Gamers' Garden Retro

We begin 1988 with Kaile's first Castlevania game, and what a shame it's Haunted Castle! Things pick up from there with Metroid nostalgia, Gun.Smoke coolness, Power Strike bullet hell-ness, and Dungeon Master we-don't-know-how-to-play-it-ness.

For our last episode in 1987 it’s a Sega Master System launch special! We learn some history about Sega’s first console in the UK, get confused about what is and isn’t a Sega franchise and Kaile is truly flabbergasted at the graphic power of the peculiarly shaped console. 

The first episode with a solid line-up of good games makes pick-of-the-pod a tricky decision. Shinobi and Wizball are both a pleasant surprise, but perhaps not as much so as Blades of Steel. Thunderblade is another fun super scaler, Zelda and Punch Out are two stone cold NES classics and the episodes are getting longer as we ramble on and on. We apologise.

Seb and Kaile are well through 1987 with 6 more games for episode 3. R-Type is still great after all these years to the surprise of no one, the original Street Fighter plays like a knock off SF2 and Gauntlet on NES - surprisingly good. Will After Burner convince Kaile that Sega Super Scalers are amazing? You'll have to listen to find out.

In the second episode Seb and Kaile continue through 1987 with 6 more games. Among these they uncover an absolute gem in The Sentinel, get throughly destroyed in Alien Syndrome and lose their patience with Ikari Warriors on the Amiga. With a new piece of podcasting tech at hand there's more music, segments and banter!

In the very first episode Seb and Kaile begin with 5 games from 1987. There is a firm disagreement over the well known arcade hits Double Dragon and Contra, a trashing of Soccer and a praising of Kid Icarus on the NES before finishing with the ultimate Amiga-Dad game Test Drive. It's all a bit rough in this episode as things are very experimental!

Seb welcomes you to the Gamers' Garden podcast, what it covers and how it covers it. There's also a little taste of the sweet trashy goodness inside. If you want to get in contact, leave a comment on the YouTube channel or @gamersgardenretro on Instagram.