Retro Hangover

This episode marks a few firsts for the show: the first time in awhile Chris and Shane are not joined by a guest (remember when we never had guests? Crazy times), the first episode to be posted on our brand spankin' new hosting platform Captivate.fm, and the first time we've talked about Wolfenstein 3D! Tug on your combat boots, grease your barrels, and join us for some good ol' fashioned Nazi bashin'!

Here it is, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the final showdown of the King of Games 2000 tournament! Many a good game has been lost, blood and tears have been shed, and these two titles have emerged to duke it out one last time for ultimate supremacy.

Listen, the title isn’t necessarily a commentary on the game’s quality, just an objective statement that Kirby does in fact suck. A lot. It’s like his thing. At any rate, the illustrious Adam Blank of Remember the Game podcast joins us to celebrate three decades of pink puff power by reviewing the cartridge that started it all: Kirby’s Dream Land!

The penultimate entry into the King of Games 2000 tournament is upon us! Will The Sims woo-hoo their way into the finals, or will MvC2 pull off a combo break and clinch victory?

We’re doing things a little different for this episode; one might say we’re turning everything… upside down. Right, once you’re finished booing at that joke, jump on in and listen to the first publicly-released episode of our timed Patron-exclusive series, Growing Up Gaming! Chris chats with some of our beloved community members from Down Under to find out what it was like being a gamer in the Outback.

Beloved RHP community member MaskedLlama finally gets his Fatal Frame episode, but not quite in the way he expected. It’s Japanese horror… Aussie style!

Well… Here it is. The final showdown before the semi-finals. We suspect that, regardless of the outcome, someone is walking away from this one less than thrilled. Will it be the grandpappy of ARPGs or the definitive life simulator that moves on to greater glory? Only one way to find out!

The latest quarterly Patron poll winner is here, and it’s the actually-not-terrible licensed game Beetle Adventure Racing! We’re joined on this expedition by fellow sensible consumer-grade vehicle enthusiast Try4ce from the YouTube channel My Life in Gaming, so pack your rucksack and prepare for… ADVENTURE!

Sweet tricks or trick shots? That’s what we’re debating in this go-round of the King of Games 2000 tournament. Will the counter-terrorists win or will the skater bois pop shove-it right out of this competition?

The one and only Ryan Trainor of Banzai Chat drops in to once again talk Fist of the North Star, this time about the 2005 arcade fighter. Come get a You Wa Shock to your system that may or may not improve your gastrointestinal health (results not guaranteed)!

The clash of the sequels is here! The final match of the first round is upon us. Who will move on to the next bracket: a game many consider to be the best 2D fighter of all time, or the sequel to one of the most well-known D&D video games ever?

We are super stoked to have the one and only Joe Redifer of Game Sack and good friend of the show Paul from Region Free Gamers on to discuss Ys Book I & II, a tandem of JRPGs from Nihon Falcom that one might consider to be the grandpappies of the action RPG genre (and took the term "facerolling" quite literally). In an unexpected turn of events, this episode also serves as a cautionary tale about blindly trusting those fancy HD remasters that all the kids are into these days, so tune in to find out more!

We honestly can't wait to see the reaction to this one. A somewhat small but very steadfast fanbase going up against one of the most cross-demographically appealing games ever? Surely nothing can go wrong here.

He spins, he jumps, he might occasionally slip right off a ledge even though you definitely didn't mean for him to... It's Crash Bandicoot! Eric from the Side Questing podcast joins us as our special guest this episode to discuss Crash, the would-be wombat who is (probably) singularly responsible for making everyone outside of Australia aware that bandicoots exist. Take that, Nat Geo.

A monkey-tailed boy going toe-to-toe with a trained British female operative... Definitely a sensible match-up. Listen, we just follow the tournament rules, you get to enjoy the ridiculous results. And hey, if you haven't listened to Match 3 yet, what are you even doing!? Go over to the Region Free Gamers podcast and get caught up!

Quit beatin' yer gums and stow that sugar report, Lieutenant! Your best gal is gonna have to wait, because ol' Uncle Adolph is up to no good and it's our duty to stop him. Your usual RHP compliment will be augmented on this mission by none other than Major Josh Covel of the Still Loading division, so taxi on up and get that devil's piano in good working order, 'cause you're going to need it!

Everyone OK? Has the salt washed off from the first match-up? Great, because we're back with the next battle of Round 1 of King of Games 2000: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 faces off against WWF No Mercy. Will it be kickflips or piledrivers? Listen to find out, brother! Wait, wait... You haven't listened to Match 1? Well then get on over to our friends the Region Free Gamers podcast and subscribe to make sure you get every saucy minute of the King of Games 2000 tournament!

The Blue Rogues take flight in this episode of RHP, accompanied by special guest Kelly from our friends the Region Free Gamers! As if that wasn't cool enough, this release marks the obnoxiously triumphant return of Chris' signature bellowing intro. You asked for it, and we delivered so get your volume knobs ready, folks, because it's back, baby!

We are super psyched to put this one out there for you beautiful people. We had the opportunity to sit down with Andy from Mega Cat Studios and chat about the most excellent work they do developing and releasing original titles for retro systems like the NES and Genesis, along with the myriad other projects they have in their repertoire. We had a lot of fun with this one, and we think you will too!

What do you do with a popular film franchise license and a warehouse of unused arcade boards? Make a loosely-related beat-'em-up, of course! Keith of The Main Quest podcast joins us to talk about everyone's favorite Christmas game: Die Hard Arcade!