Your weekly dose of retro gaming and technology news and interviews with industry veterans.
New episodes released every Friday!
1 hour 51 minutes
510: “We Hid Gabe Newell in Our Game!” – Powerhoof - Making Retro Point & Click Adventures – The Retro Hour Podcast EP510
We go Down Under with Powerhoof’s David Lloyd, the brain behind award-winning indie hits like The Drifter and Crawl. From hiding DOS games as a kid to creating their own game engine and scooping Game of the Year at the Australian Game Developer Awards. From swapping floppies in the schoolyard to creating retro-inspired adventures, and why the Sierra era still casts a long shadow over indie devs today.
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509: “This Shouldn’t Be Possible on an Amiga 500!” – H0ffman - Demoscene and Game Ports – The Retro Hour Podcast EP509
This week, we catch up with the legendary H0ffman to hear some tales from the demo scene trenches, Amiga wizardry, and porting classic arcade titles. From brigning Metal Gear and Knightmare from the MSX to the Amiga, to pushing Neo Geo boundaries with Sega classics, and how he accidentally created a global DJ community with a bit of Amiga code.
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508: "The 3DO M2 demo was mind-blowing... we were dying to ship it!" – Michael Devine (Former 3DO VP of Sales) – The Retro Hour Podcast EP508
This week we’re joined by industry veteran Michael Devine, former VP of Sales at The 3DO Company, key player at TDK Mediactive, and now CEO of Rockit Games, for an incredible look at four decades inside the games industry. From the “mind-blowing” M2 demos and the rise of Army Men, to the chaos of securing Hollywood licences and resurrecting Jaleco’s classic sports titles.
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507: "A Single MP3 is Bigger Than the NES Library!" – eXo on Emulation, BBS Days & Saving DOS Classics – The Retro Hour Podcast EP507
This week, we’re joined by eXo, the visionary behind the colossal eXoDOS emulation project, dedicated to preserving DOS, Windows 3.x, and interactive fiction games in all their original (and often quirky) glory. We explore how eXo and a global team of volunteers are not just making old games playable again, but restoring everything from lost CD audio to obscure soundcard support and the belief that retro games should be remembered, and played exactly as they were.
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506: “Atari’s Actually Doing Things RIGHT?!” – Ctrl-Alt-Rees - The Retro Hour Podcast EP506
This week, we catch up with the ever-inventive Ctrl-Alt-Rees in his brand new studio. Rees shares his latest projects, retro tech obsessions, and the bizarre story of a Japanese teaching computer with a paper screen. We hear his thoughts on modern Atari’s surprising comeback, his favourite (and most hated) handhelds, the quirks of the Jaguar scene, and why Windows 95 still holds up 30 years later.
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505: “I Presented the Amiga Chipset to Atari… and Everyone Freaked Out!” - Atari's Matt Householder - The Retro Hour Podcast EP505
From hating Pong to working for Atari, this week we chat with Matt Householder. From his early days at Gaming Devices Inc. and designing the arcade classic Krull, through to joining Atari right after the video game crash and witnessing the dramatic Amiga chipset saga from the inside. Matt reveals what it was really like working under Jack Tramiel, converting GEM for the Atari ST in record time, and why developers had to sell snacks from their desks just to survive. He then takes us into the golden years at Epyx, creating World Games and the smash hit California Games, before moving on to 3DO, where a secret project he managed ended up helping fund Diablo.
Contents:
00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories
54:26 - Matt Householder Interview
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We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you'd like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
504: “I’d Never Even Seen a Computer Until I Worked at Sierra!” – Mark Crowe on Space Quest - The Retro Hour Podcast EP504
This week we're joined by Sierra legend Mark Crowe, co-creator of the Space Quest series and one half of the iconic Two Guys from Andromeda. Mark reveals how he went from never touching a computer to helping define the golden age of adventure gaming, working alongside Roberta Williams, Disney, and a hapless space janitor named Roger Wilco. Plus, we hear about the long-awaited reunion that brought Space Venture to life.
Contents:
00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories
58:10 - Mark Crowe Interview
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We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you'd like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
503: “The Demo Scene Taught Us to Do the Impossible” – Erik Simon of Thalion - The Retro Hour EP503
This week's show features Erik Simon, co-founder of the legendary Thalion Software, the minds behind Lionheart, Ambermoon, and No Second Prize. Erik shares hilarious and jaw-dropping tales from the golden age of Amiga development, how the demo scene shaped Thalion’s “make the impossible happen” ethos, why Lionheart used every Amiga graphics mode. Recorded live at Amiga 40 in Germany.
Contents:
00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories
46:59 - Erik Simon Interview
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502: “From Modems to Headlines” – Jason Compton on the Amiga Report Revolution - The Retro Hour EP502
This week, we’re joined by former Amiga Report editor, writer, and This Week in Retro host Jason Compton, who takes us into the golden age of 90s computing news. From chasing stories during Commodore’s dramatic collapse (“we may not make more chips, but we can sell the floor scrubber!”) to the birth of one of the first online tech magazines, Jason recalls the chaos, creativity and sheer enthusiasm that kept the Amiga community alive long after the headlines faded.
Contents:
00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories
50:34 - Jason Compton Interview
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501: “Michael Jackson Just Said ‘Okay, I’ll Do It All’” – SEGA's Roger Hector Tells the Inside Story of Sonic 3
For years, it’s been one of gaming’s biggest urban legends, how much did Michael Jackson really work on the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3? In part two of our exclusive chat with Roger Hector, former Director of the Sega Technical Institute, we get the full story. Roger reveals how Jackson’s unexpected visit to STI turned into hands-on involvement with Sonic 3’s soundtrack. Plus, we explore Roger’s time leading the legendary Sonic team, the cross-cultural chaos of 1990s Sega, and the pressure of delivering a new Sonic game every Christmas.
Contents:
00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories
42:20 - Roger Hector Interview
Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show:
We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you'd like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
500: "No One Had Storyboarded Games Before - So I Did!" - Atari Legend Roger Hector - The Retro Hour EP500
This week marks our milestone 500th episode, and we’re celebrating in style with part one of an epic two-part chat with industry legend Roger Hector. From working under Nolan Bushnell and Al Alcorn in the very earliest days of Atari, to helping bring classics like Super Breakout and Battlezone to life, Roger shares incredible behind-the-scenes stories of arcades, coin-ops, and pioneering design that shaped the future of video games. From overflowing Pong machines to storyboarding games before anyone else thought to do it.
Thanks for all your messages of support, here's to 500 more episodes!
Contents:
00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories
44:12 - Roger Hector Interview
1:29:01 - Listener Messages
Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show:
We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you'd like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon: