The Retrograde: A Video Game Podcast

You thought you've already heard all there is to know about the new Grand Theft Auto: 6 trailer? Think again. We've had this on our minds since the trailer first launched, so we wanted to take another look to see if there were any points the other media outlets missed. This week we go in depth on the GTA 6 trailer, offering some never before seen insights and some of our best predictions of mechan...

Well, D-Pads, we finally know which games won big at The Game Awards amid one of gaming's greatest years of all time! As promised, we've compared all the winners to our predictions in order to gauge which of us knows more about video games, and is ultimately a better human being. No spoilers, but by this measure Mikey isn't a great human being. But it wouldn't be Gaming's Biggest Night (TM) if the...

There are some games you want to forget ALL about... ...but maybe not for the reason you're thinking. This week we think back to some games which we'd love to play again for the very first time. Whether it's the unforgettable story reveal of Bioshock, the confounding puzzles of Portal, or the childhood whimsy a game like Super Mario 64, we reminisce on what some of our favourite games felt like wh...

Buckle Up, D-Pads! This week we take to the mean streets of Mute City with our old pal Captain Falcon (before he found fame in Smash Bros) to celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of the N64's fastest games: F-Zero X! When it came out, Shigeru Miyamoto himself warned us that we've never raced anything quite as fast as an F-Zero vehicle, but decades later is that speed enough of a thrill to keep us...

As we get close to the end of one of the greatest years in gaming history, everyone has their eyes set on the upcoming Game Awards! The nominations for The Game Awards were just announced, and with such a strong year there were bound to be some upsets and disappointments. This week we sit down to give our predictions for some of the most significant categories, PLUS we question some of the decisio...

If you thought that one of the greatest years in gaming was already over: think again. October brought us one of our most anticipated games of the year, and we've finally had time to get ourselves caught in its web: it's Spider-Man 2! Insomniac Games returns with their sequel to what many consider to be the greatest Super Hero game of all time, but the question remains: will this be more of the sa...

It's finally arrived! This week we take an in depth look at, and review of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Even though it was only announced this year, and was therefore a no-show on our "most anticipated games of 2023" lists in January, when we found out we'd be getting the first new mainline 2D Mario Platformer since 2012, we were ecstatic. Clear your schedules, because that's exactly what we did as w...

We've finally made it to our last week of RetroGrave 2023, and to celebrate we've decided to take a deep dive into a movie based on the horror game which gave us one of our most popular episodes ever recorded: Five Nights at Freddy's! The movie entered development in 2015 just a year after the first game's release. Was it worth the 9 year wait? Will this be the spawn of a slew of sequels just like...

This week we're taking a bit of a break from the heart-pounding hallways of games like Fears to Fathom and Don't Be Afraid to stick our hand in the mailbag and see what comes out! We asked for your horror-themed questions, and you came out with some great ones. Are there actually any enjoyable horror games? What makes a GOOD jump scare? Which video game power ups to horror games need to make them...

The scares continue in the month of RetroGrave as we take a look at the first in a line of episodic psychological horror games. It's Fears to Fathom: Home Alone! Told in the style of a Reddit Creepypasta story, this game puts you in the shoes of a 14 year old who was left home alone and has to survive the night with an intruder trying to fight their way into your home. It's a slow burn, and we hat...

As the month of RetroGrave continues, so, too, does our heart rate continue to increase. This week we try our hand at one of the highest rated, scariest games on Steam: Don't Be Afraid. It's a game which pushes the moral boundaries of storytelling, and deliberately tries to get under your skin in some questionable ways, but is the end result a game which you should play if you're looking to get yo...

October is finally upon us, and that means The Retrograde has officially become The RetroGrave! To start things off, we decided to spotlight arguably the most anticipated and innovative horror game in recent memory. While Holstin doesn't have a set release date, the development team Sonka have managed to give us a taste of their perspective-shifting homage to the survival horror games we grew up l...

This week we draft a team of the best (and worst) games of 2014 to see what sort of mess we can come up with! While it looks as though 2023 will go down as one of the strongest years for video games in recent memory (Starfield, Baldur's Gate 3, Tears of the Kingdom... Golum) we weren't always so lucky. While it's tough to pin down an objective WORST year in video game history, we've scoured the re...

Games so nice you have to play them twice! This week we've set out to find the most replayable games of all time. As is the case with all media, just because you loved experiencing it the first time doesn't necessarily mean it's something you'd want to do over and over again. There's a special sauce involved in creating a game which makes you want to start all over at the beginning as soon as the...

When most of you think of the year 2001, chances are you don't immediately assume that the games we played at the turn of the millennium are "retro." Well, most of you are forgetting that 2001 came and went 20 years ago! With that said, we wanted to take a look at one of the most iconic years in gaming history (retro or otherwise). We've set out to draft the best team of 6 games based only off of...

What's better than playing a game you love? Playing MORE of a game you love! It's not always done properly, but when Downloadable Content manages to pull off the act of balancing "More of What you Want" with "A Little Something You Didn't Expect" it can increase the enjoyment of a game exponentially. This week we break down our personal top 5 favourite DLC bundles of all time! From aesthetics, to...

Wouldn't you love to be able to eat a Mushroom and grow to twice your size? Or pick up a feather and immediately be able to fly? Well, in the realm of video games that's not only a possibility: it's often a requirement! Many games live and die off of the charm, utility, and whimsy of their power ups, so this week we decided to focus an entire episode figuring out which ones we'd most like to have...

We heard you loud and clear: you HATED our thoughts on Twisted Metal. Or, at least, the cacophonous vocal minority did. Regardless, we wanted to see whether the iconic Twisted Metal franchise was at fault, or if we just lost our love for classic vehicular combat games. Enter: Vigilante 8! It's widely considered to be a Twisted Metal Clone, but brought a fresh, lighter tone and some added combat co...

We heard you loud and clear! After our last Listener Question episode we received a flood of new questions which got us feeling like we should open up the mail bag once again. This week we tackle questions concerning the increasing size of video games, whether beating a game is integral to the experience, and which genres we'd play if we had to stick to one for the rest of our lives. Thanks to eve...

As kids, all we wanted to do was get transported into a video game like Jeff Bridges in Tron. As adults, we're way more skeptical about what that might mean for our mental and physical well being. Sure, The Mushroom Kingdom might look like a great place to kick back, but how willing would you be to survive off of a diet of bush apples and colourful mushrooms? This week we come to the table with th...

Buckle up, D-Pads! This week we celebrate the release of the Twisted Metal TV show with a look back at arguably the most well received Twisted Metal game ever released: Twisted Metal Black on the Playstation 2! Some of you may not remember, but there was a time when Vehicular Combat was an entire thriving genre of gaming, and leading the race was Sweet Tooth and his merry gang of asylum escapees....

This week on the podcast we're doing something a little different! Alyse Knorr is the author of arguably the most comprehensive, informative, and exciting recollection of the history of Goldeneye 007 on the N64. Her book, Goldeneye 007, follows the unlikely and troubled development of one of the most iconic video games of all time, and a game which helped push the Nintendo 64 farther than it could...

Every week we come to the table with some of our best and most poorly received opinions on gaming. We all know that Mikey thinks that the Double Jump should never be an unlockable skill, and that Andrew thinks all Fighting Games should be on a 2D plane, but it's about time we heard from YOU! We've been building up listener and viewer questions from the past few months which were sent to us on soci...

With Street Fighter 6 firmly in our lives, we've got Street Fighting on the brain! But what if we opened up the world of street fights to more than just the crew Capcom has put together? What if we opened up the roster of fighters to any video game character in history? The idea is simple: we're gearing up for a 1970s style street fight, so we have to draft a crew of capable brawlers. Join us as w...

Well, we've all had ample time to pour as many hours into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as humanly possible. We've consumed combat videos, incredible feats of engineering, and punted Koroks across the map. One thing's for certain: the honeymoon period is officially over. But does that mean we've lost interest in what has come to be a front runner for 2023's game of the year? Join us th...