Retronauts

Jeremy Parish, Shane Bettenhausen, and Nadia Oxford break quarantine to return to Transylvania for an in-depth look at the original Castlevania for NES and its many, many alternate versions and remakes through the years. Art: Greg Melo

Come sail away with Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Henry Gilbert as we turn back the hands of time more than a decade, somehow, to revisit Mario's most cosmic journey of all time: Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 for Nintendo Wii.

Believe it or not, there are topics we've never covered in the past 14 years of Retronauts, so it's always a treat to shine the podcasting spotlight on a subject that's gone untouched. And this week, we're talking all about cowboy games: the genre that traces its roots back to the very beginning of the medium, and only recently came back into vogue thanks to the wildly popular Red Dead Redemption series. On this episode, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Henry Gilbert, and Nina Matsumoto as the crew looks at the rootinest, shootinest Western games made between 1975 and 1991. And stay tuned for part two, ya varmint!

Be sure to read Nina's newest book: Sparks! Double Dog Dare.

Retronauts is a completely fan-funded operation. To support the show, and get exclusive episodes every month, please visit the official Retronauts Patreon.

Jeremy Parish crosses realities to recruit Nadia Oxford and Jared Petty for an in-depth discussion of controversial Squaresoft RPG classic Chrono Cross on the occasion of its 20th anniversary in the U.S. (No weird accents or speech quirks… we pwomise.) 

Artwork by Leeann Hamilton.

Retronauts is a listener-supported show. Please help keep things running and get early access/exclusive backer-only episodes/other goodies by subscribing at https://patreon.com/retronauts!

You're listening to a free preview of Retronauts Episode 316: Nintendo Leaks. To hear the rest, and get two exclusive extra episodes every month, access to our previous Patreon-exclusive episodes, and early access to ad-free podcasts, please visit the official Retronauts Patreon.

Jeremy Parish and Diamond Feit set the wayback machine for feudal Japan to learn about the secrets of the Samurai Shodown series from Brandon Sheffield, who trawled the SNK archives to research and write the Samurai Shodown Collection. Art: Shaan Khan.

A diverse double-header this week as Jeremy Parish fields a patron request from Joseph Wawzonek to discuss Sony's Ape Escape before a chat with game archivist Leonard Herman about the history of chronicling game history. Art: John Pading.

The exciting conclusion to the saga we began back in... episode 283?! We talk about—yes—more really bizarre and nonsensical gaming input devices. For the full episode, go to patreon.com/retronauts

We're just a few days out from the release of Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise, so it's about time we take a look back at the first game that just happened to turn ten years old earlier this year. Back when it launched in 2010, Deadly Premonition stood as a budget oddity, at first only seen as a wacky, broken game that cribbed a little too hard from Twin Peaks. But over time, this open-world mystery became something of a mini-phenomenon, and generated a small cult of fans willing to look past the rough exterior to see the brilliant ideas tucked away inside.

On this episode, join host Bob Mackey and guest supergreatfriend (Check out his YouTube channel!) as the two dig deep into the game that put SWERY on the map. Did you get all that, Zach?

Retronauts is a completely fan-funded operation. To support the show, and get exclusive episodes every month, please visit the official Retronauts Patreon.

Just in time for another Toadstravaganza in the form of Paper Mario: The Origami King, Jeremy Parish joins Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert to talk about the history of Nintendo's pluckiest little demi-mascot, Toad. He's the best! (Or so he says.)