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bobservo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
98
Good Time Island
Loved the Genesis episode. I'm glad to see the console get some props from the Retronauts crew.

I found Jeremy's comment about Sonic 3 very interesting and would love to hear that expanded upon in the future. While I wouldn't go as far as calling it a "bad" game, I've always felt it was not as stellar as the previous games in the series. Would love to see a Sonic 3 episode someday, even if it ran the risk of ticking off the Sonic audience again.

I talked plenty about why I don't like Sonic 3 on my Sonic episode (and people weren't very happy about that).
 

ParsnipForest

Member
Oct 27, 2017
571
Australia
Sonic 1 is simple yet enjoyable, with mostly good levels.

Sonic 2 is more freeflowing and refined, with levels that feel just right in size and length.

Sonic 3 & K, while much more meaty and elaborate, doesn't flow as well with lots of traps and gotcha moments, and levels that are way too big.

There was only one stage in Mania that felt very Sonic 3, the last one, and it kinda sucked. Thankfully the rest of the game is amazing.
 

Man God

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,276
It's weird but 3 is the only Sonic game I like. I don't even like & Knuckles that much.
 

xir

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,531
Los Angeles, CA
rogue episode made me so happy! and angry!
Beneath Apple Manor getting talked about is the happy. Also, weird to see the game got a rerelease in 83. Curious if the creator of the game was ever on a plato machine....

Upset about the ADOM - ancient domains of mystery. This game was a big deal when it came out and was being actively developed. It wasn't really sci fi either, the mutations had to do with the forces of chaos corrupting things. Alignment was also a big deal with 3 endings - champion of balance, chaos or neutral (which i think wasn't coded in yet?)

Lots of imagination, if you were a cold blooded dragonkin the heat tower would make you walk super fast, while the ice world would slow you down. and there was a floor where the floor itself was a frictionless surface so you had to throw things to propel yourself in the opposite direction.

also on the world map (it had one!) there's a tiny micro dungeon that's basically a big joke about the movie gremlins...
 

Man God

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,276
PS1 era has some real bangers for soundtracks. Chrono Cross is the second OST I ever bought and still my favorite.
 

doof_warrior

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,427
NJ
JeremyParish i instinctively let out a "hell yes" when you called out tenchu as your soundtrack you wanted to talk about at the end of that podcast

what an underappreciated gem
 

Shaneus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,892
I freaking love Jeremy and Frank talk about game preservation, though I'm having some trouble finding info about a couple of the games they mentioned on the most recent Patreon ep.
 

Shaneus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,892
I honestly can't remember... I think the main one had two foreign words that started with the same letter, maybe F? But it came up with nothing regarding the game, just a real-life thing it was named after (I guess).

That's about as specific as I can be, but I'll have another listen to the episode tonight (gladly, obviously!).

Edit: It's Bashi Bazouk. Could not find anything anywhere about it. I know it's not SNK, just that it'l's brief mention piqued my interest.
 
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Deleted member 2652

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,434
Is there a list of all the games called out in the Playstation 1 music episode? I can only remember Ridge Racer 4.
 

manksalot

Member
Oct 25, 2017
138
Philadelphia
Cursed Retronauts, making me fire up my Wii U ;) Bought Drill Dozer on the VC today, I had only played it via flash cart before and I didn't realize I was missing out on rumble. It feels a little too "big" on the gamepad but I dooo like that rumble!
 
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Dream Machine

Dream Machine

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,085
I would love to hear an episode by episode Eva podcast, Jeremy. Take advantage of the firestorm of "What's a Anime?" and "Is Second Impact Secretly Japan's Population Crisis?" buzz articles that will be getting pumped out once the show impacts onto Netflix and freaks the normies.

I'm waiting over here ready to congratulate you.
 
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Deft Beck

Member
Oct 26, 2017
844
Space
I think it's a cop out to say "we have never played the games" and then proceed only to talk about the source material.

This is meant to be a games podcast, right? I'd prefer if Retronauts was only about games.

I'm also tired of Jeremy apologizing for not explaining everything to the listener. I assume that anyone listening to Retronauts is an enthusiast familiar with genres and tropes, so I think it wastes time to stop and explain things.

Please have Frank Cifaldi on again. I think that he is an excellent guest and I enjoyed the SNK episodes recently.
 
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Dream Machine

Dream Machine

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,085
I think it's a cop out to say "we have never played the games" and then proceed only to talk about the source material.

This is meant to be a games podcast, right? I'd prefer if Retronauts was only about games.

I'm also tired of Jeremy apologizing for not explaining everything to the listener. I assume that anyone listening to Retronauts is an enthusiast familiar with genres and tropes, so I think it wastes time to stop and explain things.

Please have Frank Cifaldi on again. I think that he is an excellent guest and I enjoyed the SNK episodes recently.

I like the broader cultural examination episodes. Things like Evangelion and Tron (and all the stuff that inspired games in that BRO-totypes episode) were influential on games that came after them. Omitting the things that influence games in order to only talk about gaming in its own cultural bubble is missing a big part of the history of the medium.


I don't think everyone is an enthusiast who knows about everything they would talk about on the show. I know I learned a ton about retro games from the original Retronauts podcast when I started listening back in high school. And Evangelion in particular is one of those things that's pretty straightforward when you're watching it, but makes you sound like an exasperated ten year old boy explaining Dragon Ball Z to his grandparent once you start laying out all the different elements. I understand Jeremy apologizing if it all sounded like nonsense to the uninitiated.
 

JeremyParish

Retronaut
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
538
Raleigh, NC
For the record, my official stance on complaints about us discussing a games-adjacent topic that has been profoundly influential on gaming as a medium is that one ASCII drawing of a guy shrugging
 

Deft Beck

Member
Oct 26, 2017
844
Space
For the record, my official stance on complaints about us discussing a games-adjacent topic that has been profoundly influential on gaming as a medium is that one ASCII drawing of a guy shrugging

I mean, after reading Dream Machine's post, I get it. It'd be like talking about Dance Dance Revolution or ParaParaParadise without talking about Japanese club culture and the ParaPara fad.

Instead of being locked to "talk about IP, talk about derivative media", you could follow a continuity of how one piece of media led to this other piece of media directly down the line. This happens in the frequent Metroidvania episodes, at least within just gaming. I think that'd be more fresh.
 

Man God

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,276
You could probably do an Eva followup episode on all the things it influenced...Like Xenogears and the rest of its descendants. FF VII and VIII, a couple hundred lesser known games.

The Pokémon christmas episode and the 69/79/part of 89 episode were good too. I knew you'd get bogged down in 79, a very important year for gaming and computing in general.
 

Worthintendo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
941
So I'm catching up on my backlog of Retronauts, up to the Frank Inside SNK episode, are there any details out there about those NES Konami Clone machines, I'm keen to know more about those new NES games they made for them.
 

JeremyParish

Retronaut
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
538
Raleigh, NC
So I'm catching up on my backlog of Retronauts, up to the Frank Inside SNK episode, are there any details out there about those NES Konami Clone machines, I'm keen to know more about those new NES games they made for them.
Frank has begun working to find them, get them logged and documented, and (if possible) dump them for preservation. He's tweeted some photos recently of his growing collection and it's something else. Sounds like the dumping phase will be a real challenge, since a lot of the circuits on these things are slathered in cheapo epoxy.
I mean, it has serious issues, and a lot of what I like is the lowest of family guy referential stuff, but I'll take it.
The neat thing about High-Score Girl is that I no longer have to imagine a reality in which Ready Player One came from Japan.
 
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Dream Machine

Dream Machine

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,085
Listening to the Pokemon Jynx Christmas episode now. I never saw this episode growing up. Presumably it was one of the first volunteered to be taken out of rotation for later syndication.

I go back and forth on whether they should give Jynx an evolution and pass off her questionable design elements as middle stage awkwardness, or if they're worried about drawing attention to her at all by making a new evolution. I think I find her weird arms with what appear to be tumorous growths on the forearms to be the most upsetting part of her current design. Most of the Gen 1 psychic pokemon have this weird inorganic, segmented, socketed doll body aesthetic. Mr Mime, the Abra line, Jynx.

It's funny how ganguro (a short-lived fashion trend in japan from 20 years ago that looks as much like blackface as it does 50% of modern drag queen makeup) still gets brought up as an example of how Japan was/is so out of touch with American culture and history. Meanwhile, Kylie Jenner and her horde of white instagram disciples are basically marketing blackface. At least when Japanese people reference blackface it comes from a place of ignorance, I guess. We live in such a strange time in America.
 

xir

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,531
Los Angeles, CA
2 different things.

1. did anyone get the DVDs? I vaguely remember confirming my address awhile ago....

2.
510%2BtTeSezL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
This book came out a few months ago. Alex Rubens is a cool guy, (surprisingly young too)might be a good interview for the show
 

Man God

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,276
The megaton was an announcement of an exclusive series of Naruto games for the GCN. The third of which is the best selling third party GCN game in Japan. It's a really well done 3D fighting game done by Eighting.
 

JeremyParish

Retronaut
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
538
Raleigh, NC
I still haven't mailed the DVDs, because the last 3 months have been a shitshow for me in terms of productivity—nonstop travel and other obligations. It's been stressful. Once I'm done with MAGfest I will have two or three glorious months free of distractions in which to get stuff like that taken care of.
 

xir

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,531
Los Angeles, CA
I still haven't mailed the DVDs, because the last 3 months have been a shitshow for me in terms of productivity—nonstop travel and other obligations. It's been stressful. Once I'm done with MAGfest I will have two or three glorious months free of distractions in which to get stuff like that taken care of.

ah gatcha, wasn't bitching, was just curious. happy new year, got to wake up early to order some limited run blind boxes
 

xir

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,531
Los Angeles, CA
WarioWare episode has been a lot of fun, still have to wrap it up on my drive home, but wanted to add the development of the microgames were prototyped on post it notes, i love that soooo much. Doesn't work on a post it note? too complex then!

Also, not exactly micro games, but Ganbare Neo Poke-Kun (where my avatar is from) on the neo geo pocket color had a cool idea of building mini games about video game history, a bit like 9 volt and NES remix with a healthy dose of perversion. and a weird tamagotchi frame story
 

Jay_AD

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,908
I'm listening to the Frank Cifaldi episode on the SNK collection right now, and...

Let me just say I could listen to Jeremy and Frank talk forever. It's so good.
 

Goonopher

Member
Oct 27, 2017
325
Missed writing in for the piracy episode, bugger. My first taste of piracy was actually from a young age, I would often record music from the radio or we'd swap albums with each other and copy those, but when I was 7 or 8, it was 1987 so it was either late in one school year or early in the next one, I don't remember having the NES or not, which we got around the UK summer launch, anyway; let's say I was 8. I was still playing a lot of Speccy back then with my dad being a gamer, we would buy new games most weekends, seeing as though games were less than a tenner. Seeing as I would get most games and being the eldest child I hated sharing my things, so lending out games to friends was something I was (still am) loathe to do, so after declining some friends from borrowing a game, I think it was OutRun, one kid said I'll buy a copy off you, I get $$ in my eyes as I thought about this, so I decided to start copying games and selling them to kids at school for £1 each (£1 will be worth about £4000 come April) I was having a great time, putting that money into buying new games, until one day my dad asked where all his blank cassettes were, I then thought my dad would be proud of his young entrepreneur, of course I had not taken into account that me making £20 a week was not enough to cover the cost my dad had made when had spent £120 on 50 cassettes. I had to give my dad the money I had left to compensate a little toward the cassettes, he wasn't mad about the piracy as you know, he was going to be using those cassettes to pirate music, but when my mum found out she gave my Speccy away to my dad's little sister as she was the moral compass.

After my nan died in 2015 we were going through her things in her house and I came across my old Speccy game box and all my games were there including the amazing OutRun with it's soundtrack cassette. I gave them to the computer museum as a way to repent for my past life as a digital pirate.
 
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Shaneus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,892
I'm listening to the Frank Cifaldi episode on the SNK collection right now, and...

Let me just say I could listen to Jeremy and Frank talk forever. It's so good.
Yeah, Frank is great. I'll also mention the Mike Mika interview on Back in my Play from a few weeks ago (I think?), because he said all the runs/replays in all the SNK games were done by Frank himself which I don't think was mentioned elsewhere. Hell of a feat, must've taken ages!
 

dubc

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,422
Seattle
I really enjoyed the Mark Turmell interview! So, that was at GDC in March? At the end he was teasing the new game he was working on; said it would be revealed in ~12 months. So we we should see something in a couple months! ...assuming no slides in schedule.
 

Lothars

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,765
I still haven't mailed the DVDs, because the last 3 months have been a shitshow for me in terms of productivity—nonstop travel and other obligations. It's been stressful. Once I'm done with MAGfest I will have two or three glorious months free of distractions in which to get stuff like that taken care of.
On the survey I got for the dvd's, it won't let me put in I am from canada. is there anything that I can do to give the right address?
 

Radarscope1

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,697
Yeah, Frank is great. I'll also mention the Mike Mika interview on Back in my Play from a few weeks ago (I think?), because he said all the runs/replays in all the SNK games were done by Frank himself which I don't think was mentioned elsewhere. Hell of a feat, must've taken ages!

Yes that was a great interview and a nice complement to Frank's appearance on Retronauts. I thought it would be mostly the same info but it much different. Also, really interesting info on the new Intellivision product. I thought about making a thread about it but I didn't want to transcribe a bunch of it....