Retro Titans - the giants of retro and indie gaming in conversation

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

If you loved football management games, this episode is a must-listen. That's because we got to speak with the man who pretty much invented the genre, Kevin Toms. He's the developer of Football Manager, the 1980s series of games that started the whole thing. Since you can also now play Kevin Toms' Football Manager on your mobile, we thought it would be a great excuse to find out the story behind the original games, and why they've returned.

🔗 Links:

Website - kevintoms.games

Facebook - KevinTomsGames

X - KevinToms

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Space Invaders by Tomohiro Nishikado,

In this episode we catch up with Blaze Entertainment CEO, Andrew Byatt to find out more about the origins of Evercade and the key milestones that have led up to its popularity today. Andrew describes Blaze's vision for retro gaming, the reasons behind the Hyper Mega Tech! brand and explains how licensing works in retro gaming.

We also hear Andrew's desert island carts - can you guess what he picked?

🔗 Links:

Websites - Evercade, Hyper Mega Tech!

YouTube - @EvercadeRetro

Instagram - @EvercadeRetro

Facebook - @EvercadeRetro

X / Twitter - @EvercadeRetro

BlueSky - @Evercade

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES), by Jun Funahashi

In our second season of Retro Titans, we welcome back Ally Low, game designer and founder of Lowtek Games. Ally discusses the inspiration and challenges around making Flea 2, which returns to Evercade as well as Steam, NES, Dreamcast and Itch-IO. We also cover his new innovation, the Lightbook project-mapped popup book, and his work around making games dyslexic-friendly.

Season 2 will continue to cover Evercade extensively, but we'll also be looking beyond at other systems, so subscribe to get all the latest interviews with games designers, publishers, manufacturers and industry insiders.

🔗 Links:

Website - Flea2 press kit

YouTube - Lightbook teaser

Facebook - LowtekGames

X - Wallmasterr

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Noah's Ark NES music, by Chris Gill and Paul Summers.

It's the season finale of Retro Titans and we have drafted in a regular guest, Evercade YouTuber extraordinaire Crazy Burger to help us review Evercade and Blaze Entertainment's 2024.

It's a 'questions and answers' show format, where Phil and Crazy Burger quiz each other about their Evercade highlights and things they'd like to see in 2025 - plus a few awkward and surprising questions thrown into the mix.

🔗 Links:

YouTube @CrazyBurger

Facebook @CrazyBurgerYouTube

Facebook @Retro.Titans

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Goodboy Galaxy Zandunia Sunrise, by Vincent Verger with additional composition and production by Rik Nicol

In this episode we take a departure from our usual format focusing on Evercade to interview Chris Smith, CTO of Retro Games Ltd, about the launch of 'The Spectrum' – a modern day recreation of the iconic ZX Spectrum from 1982.

Chris is literally the man who wrote the book on the ZX Spectrum and is full of knowledge about the inner workings of the much-loved 80s home computer. So, it's no surprise that after the launch of reimagined versions of the C64, Amiga and Atari 400, we now have The Spectrum.

In this interview, Chris explains why they waited this long to tackle The Spectrum, described some of the challenges in the design and production, and given us a taste of his own home computer favourites.

If you're a proud new owner of The Spectrum, or just have an interest in home computer history, you'll love this episode.

🔗 Links:

Website - Retrogames.biz

Facebook - Retro Games Ltd

Facebook - The Spectrum Group

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

Monty On The Run theme, by Rob Hubbard

One of the best thing about Evercade is meeting interesting people who make you think differently about retro gaming and computing generally, not just on the platform - and this week's guest is no different. Shane Powell - aka Kenjara - works in the IT industry and discovered Evercade in the early days and has since become part of the scene, helping to test games, assist with the development of the Duke Nukem Collection 1 remasters, and even publishing his own 'hidden game'. This interview covers all this and more, including his Desert Island Carts. Make sure you stay to the end to hear Shane's fabulous playout music.

🔗 Links:

Discord - @Evercade-Official (search for Kenjara)

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

VVVVVV, by Souleye

Ollie Houston Blunn - aka Blunners - is one of the team behind the Retro Gaming Revival YouTube channel and a regular presenter on the Total Evercade livestream. He shares his love of Evercade, his strange affection for Foxyland, and what Blaze needs to do next to keep the fanbase happy and ensure it continues to grow.

As a grassroots football club chairman, we talk about the absence of decent football games on Evercade, Sensible Soccer aside, and what he'd like to see brought to the platform. Blunners is also a big Nintendo fan and talks about his collection, including his museum piece Virtual Boy, which he claims was ahead of its time.

🔗 Links:

YouTube - Retro Gaming Revival

Instagram - @RetroGamingRevivial1

Facebook - Retro Gaming Revival

X / Twitter - @RetroGamingRev1

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

War Has Never Been So Much Fun, by Richard Joseph and Jon Hare