PPR 172

It’s really easy to fall into this rut with Video Games right now. Every podcast episode this year has brought in this frivolous bout of yoga where we try not to take y’all TOO deep into Bummertown™, lest we risk forever remaining within its shitty doom-dome and get gypsy-cursed to forever scroll through Grummz’s feed on Twitter, A Clockwork Orange-style, or some shit.

This is why we have found ourselves championing the phrase “Video Games can still be fun, and all you have to do is to keep looking” lately—so much so that we decided to put our money where our mouth is and do a nice little episode where we give our own shotgun course towards Retro Video Games—specifically what games to check out and various methods to check them out.

The cast this week is Ed, George, and our special guest, Ten, who is an indie game and indie book reviewer for The Cosmic Circus, and co-host of the Hold On, Let Me Save podcast, where they’ll discuss the various equipment, displays, emulators, and uhhh, games that folks should still boot up to play from the last forty years or so of video games.  So grab your Anbernics and your Steam Decks, and get ready to add a bunch of HAMSTER releases to your wishlist as we do a fun little show to remind everyone that yes, video games rule. No amount of Generative AI and brain-dead corporate greed can ever take that away from any of you—enjoy the show!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 42-GAMEZAP-4 (424-263-9274)‬, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on our Twitch page and BlueSky, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group! This episode has been brought to you by our new friends at the SuperPod Network, be sure to check out all the other rad podcasts they host for Video Games and more! Finally, this episode was also brought to you by our new sponser, Dubby, a new, jitterless, friendlier energy drink made from a formula that contains a slew of vitamins, amino acids and nootropics including their patented NeuroFactor®. Click on the link listed or enter "PRESSPAUSERADIO" and get 10% off of your order right meow!

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Late to the Party: Mega Cat Studios Retro Game Trio!

Let's be real: there's a lot to loathe about 2026, what with our economic state of affairs, the increasingly robust perversion of the internet via AI slop and constantly shifting weather patterns. Hell, we can't even find solace in the little things anymore, like going down to the store and just buying a damn pack of Pokemon cards (but that's another feature for another time).

That being said, we can at least count on something: there are still plenty of stellar studios that continue to release retro-inspired classics. (And with physical copies to boot – literally!)

 Given the tumultuous curveballs we keep seeing through this already shifty year, Press Pause Radio (or myself, more specifically) is a bit late to the party on some of the early year releases from Mega Cat Studios. So join us as we dive into peeks at Plyuk and Old Towers for the NES, in addition to Super Fanger for the SNES.

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PPR Presents Limelight: Disney's Goof Troop

Before Disney Interactive, SEGA, or Virgin Games had their run of handling the video game adaptations of revered properties owned by the animation giant that is Disney, the Japanese powerhouse of the 8-bit and 16-bit generation, Capcom, was given the reins to several characters under the Mouse's umbrella. Chief among their Disney-licensed software are the titles that adapted the Disney Afternoon lineup, such as DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, and Chip' n Dale's Rescue Rangers. However, the 16-Bit entries are more of the darkhorses in that pantheon that didn't get their flowers quite like the rest of their 8-Bit offerings, and the one game that's more exemplary of that sentiment than Disney's Goof Troop, directed by Shinji friggin' Mikami...

Although this game is iconic for its rad Cooperative multiplayer, there's no way to really bring that to y'all tonight, so George will be navigating Goof through the treacherous pirate isles on his lonesome, and we're sure it'll still be a hoot and holler for y'all. This stream is also brought to you by the SuperPod Network Super Game Club, which George will be further contribuiting to over at their neck of the woods real soon!

Be sure to tune in to our Twitch or YouTube  at 7:15 PM PST on 03/20/2026 to watch Spoonerville's favorite Father-and-Son thwart the pirate scourge with the power of Sokoban! You can check out the streams here or directly on our Twitch and YouTube channels, and vibe along with us as we work towards ushering in a new age of Limelight for y'all!

PPR Presents Super Play: A Plumber for All Seasons-Part 1: Spring

There are a ton of Super Mario World hacks out there, sure, but none of them are anything like A Plumber for All Seasons. Hacker Alias White Yoshi Egg delivers a spin on the SNES classic that’s so radical that it plays like a long-lost entry to what could have been a bonafide Super Mario World Trilogy!

Join George and Andrew as they go through the entirety of the adventure, season by season, and show off all the neat shit that’s been packed into this, dare we say, Wonder-esque experience on the Super Nintendo!

PPR Presents Limelight: Har-Fest 2023

Hey all, with the incoming flood of “October 31^st Vs November 1^st” memes hitting the timeline, we are vastly approaching the Holidays, and with that, I think it’s time we usher in the first Limelight block in years—aptly titled, Har-Fest Month!

During this month, George will be streaming 6 games to ring in the change of seasons, and will be doing so on the following schedule!

Super Mario Bros. Wonder/Sonic Superstars                                   Friday, November 10^th 9:00 PM PST

Umihara Kuwase/Astal                                                                    Saturday, November 18^th  6:00 PM PST

Super Magnetic Neo/Castlevania: Rondo of Blood                          Friday, November 24^th 9:00 PM PST

You can check out the streams here or directly on our Twitch Channel, and vibe along with us as we work towards ushering in a new age of Limelight for y'all!

QCF: Turrican Flashback

he Western and Eastern history video games have always had their place in the main zeitgeist of video game culture, but what about the other, other West? The one that ran their television displays at 50HZ PAL output had a crap-load of gradient color schemes, and an obsession with hurting players with falling water drops—yeah, I’m talking about the European slice of gaming.

While the folks “across the pond” were able to get their own localizations of household brands like Nintendo and SEGA, there was one other name synonymous with the European gaming scene & that was Commodore Amiga.

Even though there isn’t a lot of love for the Amiga legacy outside of those who group on it, there’s been one common denominator that has seamlessly harmonized across all three regions—Turrican.

Factor 5’s Sci-Fi Run ‘n Gun has been hosted across numerous platforms, but none more celebrated than the titles that have graced the Amiga 1200, Super NES, and even the Sega Genesis, and now with the help of Ratalaika Games, Factor 5 has released an upgraded collection of the four best titles in the franchise with Turrican Flashback. Looking beyond the appeal of collecting these overlooked classics into one convenient collection, the labor of love that went into optimizing these games, and fleshing out every little quality of life enhancement and nuance imaginable is what really sets this title apart from nostalgia packages. Turrican Flashback may be one of the finest curations of a retro game set ever to be programmed.

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QCF: Fox 'N Forests

hen people think about video game nostalgia, their minds immediately fix upon images of pixelated sprites, alongside beats of synthesized chiptune sounds, and other trademarks from the early years of the medium. With so many throwbacks, and love letters out on the market these days, developers are now more pressed to celebrate the past in a way that’s more innovative than a majority of the retro-inspired titles that are currently flooding storefronts; callbacks are now starting to pull from some of the more nuanced moments of gaming history.

Which brings us to Bonus Level Entertainment’s Fox ‘N Forests, a 2D action-platforming side-scroller that was Kickstarted back in 2016 in an effort to deliver a very specific kind of nostalgia—the kind that’s reserved for a majority of the early SNES titles that defined the system before fighting games swept the scene. While there’s plenty of fan service to indulge upon and enjoy in this self-aware romp, a majority of Fox ‘n Forest’s charm is fleeting at best, and largely obnoxious the rest of the time, or worse—all too forgettable.

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Mudprints Unboxes FHR: Super Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition

e liked the NES Classic Edition when we got one last year, and we managed to get its highly anticipated successor! In this episode of Mudprints Unboxes, we take a look at the Super NES Classic Edition!

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