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This Month In Retronauts: February 2025 edition
🕑 Added 2025-02-23 12:00:07 +0000 UTCAhoy hoy, listeners! Even if February is the shortest month we refuse to deliver anything less than a full-sized community episode for you, our generous supporters. And look who's visiting the clubhouse this month: Bob Mackey! You know him from such podcasts as "Talking Simpsons," "What a Cartoon," and "Colin Moriarty, I Tread on Thee."
You overstuffed our virtual inbox with comments—particularly in response to last month's community question—giving Bob and I plenty of material to discuss. As usual, listen until the end to hear about our latest question for you to answer, but also for details concerning a special Discord activity coming up on March 1.
Specific items mentioned in this episode include:
this recent Metaverse ad (since deleted!) which inspired our opening banter
Ace Attorney Investigations 2 and other Phoenix Wright games
Hi-Fi Rush
Korean publisher Krafton rescued Tango Gameworks last year
Deltarune Chapters 1 and 2
check out Nina's page on Fangamer
my Undertale shirt (not Nina's)
Blade Chimera from Team Ladybug
The Roottrees are Dead (the free version is still up)
Dead Letter Dept.
this reminds Bob of Stories Untold
Castlevania Nocturne season 2: great!
Steven Spielberg's 1941: not great
Apocalypse starring YOU (as Bruce Willis)
Ice Climber and speculation about the habits of bears
tako vs tacos
an unlikely connection between Saturday Night Live and BioShock 2
I was right, Siobhan Fallon was in those sketches
in hindsight the Gap Girls were thematically adjacent
screw it, here's the Tarantino/Kotter skitch
lamentably we never got a third Arthur film in our timeline
Ninja Gaiden II Black
with Ninja Gaiden 4 coming this fall (Team Ninja + Platinum Games?)
my controversial TGS 2013 photo gallery remains up at WIRED Game|Life
Dynasty Warriors: Origins did indeed release last month
Tokyo Xtreme Racer aka 首都高バトル exploded into early access on Steam
not formally affiliated with Initial D
Dino Crisis 1 & 2 on GOG.com
Shu Takumi did indeed direct DC2 one year before creating Phoenix Wright
listen to Watch Out For Fireballs' podcast about DC2
with DC3 going to space we riff on why that's a bad idea across many franchises
Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered
that's The Last Revelation, Chronicles, and The Angel of Darkness
Ravi and Navi for FDS (first new FDS game since 1992!)
a retro spinoff of The Adventure of Ravi 'n' Navi (2021)
looks like a disk-only release!
Spirit Swap out now!
Super Technos World: River City & Technos Arcade Classics coming April 24
how would you pronounce SugoroQuest++ –DICENICS- ??
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny remaster coming May 2025
building hype for next year's new Onimusha: Way of the Sword
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance coming August 2025
Metal Gear Solid Delta releasing August 28 (after the trailer leaked)
SuperStationᵒⁿᵉ, MISTer device coming later this year
Resident Evil Re:Verse ends this June
Bob's 2016 article about the Umbrella Corps experience is still online
ironically Umbrella Corps is also still online even if it remains unpopular
Foamstars updates are dead but the game itself lives on…
Nintendo announced "no more updates" for Splatoon 3 last September
we covered Metal Slug as a series in episode 465
whereas KOF was relegated to Micro status back in episode 121
Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America by Talia Lavin
there are in fact many "trolley problem" video games; the one I saw is Japanese
Dan Hsu's infamous Peter Moore interview following the Xbox 360's 2005 launch
read Kimimi's well-timed story about Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Sonic Adventure fans, listen to episodes 147 and 151
"Critical" Kate Willaert's YouTube channel, in case you missed it
here's Drew Mackie's Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games blog, too
The GunCon for PS1 debuted in 1997, about a year and a half before Columbine
Based on your votes, here are the top five PlayStation 1 games:
12 votes: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
11 votes: Metal Gear Solid
8 votes (tie): Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy Tactics
5 votes (tie): Parappa the Rapper, Suikoden II
4 votes (tie): Final Fantasy IX, Resident Evil 1
Movie March Madness coming to the Discord! Check here for details!
even Retronauts has abandoned Twitter, FYI
Art & edits by Diamond (photo source: one of the wealthiest companies in the world).
Music heard in this episode:
11:45 "A CYBER'S WORLD?" (Deltarune Chapter 2)
21:25 "Divine Bloodlines" from Castlevania Nocturne
37:27 "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" by Christopher Collins Cross
53:06 "Lightheart" (Spirit Swap)
1:11:54 "Calamari Inkantation 3MIX" (Splatoon 3)
1:22:17 the cast of The Good Place tackle the Trolley Problem
1:31:43 "Doomsday Zone" GaMetal Remix
1:41:02 "Death Mountain" (Golden Axe III)
1:55:19 "Lost Painting" (Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania)
Finale: Eye on Retronauts
Comments
CapNChris
Just a remark, but I hope you all saw the Jeremy Parish/Metroidvania reference in the New York Times. Hope you all get some coverage in the New York Post as well.
Seán Foley
QOTM: It might be "Back To The Future" as far as kick-starting canonical time-travel movies and their rules. It wasn't the first, with movies such as The Time Machine or Time Bandits preceding it, but as far as cementing itself as the de facto standard for a genre, it certainl--HEY DIAMOND! WHAT'S THAT?!?
Phoequinox
QotM: Horror films have done the Street Fighter 2 thing several times, but breaking away from that genre, one that comes to mind is 300. While not remembered as fondly as SF2, its immense popularity upon release ushered in a brief era of action flicks with an emphasis on big, stylized fight sequences, peppered with speed ramping, dramatic zooms and generic butt rock. For a time, everything needed to be this new definition of "EPIC".
Diamond Feit
aside from SFA3 all of your picks were very well represented!
Diamond Feit
my streak of properly identifying Brian Clarks has begun
PurpleComet
Dammit, I typed up my top 5 PS1 games but never hit post for some reason. They were (in no particular order): Metal Gear Solid Chrono Cross Final Fantasy Tactics Street Fighter Alpha 3 Castlevania: SOTN I was excited to hear Spirit Swap is available, but it's only on Xbox and Steam at the moment, which is especially annoying since I first heard about it on a Nintendo Direct.
Matthieu Galley
First off, thanks for reading my PS1 top 5 in this episode and thanks to Bob for appreciating the thoughts I put into them ! (and don't worry, you pronounced my name just fine ^^) As per the QOTM, if I'm taking it as to mean "what movie was as transformative for the movie industry as Street Fighter II was for video games", the first one that comes to mind for me would The Road Warrior/Mad Max 2. Not only did it massively up the scope from the first film, going from a more personal revenge story to a sweeping action epic about survival with car chases way more massive than anything in its predecessor, it also basically sparked an entire sub-genre. The post-apocalyptic movie owes just about everything to Miller's vision as it was laid out in The Road Warrior and you could still see traces of the film as far as something like 2008's Doomsday. Hell, the italian B-movie industry basically spent the whole of the 80s feasting on that film as it produced an endless slew of copycats and rip-off. So yeah, Road Warrior is my answer (or maybe Street Fighter II is The Road Warrior of videogames ?)
Nigel G
One of my tricks for Dragon Warrior 7 was grinding for jobs in picture-in-picture mode. The lettering was big enough that I could interact with menus while watching TV
Brian Clark
You're correct Diamond; I'm not the Brian Clark that occasionally appears on the show.
Sebastiano Gerace
Toy Story is the Street Fighter 2 of movies. It wasn’t the first animated movie and didn’t invent CGI but it fundamentally changed the look and tone of animation. It created something so good that critics fell over themselves praising it. It had loads of well received sequels and some not well received spinoffs. And Shrek was the rival franchise; the Mortal Kombat to Toy Story’s SF.
Taskbaarchitect
I came here to say "Aliens!" but Patrick McClafferty beat me to the punch (and, indeed, the hadouken). So instead I'm going with my backup option: the Street Fighter II of movies is Terminator 2. Like Aliens, it's a sequel that turns a cult classic into the epitome of a Hollywood blockbuster. It looks great, it sounds great, it inspired so many works that came after it... and on the day I write this the reveal trailer has dropped for the T-1000 in Mortal Kombat, voiced by Robert Patrick. Given that Mortal Kombat was Street Fighter II's most prominent rival, this somehow makes sense to me. Make way, Mai Shiranui!
Kormakur Gardarsson
You’re basically there! The real kicker is that it’s actually spelled Kormákur Garðarsson, but no one can say that with a straight face.
Diamond Feit
I’d like to think I’m getting close to correct by now?
Patrick McClafferty
QotM: Aliens. It is appropriate because much like Street Fighter 2, it was also a sequel. The combination of action and horror as well as the effects have influenced movies for decades. Being influential on so many later video games also helps.
Kormakur Gardarsson
"We're basically the same guy". Thank you, Bob, for making my doppelganger dream come true. Also, apologies for making you guys read my unpronouncable name *three* times in one episode.
