This Week in Retro

Peladophobes beware, because this week's episode features four horribly hairless heads full to bursting with passion for prehistoric programs and Paleolithic processors! Clint from LGR returns to help explore the terrifying terrain of tool-assisted technological transformations as titles Splatterhouse and Alien Breed 3D are mangled to suit new master-machines. Ready to risk electrocution and the condemnation of so-called "respectable" scientists to give rise to the next race of super-human? Then you'll need to master DNA separation on your Commodore 64. Sixty minutes of spine-tingling timeless technology await... if you dare.

Just in case you aren't already following him, please pay Clint a visit at: https://www.youtube.com/@LGR

00:00 - Show Opening

02:57 - MVG Saves Halloween

19:34 - Genetic Experimentation

34:10 - Housekeeping - News links found below

39:37 - Alien Breed 3D HD

53:40 - Community Question of the Week

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This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

AI in Retro Games: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1015430/ai-retro-games-decomp-recomp-port

Sayaka's Digital Attic: https://youtu.be/WnNWWbJwYNA

IsoDoom: https://youtu.be/cBQNYFaK_lA

ZX Spectrum Next laptop: https://www.dorchester3d.com/printing/blog/2020/11/zx-spectrum-next-laptop-version-2

Knightmare, the Adventure: https://www.knightmaregame.co.uk/

BBC Archive The Wonder of Computers: https://youtu.be/P6Q57p-qTpU

Throwback media players and long-lost silicon schematics lead our coverage this week. There are a variety of ways to breathe new life into an Apple iPod, including flash drive upgrades and the Sprout replacement motherboard project. Or if you think the software is the problem, Rockbox runs on most iPods and dozens of other players from rival vendors. ZX Spectrum preservation got a big boost when an eBay haul turned up the detailed blueprint for the system's essential ULA chip, and Chris runs with a discussion started on our subreddit. We also note some significant passings and the latest wave of surprise game ports.

Visit https://www.simulant.media/ for your copy of Pixel Addict magazine.

00:00 - Show Opening

03:04 - iPod Rejuvenation

20:30 - ZX-pect The Unexpected

30:48 - Housekeeping - News links found below

36:13 - Do You Play Your Retro Games?

46:39 - Community Question of the Week

🏆Your monthly support helps us keep the retro news flowing!

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Audio Podcast:

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This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

Robert X. Cringely (Mark Stephens) obituary: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/mark-stephens-obituary?id=62687488

Recent Cringely work: https://www.cringely.com/

Sensible Soccer C64: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoxrNuXKyyg

Original Donkey Kong art sale: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/a-former-nintendo-employee-is-auctioning-a-wealth-of-classic-items-including-the-original-donkey-kong-art/

Super Mario 64 on Atari Jaguar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBJxz8FlSfE

Richard "Levelord" Gray obituary: https://bsky.app/profile/apogeeent.com/post/3mxrooxdr6k2v

Dizzy Collection announcement: https://youtu.be/4UXs9b3AnQ4

🛠 Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com/ for all your PCB needs! 🛠

A surprising collaboration between Retro Games Ltd. and Atari leads the news this week, with an equal-time look at Amiga AGA gaming just behind. The 1990s were the peak and decline of supercomputing and bulletin board system (BBS) operators, and both are the subjects of new deep-dive videos. Plus timely event promos, cross-platform throwbacks, and wistful looks at peak clamshell PDA performance.

00:00 - Show Opening

04:21 - It's An XL Remake

21:12 - The Cry Of The Banshee

32:35 - Housekeeping - News links found below

41:02 - The Supercomputer And The Sysop

56:52 - Community Question of the Week

🏆Your monthly support helps us keep the retro news flowing!

🕸 TWiR Sub Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/thisweekinretro/

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Youtube:

Audio Podcast:

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This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

Vector Doom: https://streamable.com/0u960a

Nintendo FujiNet: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/393355-fujinet-for-nes-bring-up-thread/

Ross Smith 3DFX interview: https://www.club386.com/3dfx-voodoo-history-ross-smith-interview/

Wing Commander 3 remaster: https://www.club386.com/3dfx-voodoo-history-ross-smith-interview/

Margaret Hamilton obituary: https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/10/08/margaret-hamilton-software-pioneer-who-helped-put-humans-on-the-moon-dies-at-90/5301988

Dungeon Master on SCUMMVM: https://www.scummvm.org/news/20261008/

Casio Cassiopeia: https://www.reddit.com/r/thisweekinretro/comments/1wycdlh/vintage_handhelds_for_productivity/

Psion 5 profile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kht2c7DyhlQ

The rarest treasures lurk under piles of castoff keyboards, and there's a flood of cross-platform software ports heading your way. This week's top stories include a pack of ZX Spectrum updates and developments, the latest in surprise PC software, and the astounding thrift store find of an ultra-rare Humdinger home computer. Plus, catch up on news from the lands of Lemmings, Prodigy, CompuServe, and more.

Visit https://www.simulant.media/ for your copy of Pixel Addict magazine.

00:00 - Show Opening

03:51 - Any Port In A Storm?

33:13 - Housekeeping - News links found below

38:53 - This Week In Spectrum

52:05 - Community Question of the Week

🏆Your monthly support helps us keep the retro news flowing!

🕸 TWiR Sub Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/thisweekinretro/

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Audio Podcast:

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This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

Physical media trends: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/oct/02/physical-media-fans-streaming-algorithms-cds-dvds-vinyl

CompuServe retrospective: https://dfarq.homeip.net/what-happened-to-compuserve/

Prodigy restoration: https://staging.prodigyreloaded.com/start/

Lemmings editor: https://github.com/timoheimonen/Amiga-Lemmings-Editor

Windows 2000 vs. Linux vs. Oracle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SliyHq54SxE

The Found Footage Festival: https://gizmodo.com/15000-vhs-tapes-and-counting-meet-the-guys-preserving-the-weirdest-parts-of-the-analog-era-2000816383

Dizzy developments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTSaPajJCcE

🛠 Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com/ for all your PCB needs! 🛠

With museum guide Gameboys and intense Linux overhauls for 486 laptops lined up,  Veronica stops by to make sure everything's crystal clear. King's Quest and other Sierra classics are finally available for Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers, there's a Grand Theft Auto 2 overhaul in the works, and a window full of tiny emulators.

Keep up with Veronica at her main content hub of https://veronicaexplains.net , as well as the new joint podcast with Macintosh Librarian at https://kateandveronica.net

00:00 - Show Opening

04:15 - Serious Uses For Game Boy

18:00 - SHORK Attack!

32:52 - Housekeeping - News links found below

38:23 - King’s Quest For Atari and C64!

50:28 - Community Question of the Week

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Audio Podcast:

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This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

Elite Atari 8-bit: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/393094-elite-for-the-atari-8-bit-firebird-version-has-been-completed-and-is-released/

Tiny Elite ships: https://www.reddit.com/r/thisweekinretro/comments/1wqsken/elite_small_enough_the_swallow/

GoldenEye SNES: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/09/it-trivialises-the-hobby-goldeneye-running-on-snes-triggers-more-debate-over-vibe-coded-retro-projects

Retronauts Assemble: https://retronaut.tech/retronauts-assemble-311026/

Ace Combat 5 and Midnight Club: Los Angeles for PC: https://www.dsogaming.com/news/burnout-revenge-ace-combat-5-and-midnight-club-los-angeles-get-unofficial-pc-ports/

LGR's VCF Midwest retrospective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XF5j6x0hs

GTA2 enhanced: https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/27-year-old-gta-2-gets-full-path-tracing-and-60-fps-frame-generation-via-rtx-remix-custom-direct3d-9-wrapper-modernizes-classic-with-custom-direct3d-9-bridge-unlocks-dynamic-lighting

English Maniac Mansion Famicom: https://rickyderocher.itch.io/maniac-mansion-famicom-english-hack

Star Wars Trilogy for Dreamcast: https://www.thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk/2026/09/star-wars-trilogy-arcade-model-3-port.html

Grundy NewBrain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtCB9w8maAg

Amigos on Atari 600XL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0Ez7qWIC_Y

FujiGrid: https://www.savetz.com/fujigrid/

Dozens of potential trademark violations stand in the way of a retro racer's comeback! Naturally we lead with that news. After a quarter-century the secrets of the PlayStation 2's security chip are now open for inspection, and there's exciting news for enthusiasts of niche platforms including Sony's high-resolution SMC-70 CP/M machine, Amiga Unix, and the Spectravideo 318 in the latest episode of This Week in Retro!

Visit https://www.addict.media/ for your copy of Pixel Addict magazine.

00:00 - Show Opening

02:23 - Trademarks Trash Tracks

17:20 - PlayStation 2 Finally Cracked

32:37 - Housekeeping - News links found below

37:32 - Some Less-Loved Computers

55:12 - Community Question of the Week

🏆Your monthly support helps us keep the retro news flowing!

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News In Brief Links

Eternal Darkness returns?: https://ixbt.games/en/news/2026/09/16/436122-nightdive-nameknula-na-vozvrashhenie-xorrora-eternal-darkness.html

Wi-Fi For Gameboy Advance: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/canocoder/canoflash-wi-fi-adapter-for-original-game-boy-advance-hard

ZX81 mega expansion: https://codeberg.org/NollKollTroll/OpenSpand

Atari 2600 tech demo: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2026/09/city-by-the-lake/

🛠 Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com/ for all your PCB needs! 🛠

How much retro tech fits into one hectare? We try to sum up the massive Vintage Computer Festival Midwest before taking on a hot new upgrade for classic DOS computers. And if you've ever envied that extensive collection of game boxes you see every week on the show, try printing your own! GOG's just made that a lot easier. All this, plus the latest on the Neo-Geo AES+, new MiSTer cores, and more!

00:00 - Show Opening

01:33 - 100,000 Square Feet Of Nerdery

22:45 - Your 286 Needs An Upgrade

PCBWay Project Link: https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/Graphics_Gremlin_HDMI_afb4ec21.html

Github: https://github.com/schlae/graphics-gremlin

40:17 - Housekeeping - News links found below

46:15 - GOG Gets Boxed

GOG Press Release: https://www.gog.com/pressroom/gog-preservation-program-brings-the-big-box-nostalgia/

54:41 - Community Question of the Week

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News In Brief Links

Raider 64: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaxJ9WTrpjA 

The National Museum of Computing: https://retrogamecoders.com/tnmoc/

Sega FPGA core: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/09/new-fpga-model-1-emulator-core-runs-segas-virtua-racing-with-remarkable-precision

AES+ delay: https://presse.plaion.com/The-NEOGEO-AES-worldwide-release-date-moves-to-16-th-September-2027-as

Commodore shop in The Netherlands: https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/6026257/bart-gokt-op-comeback-van-de-commodore-computer-en-opent-een-winkel 

Midwinter Remaster in Steam Early Access: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5056170/Midwinter_Fan_Remaster/

It's the big four-oh for the Amstrad PC1512, an aggressively cost-reduced PC clone for the UK market. There's also a fascinating time capsule of Atari user group newsletters from August 1987, and Nelumbo, a new engine for classic Lotus racing action, plus Tron references, Kickstarter updates for Spectrum Next and Vectrex Mini, a unique phone booth memorial, and more!

Visit https://www.addict.media/ for your copy of Pixel Addict magazine.

00:00 - Show Opening

04:00 - Cheap PCs, Cheaper PCs and Even Cheaper PCs

18:38 - Exploring A 1987 Time Capsule

38:20 - Housekeeping - News links found below

45:15 - Lotus Is Back

55:32 - Community Question of the Week

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News In Brief Links

Vectrex Update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1852390947/vectrex-mini/posts/4787697

Bletchley Park Redundancies: https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/bletchley-park-in-milton-keynes-announces-redundancies-due-to-dwindling-visitor-numbers-8958108

Space Paranoids: https://landonjsmith.com/projects/spaceparanoids/

Defrag Simulator: https://defrag98.com/

PlayStation 2 Emulator: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/08/pcsx2-has-just-been-updated-bringing-serious-performance-gains-and-more-to-the-ps2-emulator

Nick Weerts Memorial Phone Booth: http://nickweertsmemorial.com

Mario On The Master System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRrioabZZwM

🛠 Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com/ for all your PCB needs! 🛠

New, retro-themed game development and releases dominate the news this week. Chris called his contact at Commodore to get early access to the Alien Breed 35th Anniversary Collection and we take an early look at the new Commodore 77 variant. Michael Cranford is back in game development after a 34-year absence with Shadow Snare, a spiritual sibling to his original Bard's Tale. And Dave makes a cardboard tube into a Sword of Power as he celebrates a new He-Man and the Masters of the Universe game, part of that franchise's big revival.

00:00 - Show Opening

01:24 - I’m Not Saying It’s Aliens

20:36 - Bard’s Tale Reborn?

35:27 - Housekeeping - News links found below

44:18 - I Have the Power!

53:22 - Community Question of the Week

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News In Brief Links

Atari's reissue of Activision games on cartridge: https://www.ign.com/articles/atari-is-re-releasing-39-atari-2600-games-on-working-physical-cartridges

Scrap Men Amstrad PPC 640: https://www.reddit.com/r/thisweekinretro/comments/1vxfki8/a_surpise_gift/

Atari 2600/Vectrex Mashup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_1T-NoEtUU

PS3 Emulation: https://www.notebookcheck.net/RPCS3-reaches-major-milestone-en-route-to-perfectly-playing-all-PS3-first-party-games.1377811.0.html

RIP Peter Cullen: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15844gwe0wo

Cliff Stoll and the First Cybersecurity Investigation?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=656058JxTM0

Is it time for retro tech trading to go mainstream? We'll soon find out, if the reports of CeX's expansion into retro and import game sales are accurate. We also talk about the end of an era for a retro tech podcast, the return of cassettes, Casio's surprising commitment to blending 1980s digital watch styling with 2026 convenience, the origins of Batman (the game of the movie) and much more.

Visit https://www.addict.media/ for your copy of Pixel Addict magazine.

00:00 - Show Opening

01:51 - CeX is back on the menu

18:03 - Digital Watches

33:50 - Housekeeping - News links found below

44:51 - Tell All Your Friends About Me

53:52 - Community Question Of The Week

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News In Brief Links

Cruis'n USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCzv7W9DKzg

The A1200 Is An Amiga: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fjzlufkcmj4kh1.png

Maxell UD-60U: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/maxell-partners-with-disk-union-to-release-ud-60u-special-edition-cassettes-black-and-red-ud-tapes-could-be-ideal-for-use-in-your-c64-datassette

Ravi Abbott Leaves Retro Hour: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/08/its-been-a-huge-part-of-my-life-the-retro-hours-ravi-abbott-is-stepping-away-after-more-than-ten-years

James Pond Legacy: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1vti8ss/james_pond_legacy_devs_used_ai_to_remaster_their/

RIP Dr Timothy James King: https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/08/18/tim-king-amigados-royalty-dies-aged-71/5289101

What Happens Next: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MNNCiQ9gNM