The Retro League

This week we're wrapping up our launch title series by looking at the start of the Virtual Console. We talk about some classics that were re-released in the long gone year of 2006 and a bunch that were re-released in the last week. Games are invading our subconscious and the laser gun we all dreamed of as a kid is a reality this week on the Retro League.

Episode 149 - Mistake or Strategy?

Episode 148 Casting Dreams

The NGPC's clickey-stick is where it's at

There's a strange rumor going around that Gamestop might be getting into the classic game business. Is it possible their shelves will be filled with cartridges once again? This week on The Retro League podcast we discuss the possibilities. We also continue our launch title series with the Nintendo 64. It only had two titles at launch but we manage to drum up tons of memories anyway. In addition to this we talk about about rare religious Atari 2600 games, new TurboGrafx-16 CD games, baffling video game plans, and more.

This week on The Retro League we celebrate the launch of the first system to sell over 100 million units - the Sony PlayStation. Back in 1995 many were skeptical that a newcomer to the industry could compete with Sega and Nintendo but their doubts were crushed like a... OK look we're all out of hyperbole today. Let's cut to the chase - you like the PlayStation, we're talking about the PlayStation, go download it already.

This week on The Retro League we're risking permanent eye damage as we stare unblinkingly into the launch of Nintendo's Virtual Boy. Although widely considered Nintendo's greatest blunder we found a few nice things to say about it. We're also completely puzzled at how Mega Man can be turned into a social game and listen to some chiptunes for stoners.

On an otherwise quiet day in May 1995 Sega shocked the video game industry by releasing their next-gen console, the Saturn, four months ahead of schedule. This week on The Retro League podcast we're looking back on that day and the first batch of games available for the Saturn. We also debate how much a Neo Geo clone system is worth and do a little arcade bar-hopping.

Three systems tried to get a jump start on the 5th generation of gaming. They all gave it their best but were crushed by the PlayStation and discontinued before the Nintendo 64 was released. That's right folks, this week on The Retro League we're remembering the ill-fated 32X, 3DO, and Jaguar. Their launch titles may be forgettable but these systems still left us with many fine memories. In addition we say Happy Birthday to a computing icon and speculate on the future of the upcoming Ouya console.

This week on The Retro League podcast we take a trip back to August 1991 to relive the Super Nintendo launch. Some consider it the greatest game system ever made and we're hard-pressed not to agree. We also catch-up with one of our founding hosts to talk portable gaming, discuss how video games were influenced by Dungeons & Dragons, and tons more.

GamerDragon returns for some CD-Rom based goodness

A lot of people envy the simplicity of small town life. There aren't crowds of people like the big city and the fall colors are amazing. The Game Gear and Lynx were like the small towns of early 90s handheld gaming. They weren't nearly as popular as the Game Boy but they sure had some charm to them. This is a really awful analogy isn't it? Look, all you need to know is we're talking about the Game Gear and Lynx launch titles this week. There's way more than that too. Stuff like sorting out which King of Fighters games are on the Virtual Console and speculating why Jeopardy contestants don't know anything about Zelda games. Oh, and we wrap things up with a little discussion on western-style 16-bit RPGs.

SEGA!

We're spending another week in the year 1989 as we reflect on the TurboGrafx-16 launch. The first entrant in the 16-bit war didn't survive long in the US but had some memorable launch titles. Before we get to that though we have some very important matters to discuss like classic rock, Star Trek games, the triforce in ancient culture, and life lessons your kids can't learn from Kirby games.

the grandpappy of portable gaming