The Retro Breakdown

The Retro Breakdown

By TimeWandererLeisureVideo Games
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The Retro Breakdown episodes

  • Metroid 2: Return of Samus (GB) and the Mario Movie Meh

    Nintendo Direct! Bayonetta 3! 3D Kirby Game! Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games coming to Switch Online! And I guess there's a Mario movie being made or whatever, who even cares about that.

    We continue our run through of the mainline Metroid games this week by talking about the Game Boy sequel that nobody talks about but everybody should know about.


    Send us an email to read on the show! [email protected]

    TW's Discord: https://discord.gg/dTrBruG

    Podcast games streamed live at: twitch.tv/timewanderer

    TW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/timewanderer

    2 hr 41 min
  • Metroid (NES) and the Franchise Fatigue Counter-Strategy

    After several podcasts of teasing it, it's FINALLY time to talk about Metroid! Or, one of them, at least. The ORIGINAL one. The one everybody always tells us not to play.


    So, the question is: Should you actually bother playing the original NES Metroid? Or should you just start with Zero Mission, the remake for GBA? The answer is... complicated.

    Also, TW gives a reluctant credit to Nintendo's maddeningly frustrating method of handling their franchises. Because hey, at least none of them are Assassin's Creed. 

    Send us an email to read on the show! [email protected]


    TW's Discord: https://discord.gg/dTrBruG

    Podcast games streamed live at: twitch.tv/timewanderer

    TW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/timewanderer

    1 hr 42 min
  • Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES) and the Nuzlocke Origin Story
    Perhaps the longest game we've made into a podcast (so far), Lufia 2 is a game with a bad translation but a good story, deep and interesting but also shallow mechanics, and an ENTIRE RANDOMLY-GENERATED ROGUELIKE DUNGEON AS A MINIGAME.
    Also, we talk about Hyrule Warriors, discuss the merits of a Metroid Musou game, weigh in on the surprisingly positive Apple/Epic court decision, reveal the depressingly dumb reason permadeath Pokemon runs are called "Nuzlocke," and Tom is forced to say "Hoochies."
    Send us an email to read on the show! [email protected]
    TW's Discord: https://discord.gg/dTrBruG
    Podcast games streamed live at: twitch.tv/timewanderer
    TW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/timewanderer
    2 hr 20 min
  • Mega Man Legends (Playstation) and the Forced Item Usage

    This week, TW and Tom talk way too much about Metroid, TW gushes about Atelier Escha and Logy, and we discuss how difficult it is to use items in a video game.


    Later, Tom surprises with a revelation that shouldn't be that surprising, but still kinda is.

    By the way, we're going to bumble around with a lack of classical music knowledge later on, but because of the magic of "being able to look things up after the fact" (and being married to a classical musician), I can officially note that the name of the piece is "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" by J. S. Bach. You know it, even if you don't think you know it.

    Send us an email to read on the show! [email protected]

    TW's Discord: https://discord.gg/dTrBruG

    Podcast games streamed live at: twitch.tv/timewanderer

    TW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/timewanderer

    2 hr 14 min
  • Day of the Tentacle and the Stuff You Said Back Then

    We get a sneak-preview at future Metroid podcasts, as TW has started playing not one, but two different Metroid games, and can't help but talk about them!


    Also, we marvel at how far the world has come in such a short time just by differences in what we feel comfortable making jokes about.

    Day of the Tentacle isn't a major offender in this, but it does get us thinking and talking about it, and honestly, it's pretty cool to see how we're trying to be kinder and more welcoming as a society in only a few short years.

    Thanks to Alianin for requesting this game!

    Send us an email to read on the show! [email protected]

    TW's Discord: https://discord.gg/dTrBruG

    Podcast games streamed live at: twitch.tv/timewanderer

    TW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/timewanderer

    2 hr 16 min
  • Chuck Rock and the Realistic Sports Anime

    Tom and TW struggle to come up with ANYTHING to talk about this week, probably because this game just sucked all the life out of both of us.


    But also, TW is into volleyball because of the Olympics, and we talk about the different flavors of speedruns.

    Send us an email to read on the show! [email protected]

    TW's Discord: https://discord.gg/dTrBruG

    Podcast games streamed live at: twitch.tv/timewanderer

    TW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/timewanderer

    1 hr 19 min
  • Battle Golfer Yui and the "True Zelda Game"

    In one of the absolute most bizarre narratives either of us has ever encountered, Tom and TW take their shots at the little-known Battle Golfer Yui, a game that is part-golf, part-RPG, part visual novel, and ALL WEIRD.


    Also, we offer a definitive answer to whether or not Breath of the Wild is a "true Zelda game."

    Thanks to https://twitter.com/romtranslator for putting in the work on this fan translation so we could enjoy this bizarre experience!

    Send us an email to read on the show! [email protected]

    TW's Discord: https://discord.gg/dTrBruG

    Podcast games streamed live at: twitch.tv/timewanderer

    TW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/timewanderer

    2 hr 4 min
  • Elevator Action Returns and the Monday Night Grandia

    This week we toss in the quarters for an unlikely choice, Elevator Action Returns, which is, in fact, the sequel/reboot to 1983's Elevator Action, a game which I always thought sounded like something dirty.

    Along the way, we talk about Atelier Rorona, problematic elements of Rabi-Ribi, and how the battle music in Grandia 2 sounds like it's introducing an off-brand Monday Night Football broadcast.


    Send us an email to read on the show! [email protected]

    TW's Discord: https://discord.gg/dTrBruG

    Podcast games streamed live at: twitch.tv/timewanderer

    TW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/timewanderer

    2 hr
  • B.O.B. and the Worst Game You've Ever Played

    I hate this game. Normally I try to be a little coy about our thoughts so as not to spoil the verdict.


    Not this time. I hate this game as much as it hates me. The podcast is just to find out why.

    (or you can watch it happen at https://youtu.be/qmA4z6RnhJw)

    Send us an email to read on the show! [email protected]

    TW's Discord: https://discord.gg/dTrBruG

    Podcast games streamed live at: twitch.tv/timewanderer

    TW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/timewanderer

    2 hr 1 min
  • Earthworm Jim and the Time Kompression

    This week's game comes as a request from stream viewer Alianin! Thank you for supporting the show!


    Earthworm Jim is a complicated game, in that its aesthetics are incredibly dated, and live squarely in the 1990s, and yet the quality still holds. Too bad the mechanics didn't.

    Also featured: TW complains about the ending of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Tom discusses what in the world is happening in the Final Fantasy 8 universe.

    Send us an email to read on the show! [email protected]

    TW's Discord: https://discord.gg/dTrBruG

    Podcast games streamed live at: twitch.tv/timewanderer

    TW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/timewanderer

    1 hr 53 min

About The Retro Breakdown

From the publisher's feed

Every week, Dean (twitch.tv/timewanderer) and Tom discuss current gaming news, and then check out some old (or sometimes new) piece of gaming history to see how it holds up, and test the strength of…