This episode features Grant Sinclair, inventor of the IRIS eTrike and nephew to legendary innovator Sir Clive Sinclair. Following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, Grant Sinclair is a futurist and innovator who is making waves in the gaming market with the launch of a new handheld gaming device called the GamerCard.

This interview covers life growing up in the Sinclair household during one of the most exciting times in British computing history, seeing the launch of the Sinclair ZX80, ZX81 and, of course, the ZX Spectrum. Grant shares what it was like to see Sir Clive Sinclair at work, his love of taking things apart, and how he and Grant's father Iain supported the family in their innovation ambitions. 

We also find out about the GamerCard, which is a unique gaming device based on stack of PCBs and Raspberry Pi, with a high resolution IPS square screen format, and dual dome navigation discs. 

As usual, we have more entries for the Titan 1 rocket-based retro gaming museum - and an unusal tale about astronaut, Major Tim Peake. 

🔗 Links 

grantsinclair.com

🎹 Music

Neon Gaming and Space Technology, by Dope Stuff

Guitar arrangement of Risky Ride from the XBOX port of "OutRun 2" by Fumio Itoh

In this episode we welcome back YouTuber and retro gaming aficionado, Crazy Burger. Although perhaps best known as an Evercade reviewer and content creator, Crazy Burger has a decent sized retro gaming handheld collection, and has tinkered with devices and explored the emulation gaming scene over the years. 

Our objective in this episode is to answer the question: if you were to buy only one emulation-based handheld, what would it be? With brands like Anbernic, Miyoo, Retroid and Powkiddy pumping them out on a weekly basis, there is a baffling amount of choice. Our aim is to break down the hype and steer you in the right direction. 

We explore the pros and cons of emulation-based gaming, hop around the piracy issue, and cover common questions, like which operating system is best, and what do I get for my money? 

Crazy Burger also gives a quick verdict of the year so far for Blaze Entertainment and Evercade, comparing the platform with the handhelds we discuss on the show. 

🔗 Links

YouTube Crazy Burger

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming and Space Technology, by Dope Stuff

Celeste, First Steps - written, performed & mastered by Lena Raine

My guest today is Brandon Saltalamacchia, the founder and publisher of Retro Dodo – one of the most trusted and beloved destinations for retro gaming gadget reviews, news, and geek culture.

Brandon joins me to share his deep love of retro gaming. We swap thoughts on Evercade, and dive into how he built Retro Dodo into one of the most successful retro gaming websites – only to see it hit hard by a major Google update in 2023. We unpack what happened, its impact on the business, and his candid views on why AI is threatening the future of independent publishers and, ultimately, consumers.

He also gives us his hot takes on the best retro gaming handhelds to buy, explains why Evercade is doing things right, and reveals the games and device he’d launch into space on the Retro Titans rocket.

This is one of our most compelling interviews yet – a mix of retro gaming nostalgia, hard-earned insight, and a real David vs Goliath story.

🔗 Links:

Website: retrododo.com

Facebook: @retrododo

YouTube: @retrododo

X: @retro_dodo @iambrandonsalt 

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Zelda’s Lofi Kingdom, by Jokabi

This episode's guest's fingerprints are all over some of the most iconic games of the 80s, 90s and beyond - Simon Phipps, aka Simes. 

From the 8-bit bedroom coding scene to the heights of AAA development, Simon’s career has spanned hits from Rick Dangerous and Shadow Man, to the Harry Potter games for EA.

In addition to finding out about his long career in computer and video games, we hear about his love for art and making Star Wars props and costumes. This feature-length episode covers a lot of ground, and is essential listening for anyone working in the creative or gaming industries - or just wants to find out about them.

🔗 Links:

Websites - www.simonphipps.com

YouTube  - @SimonPhippsArt

Instagram - @SimonPhippsArt

Facebook - @SimonPhippsArt

X / Twitter - @SimonPhippsArt

Plus Three Fields Entertainment (where Wreckreaction is mentioned) 

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Captain Blood soundtrack - "Ethnicolor" by Jean Michel Jarre 

It's the five year anniversary of Evercade, the cart-based retro and indie gaming system, and we are celebrating with a special interview with the CEO and head of marketing of Blaze Entertainment - Andrew Byatt and Sean Cleaver respectively. 

Following the latest Showcase announcement on 29th May 2025, we have a deep-dive interview covering all the cart releases, and of course the Taito Alpha! It's a packed announcement, with fan favourites NEOGEO back, Taito getting a first cart release, and a wonderful new indie game, Roguecraft. 

🔗 Links:

Websites - Evercade, Hyper Mega Tech!

YouTube  - @EvercadeRetro

Instagram - @EvercadeRetro

Facebook - @EvercadeRetro

X / Twitter - @EvercadeRetro

BlueSky - @Evercade

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Happy Birthday, by jimlapbap

Despite being over 27 years old, developers are still making games for the Game Boy Color - and one such game designer and coder is Shane McCafferty. He has been making games since he was 11, but has taken his side hustle and hobby onto a whole new level, releasing 9 Game Boy Color games on ItchIO in the past 18 months. 

We find out what it is that compels Shane to make games like Block Droppin, Cave Dave and Word Forward for the Game Boy Color, which projects kept him up at night, and the ones he's most proud of. We also discuss his current project to make a 'What If?' version of OutRun for the GBC.  

🔗 YouTube Links:

Itch.IO - @egvrooms-game-boy-games

BlueSky - @EGVroom

X - @EGVroom

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming and Space Technology, by Dope Stuff

Robocop (Spectrum version), by Jonathan Dunn

Retro Asylum is widely regarded as one of the top gaming podcasts in the world, so we wanted to find out the secret to their success and why they've taken on the challenge of playing through and reviewing every single Evercade cart, on top of the rest of their output. So, Jim Middleton and Chris Worthington were kind enough to share their views and experiences covering the space, why they love Evercade, and whether it's OK to play emulation-based devices. 

🔗 YouTube Links:

Website - https://retroasylum.com/ 

Discord - @RetroAsylum

YouTube - @TheOfficialRetroAsylumYouTubeChannel

Spotify - Retro Asylum on Spotify 

Spotify - Playthrough on Spotify

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming and Space Technology, by Dope Stuff

The Secret of Monkey Island, composed by Michael Z. Land

In this episode, we return to the world of Evercade to discuss the Evercade Showcase, which was released on 31st March. In a packed announcement, Evercade released 3 new carts, 2 Super Pockets, a hardware refresh for the EXP-R and VS-R, and teased a few things for the future. To make sense of it all and offer some analysis and predictions, we are joined by our regular special guest: retro gaming and Evercade YouTuber, Crazy Burger. 

In addition to Crazy Burger's thoughts and opinions, we managed to get a quick Q&A with Blaze Entertainment's head of marketing, Sean Cleaver. 

🔗 YouTube Links:

Crazy Burger

Evercade Showcase 

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming and Space Technology, by Dope Stuff

For 8-bit home computing fans, Thalamus is one of the great names of the late 80s and early 90s, publishing classics such as Creatures I & II, Hunters Moon, Hawkeye and Armalyte. When the company went bankrupt in the early 1990s, everyone thought the story was over - but the rights to the games were bought by former Commodore Format games writer Andy Roberts, and the company was reborn.

This interview with Andy Roberts tells the full story of Thalamus's heyday, decline and return, including insights into the 80s/90s games industry, writing for Zzap64! and Commodore Format, publishing games in the early noughties and two of the latest games, Ceccanoid and Roguecraft. 

🔗 Links:

Website - thalamusdigital.co.uk

Itch IO - thalamusdigital.itch.io

Facebook - @thalamusdigital

X - @thalamusdigital

Bluesky - thalamusdigital.bsky.social

Evercade - Thalamus Collection 1

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Wizzball (C64 remix), by Martin Galway and remixed by Tonka

Jon Hare is the co-founder of legendary game studio, Sensible Software, and was behind a host of global best-selling games, such as Sensible World of Soccer, Cannon Fodder, Mega Lo Mania and Sensible Golf. Jon's career as a creative director and game publisher stretches from the 1980s through to today, and is currently launching Sociable Soccer 25. 

We cover a lot of ground in this interview, from how he found his way into the industry, through to developing hit games and navigating the challenges of the games industry. We also discuss gaming music at length, including insights into working with gaming music legends Richard Joseph and Martin Gallway, and making music with his own group, The Sensible Band. 

Jon also offers advice to aspiring games developers and gives his thoughts on channelling creativity. It's an epic interview! 

🔗 Links:

Website - Sociable Soccer

Facebook - Sociable Soccer

X - @JonHare

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Narcissus, by Jon Hare and Richard Joseph

Canon Fodder Theme, by Jon Hare and Richard Joseph

Parrallax, by Martin Galway