The Retrograde: A Video Game Podcast

This week, your prime directives include celebrating Robocop's 35th Anniversary with a look back at the classic NES tie in from 1988! Conveniently, this is coming right on the heels of the new trailer for Robocop: Rogue City! It's one of the most iconic action franchises from the 1980s, and as such it spawned a slew of video game tie ins. Surprisingly, MOST of those games were actually very well r...

It's time to hang from vines as we vilify Mario and save Donkey Kong in our Donkey Kong Jr. 40th Anniversary Retrospective! It's not a game either of us had much experience with as kids, but in spite of that it has retained a cult following for its varied levels, departure from the usual Arcade formula, and prominence as the second game in the Donkey Kong franchise. Before setting off to save our...

Grab your favourite Nunchaku and a pair of Sai because this week we're opening up the love letter to arcarde brawlers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge! It's a modern game with a retro feel, and we loved every second of it. But before diving into the game we wanted to revisit some of our best memories from past Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games, plus give an update on where we're a...

To Infinity, and Beyond! This week we celebrate the launch of Lightyear with a look back at one of the most underrated licensed video games of all time: Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue on the Playstation 1! It also released on the N64 and Dreamcast, but this is widely viewed as the best version. Before taking to Andy's living room to figure out whether or not this game holds up against t...

With the scope and scale of Jurassic World Dominion stomping into theatres, it may be easy to forget the relatively humble beginnings of the Jurassic Park franchise! This week we find our way back to the park as we dust off Jurassic Park on the Super Nintendo! This video game based on a movie based on a book has very little to do with Spielberg's vision, but in spite of that it has a dedicated fan...

Hey! You! You've wandered into the wrong part of town. Unless you're looking for the part of town where we revisit the SNES retro beat-em-up video game Rival Turf! In that case, join us as we search for a reason why this game was included in Nintendo's recent update of games for the SNES Online platform. But before we take to the streets of LA to beat up every thug that gets in our way, we take a...

Can you believe it's been THIRTY YEARS since Yoshi's first self-titled video game? Sure: his appearance in Yoshi on the NES isn't his most iconic entry in gaming... in fact, it's not even as iconic as his relatively minor role in Super Mario World two years earlier... but this is the first and only game simply titled Yoshi. We're joined this week by a gaming historian named Barry Carenza who share...

Strap in, cadets, because this week we celebrate the release of Top Gun: Maverick with a look back at Top Gun: The Second Mission on NES! Believe it or not, the first Top Gun movie spawned over a dozen video games, most of which weren't actually all that great! We're not sure whether or not that'll come as a surprise to anyone, but we wanted to see how a flight combat game would hold up on an 8 bi...

It's been 10 long years since we first got to control an aging Max Payne in his pursuit of a kidnapped member of the Bronco family in the phenomenal Max Payne 3! In celebration of this milestone we dusted off our Xbox 360 to see if all the stylized cinematics, gun slinging, and signature bullet time still holds up in the modern day. But before getting to the review, we catch up on Mikey's experien...

Enjoy this is bonus episode as a preview to our Patreon account: The Mushroom Club! Our Patreon is where we spend time talking about Movies, TV Shows, hosting drafts, making up competitions, and just generally letting loose and providing some bonus content. It's also where you can get access to each week's full gameplay segments (with video!). You can become a member for $5 per month at www.patreo...

The legacy of video games about running a Lemonade Stand is much more storied than you might expect! Depending on who you ask, calling it a 20 year anniversary for Lemonade Tycoon may be an understatement! The roots of this classic business sim reach all the way back 1979 in a text based adventure on the Apple II called Lemonade Stand, and the version we've all come to know is almost a direct desc...

With the final week of HBO's Winning Time upon us, we wanted to double down on all things Magic Johnson with a look back at one of the first athlete endorsed basketball games: Magic Johnson's Fast Break! Also released as Magic Johnson's Basketball, this bare bones portrayal of hardwood hoops is hardly a game changer, but does that mean it's utterly unplayable? We aim to find out! But before we lac...

Nintendo Switch Online is the gift that keeps on giving, and recently they added one of the most iconic platformers from the 90's: Earthworm Jim 2! Way back in the history of this humble video game podcast we revisited the original Earthworm Jim 1 and were surprised by how much we still enjoyed it. By almost all accounts, the sequel improves upon the formula in almost every way. But does that mean...

Mosquitos have brought a lot of suffering to the world, but 20 years ago, the adorable Mister Mosquito flew onto the gaming scene and brought with it a taste of gaming "weirdness" which seems to be lacking in 2022. It was a game that left a huge impression on Mikey back when it first came out, but does it still hold up all these years later? We boot out our PS2 to find out! But before we stalk ano...

As Sonic the Hedgehog 2 speeds into theatres, we figured we'd take the chance to LOOP back to Sonic 2 on the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive! Way back in this podcast's history we revisited Sonic 1, and our feelings were somewhat mixed. Will the addition of the spin dash, faster speeds, and the loveable sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower be enough to make this a bona fide classic? Our knuckles are clenched a...

What makes MVP Baseball 2005 the UNANIMOUS choice for best baseball video game of all time? This week, with the launch of MLB The Show 22 we aim to find out! When it comes to other sports, there's major debate over which year or series has the greatest entry, but with the MLB games it's hard to argue that MVP Baseball 2005 isn't the greatest entry ever. But before we take to the diamond, we unload...

Back in the late 1990's, "Stealth Action" meant something entirely different than what we've come to know. But that didn't stop Eidetic's Syphon Filter from sprinting onto the scene and busting open an entirely new style of gameplay. We're joined in studio by lifelong gamer and star of the Tubi original movie First Person Shooter Jeremy Walmsley to talk about Syphon Filter, as well as our historie...

Nintendo fans, rejoice! It's the week of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, so this week we wanted to make sure we DIDN'T forget to focus on one of the most iconic video games of all time: Kirby's Adventure on the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Kirby has proven to be one of our favourite gaming mascots. It's true: Mikey may still have a blood feud with the tiny pink deathball, but there's no deny...

Since WWE 2K22 is back after a year-long hiatus, we thought we'd revisit our passion for retro wrestling games with a look back at WWF: WrestleMania The Arcade Game! It was launched in arcades, and across many home consoles such as the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, but we figured we'd give it a shot in all its glory on the Playstation! It's a perfect excuse to roll up our sleeves and get elbow-...

With Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson's The Batman finally swooping into theatres this weekend, we figured it was time to dust off one of the classic Batman videogames from a bygone era. There were so many games to choose from, but the heavily stylized, relatively well-received nature of Batman Returns made this one a great option. But just because it was thought of as one of the better licensed g...

It's our 200th episode and we wanted to celebrate by thanking all of our loyal listeners whom we consider to be the building blocks of our community! Wait, did we say "Building Blocks?" That reminds us of QUITE a popular game: Tetris! It's SO popular, in fact, that it's the highest selling video game of all time. This week we explore the international incident caused between The United States and...

What did Wario ever do to YOU? This week we dig into the legacy of the evil doppleganger of the acrobatic plumber we know as Mario with a look back at Wario's Woods! It originally released in 1994 on NES and the Super Nintendo, but we also dig into an oft-forgotten console add-on called the Stellaview by St. Giga! Before setting off to spend some time in the woods, we talk about some famous video...

Banjo Kazooie is BACK and more accessible than ever with its release on Nintendo Switch Online. What better time to bring back our friend Riley Little (Video Games Journalist of 10 years contributing to publications such as Screen Rant and Game Rant) to talk about his favourite video game OF ALL TIME! We break down the entire franchise and talk about our experiences playing everything from Banjo-K...

Hi, we're The Retrograde Podcast, and Welcome to Jackass! It's almost impossible to find someone born before the year 2000 who doesn't know what Jackass is, and yet for some reason no one seems to remember that they released a video game in 2007 (in between Jackass 2 and Jackass 3) called Jackass: The Game! This week on the podcast we set out to find out why it was forgotten, and figure out whethe...

This is a big week for the Pokemaniac in all of us with the release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus. It might be the biggest swing Game Freak and Nintendo have taken in the realm of Pokemon RPGs, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to explore how far this franchise has come! We're taking a bit of a step away from the usual structure to offer full commentary while we play through the first 60...