Fact: Episodes with “Andrew Plotkin” in the title are our most popular at launch. So: don’t miss “Andrew Plotkin & some others Chatisode” at the link below, and subscribe so you’re the first to get our upcoming Infidel episode, with Andrew Plotkin (& others) retroadventurers.podbean.com/e/35/

All year long Duncan sifts through countless blurts, blunders, and bloopers trying to beat the deadline. Then comes the year-end reckoning. youtu.be/68_Yg9lWm50 Enjoy this year's lowlights with Chris, Dave, Jason, Neil, and select guests, and we'll see you again in January for Episode 250!

Lots of guests! Some hosts! Visible Zorker news! How Sierra / Lucasarts lulz were defeated in the marketplace! And more! Jason and Nick, joined by guests Robin Raymond, Tim Gilberts, Scott Adams, Andrew Plotkin, Dave "Velociraptor", Christian Neuhaus, and Iain Lee. retroadventurers.podbean.com/e/35/

Bonus Chris(tmas) memories for our Patreon supporters, in a new episode of 260 Weeks Ago in Retro, a look back at Episode 20 from December 2020. Stories include DOScember, a discovered Dreamcast game preview, and the impending debacle surrounding the "Dizzy Twins." www.patreon.com/posts/260-we...

It was a super-fruitful chatisode weekend! This is only the first half. Finished episode will be with you in just a few days.

Inspired by an exchange in the year-end chatisode: as Don Draper admonished an underling too fixated on puns and wit, sometimes the humor gets in the way of the message.

We talk massive glossy gift catalogs, Commodore 64 Ultimates under the Christmas tree, and other holiday diversions with @visitthecave.bsky.social Neil and Aaron from @amigosretrogaming.bsky.social youtu.be/dDXyrikyykc A super-sized episode for what we hope is your super holiday experience!

Like the protagonist of this forgotten Christmastime tale from The Argosy magazine, I offer a conceptual gift in lieu of buying presents for all of you. A live read of Rheinbeck’s Scheme by Clyde Scott Chase. youtu.be/EzNBT7OiGPQ

It's a matter of Life and Death as for maximum holiday cheer we are joined this week by "Doctor" Neil of The Retro Collective and "Former Solder Professional" Aaron of Amigos Retro Gaming. Episode 249 includes a discussion of a healthy work/life balance over the holidays. Coming Saturday!

Spin InfoSoc's Hack: all of this has happened before, and it will all happen again! youtu.be/VYXvWntHowI RAM is dramatic (again), an iconic 1980s cyborg law enforcer gets a monument, and we look back at the original Tron's CGI. All this, and your top joystick, and more in This Week in Retro 248!

Beware Dave's Directive 4! It's a celebration of the best and worst of RoboCop, including a live re-enactment of the heavily censored broadcast. All this and more on Saturday's penultimate-for-2025 episode of This Week in Retro!

"Is Gremlins a Christmas movie?" discourse in this latest episode. (Yes, as its text adventure is a Christmas game!) Save Christmas itself in A Spell Of Christmas Ice, and save our fair village from monster mayhem in Gremlins: The Adventure. retroadventurers.podbean.com/e/34/

Happy December! youtu.be/-rQgMEbLaZY With guest Happy Coding ZX, we take on the origins of an iconic joystick, explore legendary unexplained computing phenomena, and contemplate the tradeoffs of retrobriting. All this, and your top retro plans for the end of 2025, and more in This Week in Retro 247!

Two birthday cakes for the SEGA Master System and the XBox 360, both celebrating significant milestones. Also: the implications of formally open-source Infocom titles and the loss of an industry giant, plus your top titles from 1995-6, in This Week in Retro episode 246! youtu.be/01EXU-TMD-8

For our Patreon supporters, a new episode of 260 Weeks Ago in Retro is live, a look back at Episode 14 from November 2020. Stories include virtual pinball and the Raspberry Pi 400. Patreon's autocaptioning left untouched because it's hilarious. www.patreon.com/posts/260-we...

Tonight on WORT FM Radio Literature, John Hendel is my guest to talk about the literary arts scene in Bristol, UK. Live at 7:30 PM on 89.9 FM locally or streaming worldwide at wortfm.org .

It's eXoWin9x launch day and eXo himself is here! youtu.be/bq256GWkJDo In other news we look at the days of PowerPC and OS/2 hype, the excitement of cruising racetracks in underpowered commuter cars, and your answers to the latest Community Question of the Week.

WE SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11...

Up-to-date news for out-of-date hype! Some of the most heavily hyped innovations of the 1990s get worked over this Saturday, including commentary from our guest, retro collection curator eXo. All this, and the best of pre-Elite space sims, and more in Saturday's episode of This Week in Retro!

A chat with ultra-prolific IF reviewer and author Mathbrush in our latest episode. retroadventurers.podbean.com/e/33/

Amstrad turn at Sonic: Dave covers that and other new games for the CPC. youtu.be/twOymB1LHOc We get into heavy metal computing with minicomputers and mainframes, and a roundup of space shooters of the early 1980s. All this plus your preferred creative outlets, on This Week in Retro episode 244!

New episodes incoming! Your Retro Adventurers have several episodes recorded. Things got a little busy this autumn and competed for our edit time, including the exciting news that Nick has joined the staff at @tnmoc.bsky.social ! He's pictured here putting the ICL 2966 to its ideal use.

Sound Blaster is back, this time with magnets. youtu.be/i8BrBLmCrVQ Is a MOD tracker story an Amiga story? And the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 get a new look thanks to a brand-new version of Green Beret for the former. Plus your pack-in selections for THEA1200 and more on This Week in Retro episode 243!

Latest review: "I'm going to Hell for enjoying this. And it's your fault." See Women Beware Women, the wild, unsettling, tragic, touching, funny play. Friday 7:30 PM Saturday 5 PM. bartelltheatre.org/2025/women-beware-women

Tonight on WORT FM Radio Literature, Chad Fifer of @strangestudies.bsky.social of Strange Stories is my guest for a discussion of all things creepy, podcasting, and creepy podcasting. 7:30 PM on 89.9 FM in Madison, streaming worldwide on wortfm.org .

I'm looking to speak with some #Librivox participants for a terrestrial radio and companion podcast interview. Can anybody out there help me make some connections?

Paging @visitthecave.bsky.social! youtu.be/6rm-IXPll98 So many hot topics, This Week in Retro called in special guest Neil Thomas. Look ahead to THEA1200, back at ZSNES + climb inside the computer on screen and film. Plus, the best immersive experiences, and more, on This Week in Retro episode 242!

Women Beware Women is what you'd get if you gave John Hughes and Quentin Tarantino the outline of Othello and told them to do whatever they wanted from there. And it's at Madison's Bartell Theatre, for six performances only. bartelltheatre.org/2025/women-beware-women

Women Beware Women, the greatest dark comedy of Shakespeare's age, opens Friday at the Bartell Theatre. bartelltheatre.org/2025/women-beware-women

This month on our Patreon: Chris, Dave, and Jason present renewed up-to-date news for out-of-date tech, because the existing once-up-to-date news about that out-of-date tech is now itself out-of-date. 260 Weeks Ago in Retro for October 2025 is now live for subscribers at patreon.com/thisweekinretro.

A zombie console awakes! Strange experiments in life after death for this Halloween episode. youtu.be/hY6ARaYCPus Atari reanimates Intellivision's corpse, and we test saying "Sega" repeatedly to cause oversized arcade cabinets to appear in a mirror. Plus your whiz kid memories on This Week in Retro!

Sega fans super-served: two hallmark concepts get the feature story treatment, along with the stealth candidate for best video game pitchman. Plus your iconic 1980s whiz kid memories and Amiga Format (!) news coming up in Episode 241 of This Week in Retro, Saturday on YouTube and podcast feeds.

Was Dave wrong about DOS gaming and has DOSBox Pure cured him? youtu.be/VO_SZPhuCIU Chris plans a fleet of computer museums, and Jason works hard to avoid the obvious chess reference in WarGames coverage. All this, and more, and your submissions for the best-ever free pack-ins on this week's show!

It's a long way to Western Australia. What had to travel all the way from Canada to Perth, and why, and can Chris be trusted with it?! All this including the end of DOS gatekeeping and retro museum dreams coming up in Episode 240 this Saturday! CPE 1704 TKS

Missed us on Radio Literature? Apart from a spirited discussion of the merits of speaking Italian, you missed this sneak preview of Act 3 Scene 1 of the play featuring Giovanna Iosso as Bianca and Willy Jewer as Leantio. Listen, then grab your tickets now! bartelltheatre.org/2025/women-beware-women

This week it's the high cost of (inflation-adjusted) 1980s computing, a spirited defense of the Amstrad CPC, and a look at legendary artist Roger Dean's video game work! youtu.be/gxzEHAm_Nz0 Plus the wedgetop computer preferences submitted by you, the viewers, to the TWiR subreddit!

Dave takes a break from Amstrad CPC defense to try out as a prog-pop vocalist. Also: the high cost of computing then-and-now and the celestial career of artist Roger Dean. All this, and your wedgetop picks, and more Saturday. Tell 90,125 of your closest friends: subscribe on YouTube or podcast now!

Is the Rasperry Pi 500+ bringing wedgetops back? Did Jordan Mechner clear up Prince of Persia history on our subreddit? Is there such a thing as too much Infocom? youtu.be/eOPYzQ0we9g Plus your preferred control schemes on This Week in Retro 238, available now on YouTube and all podcast platforms!

🎧 The one in which @jasoncompton.bsky.social talks us through the history of D&D and Infinity Engine games. I wish I still had my boxed editions, but more stuff lost in a great 🏡 decluttering of 2016 🫤 TWiR also put Andy “on the spot”! 😆 🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #RetroGaming #RetroComputing ⌨️ #Podcasts 📻

Welcome Andy from Big Car / Little Car for flight control anxiety, Baldur's Gate 2 at 25 and D&D video game history, and a questionable 1969 BBC documentary on the death of cash. youtu.be/DEXYuq_hZeE Plus your votes on the best places in video game worlds, now on YouTube and all podcast platforms!

Chris, Jason, and special guest Andy (of Little Car and Big Car on YouTube) discuss: some game franchises don't catch fire until the third installment. Does this happen in other forms of media? All this, and more, and your answers to the Community Question of the Week, coming this Saturday!

What do Molyneux, Meier, Wright, and Carmack share with Barone, Persson, Fox, and Cherry? Is Elite the best of space gaming? Can we summarize the massive Vintage Computer Festival Midwest in 15 minutes?! Plus your retro trailblazing heroes in This Week in Retro 236, out now! youtu.be/T8DPa5_j9Cg

Jason reports fresh off the weekend of Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 20, full of classic tech, This Week in Retro viewers, and distinctive hairstyles. All this and more including your nominations for the unsung heroes of retro, coming in episode 236 this Saturday!

🎧 The one in which @jasoncompton.bsky.social does things one at a time 🤭🤣 I laughed along 😁 And also Stunt Car Racer! Racing games, Ultima and retro text adventures - I am clearly in the right space 😁 Oh, I remember the biorhythms fad! 😅 🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️ #RetroGaming #RetroComputing ⌨️ #Podcasts 📻

What a delightful surprise. My new blog, @stonetoolsblog.bsky.social, seems to mark a tipping point, earning a lengthy discussion of my full body of retro-related works in the latest @thisweekinretro.bsky.social I am, apparently, "Someone you should know"🙇 #retrocomputing. youtu.be/UHYscl1Ayqg?...

Taylor and Amy, this week’s guests, plus a hydrating Jason!

It's The Taylor and Amy Show featuring a couple of bald guys for Microsoft's open-source BASIC, data on microcassette, and "software deconstructionist" Christopher Drum. youtu.be/UHYscl1Ayqg Plus KIM-1, model rockets, your arcade theme songs, and a new Question of the Week!

"Hey, Altair! Hey, IMSAI!" It's The Taylor and Amy Show this week, Dave and Jason are just providing the backbeat of news and your Personal Theme Song views on Saturday's episode of This Week in Retro! @tayloramyshow.bsky.social

Spinning media on the ropes, a re-evaluation of the Texas-sized loss leader the TI-99/4A became, and a novel use of a SID chip in a Commando coin-op machine. youtu.be/5aCa6BFo4NM Plus your Windows 95 release memories and the newest Community Question of the Week, in This Week in Retro episode 234!

Coming soon: space adventures with Tim Gilberts!