Homebrew Game Club

After a long, unscheduled break, the Game Club grabs their gardening hats and Birkenstocks to take on Kudzu, a top-down Game Boy adventure set among the vines. Also: Should Nick get another Switch? Or a Steam Deck? A short discussion with an obvious conclusion.

Still need to play the game? Find links to the demo, digital, and physical versions here.

For more about Chris Totten and his work, check out his website.

And you can wishlist Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends on Steam.

Our next game is The Storied Sword for NES and Dreamcast. Get it here.

We actually did a livestream playthough of The Storied Sword back in April 2024. You can watch it on Youtube here.

As always, find links to our social media and more at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://homebrewgameclub.com

Bart and Conor seize the mic to fill dead air with topics suggested by the HBGC Discord audience. Enjoy the ride as our mutinous hosts chat away in the spirit of "We can say whatever we want, because Nick's never going to post this."

This episode has chapters, so feel free to skip any of it. Or all of it. Topics include:

Generative AI (The forbidden topic)

Hot sauces

Coffee

Irish and / or English Breakfasts

Ethnic food in the UK

Wagyu beef

Favorite movies

Favorite animations

Collecting physical media

The history of the Napoleonic Wars

Listener medical advice, or not

Bart's famous kimchi fried rice

Things to collect besides video games

The Zen of pinball machines

Questions for Nick (to be added in post)

Here's that YouTube clip Conor mentions from Sharpe.

The next Game Club pick will be Kudzu for the Nintendo Game Boy. No, really. Episode coming soon, we promise.

As always, find links to our social media and more at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://homebrewgameclub.com

In this episode of the Game Club, the gang takes on Courier, a cyberpunk adventure for NES by Khan Games. There’s also a half-baked conversation about AI-generated art that should be inconclusive enough to irritate our entire audience. After the end credits, please enjoy Bart’s short and sticky review of “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.”

Still need to play Courier? Get the game here.

For more Khan Games, check out Kevin's website.

Our next Game Club pick is Kudzu for the Game Boy. Find the Switch version on the Nintendo eShop, or get a physical cartridge from Mega Cat Studios.

As always, find links to our social media and more at: ⁠⁠⁠http://homebrewgameclub.com

The Game Club takes on Flea! and Tapeworm Disco Puzzle for NES and Dreamcast, two entertaining games about adorable parasitic vermin.

You can find links and information for both at the Lowtek Games website.

Our next Game Club pick is Courier for NES. Get it here.

Check out Nick's livestream playthrough of Flea! on the HBGC YouTube channel.

Here's a shot of that limited edition transparent cartridge (including audio cassette) from the Tapeworm Kickstarter.

You can watch Innards, Bart's 16-minute short film about a less friendly type of parasite, right here.

GitHub page for Short Stack by loopj (aka the "Wee Wii").

As always, find links to our social media and more at: ⁠⁠http://homebrewgameclub.com

In the first-ever live HBGC show, the gang interviews NES developers John Vanderhoef and Greg Caldwell. John is the Byte Off Award-winning creator of the Orebody series, including Hunt the Wampus, Orebody: Binder's Tale, and Oratorio. Greg Caldwell is a member of Retrotainment Games, developers of classic homebrew titles Full Quiet, Haunted Halloween '85 and '86, and Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum.

Find more about the Orebody series at its Twitter / X page.

For Retrotainment Games, check out their website.

As always, find links to our social media and more at: ⁠⁠http://homebrewgameclub.com

Special guest host Chris (aka Deadeye) joins Conor and Nick for a deep dive into Retrotainment Games’ brilliant but baffling Full Quiet for NES. Conor reveals his new game design concept (the F.A.R.T.W.A.L.K.), Nick dusts off his memories of Russian literature, and Chris… probably isn’t used to this amount of profanity in a homebrew podcast.

Still need to play Full Quiet? Find it on Steam, Nintendo e-Shop, or Xbox, or ⁠get the cartridge here.

Our next Game Club picks will be Flea! and Tapeworm Disco Puzzle for NES and Dreamcast. Find links to both at Lowtek Games’ website.

Check out Chris' Homebrews in Focus on YouTube.

You can find the Full Quiet wiki here (expect spoilers).

Join the Full Quiet speedrunning Discord server here.

Ron Gilbert on “The Monkey Island rubber chicken problem” and designing obscure puzzles in games.

Legacy of the Wizard (NES) game map.

As always, find links to our social media and more at: ⁠http://homebrewgameclub.com

In this extra special bonus episode, Conor, Bart, and Nick scour the "Ask the Podcast" channel from the HBGC Discord server to catch up on unanswered questions over the last year. Questions like: How long should a homebrew game be? What's your favorite video game movie? Is Atari still Atari? And what's your desert island laundry detergent? The gang even employs artificial intelligence to answer the most pressing question of our day: What is the Frogger frog's job?

Nick also offers his extended take on Breath of the Wild. (It's long.)

Frogger Club music: "Dark Atmospheres 01" by dave_wheatley via Pixabay

Got your own questions for the podcast? Join our Discord server, find us on social media, or buy some merch at homebrewgameclub.com.

The Game Club whets their appetites for cyberpunk cool with the demo for Courier, a hackeriffic new adventure for NES from Khan Games.

Courier is available on Kickstarter until January 31, 2024. Grab your copy here.

The gang takes on three very short but action-packed shoot 'em ups: Omega Blast for the Mega Drive, Dangan GB2 for the Game Boy Color, and Flight of Pigarus for the Master System. We also reveal the winners of our 2023 shoot 'em ups high score competition!

Still need to play the games? All are available as free downloads here:

Omega Blast

Dangan GB2

Flight of Pigarus

Our next game will be Full Quiet for the NES. Find it on Steam, Nintendo e-Shop, or Xbox, or get the cartridge here.

We got interviewed about our Discord channel for Full Quiet! Read about it here.

Reddit AMA by toggleswitch about First Press Games

***Please note: the deadline to submit games for the MAGfest Indie Retro Homebrew Showcase was December 15, 2023. You can find out more here.

8-Bit Xmas 2023

Gunhawk by Skyboy Games

Bleeper! Get one before they sell out.

Ben Jelter's game Talbut.

As always, find links to our social media and more at: http://homebrewgameclub.com

The Game Club takes on Doodle World and Kubo 3, two NESmaker games created with contributions from children. But are we the right audience for this type of game? We invite some guest experts on the show to discuss.

Still need to play the games? Find Doodle World here.

And here’s the link to Kubo 3.

Our next Game Club picks will be shoot ‘em ups Flight of Pigarus, Omega Blast, and Dangan GB2. Join the high score tournament on our Disc ord server to win one of two very cool prizes. Entries accepted through December 18, 2023. Discord link and more available at http://www.homebrewgameclub.com.

Get free ROMs for all three games at these links:

Omega Blast (Mega Drive)

Flight of Pigarus (Master System)

Dangan GB2 (GB Color)

R.I.P. Rani Baker, NES developer. Her itch.io page is here.