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Retronauts Podcast Thread

shawnlreed

shawnlreed

Member
I just got caught up on episodes of this most recent incarnation of Retronauts, and I've gotta say it's really great.
I always loved it when Ray was on, so having him as a regular fixture is excellent.
His Monochrome Monday streams are nostalgia overload for me. I hope he keeps doing them.
I missed most of the Retronauts Live podcasts, so only now am I realizing how great Bob Mackey is.
Dude does his research, is a wealth of information about video games, and is just a great podcast personality.
Thank god for Kickstarter.
Retronauts is back and better than ever.
 
K

krae_man

Member
It's Sharkey Time!

As you can see from the fancy cover image, this week’s show revolves around the essential, world-shaking, first major console ever made: The Atari 2600. And to make sure we did the topic justice, we dragged 1UP alumnus Scott Sharkey all the way from his modest hovel in the Nevada desert, where he’s lived the past couple of decades waiting for his friend Anakin’s son to finally reach adulthood. Sharkey’s sarcastic familiarity with key Atari-era figures like Nolan Bushnell and Ralph Baer knows no equal. He was the only choice that made sense.

This episode doesn’t focus on Atari’s games so much as its overall business and history. It’s really meant to be the companion piece to Vol. III Episode 1, so you may perhaps wish to give that one a listen before diving into this episode.

This week’s host is-a me, Jeremy Parish. Bob and Ray also appear, of course, and do a fine job of providing a nice, sensible midpoint between my boringness and Sharkey’s sniping. This week’s soundtrack selections all consist of pieces from Jake “virt” Kaufman’s Shantae soundtrack for Game Boy Color, a damn fine piece of chiptuning that happens to be relevant since we spend a while this episode discussing that game’s Virtual Console release. And man, there is just no Atari 2600 music I would want to splice in for interludes. Oh, there’s also an actual song spliced in along the way, but I’ll let you get to that in the natural course of things.

Hopefully, you’ll enjoy Sharkey’s return as much as we did! We’ll try to have him on again sometime. And please let us know if there are any guest hosts you’d like for us to go after — we’re always looking for a fourth seat.

Next time: Our first backer-requested episode topic.
Click to expand...



http://traffic.libsyn.com/retronauts/Retronauts_Vol._III_Episode_4_-_Atari.mp3
 
O

Ondore

Member
And now I'm mentally hyping myself up for "This week in Retronauts..." followed by a voice clip of Hulk Hogan yelling "WE'RE TAKING OVER".
 
J

Jarnet87

Member
I'm excited to see what the backer requested episodes turn out to be. I'm also coming to the realization half of them will be about games I care nothing for.
 
M

mattp

Member
i know they've been recording episodes in batches
does this mean we get a string of sharkey episodes in a row?
 
K

krae_man

Member
I was wondering when they were going to get to backer episodes. With the "Be on a podcast" tier and the "select a topic tier" That's 21 of the remaining 22 episodes will be fan selected. Though I hazard a guess they will probably commit to 18 months or 2 years of podcasts and stretch that out a bit so they can space out Fan selected and their own a bit more.
 
M

MegaKungFuRadio

Member
MegaKungFuRadio said:
That's not Sharkey unless there's a cigarette in that hand that's out of frame and his boots are on the table.

sharkeyyoo5z.png
Click to expand...

Within the first five minutes, talk of Retronauts Episode Zero, and:

"I just wish that picture would go away"

Whoops.
 
K

krae_man

Member
It's a shame nobody had any experience with the 8 bit computers. The Atari 800XL was my first video game console and I would have liked to hear more about them other then a brief mention of their existence.

So many great games. Donkey Kong, Robotron, Alley Cat, Final Legacy, Rescue on Fractalus, David's Midnight Magic, Atari Logo(although not a game).

Rescue on Fractalus was the first game to ever get a jump scare out of me

01aPsk4.gif
 
Harlock

Harlock

Member
I missed more talk about 2600 games. I know there are simple, but even so each one has a special charm worth talking.
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
yeah, show was great but i wanted to hear more atari games as well...then again if i was tasked to speak on my experience with them i don't know how long i could keep that going either. even mark from classic game room kinda has to just reminisce about other stuff when playing berzerk.
 
O

Ondore

Member
This week in Retronauts: Avatars! No blue, though.
http://www.retronauts.com/?p=329
Episode 4 of Retronauts Pocket brings to bear the long-awaited Kickstarter backer requests. In this case, a fine fellow by the name of Dave Epp has asked us to speak about Ultima IV. Conveniently, while neither guest Scott Sharkey nor I have played the game in a dog’s age, we’re both well aware of its innovations and importance — as are fellow co-hosts Bob Mackey and Ray Barnholt. So kick back for 45 minutes and listen to us speak about this seminal RPG and how it’s influenced so many games since its debut.

By the way, there’s no music in this episode. People sometimes complain about the use of music to break up different portions of the conversation, so I thought I’d try an episode without. Spoilers: I kind of hate it and won’t be doing it again. Sorry, haters!
Click to expand...

Direct download
 
B

BearChair

Member
I wonder what it could cost in next year's Kickstarter to make Sharkey a permanent cast member.

Of the Retronauts regulars like Kat and Kohler, I feel like Sharkey balances humor and information the best, and he is the most fun to listen to.
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
yeah, Kohler's great too (used to crack me up the way parish would just kinda cut him off and he'd be "..okay" on older ones), and Sharkey's a trip. i tweeted at him a week or so ago after he said he wanted that pic gone, to compliment his boots but i figure he thinks i was fucking with him, haha. shoulda ended it with "I'm from GAF, pleas insult me!"
 
W

Worthintendo

Member
What version of Ultima 4 are they talking about on Game Boy? The only Ultima games I know of on Game Boy are the Runes of Virtue games, which are apparently awesome, but didn't think the main games came out on the system.
 
A

archnemesis

Member
firehawk12 said:
What is Sharkey up to these days anyway?
Click to expand...
In the latest episode they mentioned he was tending a bar.

I've been meaning to try the NES version of Ultima IV since the PC version features one of the least intuitive control scheme ever made. How am I supposed to memorize all these commands?

Code: 
[B][B]Commands[/B][/B] [B](C64 version)[/B]
A)	Attack - Attempt to engage thy foe with the weapons thou hast readied (Ready Weapon command); must be followed by the direction of thy foe.
B)	Board - Board a vessel or mount a horse.
C)	Cast - Cast a magical spell; must be followed by the number of the player who wishes to cast it (not needed in combat or in dungeon rooms), and then the first letter of the desired spell. Note: All spells must have reagents mixed in advance of casting.
D)	Descend - Climb down ladder to next level of dungeon or building.
E)	Enter - Go into such places as villages, townes, castles, dungeons, and shrines.
F)	Fire - Fire a ship's cannons (once thou hast Boarded); must be followed by a direction. Note: Broadsides only!
G)	Get Chest - Attempt to open (and disarm, if trapped) chest; must be followed by the number of the player who wishes to open the chest, except during combat and in dungeon rooms. Note: 'Tis wisest to use the player with the highest Dexterity when examining potentially dangerous chests as this lessens the chances of setting off any traps.
H)	Hole up and camp - Set up camp to rest and recover from thy wounds. Note: This command may only be used with limited frequency.
I)	Ignite a torch - Light a torch for illumination in dungeons. Requires a special item.
J)	Jimmy lock - Use a magical key to unlock a sealed door. Must be followed by the direction of the door that thou dost wish to unlock.
K)	Klimb - Climb up a ladder to the next level of a building or dungeon, or to reach the surface from the topmost level of a dungeon.
L)	Locate position - Requires a special item.
M)	Mix Reagents - Prepare material components of spells for later use. Note: Thou must have reagents mixed ahead of time in order to cast any spells. When asked "Reagent:", type the letter corresponding to the reagents desired, and then type [Return] when thou wish to mix them.
N)	New order - Exchanges the position of two players indicated within thy party, except for player #1, for thou must lead the party.
O)	Open door - Open a door in the direction indicated.
P)	Peer at gem - Requires a special item.
Q)	Quit & Save (Usable only whilst in the outdoors of Britannia) - Saves the current game status to disk; thou may continue after this command or power down thy computer.
R)	Ready a weapon - Equip a player with the weapon of thy choice (if owned) for use in combat.
S)	Search - Search thy exact current location for unusual items.
T)	Talk - Allows a player to converse with merchants or townsfolk in the direction indicated. (See Special Note)*
U)	Use - Use an item thou hast found during play by means of the "Search" command.
V)	Volume - Toggles Music On/Off.
W)	Wear armour - Outfits a player with the armour of thy choice (if owned) for defense in combat.
X)	Xit - That's (e)xit thy current form of transportation and continue on foot.
Y)	Yell - Yell "giddyup" or "whoa" to speed up or slow down thy horse.
Z)	Ztats - Displays the status and attributes of a selected player; If 0 is pressed instead of a player number, this command will display the lists of weapons, armour, items, reagents, and mixtures. The [F5] and [F7] keys will scroll through these lists, while pressing any other key will return thee to game play.
http://www.paradroid.net/u4/refguide/refguide.html
 
H

HamPster PamPster

Member
I really enjoyed the Ultima IV discussion because while I've always heard about it I've never played it. I'm sad I missed out on all the early PC RPGs. When I was young I had Dragon Wars on the Apple II and couldn't make sense of it which turned me off to the genre until I got into JRPGs with the PS1

One day I'll go back and beat Dragon Wars, I'll beat that stupid dragon into submission and prove I'm not a kid anymore!
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
bigkrev said:
http://wp.me/p3PCeA-2gm

Jeremy is going to be moving (out of San Fran) soon. Wonder what this means for the podcast :(
Click to expand...
Wow, to the east coast. I guess Skype is the only option. That, or just recording an entire season over a weekend.



archnemesis said:
In the latest episode they mentioned he was tending a bar.
Click to expand...
On the one hand, it makes perfect sense. On the other hand, given how many people have just stumbled around from job to job, I find it sad that he couldn't find a gig at another outlet or as a community manager somewhere.
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
wait, i'm out of the loop: who's Toasty?

and yeah, bummed about Parish but hopefully he has better options out here. the man makes it down to miami & i'd be happy to buy him a drink!

agreed on Sharky deserving the bettenhausen treatment as well, vitrol and all
 
B

bigkrev

Member
IrishNinja said:
wait, i'm out of the loop: who's Toasty?

and yeah, bummed about Parish but hopefully he has better options out here. the man makes it down to miami & i'd be happy to buy him a drink!

agreed on Sharky deserving the bettenhausen treatment as well, vitrol and all
Click to expand...

T-frog is Jeremy.
 
J

JEKKI

Member
I'm close to Long Beach!!! let's hang out! lol

I go there every now and then to buy comics!!

Pulp Fiction! all trades are 40% off cover price if u pay cash!!
 
S

ShinoguTakeruKoeru

Member
I don't want to sound like a fanboy in the bad way or anything, but it was seriously great to hear Sharkey twice in a row now chatting with Jeremy, and these last two episodes on Atari and Ultima IV... Damn, it made it feel like I was back to starting college off as a Freshman and being super-enlightened in the History of Video Games in the most fun way possible with every new episode.

It even got to the point where they were repeating jokes that they did already in this latest episode ("I don't wanna be Elfstar anymore, I wanna be Julie..." was one of em,
Sharkey said this one back in the Space Invaders/Taito classic episode in the news portion where they discussed Gary Gygax's passing and if you clicked this spoiler block to read this then congratulations, you've taken a small dip into the pond that is my mind of useless trivia
) but it's all right. Thanks for bringing the podcast back, guys.
 
M

mattp

Member
i always forget how big california is(i live on the east coast)
i was thinking, long beach is still in ca what's the issue? ....oh it's over 5 hours away from san fransisco
 
C

Curufinwe

Member
I had never heard this Henry Gilbert guy on a podcast before, but he was great. I hope he comes back soon for another appearance.
 
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