Retronauts Episode 612: Documenting Game History from Virtual Boy to J-Pop

Books: where "p" stands for pages

In this spiritual sequel to episode 597 from last year, we've gathered another collection of esteemed authors who devote their time to examining video games of the past. Only this time around, we're branching out and interviewing people beyond our usual contingent of Retronauts hosts. In truth, this week's podcast is actually two conversations stitched together into an extra-long episode, so you're getting twice the information (three times if you're counting by the book).

First up, host Jeremy Parish—himself a Virtual Boy expert—speaks to Benj Edwards and José Zagal about Seeing Red, their look at Nintendo's experimental quasi-handheld from 1995. In the second half, Brian Clark tells us about Gameplay Harmonies, his upcoming examination of the intersection between Japanese video games and musicians. He's joined by Mark Flitman, a former developer who's written It's Not All Fun & Games about his career working for Konami, Acclaim, and many others. We hope these insightful teasers entice you to read their completed books!

Description: Jeremy Parish speaks to Benj Edwards, Jose Zagat, Mark Flitman, and Brian Clark about their efforts to publish books about a wide swath of game history: A platform analysis of Virtual Boy, a history of games about Japanese rockers, and a career memoir.

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MP3, 72 MB | 2:33:09 Direct download Retronauts on iTunes Retronauts at Audioboom

Editing thanks go to Greg Leahy.