1up.com - Retronauts

We couldn't think of a topic, so the onus was on you caller folks. So, now you can listen to Jeremy Parish, Frank Cifaldi, and Sam Kennedy talk about River City Ransom 2, Famicom Disc System (FREAKIN' FINALLY), Demon's Crest, and other random stuff.

The semi-annual tradition of us talking in front of a bunch of people continues with this overview of the 16-bit era. Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 joins Frank Cilfaldi, Chris Kohler, and a very under-the-weather Jeremy Parish for this PAX East talkstravaganza!

Jeremy Parish is joined by resident pokemaniacs Justin Haywald and Kat Bailey to discuss the history and mystery of Pokémon (though mostly they just shout at each other about a children's game while strangers listen in awkward silence).

You demanded it and we complied: more call-in discussion of Zelda. And Famicom Disc System, in theory. Join Jeremy Parish, Frank Cifaldi, Chris Kohler, and strangers on the phone as they deal with bleeping call-in lines and echoing audio feedback. Sweet.

So maybe we can't do Retronauts on our own... but we can do it with your help! Jeremy Parish, Frank Cifaldi, and Shane Bettenhausen open the phone lines to take your calls on The Legend of Zelda's 25th anniversary, and a good time is had by all.

Dabbling in a brief bout of necromancy, Jeremy Parish grabs Frank Cifaldi, Scott Sharkey, and Chris Kohler to do a year-end roundup for 1971, '76, '81, '86 (and so forth) before letting the show return once again to the grave.

We put the wraps on the Retronauts podcast the only way we know how: with a disorganized discussion of video game endings riddled with failed jokes, platform bias, and gross factual inaccuracies.

Retronauts' penultimate episode sees Parish, Cifaldi, Kohler, and Maragos chatting about the NES's silver anniversary at PAX. Then Sharkey and Barnholt join the lovefest in the studio. After 170 minutes of this nonsense, you'll be glad to see us go away!

Classic Gaming Expo and Scott Pilgrim provide grist for the retrogaming love mill. Jeremy Parish and Chris Kohler rap with Alice Liang and Alan Johnson. (Disclaimer: This episode contains no rap music, and definitely not a Kohler/Parish rap battle.)

Parish, Barnholt, Cifaldi, and Kohler look back at the halcyon days of June 2010 by recapping the classic franchises that received a renewal at E3. Tech issues and lost recordings can't keep this crew from jawing on at length about old games, nosirree.

When podcasts collide you get a downright erratic episode of Retronauts. Ray Barnholt talks to fellow podcasters Jordan Morris and Jesse Thorn, and explores the duo's own histories with videogames. But just what do they talk about? Virtually everything, including the Atari Lynx, Nintendo's E3 lineup, all sorts of sports games, R.O.B., and Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden. Let's go!

1985 was a banner day for nostalgia, and Jeremy, Ray, Frank, and Sharkey look back on the glorious pop-culture bounty of that year with quarter-century tributes to Back to the Future, The Goonies, and Gradius. Add it up and you have 75 years of nerdiness.

Parish, Sharkey, Barnholt, and Cifaldi muse on the history and trickery of 3D visuals in gaming. Not the stupid gimmicky 3D tech the kids like these days, oh no. REAL fake 3D, with vector lines and scaling sprites and Gouraud shading.

Jeremy Parish, Ray Barnholt, Frank Cifaldi, and Chris Kohler discuss news of old things, contemplate the mysteries of spring 1990, question the parallels between Virtual Boy and 3DS, and make entirely too many dumb jokes. You know you love it.

Frank Cifaldi plays host to a Tengen reunion as former programmers Steve Woita, Franz Lanzinger, and Mark Morris share tales of life at the greatest unlicensed Nintendo publisher ever.

Jeremy Parish, Shane Bettenhausen, Kurt Kalata, and Chris Kohler take to the mean streets of Boston's Hynes Center to explain the mysteries of game collecting to a capacity crowd!

Jeremy Parish, Scott Sharkey, and Ray Barnholt congregate briefly around a malfunctioning studio setup to talk about the recent spate of worthwhile retro downloads, GDC talks, C-SPAN archives, and more.

Ray Barnholt takes the mic as Game Developer's Brandon Sheffield joins the crew to talk about the arcade legacy of Data East...nd Data West!?

When plans to talk about Data East go awry (again!), Jeremy, Ray, Sharkey, and Kohler improvise and babble about vaguely game-related things for almost 90 minutes. It's very free-form! But is it art?

Jeremy, Ray, Chris, and a strangely transient Justin Haywald sleepily revisit the Lunar series and the overarching Game Arts ouevre. All through the niiiiight, keep marchiiiiing oooooon!