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Retronauts Podcast Thread
- Thread starter krae_man
- Start date
New episode is up:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/retronauts/Retronauts_Vol._II_Episode_25_-_UK_Gaming_in_the_80s.mp3
Lots of Speccy talk I'm guessing.
http://traffic.libsyn.com/retronauts/Retronauts_Vol._II_Episode_25_-_UK_Gaming_in_the_80s.mp3
Lots of Speccy talk I'm guessing.
turnbuckle
Member
Only a minute into the new episode and Jeremy said they're figuring out the details on another season of Retronauts 
Only a minute into the new episode and Jeremy said they're figuring out the details on another season of Retronauts
Awesome news!
Brianimaniac
Banned
I don't get the Bob hate. I've said sometime in the past that it seems like he speaks without punctuation, but that's a fairly superficial thing, and you get used to it. I think he's consistently the funniest person on the show.
phillipgessert
Member
I think Patreon is really more of a giving approach. Meaning people simply donate because they want to support the show, and there isn't necessarily an exchange for rewards or gifts beyond simply the continued growth of that show.
They probably do it by episode, and set the highest amount to something like 2.00 with "early access to episodes" before they are posted to the main feed on Monday (Sunday?).
turnbuckle
Member
You wouldn't do it with a "pay X/month pick a topic". People contribute however much they want a month to help sustain the show - the reward being that the show continues going forward.
At least that's how the few podcasts I support through Patreon operate.
If they had a Patreon for retronauts set up now I'd sign up.
Listened to the episode, and holy crap this is one of the most interesting ones they have done - and I have no experience at all with this stuff. I think they should focus next season more on stuff like this that are a bit more unfamiliar to both them and us - and definitely do more episodes on the very peculiar uk gaming-scene. I feel there was a lot still that could be said about the 8-bits, especially the c64 which was decently popular where I come from.
Btw, is there a simple way to find out where the music that is used in the episode comes from?
Btw, is there a simple way to find out where the music that is used in the episode comes from?
Usually the blog post on Retronauts.com lists them but I don't see them listed.
I agree this episode is very interesting. Elite sounds a lot like Rescue on Fractalus. Now that needs to be remade. Get on it Disney!
7DollarHagane
Banned
as someone who gets shit for not having much inflection or punctuation in his voice i feel for bob mackey.
NinjaCatfish
Member
Really enjoyed this week's ep. I'm not super familiar with UK computers (apart from the Amstrad CPC which was my own computer long after it was completely out of date) but it's really interesting to hear about the UK since it's been such an insular market, or at least was at that point.
Growing up in Cambridge in the 80's was fantastic as schools around here had loads of computers (five in my school at the time that was a lot) due to Acorn being a local company (BBC Micro). My dad was a big supporter of supporting local businesses so of course we had a Spectrum ZX for me to play games on and a BBC Micro for my dad to "work" on, he mostly played games on it.
The BBC Micro had some amazing education games and anyone from the 80's who had a BBC Micro in their school would probably still have nightmares over this:
I went to the Computer History Museum in Cambridge a few weeks ago and this is exactly what my school's computer lab looked like:
Also wall of Spectrum games
The BBC Micro had some amazing education games and anyone from the 80's who had a BBC Micro in their school would probably still have nightmares over this:
I went to the Computer History Museum in Cambridge a few weeks ago and this is exactly what my school's computer lab looked like:
Also wall of Spectrum games
Thanks for the link. always love to go back especially the Saturn and Dreamcast episodes.
Etrian Oddity
Member
The Saturn, Dreamcast and Street Fighter episodes are all god-tier. I miss 1up.
BobbyRobby
Member
That was a really cool episode. I've heard bits and pieces about the 8-bit British computers from the Retro Gaming Roundup podcast, but it was nice to get a good overview on this episode. I feel like they couldn't have gotten a better guest.
I can understand them being more cautious. Now that the podcast is crowd-funded, biting the hand that feeds is a legitimate fear. I imagine it's a hard balance to strike.
turnbuckle said:
I can understand them being more cautious. Now that the podcast is crowd-funded, biting the hand that feeds is a legitimate fear. I imagine it's a hard balance to strike.
I think Jaz was way off base with the whole "Import gaming consoles were the big thing" growing up I knew nobody with a Super Nintendo/Famicom, a fair few people had Mega Drives, but mostly it was Amiga and Atari ST that kids had at home, it's safe to say that the first console to really hit the big time in the UK was PlayStation, Mega Drive was big but not PlayStation big. The lack of Amiga talk in general was strange as that was so damn huge, Sensible Soccer was arguably the biggest game of the era for many kids.
We also had a tonne of clones in this country, my first experience of Galaxian was Arcadians from Acorn on the BBC Micro, first time I played Galaxian I thought it was a rip off of Arcadians, little did I know I was playing the rip off.
Nobody posted the recent episode, so here it is:
Retronauts Pocket Ep. 25 - Castlevania
Mp3 for convenience
CV doesn't seem like a "pocket" topic to me but I have yet to listen so who knows how they handle it.
Retronauts Pocket Ep. 25 - Castlevania
Mp3 for convenience
CV doesn't seem like a "pocket" topic to me but I have yet to listen so who knows how they handle it.
turnbuckle
Member
Loved the castlevania episode. Hope they revisit more classic games even if they were partly covered before. Focusing on the nes games made it a nice, tight episode with room for the hosts to talk in some greater detail. Best pocket episode I think.
Has anyone kept track of how many backer request episodes and "be on the podcast" episodes they have done?
I only recall one "Be on an episode" level maybe two, unless people like Sharkey backed at that tier and I don't think they have done 26 backer request episodes(13 regular and 13 pocket).
I only recall one "Be on an episode" level maybe two, unless people like Sharkey backed at that tier and I don't think they have done 26 backer request episodes(13 regular and 13 pocket).
ToastyFrog
Inexplicable Treasure Hate
We're keeping track, and actually HAVE fulfilled all but a handful of those obligations. Those that have been done by the end of this run will be carried over into... whatever is next.
This episode was great, as is to be excepted on such a topic. Jeremy have such a great understanding of the design decisions in these games, makes it amazing to listen. Although I dont understand how they could say playing Order of Ecclesia is a chore, that game is one of the best in the series imo.
Oh I know you'll fulfill them, I just didn't know the exact number that has been completed but it felt low.
turnbuckle
Member
Any idea what is next?
I look forward to it, whatever it may be. This kickstarter season has been great
ToastyFrog
Inexplicable Treasure Hate
Well, of the eight co-host slots, we've actually done five of them. The other three haven't happened because of the challenge of coordinating recording sessions with folks from out-of-town. After Bob and Ray's next episodes go up and round out the season, we'll have two full episode requests left to do, and three mini-episodes.
Alright cool. Thanks for the info.
For the write up of the castlevania podcast it mentions that they may go back and talk about previously discussed topics on older retronauts episodes. It's been 6-7 years for some of those podcasts so they could definitely be revisited. I would assume Metal Gear will be one of those given the guys love for the series.
The UK episode was pretty informative, but I found myself almost constantly zoning out. It really is a scene that I'm sure is very important to the people who experienced it first-hand but, even as an insatiable fan of video games, it's hard for me to care about the vast majority of it. RARE's history is always interesting; I love the Stamper Bros. I would've preferred the episode focus more on specific games throughout the years, talking in-depth about what made each of them fun to play or at least important. We got a bit of that near the end, which was nice, but more would have been great. It's such a niche of a niche that I can forgive anyone for not knowing enough or anything at all about the subject.
The Castlevania episode was pretty good, too. Really great to hear discussion of how well-made Castlevania and Castlevania 3 are. I love how Parish started it off by saying Castlevania was tough but well-designed and fair, basically cutting off any contrary (and wrong) opinions from showing their ugly heads. There's a lot of general whining and exaggeration these days about difficulty and bullshit, pseudo-intellectual complaints about "bad design" in NES games that drives me crazy.
An excellent point was made on how difficult it is to find information about who worked on these old games. I always expect to find info like that readily available and compiled on the internet, and it's always shocking to find holes that big. I've always wondered if there aren't Japanese sites out there with all the info I'm missing that I can't read or know where to find, but when I've asked Japanese speakers they've told me that the Japanese internet is like, super primitive and horrible =[
The Castlevania episode was pretty good, too. Really great to hear discussion of how well-made Castlevania and Castlevania 3 are. I love how Parish started it off by saying Castlevania was tough but well-designed and fair, basically cutting off any contrary (and wrong) opinions from showing their ugly heads. There's a lot of general whining and exaggeration these days about difficulty and bullshit, pseudo-intellectual complaints about "bad design" in NES games that drives me crazy.
An excellent point was made on how difficult it is to find information about who worked on these old games. I always expect to find info like that readily available and compiled on the internet, and it's always shocking to find holes that big. I've always wondered if there aren't Japanese sites out there with all the info I'm missing that I can't read or know where to find, but when I've asked Japanese speakers they've told me that the Japanese internet is like, super primitive and horrible =[
Etrian Oddity
Member
Imagine if they could somehow get folks like Mielke or MacDonald to guest star, too.
Still playing catch-up, so here's some more episode impressions:
- Ivalice episode was just as good as the Matsuno episode. Got nothing to add to my praise.
- PaRappa episode was good but it could have been even better. They went off on some weird tangents occasionally, more structure could have helped and Jeremy was really quiet throughout, iirc.
- Out of this World episode was fine. They were rushing a bit, and the legacy games should have been handled better. Not a bad episode, but also kind of forgettable.
- Video Game Media episode was handled really well, as expected from Ray. It is obviously a broad subject but they managed to form a very informative and interesting discussion around it. Good stuff.
- Nintendo merch is a funny subject, and while the episode was basically an audio display of curiosities, it worked really well in tandem with the subject. Enjoyed it.
- Nintendo Power episode was really interesting to me. As someone who's not from the US I got no memories of that magazine whatsoever, and at the same time, because of the internet, I feel like I do know some things about it and I have these vague impressions of it. Anyway, this was an interesting listen for sure, and while it didn't offer any amazing insights, it was at the very least a decent addendum to the aforementioned media episode. Backer did an alright job, also.
- NES Capcom episode was a disappointment. I don't think the Pocket format suited the rich library that had to be discussed as part of the topic. I don't know what other subjects the backer requested, but this was maybe not the best pick. And sure enough, the episode was scatter-brained and the guys were noticeably tired from recording a regular episode before that. A shame.
- Listener Mail episode was fun. It's always good to have Kat on the show, catching up on retro rereleases was reminiscent of classic Retronauts, and it was just an entertaining show all around. Lots of recommendations, lots of disagreement.
But yeah, my comments about bi-weekly, preparation and whatnot still stand.
- Ivalice episode was just as good as the Matsuno episode. Got nothing to add to my praise.
- PaRappa episode was good but it could have been even better. They went off on some weird tangents occasionally, more structure could have helped and Jeremy was really quiet throughout, iirc.
- Out of this World episode was fine. They were rushing a bit, and the legacy games should have been handled better. Not a bad episode, but also kind of forgettable.
- Video Game Media episode was handled really well, as expected from Ray. It is obviously a broad subject but they managed to form a very informative and interesting discussion around it. Good stuff.
- Nintendo merch is a funny subject, and while the episode was basically an audio display of curiosities, it worked really well in tandem with the subject. Enjoyed it.
- Nintendo Power episode was really interesting to me. As someone who's not from the US I got no memories of that magazine whatsoever, and at the same time, because of the internet, I feel like I do know some things about it and I have these vague impressions of it. Anyway, this was an interesting listen for sure, and while it didn't offer any amazing insights, it was at the very least a decent addendum to the aforementioned media episode. Backer did an alright job, also.
- NES Capcom episode was a disappointment. I don't think the Pocket format suited the rich library that had to be discussed as part of the topic. I don't know what other subjects the backer requested, but this was maybe not the best pick. And sure enough, the episode was scatter-brained and the guys were noticeably tired from recording a regular episode before that. A shame.
- Listener Mail episode was fun. It's always good to have Kat on the show, catching up on retro rereleases was reminiscent of classic Retronauts, and it was just an entertaining show all around. Lots of recommendations, lots of disagreement.
But yeah, my comments about bi-weekly, preparation and whatnot still stand.
Dat validation
I loved the UK episode -- Jaz brought some real knowledge and the hosts were genuinely interested in picking his brains. The Castlevania episode was good too.
I've got to agree with the comments made about preparation -- I'd gladly take a bi-weekly (heck, monthly) show if it meant the hosts had more time to actually play game(s) they're covering, do research, source guests or whatever else. Most other retro gaming podcasts now adopt the "game club" approach, to ensure everyone has something interesting to say. Maybe there's a middle-ground that Retronauts can adopt? Ultimately, these pods are cast freely into my ears and I have no real right to demand anything, so I'll be happy with whatever next season turns out to be.
I miss Mielke. He was great in all the original Retronauts episodes he was in. He has a ton of industry dirt due to his close relationships with certain Japanese developers.
turnbuckle
Member
New episode is up!
RETRONAUTS VOL. III EPISODE 26: RPG BATTLE SYSTEMS
Haven't listened to it yet; just about to start. One of my favorite topics so I bet it's gonna be a good episode
RETRONAUTS VOL. III EPISODE 26: RPG BATTLE SYSTEMS
Haven't listened to it yet; just about to start. One of my favorite topics so I bet it's gonna be a good episode
Agreed. I eagerly checked the homepage to find out if she's in this.
Etrian Oddity
Member
Kinda sad she isn't present, but wow did the cast deliver in this one. Wow!
I think this might be my favorite episode thus far. I'm a huge fan of when they edit in musical interludes, and Bob did a terrific job choosing great segment tunes for this week.
In Bob we trust!
did anyone else see someone fucking bought jeremy a framemeister?
https://twitter.com/gamespite/status/493868707291361281
https://twitter.com/gamespite/status/493868707291361281
BobbyRobby
Member
Hey man, I really like the knowledge you drop during episodes that comes from interviews with developers. Is there an easy way to see all the interviews you've done?
Zero-Crescent
Member
Retronauts Pocket 26: Planescape: Torment
(Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, Jeremy Parish, and Duckfeed.tv’s Gary Butterfield)
This one's for all the nameless ones out there. Remember to tip your waiter, and whatever you do, don't mess with the Lady of Pain.
(Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, Jeremy Parish, and Duckfeed.tv’s Gary Butterfield)
This one's for all the nameless ones out there. Remember to tip your waiter, and whatever you do, don't mess with the Lady of Pain.