Play Retro Show

This week we are exploring the early MechWarrior games on PC. Starting with the 1989 original and continuing with MechWarrior 2, these titles brought the mechanics and world of BattleTech to life through cockpit simulation, mech customization, and faction-driven campaigns. We’ll also touch on Mercenaries, Ghost Bear’s Legacy, and a few of the console adaptations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Namco’s Ridge Racer series. Beginning with its 1993 arcade debut and stretching through its early PlayStation-era dominance, the series was defined by speed, style, and corner-sliding gameplay that favored flair over realism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doom (1993) and Doom II (1994). Developed by id Software, these games introduced the fast-paced, visceral FPS gameplay that would shape the industry for decades. With tight level design, explosive weapons, and iconic monsters, Doom wasn’t just a game—it was a movement. And while we’re at it, we’ll mention Doom 64, the 1997 N64 follow-up that carved out its own identity in the shadows of its PC predecessors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Driver and Driver 2, the PlayStation titles that turned 1970s car chases into fully playable, open-world missions—well before “open world” was a buzzword. Developed by Reflections Interactive, these games combined tight driving physics, cinematic storytelling, and a now-legendary difficulty curve. Driver put you in the seat as an undercover cop posing as a getaway driver, while Driver 2 expanded the formula with new cities, the ability to exit your vehicle, and a heavier dose of crime drama. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Illusion platformers developed by Sega in the early to mid-1990s, built around original stories starring Mickey Mouse. While each game differs by platform and style, they share common traits: smooth controls, layered level design, strong animation, and soundtracks tailored to the hardware. The series covers both 16-bit showpieces and surprisingly deep 8-bit platformers, with a nod to the often-overlooked Legend of Illusion and the co-op-focused World of Illusion. Play Retro goes deep! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let’s talk about ‘Drill Dozer’, the 2006 Game Boy Advance title from Game Freak that stars Jill and her drill-powered mech in a punchy, gear-driven platformer complete with some unique game mechanics and features, including a built in rumble pack for the cart. This game still drills! Or something like that. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thief: The Dark Project and Thief II: The Metal Age, two of the most influential stealth games ever made. Developed by Looking Glass Studios, these immersive sims dropped players into a dark, steampunk-inspired world where silence and shadows were more powerful than any sword. With open-ended level design, sound-based detection, and a story full of mystery and betrayal, the Thief series set the standard for the stealth genre. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hydro Thunder, Offroad Thunder, and Arctic Thunder—a trio of fast, loud, and wild arcade racers from Midway. At the arcade and at home. We are Racing Rocket boats, 4 Wheel Off-road vehicles in arenas, and snowblasting through frozen highways with missile-equipped snowmobiles. From arcades to Dreamcast and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Questprobe Text Adventure series featuring Marvel Comic Characters —an early collaboration between Marvel Comics and Adventure International. Designed by Scott Adams (not the cartoonist!), these graphic/text hybrid adventures dropped Marvel’s most iconic heroes into classic parser-based puzzlers. From The Hulk trying to control his rage, to Spider-Man climbing walls in text form, and Torch and Thing bickering their way through puzzles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An early 3D platformer from Argonaut Games where players control Croc, a courageous baby crocodile with a backpack raised by the Gobbos—a tribe of fuzzy creatures. When the evil Baron Dante kidnaps the Gobbos, Croc sets off on a crystal-collecting quest across floating islands, icy peaks, lava-filled caves, and more, using his tail whip, ground pound, and platforming skills to save his adoptive family. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s episode of Play Retro, Rampage, from 1986. The classic arcade destruction game developed by Bally Midway that puts players in control of giant, mutated monsters—George the gorilla, Lizzie the lizard, and Ralph the werewolf—as they wreak havoc on cities across the United States. Turns out, this thing holds up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s Play Retro podcast with Scott Johnson and Brian Dunaway, ZAXXON! Sega’s revolutionary 1982 arcade game that introduced an isometric perspective to shoot-'em-ups, setting it apart from the top-down and side-scrolling shooters of its era. Its sequel, Super Zaxxon, amped up the difficulty with faster enemy movement and trickier level designs. We’ll also briefly mention Future Spy, a lesser-known Sega shooter that borrowed elements from Zaxxon while adding a military espionage theme. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SSX, EA Sports BIG’s legendary snowboarding series that defined arcade-style extreme sports in the early 2000s. From the original SSX on the PS2 to the fan-favorite SSX Tricky and the open-world masterpiece SSX 3, these games combined fast-paced racing, gravity-defying tricks, and an unforgettable soundtrack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter, Space Quest II: Vohaul’s Revenge, and Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon. These games, developed by Sierra’s "Two Guys from Andromeda" (Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy), combined comedy and science fiction in a way that few adventure games had done before. QUEST IN SPACE!!!!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pole Position and Pole Position II, the classic arcade racing games that defined an entire genre. Developed by Namco and distributed by Atari in the US released in the early '80s, Pole Position introduced the world to realistic track-based racing with qualifying rounds, intense time-based competition, and scaling sprite graphics that made players feel like they were truly behind the wheel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wario Land 1–4, the beloved side-scrolling platformer series that gave Mario’s greedy, garlic-loving rival a starring role. Beginning with Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 on the Game Boy, the series evolved into a creative and quirky take on platforming, replacing traditional power-ups with bizarre transformations, treasure-hunting mechanics, and Wario’s signature brute force. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Survival horror meets dinosaurs. Regina and her team are sent to a mysterious research facility where prehistoric creatures are on the loose. Capcom’s attempt to mix survival horror with dinosaurs. Released in 1999, Dino Crisis introduced players to a sci-fi thriller where Velociraptors and T-Rexes replaced zombies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Microsoft throws everything at its launch titles to see what sticks for the Xbox original release in 2001 including this Party Game; Fuzion Frenzy with its host of fast paced mini games aimed at gamers of a certain drinking age and their 3 friends. Light and competitive and addicting as all get out. We discuss the Official Xbox Magazine launched that alongside and gave Fuzion Frenzy a fairly positive score. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wave Race 64: a showcase game for the Nintendo 64 showing off the power of the N64 with this early 3d game on water that challenges the player to control their vehicle while bouncing around on choppy water. Look at those waves! Produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed by Nintendo EAD players compete for 1st place by out racing and stunting their way past their opponents. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

X-Com: UFO Defense (or UFO: Enemy Unknown outside North America) and its terrifying underwater sequel, X-Com: Terror from the Deep. Developed by MicroProse and released in the 1990s, these games combined base-building, resource management, and squad-based tactical combat to create a genre-defining experience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After Burner is a high-speed, adrenaline-pumping arcade flight combat game developed by Sega and designed by the legendary Yu Suzuki. Released during Sega's golden age of arcade innovation, it introduced players to the thrill of piloting an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet in intense dogfights. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sega released Eternal Champions in hopes of capitalizing on the fighting game mania that the game industry was in the midst of following the massive success of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. The game tried to set itself apart with unique features such as a heavier emphasis on its story, characters pulled from different time periods, reflectable projectiles, force fields, fighters that carried weapons, a training mode where players had to defend themselves against robotic traps, a novel method of executing moves, and elaborate stage-specific finishing moves called "Overkills". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The iconic MS-DOS platformer from early Id Software that introduced PC gamers to console smooth scrolling, console-style platforming, 90s era Id Software humor, and the adventures of Billy Blaze, aka Commander Keen. From the first Keen Epsiode to the Keen finale; Aliens Ate My Babysitter! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Play Retro show is here, and we are talking about the long running Tactical turn-based strategy series, developed by Andy Davidson and Team17 in the 90s that went on to defined the genre with their wacky humor, destructible environments, and an arsenal of bizarre weapons. Worth a mention: Worms: Director’s Cut and Worms Pinball. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Time to go way back on the Play Retro Podcast, for a Mansion full of Maniacs! Maniac Mansion is a 1987 graphic adventure video game where players control a character named Dave Miller, who must rescue his girlfriend from a mad scientist in a creepy mansion. The game features a point-and-click interface, multiple playable characters, and non-linear gameplay with various puzzles to solve. Let’s see how the classic holds up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the Play Retro podcast, Brian and Scott look at MediEvil (1998) and MediEvil 2 (2000), action-adventure games for the PlayStation, blending gothic aesthetics, humor, and hack-and-slash gameplay. Players control Sir Daniel Fortesque, a skeletal knight seeking redemption after his accidental heroism in life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let’s do podcast about the history of a side-scrolling action platformer for the Sega Genesis, set in a dystopian future where Earth is overrun by rogue robots. Players control Vectorman, an Orbot janitor-turned-hero, as he battles through diverse levels to stop the evil Warhead. Featuring innovative pre-rendered 3D graphics, fluid animations, and a techno-inspired soundtrack, Vectorman pushed the Genesis to its limits. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A groundbreaking pre-rendered 3d sprite platformer for the Super Nintendo developed by Rare. Players control Donkey Kong and his sidekick Diddy as they journey through the jungle to reclaim their stolen banana hoard from the villainous King K. Rool! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A classic side-scrolling beat 'em up arcade game set in the medieval fantasy land of Yuria. Players choose from three heroes—Ax Battler the Barbarian, Tyris Flare the Amazon, and Gilius Thunderhead the Dwarf—each with unique magic abilities. Together, they battle through hordes of enemies, ride mythical creatures, and face the evil Death Adder, who has kidnapped the royal family. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this really big Twinkie of an episode, we’re covering some of the classic Ghostbusters games, starting with the original 1984 Ghostbusters Business Sim game by Pitfall creator David Crane, Ghostbusters II's questionably fun version of the movie, The New Ghostbusters II game that Japan and Europe got that was surprisingly good and Ghostbusters for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis that was doing its own thing. Plus, we’ll give a quick mention to The Real Ghostbusters arcade game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A top-down isometric shooter where players take control of "The Postal Dude" as he embarks on a violent rampage against hostile civilians, military forces, and law enforcement. Known for its dark tone, extreme violence, and controversial themes, Postal shocked audiences and earned a cult following for its raw, chaotic gameplay. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cho Aniki is a Japanese video game series originally developed by Masaya and published by NCS Corp. The first game was released in 1992 for the PC Engine system. The game's sequels and spin-offs later appeared on the Super Famicom, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, WonderSwan, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. Best known for its homoerotic overtones, wacky humor and vivid, surreal imagery. Most of the games have never seen release outside Japan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SMB2: Known for its dreamlike setting and gameplay changes from the original Super Mario Bros. Players can choose between Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad, each with different abilities, as they navigate the world of Subcon to defeat the villain Wart. Unlike other Mario games, this installment focuses on picking up and throwing objects at enemies rather than stomping on them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Shining Force series blends traditional RPG storytelling with tactical, grid-based combat. In Shining Force I (1992), players guide Max and his diverse team of warriors in defending the kingdom of Guardiana from the Dark Dragon. Shining Force II (1993) follows Bowie, who must rally heroes to face the malevolent forces of Zeon, offering a more open-world experience and refined strategy elements. Shining in the Darkness (1991), a precursor to these, is a first-person dungeon crawler where players explore mazes, solve puzzles, and battle monsters, laying the groundwork for the later games' storytelling and world-building. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Based on Tim Burton's 1988 film, Beetlejuice for the NES is a platforming adventure game developed by Rare and published by LJN. Players control Beetlejuice as he navigates different areas in an attempt to scare humans out of a house he wants to claim as his own. Players use Beetlejuice’s unique abilities, such as summoning skeletons and transforming into different creatures, to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. The game features side-scrolling levels with a mix of combat and platforming elements. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on podcast, Sunset Riders is a classic side-scrolling run-and-gun arcade game developed and published by Konami in 1991. Set in the American Wild West, the game became a fan-favorite for its colorful graphics, fast-paced action, and engaging cooperative gameplay. Players assume the roles of bounty hunters as they chase down notorious outlaws across a series of challenging levels, all while dodging bullets, obstacles, and other hazards typical of the Western frontier. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Play Retro today, we talk about the impact of Dune II! Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (titled Dune II: Battle for Arrakis in Europe and Dune: The Battle for Arrakis for the North American Mega Drive/Genesis port, respectively) is a 1992 real-time strategy game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Games. It serves as the sequel to Dune, following a more traditional adventure strategy game format, that came out earlier the same year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Skies of Arcadia is a classic role-playing game developed by Overworks and originally released for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000. The game was later ported to the Nintendo GameCube as Skies of Arcadia Legends in 2002. Set in a world of floating islands and vast skies, the game follows the adventures of Vyse, a young air pirate, and his friends Aika and Fina as they strive to stop the evil Valuan Empire from awakening ancient weapons of mass destruction. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Flashback: The Quest for Identity, developed by Delphine Software and released in 1992, is a cinematic platformer known for its groundbreaking rotoscoped animation and engaging story. Players control Conrad B. Hart, an amnesiac scientist who uncovers an alien plot while trying to recover his lost memories. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The followup to Theme Park and the 2nd in Bullfrog's Designer Series - Theme Hospital is a business simulation game that puts players in the role of a hospital administrator, tasked with building and managing a hospital, diagnosing and treating patients, and dealing with various humorous and wacky medical conditions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Players control Mike Jones in this NES classic, a young boy armed with a yo-yo, as he explores various islands to rescue his kidnapped uncle. The game combines exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat. How does it hold up? How was II? Tune in and find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's Play Retro podcast, Gradius is a series of shooter video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper. It's good, and you should play it. At least up to III. IV is weird. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Popular culture come to life in this unique blend of inline skating, graffiti art, and an eclectic soundtrack of funk, hip hop and rock. Set in a vibrant, cel-shaded world, the series focuses on the adventures of a gang of rebellious skaters called the GG fighting against oppressive authorities by tagging graffiti and grinding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alien rappers, ToeJam and Earl, who crash-land on Earth must find the pieces of their spaceship to return home. The gameplay includes randomly generated levels, cooperative play, and various quirky Earthlings as enemies. The series goes from Rogue to Platformer to 3rd Alien Person Adventure. Filthy humans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Released by Taito in 1986, Bubble Bobble is a classic arcade platformer featuring two adorable dinosaurs, Bub and Bob, who must navigate through 100 levels to rescue their girlfriends. The game's innovative mechanics, catchy music, and cooperative gameplay have made it a beloved title in the annals of arcade history. An-nals. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Released by LucasArts in 1998, Grim Fandango is a unique adventure game that combines a rich narrative, memorable characters, and a distinctive art style inspired by Mexican folklore and film noir. Players follow the story of Manny Calavera, a travel agent in the Land of the Dead, as he uncovers a conspiracy that threatens his very soul. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Streets of Rage (titled Bare Knuckle in Japan) is a series of side-scrolling beat 'em up video games. It centers on the efforts of several ex-police vigilantes trying to rid the fictional American metropolis of Wood Oak City of a crime syndicate that has corrupted its local government. The first three games in the franchise were developed and released by Sega for the Sega Genesis in the early 1990s and have since been ported and re-released on various platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let's talk about Earthbound on the Play Retro podcast! Released by Nintendo in 1994 for the SNES, EarthBound, known as Mother 2 in Japan, is a unique RPG that combines modern settings, humor, and heartfelt storytelling. Players follow Ness and his friends on a quest to save the world from the evil Giygas, using psychic powers and everyday items. Its distinct style and emotional depth have earned it a dedicated fanbase and lasting legacy in the gaming world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A classic arcade game where players control Chef Peter Pepper in his quest to create giant hamburgers while avoiding relentless enemies like Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Pickle, and Mr. Egg. Players must strategically navigate through platforms and ladders, dropping burger ingredients from higher levels to complete each burger at the bottom. With its unique gameplay mechanics, challenging levels, and quirky characters, Burger Time remains a beloved and iconic game in arcade history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Released by Neversoft and Activision in 1999 and 2000 respectively, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 & 2 brought the thrill of skateboarding to gaming consoles with unparalleled realism and style. Players could perform jaw-dropping tricks and combos, skate through iconic locations, and customize their own skaters and parks. These games not only defined the skateboarding genre but also left an indelible mark on gaming culture. Get ready to grind, kickflip, and ollie your way through a nostalgic ride! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.