Retronauts

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Shane Bettenhausen paraglide into Kazakh S.S.R. to profess the glory of a game that remains indelibly cool even 30 years later: Capcom's Strider.

The curse of the podcaster means we usually have so much to say in our limited time that we often don't have space to let you get a word in edgewise. So, every six months, I (Bob) like to collect comments and questions from the last six months' worth of my episodes—from both the main site and Patreon—and respond to them with a guest. So this week, join me and Jeremy as we respond to your thoughts on Spider-Man games, Reggie Fils-Aime, Kingdom Hearts 3, Sonic the Hedgehog's many voice actors, Stardew Valley, Resident Evil 4, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the year 1989, and Nester (another mutant, but not a turtle or a teenager). Will YOUR words be read live on the air? Listen now and all will be revealed!

Just as video game boss fights were becoming more sophisticated, Hollywood gave us 1987's The Running Man, a movie that—whether its writer knew it or not—exists as a 100-minute-long boss rush. Though other big, beefy action movies of the '80s inspired video games more directly, this lower-profile entry in the Schwarzenegger canon might have had an even bigger effect on the way we look at boss fights in general. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, and Henry Gilbert as the crew examines this cheesy chunk of social commentary, and the many games it would influence in its wake. It's showtime!

If you like Smash Bros., you'll be angry about this episode! Jeremy, Chris, Ben, and Benj gather to discuss the classic influences that define Smash Bros. Ultimate, but they get sidetracked and turn what was supposed to be a quick series overview into a full, rambling, off-the-cuff episode that veers wildly beyond what they had prepped and researched for. Whoops!

Composer Nathan McCree reminisces about his groundbreaking work creating the soundtrack for Lara Croft's earliest adventures, the challenges in revisiting that material decades later, and... The Spice Girls?!

By patron request, Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey recruit Kat Bailey and Jason Wilson to scramble all fighters and mount an unrelenting assault of knowledge against the topic of LucasArts' classic Star Wars sandbox shooter series X-Wing (and TIE Fighter).

The Retronauts East crew (Jeremy Parish, Benj Edwards, Ben Elgin, and Chris Sims) responds to YOUR letters about episode topics that may or may not have already been published, including New Super Mario Bros. and Final Fantasy Tactics.

We're living in the era of the gig economy, and now our apartments are hotels, our cars are taxis, and we even have to make Marios ourselves. But that's okay, because Nintendo's Super Mario Maker series has thrived over the past half-decade as not only a celebration of Mario's 2D legacy, but an amazing toolset that lets budding creators put together levels that aren't even in the wildest dreams of Nintendo's top craftsmen. On this episode, join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Chris Kohler, and Ray Barnholt as the crew explores the finer points of Mario do-it-yourself-ery.

The Retronauts East crew looks back at the legacy of beloved superhero classic Spider-Man 2 for PlayStation 2. Then, Jeremy Parish talks to designer/tech lead Jamie Fristrom about the game's creation.

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Kat Bailey, and Shivam Bhatt equip their Dictionaries and set their Reaction Skills to "Podcast Debate" as they form up into a squad and take on Final Fantasy's all-time greatest spin-off: 1998's Final Fantasy Tactics for PS1.