire Emblem Engage) 03.02.2023 1:56:44
Hi-Fi Rush, GoldenEye 007 and Fire Emblem: Engage are among the games we've been playing lately – those are the focus of this episode, along with a barrage of listeners questions that vary between insightful and nonsensical. This week's music is from the GoldenEye 007 soundtrack by Graeme Norgate, Grant Kirkhope and Robin Beanland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 113: The Best Games of 2014 27.01.2023 2:56:04
After a long break, we're back with two top 10 lists from a year gone by – this time, 2014. Expect a mixture of mag recollections and deep analysis of the games that mattered (and some that didn't). This week's music is from the Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney soundtrack by Tomohito Nishiura and Yasumasa Kitagawa, the Kalimba soundtrack by Magnus Damgaard, Lennart Kiel and Asger...
Episode 112: Pre-Owned Games Court Returns 20.01.2023 1:43:26
Our most interminable podcast format, Games Court, returns! 18 listeners' pre-owned games purchases go on trial in front of the corrupt Judge Castle, who delivers shaky justice from the courtroom of his dubious island nation. From Zelda on the CD-i to Jasper Carrott's Golden Balls on Wii and DS, it's an absolute treasure trove of nonsense this week. Sorry again for the continued existence of Games...
Episode 111: 23 Wild Gaming Predictions About 2023 13.01.2023 1:43:34
From Indiana Jones to a Nintendo Switch successor, it's time for 23 more ridiculous predictions founded on no basis of fact whatsoever. This week's music is from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild soundtrack by Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata and Hajime Wakai. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 110: New Year Mailbag 06.01.2023 2:04:10
Easing ourselves back in to another year of podcasting, we tackle more than 20 listener questions – from our favourite videogame box art to the best games we never finished. Samuel was suffering with Covid during this episode, so it's a slightly gentler one than normal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Best Video Game Boss Battles 30.12.2022 2:14:06
On this week's episode, we're taking a bit of time off! So enjoy this sample of our Patreon content – one of 18 additional episodes funded by our supporters at Patreon.com/BackPagePod. See you next week when regular service resumes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 109: The Best Games of 2022 23.12.2022 2:51:02
2022 was undoubtedly a blockbuster-deprived year, but it was still a strong 12 months for games in many other ways. Our two top 10 lists reflect that state of affairs. Enjoy this nearly 3-hour rundown of our favourites from 2022, which is our last new games pod of the year as we take a short break ahead of January's episodes (though free feed listeners still have something cool to look forward to...
Episode 108: The RPG Companions Draft 16.12.2022 2:00:13
On this week's episode, we each try to assemble the 'dream' RPG party across 14 categories. Predictably, we each created nightmares instead. Matthew won this draft, if you're coming to this episode late. This week's music is from the Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 107: Leaving Games Media (with Andy Kelly) 09.12.2022 1:17:52
Three-time special guest Andy Kelly is back to discuss his exit from games media after 18 years – and to share eight review scores he feels he got slightly wrong from his time working on PSM2/3, PC Gamer and The Gamer. Matthew and Samuel, meanwhile, shed some light on their own decisions to move on in years past. This week's music is from the Disco Elysium soundtrack by British Sea Power. Hos...
Episode 106: 2022 Gaming Predictions Revisited 02.12.2022 1:25:34
Did someone buy Capcom this year? Did Nightdive remaster the N64 South Park FPS? Did Samuel play FF14? We revisit our 22 predictions from the start of the year to see just how wrong we were – though a couple did pay off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 105: Two Giant Men Play God of War Ragnarok 25.11.2022 1:37:44
Matthew and Samuel both played God of War Ragnarök. But Matthew actually finished it! Enjoy this almost entirely spoiler-free take on the year's big blockbuster. If you want to know nothing about Ragnarök, consider putting this one on hold – but it doesn't spoil anything more than a review would. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 104: Cyberpunk 2077 Revisited 18.11.2022 1:44:24
Samuel finally played Cyberpunk 2077 properly, and had a (mostly) good time! This episode interrogates CD Projekt RED's RPG/shooter, two years after release and firmly outside the shadow of the marketing campaign that made it such a headache to write about in the first place. This week's music is from the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack by P. T. Adamczyk, Marcin Przybyłowicz and Paul Leonard-Morgan. Hos...
Episode 103: What We've Been Playing (November 2022) 11.11.2022 2:14:21
A Plague Tale: Requiem, FF7 Remake, Stay Out Of The House and Taiji are among the games discussed in our first 'what we've been playing' episode in two months. Plus: 80 minutes of listener questions are answered, from the irrelevant to the insightful. Enjoy! This week's music is from the Gradius Advance soundtrack by Shigemitsu Goto, Hirofumi Sano and Kaori Takazoe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...
Episode 102: God of War Games Ranked 04.11.2022 2:31:37
Ahead of the release of Ragnarök, we rank all the God of War games from 2005's original up to the 2018 PS4 entry – minus the odd Facebook game or mobile title. Enjoy. Once the new one drops, we'll discuss where it places in a future episode. This week's music is from the God of War 2 soundtrack by Cris Velasco, Ron Fish, Gerard Marino and Mike Reagan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...
Episode 101: Bayonetta 3 and the PlatinumGames Hall of Fame 28.10.2022 1:54:25
The wonderful 101st episode of The Back Page attempts to build a 5-game hall of fame from the entire PlatinumGames catalogue. Plus, Matthew has been reviewing Bayonetta 3 on Switch – hear his thoughts on the latest (but perhaps not greatest) entry in the hack-and-slash brawler series. This week's music is from the Bayonetta 2 soundtrack by Norihiko Hibino, Takahiro Izutani, Masami Ueda, Hiroshi Ya...
Episode 100: Clip Show 21.10.2022 1:50:28
It's a clip show. Enjoy the clips. Thanks so much for listening and supporting us. Here's to 100 more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 99: Best Visual Novels (with Lucy Blundell) 14.10.2022 2:22:33
Indie developer Lucy Blundell (One Night Stand, the upcoming VIDEOVERSE) joins us to discuss one of Matthew's favourite genres: the (usually) non-horny visual novel. This week's music is from the 428: Shibuya Scramble soundtrack by Naoki Sato and Hideki Sakamoto. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 98: From Game Informer to MinnMax (with Ben Hanson) 07.10.2022 1:21:12
We're joined by Ben Hanson of MinnMax on this episode, who shares a bunch of great stories from his many years making videos for Game Informer's elaborate cover features. Hear about the times he visited Kojima Productions and Square Enix, among other studios. This week's music is from the Final Fantasy XV soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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