retro gaming

What's under Steve's bandana? You don't want to know. Everybody is beating everything! Top 5 2002 games!

Shoutout to Kergon for Kwergin' to the top!

Games this episode
Contra: Operation Galuga
The Outlast Trials
Unicorn Overlord
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Sotry
Shantae
The House of the Dead III
Shinobi (PS2)
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Terminator: Salvation
Touch My Katamari
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe
PaRappa the Rapper 2
Punky Skunk
Shantae: Half Genie Hero
Ultros
Very Little Nightmares
The Mark of Kri

Find more shows at polymedianetwork.com, Travis on Twitter @travplaysgames, Steve on Twitter @blinkoom, Steve streams on twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill

How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on Twitter or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Tweet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-tweet coverage!

Prepare to level up your gaming knowledge as we bring you a treasure trove of the latest and greatest in the gaming sphere. From indie gems like "Helldivers 2" and the quirky rogue-like poker game "Balatro," to the hotly debated ethics of piracy cartridges, we've got your curiosity covered. And if you've ever pondered the delicate dance between nostalgia and innovation in game remakes, our dissection of titles like "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth" will fuel your retro-modern dreams.

The gaming industry isn't just about what's on-screen; it's also about the people behind the pixels. We don't shy away from the tough topics as we examine the stark realities of studio closures and layoffs at giants like PlayStation's VR division. Your heartstrings will be tugged as we pay homage to the late Chris Gauthier, reminiscing on his impactful roles that shaped our favorite fictional universes. Plus, get ready for a stroll down memory lane as we recall our childhood entrepreneurial escapades, the anime that colored our weekends, and the collectibles that once adorned our shelves.

But it's not all nostalgia here—we're also gazing into the future, speculating on the role AI might play in reshaping the content we love, from games to movies. Will robots steal the creative show, or is there something irreplaceably human about crafting the narratives that captivate us? Tune in for these discussions and more, including a dive into the wacky world of anime titles, the monumental expectations for the next Godzilla showdown, and the latest in long-running anime series that continue to capture our imaginations.

Thank you for listening! We hope you enjoy our weekly episodes of The Game Junction Podcast. You can also catch us live on YouTube every Friday at 7 PM EST. Consider supporting the show so we can expand, and improve the podcast for all of you!

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As we close in on almost a year of Bucket List Gamer goodness the list dwindles ever lower!

We had planned on being more upbeat this episode, but we're taking a look at Mega Man 2 (68) for the NES, so don't get your hopes up!

In addition we also talk about the value placed on games, big companies carving up games for profit, and a little more about the Game On Exhibition at The Doncaster Dome (head to the dlct website to find out more and book your tickets!) 

Now after listening it MAY seem like we've been a little hypocritical in the things we discussed when talking about Iron Lung, but hopefully our lovely intelligent listeners will understand the difference between an Indie developer putting the price of a game up by a couple of dollars, and multi-million pound companies churning out half-baked re-masters for £50.

Enjoy! 

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

Trav is fresh off Magfest, Steve is fresh off flu! Top 5 mini games (GoHoboGo)! Matt Kuo is Polykiller, congrats! Time travel month is SOON APPROACHING! Find out the 4 year nominees at the end!

Games this episode
Immortality
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Persona 3 Reload
Blaster Master Zero 3
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
God of War: Ragnarok
Until Dawn
BC Racers
Dead Space
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Sunset Riders
Monkey Ball
Viper Phase 1
The House of the Dead
Golden Axe
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
Thymesia
Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Deemo: The Last Recital
Glover

Find more shows at polymedianetwork.com, Travis on Twitter @travplaysgames, Steve on Twitter @blinkoom, Steve streams on twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill

How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on Twitter or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Tweet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-tweet coverage!

We've put it off for almost a year, but unfortunately we couldn't postpone it any longer... We're starting 2024 with a bang by looking at Shenmue (3) and Shenmue 2 (16)!

Considered one of the best games OF ALL TIME, it's fair to say that we don't quite share that sentiment. Why? Well you'll have to listen to find out!

For those of you that absolutely love these games, we're sorry... please don't hate us (or even worse, come after us!) we just don't get it.

In the episode we mentioned the 'Game On' event that is taking place in Doncaster until April! It's looking like a fantastic mix of hands-on gaming and gaming history, and we'll be heading over to check it out very soon!

If you'd like to find out more about the event, or even book tickets, you can check out https://www.dclt.co.uk/the-dome/activities/game-on/ for more info!

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

Trav and Steve go over the 2023 PK Challenge, beat some massive SNES-era RPG's, revisit Lies of P, and share their Top 5 "H" games!

The Elite MYT takes home the last Polykiller of the year honors!

Games this Episode
Dead Space Remake
Until Dawn
Lies of P
Jak & Daxter
Peggle 2
NCAA Football 2000
Breath of Fire II
Super Mario Bros.
Chants of Sennaar
Steamworld Dig

Find more shows at polymedianetwork.com, Travis on Twitter @travplaysgames, Steve on Twitter @blinkoom, Steve streams on twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill

How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on Twitter or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Tweet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-tweet coverage!

Ho Ho Ho and a very Happy Holidays to all our listeners!

We hope you're currently sitting with your feet up, a nice beverage on the go, watching some festive telly and getting ready for Santa to call!

Our present to you is this... the 2023 Bucket List Gamers Awards!

Unfortunately our recording platforms present to us was to not use the correct microphone during our last session, therefore Jay sounds particularly terrible. We've tidied it up the best we can, but sorry for the very obvious dip in quality!

But other than that, thank you once again for all the support this year, if this is your first episode listening to us then welcome, and we hope you have a great holiday period and new year!

The Bucket List Gamers will return in 2024!

This weeks episode is sponsored by Mayfly Games 'The Family'!

A 2-4 player crime-themed elimination game with an educational twist! Whether you choose to play as The Yakuza, Mafia, East End Gangsters or The Mexican cartel, the aim is simple; be the last gang standing!

Check out more information at https://www.mayflygames.com/ and find out how to secure your copy!

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

Did Goobz and Toby find a mystical "HIDDEN GEM"? Or is this just a bad clone of the Sega Genesis game Strider?

The guys discuss the history, story, game play, fun facts and rate this game on a 1-10 scale at the end then let you know if the game is still worth playing!

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Our sponsor is RetroPop Relics!
Check them out to get some awesome giant 3d printed retro game cartridges!
retropoprelics.com
Use code "genie" to get 10% off!
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Goobz's other podcast!
The DeRailers Podcast
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Toby's other podcast!
Secret Transmission Podcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/secrettranspod

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Intro and segment music: https://gregoriofranco.bandcamp.com/music

Rage Meter Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuBO6aDLM_4

Super Mario Brothers - Bluegrass Style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsrVEbpvU2U

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/badsecretmedia)

 Check out RetroPop Relics for some GIANT 3d printed retro game cartridges! 
Great for decorating a game!

www.retropoprelics.com/secretlevelspod

Use code "genie" at check out to get 10% off your order! 

It's almost Christmas, but it's still business as usual here at Bucket List Gamers, and this episode we're looking at R-Type (41) from 1987.

Join us as we discuss the notoriously difficult, coin-gobbling, bullet hell space shooter and why it deserves to be so high on the Retro Gamers List!

We also discuss the morally bankrupt decision to release broken ports of 11+ year old games at a premium price, and Jay gives us an insight into his playthrough of The Walking Dead: Destinies... Spoiler... it isn't good!

Apologies for the slight audio crackle in some places!

This weeks episode is sponsored by Mayfly Games 'The Family'!

A 2-4 player crime-themed elimination game with an educational twist! Whether you choose to play as The Yakuza, Mafia, East End Gangsters or The Mexican cartel, the aim is simple; be the last gang standing!

Check out more information at https://www.mayflygames.com/ and find out how to secure your copy!

Enjoy! 

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

This episode we are begrudgingly looking at SEGA's arcade classic Outrun (22) and Williams Electronics equally classic arcade game Defender (99). Not the most easily discussable games on the list, but we give it a good go anyway.

We also talk Hogwarts Legacy on the Switch, the latest offering from everyone's favourite publisher Game Mill, and there's even a bit of Bluey for the dads... erm, I mean kids...

This weeks episode is sponsored by Mayfly Games 'The Family'!

A 2-4 player crime-themed elimination game with an educational twist! Whether you choose to play as The Yakuza, Mafia, East End Gangsters or The Mexican cartel, the aim is simple; be the last gang standing!

Check out more information at https://www.mayflygames.com/ and find out how to secure your copy!

Enjoy!

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

This week we're taking the train to Black Mesa to talk about Half Life 1 (39) and Half Life 2 (20), the first two instalments of Valve's wildly successful FPS.

Half Life may have changed the game when it came to first person shooters, but does it deserve the lofty praise it receives?

Join us as we find out, then talk about Five Nights at Freddys and the much anticipated GTA 6 trailer!

Enjoy!

*If you're wondering who everyone's second-favourite Freeman is, it's Martin, obviously.

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

This week we take a trip down memory lane as Jay and Eddie take a look at Bubble Bobble (34) and Rainbow Islands (66), two arcade classics ported to home consoles in the 80's!

What's more, Jay fills in the second half of the show with talk of obscure Commodore 64 games from his childhood, including a plethora of British Kids TV themed titles, a trip back to school and the heroic adventures of an Egg wearing boxing gloves.

That's Dizzy by the way. Strangely enough it's never actually mentioned in the episode that he was an Egg wearing boxing gloves... but he was, so there!

Enjoy!

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

Hello Bucket Listeners!

As you've probably figured out from the title, Eddie wasn't well last week and we were unable to record anything.

Fortunately we had an episode recorded that we planned on binning, as it was time-sensitive and it didn't get edited as quickly as we wanted it to be... so here it is!

In this one we DON'T talk about any of the games on the list, and instead discuss what is set to be released on the run up to Christmas (with many of them already being available to buy at this point.)

Normal service will be resumed next week, and Eddie has asked us to point out that he isn't as ill as the Episode Artwork belies, it was just a bad case of the flu and he's all better now!

Enjoy!

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

It's Episode 4 of Bucket List Gamers DLC, and this time we're discussing N64 games completely at random! Why? Because we couldn't think of anything else to do.

Hopefully it's still quite entertaining though!

Please note, this was recorded a while ago when Jay was full of cold and likely hopped up on flu medication, so please excuse the weird voice.

Enjoy!

**This was initially a Patreon Timed Exclusive, but now it's available here for your listening pleasure!**

If you want to hear DLC episodes as soon as they come out, head over to our Patreon and sign up now!

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

Muahahaha! It's the Bucket List Gamers Halloween Special!

Hello all our bucket kicking ghosts and ghouls, and welcome to our very special Halloween episode! Our obligatory Retro Gamer list pick for this one is Silent Hill 2 (79), but we're also talking about some of our other favourite horror games, and discussing what makes a horror game truly horrifying.

The Trick or Treaters will all be in bed now, so grab some of that leftover Halloween candy, dim the lights, snuggle up under your favourite blanket and hope The Boogeyman doesn't come for you as you listen to quite possibly the most terrifying podcast of the year (at least in terms of audio quality and nonsensical content!)

Enjoy!

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• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

This week we're getting Speedball 2 Brutal Deluxe (45) out of the way quickly so we can talk about more pressing matters!

For the first time in… well, probably forever two OG gaming legends released ‘classic’ game versions in the same week. But which is better... Sonic or Mario?

We discuss Sonic Superstars and Super Mario Brothers Wonder, and ponder over whether they are worth their £50-60 price tag, plus we talk about Spider-Man 2, re-releases of Pikmin and Metal Gear Solid, and Skull Island Rise of Kong.

It's a jam packed episode!

**Advertisement**

Do you often find yourself nodding off just minutes into a gaming session? Need a little pick-me-up to keep you going? Or perhaps you're just hunting for that perfect blend of coffee!

Whatever the reason, you should check out Meeple Coffee! They have 5 different blends, all themed around gaming (primarily board gaming, but who doesn’t like gaming themed coffee, right?!)

Check them out by using our link below and it will even help support the channel if you make a purchase!

https://www.meeplecoffee.co.uk/?ref=BLBG

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

This episode we're jumping in our X-Wings and taking to the skies to look at Star Wars The Arcade Game (63) and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (52)!

Does an arcade game from 1986 score as poorly as its 80's counterparts Pacman and Tetris? Can you play Knights of the Old Republic on a Steam Deck? Is Eddie recording in the middle of an active war zone? 

All these questions, and more are answered! We also discuss what's going on with the Metal Gear Solid collection and it's ever-shifting price-point!

Enjoy!

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

Sharpen your unfeasibly large swords and get the cement mixer going so you can style your hair, because we're looking at an unprecedented SIX games on this week's show! Secret of Mana (70), Chrono Trigger (33), Final Fantasy 6 (37), Final Fantasy 7 (7), Final Fantasy 9 (95) and Final Fantasy 10 (76) are all under the microscope in this bumper JRPG episode, packed full of teenage angst and fake laughter!

Travel through time, take on the empire, Race Chocobos, play underwater football, wake up a sleeping deity, pick pockets at a carnival and much more in these classic turn based strategy games!

Plus we briefly discuss the recent Van Gough x Pokemon debacle, which has left thousands of fans disappointed (and thousands of scalpers VERY rich.)

Enjoy!

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

A week later than planned the Bucket List Gamers are back and looking at an absolute SNES classic; The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (6)!

Join us as we venture into the Dark World to investigate what makes Nintendo's 1991 smash hit such a success, discuss the one major mis-step in it's sequel A Link Between Worlds, and give our thoughts on FC 24 and Starfield (again!)

Plus Jay has a big surprise for Eddie that's sure to go down about as well as a Moblin in Hyrule Palace.

Enjoy!

• Harry Flynn
• RicFlair
• lee jones
• thesweatyllama

Take it from somebody who appreciates every single one, there's nothing better than passionate fans. Gaming communities can run the gambit from welcoming to toxic, engaging to gatekeeping. Whenever people are around people, people will do people things. 

The community surrounding Earthbound is unique in both its welcoming nature and wide variety of people involved. Over 30 years worth of fans populate sites like starmen.net and mother4ever.net. And they all have one thing in common: an overflowing love for an incredible series. 

On this week's episode, I chat with three people representative of the community as a whole: a curator, a YouTube creator and a couple brought together by the power of an epic game franchise. 

STARRING (all handles from Twitter X)

Cat Blackard (@NeonFeline) of the Mother, She Wrote Podcast (@EarthBoundPod)
Mustin, music producer (@Mustin)
Kody Nokolo (@KodyNOKOLO), webmaster of mother4ever.net (@MotherForever_)
Ryan aka @Retro64__, Designer and artist for @SmashRemix, @Mother_Encore, @mother__squared, and @MotherForever
Jonathan (@DaEgg123) and Katie (@earthbound64)

SONG COVERS

Earthbound - Home Sweet Home by Sam Griffin Guitar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR4bhLhTvns

Onett - Earthbound Cover - Guitar and Mandolin by Box Monkey Studios - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En6Wu4a28jk

Battle Vs. a Weak Opponent - Battle Theme 1 - EarthBound - Mother 2 by Jorge Fuentes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhlC3pbJYgA

EarthBound - Eight Melodies (Music Box Cover) by Mr. Music Box - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72WsNIhp_MA

My Discord: https://discord.com/invite/SdaE4atGjC
My Twitter: @agamerlooksat40
My Facebook: facebook.com/agamerlooksat40
My Insta: @agamerlooksat40
My Patreon: patreon.com/agamerlooksat40
My Email: agamerlooksat40@gmail.com
My Phone Number: Ehhhhh, not gonna happen. :-D

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