Danny and Stian share stories from a lifetime of playing videogames, with an emphasis on retro games and retro gaming. We span everything from Nintendo and Sega to Atari, PC, Playstation and more, as we analyze all aspects of the gaming industry, and how it’s changed through the years.
Daniel Reichert & Stian Mathisen
We catch up on the retro PC build and we spin off on lots of retro gaming tangents, ranging from CRT screens, how to clean your ball mouse and of course sound cards and game music. We also listen to the Monkey Island theme on PC speaker and compare it with the Roland MT-32. The difference is incredible! Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe so that you never miss an episode, and please leave us a review in iTunes. You can let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We talk about why most movies based on videogames are terrible, but also why movies about games can be great, covering Super Mario Bros., Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Wing Commander, Final Fantasy The Spirits Within, WarCraft, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Wizard, WarGames, Pixels, Wreck-It Ralf, Resident Evil, Uwe Boll and more! Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe so that you never miss an episode, and please leave us a review in iTunes. You can let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We finally devote an entire episode to the Nintendo 64! Mario 64, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Zelda: Majora's Mask and more as we reminisce on the launch of what was first known as the Ultra 64. Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your device, and please leave us a review in iTunes. Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
This episode covers a few different topics, such as games that didn't quite make our top 50 lists and we also talk about Tharald's new retro gaming PC build. We talk about midi synthesizer modules for retro gaming on the PC, like the Roland MT-32 and the Roland SC-55. Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your device, and please leave us a review in iTunes. Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We have a special guest on this episode to talk about 90s PC gaming classics like Command & Conquer Red Alert, Monkey Island, MDK, Simon The Sorcerer 2, Wing Commander, Die By The Sword, Carmageddon 2 and Grim Fandango. We also get into some oddities like William Shatner's Tek War, talk about the lost potential of the Star Wars The Phantom Menace game and discuss classic graphics cards like the 3dfx Voodoo 2 and Voodoo Banshee. Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your device, and please leave us a review in iTunes. Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We end up aligning on both Super Mario World, Final Fantasy VII, Tetris and Street Fighter as we count down the top spots of our 50 favourite games! For the number one spot we totally differ, and end up with an SNES and a PC classic. Have a listen to hear the entire lineup! And as promised in the episode, here is a link to The Story of Tetris by The Gaming Historian on Youtube. Let us know which games would make your top 50 list at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your device, and please leave us a review in iTunes. Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We lean heavily into mid-90's Nintendo games in this episode, but also cover some newer PC games as we count down our top 50 favorite games from number 10 to 6! Let us know which games would make your top 50 list at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your device, and please leave us a review in iTunes. Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
It's a retro gaming bonanza with NES, GameBoy, PlayStation, PC and more as we continue the countdown of our top 50 games! This time it's spot number 15 to 11. Let us know which games would make your top 50 list at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your device, and please leave us a review in iTunes. Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We cover classic games for the PC, NES, SNES, PlayStation and more as we continue the countdown of our top 50 games! This time we delve into our favorites from spot number 20 to 16. Let us know which games would make your top 50 list at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes. Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
It's a 1990's videogame bonanza in this episode, where we count down our favorite games from number 25-21. Let us know which games would make your top 50 list at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes. Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Classic games for the PC, PlayStation, NES and SNES all make appearances as we count down our favourite games from number 30 to 26! Let us know which games would make your top 50 list at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! Find Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast in Spotify, iTunes Stitcher or your preferred podcast app. Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes. Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Some very famous franchises and a forgotten gem from the early days of 3D platforming are among the picks in this weeks episode. Stay tuned as we count down the rest of our favourite games in future episodes. Let us know which games would make your top 50 list at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! DOWNLOAD PASSION FOR PIXELS RETRO GAMING PODCAST FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We jump in the wayback machine for most of the picks in this episode, as Stian and Danny counts down from 40 to 36 on their individual top 50 lists of their favourite games. Stay tuned as we count down the rest of the list in future episodes. Let us know which games would make your top 50 list at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! DOWNLOAD PASSION FOR PIXELS RETRO GAMING PODCAST FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
The countdown continues! Stian and Danny compares their individual picks for number 45 to 41, on the lists of their 50 favorite games. A lot of late 1990's favorites have found their way onto the lists this time. Stay tuned as we count down the rest of the list in future episodes. Let us know which games would make your top 50 list at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! DOWNLOAD PASSION FOR PIXELS RETRO GAMING PODCAST FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We finally did it! Here is the beginning of Passion for Pixels' list of our 50 favorite videogames of all time. Stian and Danny compare number 50 to 46 on their individual top 50 lists in this initial episode. Join us down memory lane as we reminisce about our favorite gaming experiences from the 1980's until today. Also, one of Danny's choices is a real surprise! Stay tuned as we count down the rest of the list in future episodes. Let us know which games would make your top 50 list at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! DOWNLOAD PASSION FOR PIXELS RETRO GAMING PODCAST FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Stranded on a desert island for the rest of your life with only three videogames! Which ones do you pick and what are the considerations you need to make? Stian and Danny talk about their individual choices and what makes a great desert island game. Let us know which games you would bring to a desert island on the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page! DOWNLOAD PASSION FOR PIXELS RETRO GAMING PODCAST FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Let us know what you think of the show at Passion for Pixels on Facebook, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Stian and Danny continues their chronological journey through the different eras of computer and video games, figuring out what they appreciate the most and the least about each of the generations and what defines each era of gaming. This time around it's the 16-bit era and onwards, with consoles like the Super Nintendo, Sega Mega Drive, TurboGrafx-16, Sony PlayStation and more! Let us know which generation of consoles is your favourite at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page. DOWNLOAD PASSION FOR PIXELS RETRO GAMING PODCAST FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Stian and Danny are doing a chronological journey through the different eras of computer and video games, figuring out what they appreciate the most and the least about each of the generations and what defines each era of gaming. This first episode covers the late 1970s until the early 1990s. Consoles like the Commodore 64, Nintendo NES and other classics from the golden age of 8-bit games are covered in this episode. Stay tuned next time, when Danny and Stian covers the 16-bit era, the first 3D games and more. Let us know which generation of consoles is your favourite at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page. DOWNLOAD PASSION FOR PIXELS RETRO GAMING PODCAST FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We alle love retro games, but which commodities from modern video games would you like to bring back in your time machine and hand over to Shigeru Miyamoto in 1983? Let us know which game mechanics you appreciate the most in modern games and would like to implement in retro games at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page. DOWNLOAD PASSION FOR PIXELS RETRO GAMING PODCAST FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
From the yellow circle with a mouth, via the overalls wearing plumber to the blue porcupine and the marsupial in jorts - mascots in videogames give personality to lifeless hardware. They embody the whole personality of a console, like family friendly Mario for the Super Nintendo or the rad and edgy Sonic for the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive. They also sometimes spectacularily fail at reaching fame, like Awesome Possum. We look at which mascots made it and which didn't, how they did so and why they were the most powerful marketing tools of the retro gaming era. We also talk about mascots then and now - from the humanoid animals of the 1990's to the more realistic human characters which are the mascots of today's videogame generation. Let us know your favorite obscure videogame mascot at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page. PASSION FOR PIXELS RETRO GAMING PODCAST IS AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We're back! After a more than two year hiatus, Stian and Danny has returned to talk about retro games! This episode is about classic mini retro consoles such as the Nintendo Classic Mini, Super NES Classic Edition and the PlayStation Classic. Why did everyone and their grandmother suddenly go nuts for retro games when Nintendo decided to release an official emulator? What games should have been included, and which should have been left off? Which version of Street Fighter II is the best one, and why did they include different versions in Japan and North America/Europe? If Nintendo should have added a hockey game to the NES Classic, should it have been Blades of Steel or Ice Hockey? Who ever requested Balloon Fight? And does early polygonal 3D games from the PlayStation era hold up as well as the 2D pixel classics from the SNES? Listen in and let us know your opinion of the mini retro consoles at the Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast Facebook page. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
On this episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels, we have the pleasure of talking to Mo Gallagher, author of the Final Fantasy VII novels A New Threat, The Man in the Black Cloack and the upcoming The Cetran Legacy. Mo is working on a series of five novels which will span the entire storyline of Squaresoft's classic RPG. This is not your every day fanfiction author, Mo has over 30 000 followers in social media, and is considered one of the greatest video game fanfiction authors of our day! We talk to him about his love of Final Fantasy, what made him decide to undertake such a massive story, the challenges of adapting a video game into a book and how he has managed to garner a huge following of fans online. Mo Gallagher's Final Fantasy VII novels are available for free from Patreon. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
For the 50th episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels, we delve into one of gaming's most classic topics: Nintendo vs Sega. Before Sony and Microsoft entered the gaming market, Nintendo and Sega dominated the console wars of the 1980s and 90s. With the Master System, Sega tried to take down Nintendo's leading market position that they had gained with the NES in the 1980s. The two Japanese companies kept going head to head with the GameBoy and the GameGear, ramped up the bit wars with the Super Nintendo and the Genesis/Mega Drive (remember the "Sega does what Nintendon't" campaign?), the Nintendo 64 and the Saturn and finally the Dreamcast and the Gamecube. We discuss who came out ahead in each console generation. As we look at the reasons why Nintendo always sold more consoles than Sega did, we argue that Sega's failure to properly support their own products and the lackluster use of their mascot Sonic were big parts of the reason for Segas downfall. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE FROM ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Youtuber, speedrunner, video game expert, retro gaming afficionado and world record holder Cornshaq aka Mark Davis is this weeks guest on retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels! Mark talks to Danny and Stian about how he has managed to transition from working as a paramedic to making a living from playing video games and how doing video game Youtube reviews pays the bills, how he achieved the world record in Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, why his favorite NES game is the relatively unknown 8 Eyes and how he beat Super Mario Bros. at 2 years old and Castlevania: Simon's Quest at 5! Make sure to check out Cornshaq's Youtube-channel and his Twitch for all his awesome speedruns and reviews! ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
*While we work on new episodes of Passion for Pixels, we bring you a rerun of our popular episode about JRPGs* Japanese Role Playing Games (Japanese RPGs or JRPGs for short) used to be one of our favourite genres, but playing a JRPG today is like meeting that friend from 20 years ago who still lives at home with his parents. We try to figure out what made JRPGs especially appealing to us as teenagers, talk about what sets them apart from other RPGs, how crude graphics was a benefit for Tetsuya Nomura's Final Fantasy designs and how we still enjoy the beautiful soundtracks by Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda for games like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. We also look at how stuff gets lost in translation, both because of limitations in the ROM file, like the case was with Ted Woolsey's infamous Secret of Mana translation, but also in a more cultural way. Like what the hell is going on at the Honeybee Inn? ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Leave a comment below, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We continue our countdown of TIME Magazine's Best Games of All Time list, working our way from number 25 all the way to number one. We complain about too many First Person Shooters (FPS), are surprised at finding two Final Fantasy games on the list, complain some more about the lack of Street Fighter and then we complain a little bit about the Nintendo 64 as well, before we applaud TIME's choice of greatest game of all time. See the complete list at TIME's website. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
'Best Game of All Time' lists are far from a new phenomenon (we've even had a few on this podcast!) - debating the games that didn't make the cut and the ordering of those that did has become an internet past time. Many gaming sites have feasted on the popularity of these lists by issuing perennial revisions to keep the discussion flowing. Most of these lists probably wouldn't warrant an episode (let alone two), but when the venerable Time Magazine weighs in, Stian and Danny just can't help themselves. On this episode we discuss the bottom half of TIME's top 50 list, going from King's Quest III at number 50 to Star Craft II at number 26. We'll be back in two weeks with our opinions on the top half of the list! ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Back in episode 42 of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels, we criticized The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 for being overrated. We didn't feel that it was a bad game, but that the game was receiving more praise than it was worthy of. Some of our listeners agreed, but a lot of them did not. So we decided to find out if maybe we were too hard on this old adventure classic, and played it again all the way through for the first time since it was released in 1998. And to make things a little more interesting, we played the whole game with someone who has hardly ever played video games before, a complete newbie, to ensure that our new verdict is not seen through the veil of fandom and almost 20 years of praise. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Which retro console has the most impressive library of games? We look at the most classic consoles and games from both Sega, Nintendo and Sony, when we decide which gaming system we would want to bring to a deserted island, on this episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels! ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Does the Power Glove get unfairly dumped on? It didn't work well and was the centre piece of Nintendo's early 90's marketing strategy featuring prominently in The Wizard - a movie that only deserves ironic praise. That said, it was a proof of concept for the motion controls that ultimately propelled the Wii into a cultural powerhouse. Stian and Danny consider some of the oddball peripherals that hit the market (plus a few that didn't) and weigh whether they ought to be banished to obscurity as gimmicks or if they really are the product of genius. The Sega Activator, the Atari Mindlink, the NES Zapper, the Game Gear TV tuner and something that lets you play the Wii in your car are among the gadgets we get into on this episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels! ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
While we work on bringing you a new episode, we hope you'll enjoy this rebroadcast of our episode dedicated to Final Fantasy VII. Originally released in April 2014. A full episode dedicated to talking about one of the most well known games of all time - Final Fantasy VII. Stian and Danny discuss the impact this seminal title has had on the gaming industry, dissect the story and consider modern remakes. We talk about the game was originally meant to be set in New York. This and other early ideas for the game ended up in other Square RPGs. How character designer Tetsuya Nomura's style differs from earlier Final Fantasy artist Akira Toriyama is another topic we get into in this episode. Remember the materia system? We talk about how this fully customizable character system gave players full control of how they wanted to develop their characters, and how it is related to Final Fantasy V's job system. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Retro gamers seem to love collecting old games and consoles, so for this episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels, we decided to sit down with Simon Pophale to talk about how he went about collecting 40 different video game systems, and nearly complete sets of several console's gaming libraries. We go from Simon's first experience with video games on the ZX Spectrum, to almost completing a set of Sega Megadrive games and, talk about his latest endeavour, a complete Sega Saturn set, and lots more. Simon gives his best advice on how to build your retro gaming collection and other retro gaming advice, like using old wine boxes to stack your systems. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We've made a lot of people very mad. On the previous Passion for Pixels episode, we talked about how Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye and Warcraft 3 were overrated. Now the people have spoken. And they say we're a bunch of clueless jerks. Or as one of our listeners puts it: "Overrated my ass". For this short update, we go through some of our listener feedback from our episode on overrated video games. This is not a regular episode of Passion for Pixels, but we'll be back to our normal schedule of one hour (ish) episodes in two weeks! ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
On this episode of Retro Gaming Podcast Passion for Pixels, we talk about games that history have treated too kindly. Even though we love Nintendo, they have released games that have been unduly praised, and we take a look at why titles like Goldeneye 007, Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Donkey Kong 64 need to be knocked down a few pegs. We also get into overrated PC games like Baldur's Gate, and we discuss whether Warcraft 3 is as innovative of an RTS as people seem to think. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
The 8-bit era of videogames spawned many of gaming's greatest icons, like Mario, Link and Sonic. On this episode of Retro Gaming Podcast Passion for Pixels, we talk about why the simplicity of 8-bit graphics is still so dear to gamers, and why many think it has aged better than the more advanced pixel count of 16-bit graphics. We also get into how the graphical limitations of the time forced game developers to think in creative ways that has since become obsolete, due to hardware improvements. We discuss what we consider the best looking games of the era that was dominated by the Nintendo NES, the Atari 7800 and the Sega Master System, and get into smoothly animated ninjas, adventurous ducks, talking frogs and more! ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Rune Fjeld Olsen is a Norwegian journalist with over a decade of experience reporting on video games. Recently, he's transitioned from his steady gig at VG (a major newspaper in Norway) to self-directed content on his YouTube channel. In this candid interview, Rune delves into his career in print, the trials of running a video game YouTube channel for a living, the state of game development in Norway, his thoughts on the future of the industry, and all manner of other topics! ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Real Time Strategy (RTS) was one of the major gaming genres in the 1990s, with amazing titles like Command & Conquer, Warcraft, Dungeon Keeper, Age of Empires and Starcraft. What happened? On this episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels, we look into what defines an RTS, why they suddenly owned the PC gaming market in the 1990s, how well they play on consoles and what happened to Westwood, one of the most renowned RTS developers. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
What happens when Batman and Superman, two of the most iconic superheroes, square off? We'll finally see how the action unfolds on the silver screen but no need to wait to find out how the respective video games of Superman and Batman stack up, because that is what we will get into on this brand new episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels. But how can this possibly be a fair fight when we struggle to even name three good Superman games? Comparing the best overall, worst overall, and most interesting use of the characters - Stian and Danny tally the blows covering everything from 80's arcade games to Superman 64 to the Arkham series and beyond. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Have you ever wanted to squeeze more life out of your favourite game? Have you ever felt the compulsion to gather every last collectible strewn about the game world? Or maybe you've just wanted to a find a way to compete at a single-player game?From completionists to speed runners, on this episode Stian and Danny dissect the unique ways to play games.We also scratch the surface of modding and the fine line between enhancing an experience and breaking it entirely. Finally, why the hell did it take Nintendo so long to release Mario maker and who actually wants to play a level that plays itself? ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
The Atari Jaguar, the 3DO, the Philips CDi - the list of failed video game consoles goes on and on. On this episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels, we look at why some consoles fail, and why others suceed. Does the Sega Dreamcast qualify as a failure? It sold almost 10 million units, which sounds like a lot, but when Sony sold 150 million units of the PlayStation 2, it wasn't enough to keep Sega in business as a console manufacturer. We also talk about the obscure Halcyon system by RDI, makers of Dragon's Lair. The system sported voice activation, a Laserdisc player, a planned price tag of 2500 dollars in 1985, and was based on a famous and murderous movie AI. Does it sound like a good idea for a gaming console? Listen to the full story and judge for yourself. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Remember dodging those laser beams on the Quickman level of Mega Man 2, working up a sweat trying to beat the underwater level of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, running around in your underwear in Ghosts 'n Goblins, playing Battletoads in two player mode or pretty much any level of Ninja Gaiden? Classic games often have a high difficulty level because they were built to mimic arcade games, which needed players to lose lives frequently enough to make them keep shovelling quarters into the machine. This caused many a Nintendo NES and Sega Master System controller to go flying across the living room back in the day. We talk about our memories of incredibly difficult retro gaming moments, and how gaming has become a lot more accesible and less frustrating in modern times, but that part of the challenge has been lost in the process. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We list our top three favourite games of all time. The only game to end up on two lists is Tetris - listen to find out which other classics made the cut! Also, Tyma is back (but he forgets to introduce himself). ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We talk about our favourite classic retro multiplayer games, from great hockey games like Blades of Steel, Ice Hockey and NHL 95 to Street Fighter II, Goldeneye for Nintendo 64 and of course the Nintendo NES Four Score four player favourites RC Pro Am II and Nintendo World Cup, plus lots more! ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We're taking some time off for Christmas, so this week we're rebroadcasting an old fan favourite, our episode on Japanese game director, producer, writer and designer Hideo Kojima. We talk about the games that inspired Kojima to become a game developer, his earliest work (ever heard of Penguin Adventure or Policenauts?) and how his most well known series of games, Metal Gear featuring Solid Snake, came about. Once again it's a story of how the limitations of the console's hardware forced the developers to think outside of the box, when the game was developed for the MSX2 and later the Nintendo NES. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Leave a comment below, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Japanese Role Playing Games (Japanese RPGs or JRPGs for short) used to be one of our favourite genres, but playing a JRPG today is like meeting that friend from 20 years ago who still lives at home with his parents. We try to figure out what made JRPGs especially appealing to us as teenagers, talk about what sets them apart from other RPGs, how crude graphics was a benefit for Tetsuya Nomura's Final Fantasy designs and how we still enjoy the beautiful soundtracks by Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda for games like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. We also look at how stuff gets lost in translation, both because of limitations in the ROM file, like the case was with Ted Woolsey's infamous Secret of Mana translation, but also in a more cultural way. Like what the hell is going on at the Honeybee Inn? ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Leave a comment below, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
The holiday season is upon us and spearheading the charge of AAA titles vying for your gift-giving money is Star Wars: Battlefront. While reviews are suggesting that Battlefront may be a bit weak in the force, the Star Wars franchise has done pretty well over the years and has spawned some most impressive classics, like Star Wars for the NES, Super Star Wars for the SNES and Tie Fighter and Knights of the Old Republic for the PC. On this episode, Stian and Danny delve into the treasure trove of Star Wars games and pick their favourites. Did Yoda Stories make the list? No. No it did not. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Leave a comment below, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
From Mario to Mirror's Edge, platformers are one of gaming's oldest genres. Why have platformers enjoyed such longevity and what does the future hold for them? How did the prevalence of 3D graphics affect the genre? Mario 3 or Super Mario World?Stian and Danny try to answer all of these questions and more on the an episode dedicated entirely to the Def Leppard of gaming... what?!? ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE ON ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Leave a comment below, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
There are more superhero movies coming out than you can shake a stick at these days, but if you wanted to see superheroes on your TV screen back in the day, you had to pop in a videogame. Superheroes are overpowered, so how do you make a game that is both challenging and fun to play, while keeping it true to the source material? Superman games are notoriously bad, and this is because nothing hurts Superman, and that makes for a bad game. So what is it that makes some superhero games work, while others don't? We delve into this topic by looking at the classic Ninja Turtles games of the late 1980's and early 1990's, Batman for the NES and more modern Batman games, we look at how the aestethics of 8- and 16-bit games are closer to the still images of a comic book than modern games are, and we look at how Silver Surfer on the NES got it all wrong. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE ON ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Leave a comment below, tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Casual games have become huge the last few years, with Candy Crush Saga netting more than a billion daily plays in 2015, but casual games is not an invention of the mobile phone age. We look at casual gaming through our retro tinted lenses, and start with 1980's Pacman. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
We talk about our vivid memories of buying games back in the day when brick and mortar stores were the only option, and games didn't have a release date, so you'd have to come back again and again to see if a game was out yet. Tyma reveals why purchasing a japanese copy of Final Fantasy VIII was a bad idea, Danny tells of how he got ripped off purchasing his first ever game, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for the Sega Genesis, and Stian is crowned winner of first time videogame purchases, when he tells of his bundle of sweet classics purchased second hand 25 years ago. ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.
Expansion packs - the DLC of the 1990's. Danny, Stian and Tyma talk about their favourite expansion packs from back when games came in huge cardboard boxes. Topics include Blizzard's brilliant expansions, the horrible way of making expansions work on disc based consoles (with the worst one being Grand Theft Auto London for the Playstation) and the very first expansion pack. Also, Tyma gets to host (kind of). ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES! Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review! Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion! Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at passionforpixels@thesofaiswaiting.com.