After listening to the Advance Patreon Feed today I am prepared to give you credit for any Pikmin or Luigi's Mansion titles announced in the next week.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Retronauts Podcast Thread
- Thread starter Dream Machine
- Start date
- OT
After listening to the Advance Patreon Feed today I am prepared to give you credit for any Pikmin or Luigi's Mansion titles announced in the next week.
The secret power of the Retronauts. I always suspected that there is more to all this Japan travelling. ;)
I just finished listening to the Phantasy Star episode. Thank you Jeremy!
An actual interview with Rieko Kodama? Goddamn.
The first Retronauts Phantasy Star episode (which is probably a decade old by this point) is the reason I discovered the series in the first place. I played 1 through 4 on PS3 via the Sega Ages collection by M2 and they are now among my favorite RPGs of all time.
I also used to despise the Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack but I've come to appreciate it in recent years so I liked that segment a well. I don't buy vinyls but the musical episodes of Retronauts are some of my favorites.
An actual interview with Rieko Kodama? Goddamn.
The first Retronauts Phantasy Star episode (which is probably a decade old by this point) is the reason I discovered the series in the first place. I played 1 through 4 on PS3 via the Sega Ages collection by M2 and they are now among my favorite RPGs of all time.
I also used to despise the Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack but I've come to appreciate it in recent years so I liked that segment a well. I don't buy vinyls but the musical episodes of Retronauts are some of my favorites.
I didn't get a GC until RE4 came out, by which time it only cost $100. My only other GC games were REmake, RE Zero, and F-Zero GX which I didn't like and traded in. But after I was done with all the Resident Evil games, my wife took it over and it became her Animal Crossing machine and she remains a massive fan of that series.
I bought a Game Cube when the bundle with Paper Mario was $40 and I never played anything on it because I just couldn't get used to the controller.
I had rented it a few years earlier to play Simpsons Road Rage prior to owning a PS2. But that is the extent of my Game Cube usage.
I had rented it a few years earlier to play Simpsons Road Rage prior to owning a PS2. But that is the extent of my Game Cube usage.
Gamecube was $199 while both PS2 and Xbox were $299. I lost my job about 1 month after 9/11 with the whole economic crash that happened. I bought the Gamecube unwisely with a tax return that could have been used for other things. I was so scared for my kids and my little family, but we were so happy to be able to play Smash Bros and Luigi's Mansion together. People forget the price difference, and how it ironically led to more snobbery about the system being a "toy." I became a little resentful of this attitude because it was my economic situation, and the fact that I had kids, that led me to the Gamecube.
I'm only partway through the episode so I hope you guys hot on the whole "connectivity" GBA thing. Such a weird vestigial feature to Gamecube ports of other games. That controller was not only missing an L1 bumper for multplat ports, it didn't have the clicky-stick L3 and R3 buttons either. I remember some weird, PSP-like button combinations for certain things in certain games. Hold left on the pad, the bumper, and hit Y kind of stuff. It seems to me that you are right that it was lack of DVD playback that held the system back, and yet I recall OG XBox required a peripheral to enable the feature, a little dongle for a remote control. Arguably they also may have done better that gen with DVD capability out of the box.
I'm only partway through the episode so I hope you guys hot on the whole "connectivity" GBA thing. Such a weird vestigial feature to Gamecube ports of other games. That controller was not only missing an L1 bumper for multplat ports, it didn't have the clicky-stick L3 and R3 buttons either. I remember some weird, PSP-like button combinations for certain things in certain games. Hold left on the pad, the bumper, and hit Y kind of stuff. It seems to me that you are right that it was lack of DVD playback that held the system back, and yet I recall OG XBox required a peripheral to enable the feature, a little dongle for a remote control. Arguably they also may have done better that gen with DVD capability out of the box.
So I heard there was a Phantasy Star episode...wemt to check it out and saw that I'd missed a Suikoden episode.
Man, I love that series so much. The second game I finished 4 times, I've never done that with an rpg (though I think I finished the original Dragon Quest 3x). At the time I remember the asinine critical atmosphere around 2D games very well (and being staunchly pro-sprite, I hated it), and I was saying things like Suiko II will be the last great 2D rpg. I'm very glad I turned out to be wrong!
This episode was great, there were so many details I'd forgotten about the series. Especially how good the music was.
In hindsight, FFVII blew me away back in the day, and was the #1 reason I wanted a PlayStation, but coming out of that gen it was Suiko II that ended up being my favourite rpg there hands down. In fact, for all the great rpgs of the PS2 era, I struggle to come up with one I liked as much until Valkyria Chronicles hit PS3.
Suiko III did end up being special for me though. I remember one grim Christmas, knowing I wasn't going to get much, I had just enough left over after shopping to buy myself Suiko III. I got into a mom & pop store 5 minutes before close on Christmas eve and luckily they had it. That was such a rough time that having that cheerful world to run through and familiar faces to see meant everything for that week or two.
Man, I love that series so much. The second game I finished 4 times, I've never done that with an rpg (though I think I finished the original Dragon Quest 3x). At the time I remember the asinine critical atmosphere around 2D games very well (and being staunchly pro-sprite, I hated it), and I was saying things like Suiko II will be the last great 2D rpg. I'm very glad I turned out to be wrong!
This episode was great, there were so many details I'd forgotten about the series. Especially how good the music was.
In hindsight, FFVII blew me away back in the day, and was the #1 reason I wanted a PlayStation, but coming out of that gen it was Suiko II that ended up being my favourite rpg there hands down. In fact, for all the great rpgs of the PS2 era, I struggle to come up with one I liked as much until Valkyria Chronicles hit PS3.
Suiko III did end up being special for me though. I remember one grim Christmas, knowing I wasn't going to get much, I had just enough left over after shopping to buy myself Suiko III. I got into a mom & pop store 5 minutes before close on Christmas eve and luckily they had it. That was such a rough time that having that cheerful world to run through and familiar faces to see meant everything for that week or two.
Really enjoyed the GCN episode. The console hit at the perfect time for me; I was in middle- highschool and I was the one lugging the console place to place to play Smash, Double Dash, and Monkey Ball. GC games were also incredibly cheap around the time I got my first job, so I was picking up lots of titles that had passed me by.
I still think it has some of the strongest titles of the generation (Prime, Paper Mario TTYD, Tales of Symphonia, Animal Crossing, Wind Waker, etc.) but it's hard to deny that Sony was firing on all cylinders in the era.
I still think it has some of the strongest titles of the generation (Prime, Paper Mario TTYD, Tales of Symphonia, Animal Crossing, Wind Waker, etc.) but it's hard to deny that Sony was firing on all cylinders in the era.
OP
OP
Listening to the Ultima episode now.
Richard Garriot kind of sounds like Dan Ryckert from Giant Bomb.
Richard Garriot kind of sounds like Dan Ryckert from Giant Bomb.
OP
OP
I saw that at a pre-release press event, and what little I played of it so terrible I never wanted to touch it again.
I had the demo and it grew on me a tiny bit, but it's pretty bad. Def proof that the formula isn't bullet proof. Still sad the Bonk HD thingy never came out, though it was probably bad as well.
edit: also curious what the Raleigh crew thinks about Hollow Knight.
just finished the last of the Metroidvania episodes and I was also curious whether the Retronauts had played Hollow Knight yet. I think the crew of the Internet's best Official* Switch Podcast would love it. I need to get on Yoku's Island Express and Steamworld Dig 2 still, but I have a hard time believing either is as good as Hollow Knight.
Have yet to hear the fifth and final ep. Can't wait to go back and listen to all five of these back to back.
well Benj did give us the double-speed listen ability in the last episode.
Just listened to it and thought the same. That and Ori and the Blind Forest were the big indies that didn't come up.
Ori might be top 3 metroidvania for me, it's a wonderful game. The best thing Microsoft have done this generation is fund that game and it's sequel.
You can dismiss your partner character in Portrait of Ruin and control just one character at a time.
I tend to play as just Charlotte* most of the time, calling her partner in briefly if muscle is needed. I've probably replayed PoR more than any other Castlevania.
*I am a coward that snipes from the edge of the screen.
I tend to play as just Charlotte* most of the time, calling her partner in briefly if muscle is needed. I've probably replayed PoR more than any other Castlevania.
*I am a coward that snipes from the edge of the screen.
I don't see why anyone would NOT play Portrait maining as Charlotte. There are lots of Castlevania games where you can be a dude hitting things with a whip, but only one where you can be a girl smacking monsters with an extremely large and stabby book.
Hollow Knight hadn't hit Switch yet when we recorded that episode, and Ori didn't get a mention (from me, at least) because I don't really like it all that much.
Hollow Knight hadn't hit Switch yet when we recorded that episode, and Ori didn't get a mention (from me, at least) because I don't really like it all that much.
I really do love Portrait, even if I can see the cracks. It's opening anime is also really great, I kinda wish the netflix show looked more like that. Also, I think it shows headstomping on a mummy
More and more, it sounds like I need to track down copies of those DS Castlevania games. I was on gaming sabbatical when they first came out. So much stuff for the Switch already ugh... I will never catch up and still actually manage to do things like read books and watch movies.
At this point in my life I consider a game played and cleared off my backlog if I've stared longingly at its cover or menu icon for more than 30 seconds.
I forgot to mention my favorite thing about Portrait of Ruin.
Jonathan's Pies are dark elemental, and Richter's weakness is dark. Richter Belmont's weakness is a pie to the face. It is canon.
Jonathan's Pies are dark elemental, and Richter's weakness is dark. Richter Belmont's weakness is a pie to the face. It is canon.
OP
OP
Listening to the Ranma episode now. You're overthinking things with the title translation, Jeremy. Ni bun no ichi is just the construction Japanese uses for fractions.
Hm, I googled "Jonathan creampies Richter's face", and couldn't find anything related to Castlevania, much less Portrait of Ruin. Strange.
getting through the backlog, the ultima discussion seemed so brief, hope the team makes episodes about the individual games. Also, sometimes I think I might be Rowan Kaiser.
OP
OP
I guess it's possible. I don't know it's as much wordplay, as a different way Japanese people think about fractions from the way English speakers do as a result of the way they express them in Japanese. It's hard to say what's intended on the author's part, and what is English speaking fans translating and then ascribing too much onto it.
I enjoyed the episode. Very nostalgic, and made me want to revisit the manga and watch a few episodes from the anime, if not play any of the actual games.
I mean, the title "Urusei Yatsura" takes a coarse pronunciation of "urusai," which means "annoying," and writes the "sei" part of the word with a kanji character that means star or planet (and which can be read as "sei"). So in addition to the title's literal translation, which is roughly "those annoying guys", that substituted character also turns it into something like "those annoying aliens from Planet Uru".
So... I don't think it's a stretch to ascribe a little more meaning to the title Ranma 1/2 than the strictly literal reading.
So... I don't think it's a stretch to ascribe a little more meaning to the title Ranma 1/2 than the strictly literal reading.
Speaking of episode backlogs... I was listening to the Holiday Special from... 2013? on my commute home. Thank you Bob, Jeremy, et al for putting me in a happy mood to start the holiday :D That holiday special is a perfect encapsulation of that show (which I'll admit to watching regularly growing up).
I wouldn't wait much longer. I snagged Portrait not long ago for a reasonable-ish price and picked up Dawn of Sorrow late last year at a reasonable price. However, Ecclesia is obnoxiously high especially if you want a new copy. Or at least this was my experience with Amazon so YMMV.
That's certainly a life philosophy I should subscribe to these days :(
I wouldn't wait much longer. I snagged Portrait not long ago for a reasonable-ish price and picked up Dawn of Sorrow late last year at a reasonable price. However, Ecclesia is obnoxiously high especially if you want a new copy. Or at least this was my experience with Amazon so YMMV.
That's certainly a life philosophy I should subscribe to these days :(
I love Benj, he's the sweetest boy. No one can touch him or his opinions.
Now that Shenmue I & II are *finally* being re-released after 16+ years, maybe it's time for a Shenmue episode...maybe!? I know they get passed up because it's so difficult to play the damn things, but not for much longer!
It's certainly an interesting, complicated topic. I still see the old "Shenmue cost $70 million" and "Shenmue killed SEGA" inaccuracies thrown around to this day.
A slew of poor decisions killed SEGA, dating all the way back to the tail end of the 16-bit generation. Suzuki said in an interview that VF4 more than made up for the development costs of the Shenmue games pretty soon after.
Anyway, I'd be interested to hear the Retronauts take!
It's certainly an interesting, complicated topic. I still see the old "Shenmue cost $70 million" and "Shenmue killed SEGA" inaccuracies thrown around to this day.
A slew of poor decisions killed SEGA, dating all the way back to the tail end of the 16-bit generation. Suzuki said in an interview that VF4 more than made up for the development costs of the Shenmue games pretty soon after.
Anyway, I'd be interested to hear the Retronauts take!
OP
OP
As a huge Ranma fan back in the 90s I'm now realizing I have never played any Ranma game. I need to fix that soon.
The latin spanish dub of this show was just godly. My latinamerican bros know what I'm talking about **fistbump**
The latin spanish dub of this show was just godly. My latinamerican bros know what I'm talking about **fistbump**
OP
OP
I haven't listened to Retronauts in awhile, but I've been slowly digging through the archives because I've missed listening to it! I just listened to the final Metroidvania episode and while I always love hearing your thoughts and articulation on games, Jeremy, I gotta say that Benj was like the WORST in that episode!
"The game was very good and animated well" or "I never played/finished said game or don't remember anything" omg I couldn't deal lol! Regardless, I love the podcast and keep doing what you do!
"The game was very good and animated well" or "I never played/finished said game or don't remember anything" omg I couldn't deal lol! Regardless, I love the podcast and keep doing what you do!
Last edited:
Just getting into this podcast and have been listening to some random episodes. On the King of Kong retrospective, they were curious how much changed between reality and editing. I can't say specifically for King of Kong, but I was an editor on another documentary from the same people. It was also about a competition.
In that film, we were very liberal about fudging certain things for narrative or emotional purposes. Things that appeared before a competition actually took place well after it, which could make it seem that people who weren't even at the event were there. Or that people had certain things on their minds that day which may or may not have been true.
My favorite (and most evil) was editing a scene to make it appear that one kid's mentors were lecturing him and bringing him to tears. In reality, they were retelling a time when that happened, but the cameras weren't there for the actual event. Instead, I cut in the kid crying from a totally separate conversation where he was overwhelmed by how much praise his mentors were giving him. Seems terrible, but the truth is, the scene as described did happen it just wasn't on film. And without this scene in the movie, there likely wouldn't have been an emotional payoff for him and it was a large reason he even remained as a central character in the film at all. He was at risk of being cut, which I didn't want, so I had to....finagle things.
Basically, even if the specific things might have been misrepresented if you only had the raw footage to go by, the overall characters and messages and stories were not made up or invented - at least in our eyes.
In that film, we were very liberal about fudging certain things for narrative or emotional purposes. Things that appeared before a competition actually took place well after it, which could make it seem that people who weren't even at the event were there. Or that people had certain things on their minds that day which may or may not have been true.
My favorite (and most evil) was editing a scene to make it appear that one kid's mentors were lecturing him and bringing him to tears. In reality, they were retelling a time when that happened, but the cameras weren't there for the actual event. Instead, I cut in the kid crying from a totally separate conversation where he was overwhelmed by how much praise his mentors were giving him. Seems terrible, but the truth is, the scene as described did happen it just wasn't on film. And without this scene in the movie, there likely wouldn't have been an emotional payoff for him and it was a large reason he even remained as a central character in the film at all. He was at risk of being cut, which I didn't want, so I had to....finagle things.
Basically, even if the specific things might have been misrepresented if you only had the raw footage to go by, the overall characters and messages and stories were not made up or invented - at least in our eyes.
This used to bug me more when Retronauts East first launched, but he's knowledgeable and generally provides good commentary. The light-hearted approach has grown on me a bit. Even so, it tends to weaken an insightful point by delivering it in such a giggling manner. And it still feels like the chemistry of the East crew hasn't quite clicked in the same way that West does.
We alternate formats weekly, so you are guaranteed to love one episode per month and hate one episode per month.
