Retro Titans - the giants of retro and indie gaming in conversation – Details, episodes & analysis

Remember Sky TV's Games World from the 90s? In this episode, we meet one of the early finalists and the youngest competitive video gamer of the era, Dean Kennedy - aka Mean Machine Dean. A relative newcomer to Evercade, Dean talks through his early experiences on the platform and what attracted him to it in the first place. 

As well as his love of Street Fighter, Dean has a passion for all fighting games and would love to see Tekken brought to Evercade - "never say never". Dean also talks about his Twitch channel, inspirations in the world of gaming and his new side-hustle making custom shells for classic gaming consoles. 

🔗 Links:

Website - meanmachinedean.com

Twitch - @meanmachinedean

X / Twitter - @meanmachinedean10

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

Chaos Engine soundtrack, by Richard Joseph

Earlier this month, Retro Titans was invited to a special media day for journalists, influencers and creators, to get a rare opportunity to meet the people who run Blaze Entertainment and try out the new devices and games.

We were under embargo until the end of the month, so this interview recorded with Crazy Burger reveals the highlights of the day and our revised take on new launches, like the Alpha, Tomb Raider and Bitmap Brothers 2. 

Crazy Burger also gives us his take on all the releases and announcements so far in 2024, playing a game of 'Hit, Miss or Maybe'. 

🔗 Links:

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CrazyBurger

Facebook facebook.com/Crazy-Burger-119134488910841

Instagram instagram.com/crazy_burger_youtube

🎵 Music 

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

BBC Live & Kicking show theme, by David Arnold Music

Tomb Raider 1 - Main Theme, by Nathan McCree

Witch n' Wiz is one of my all-time favourite games on Evercade, so I've been chomping at the bit to speak to the game's developer Matt Hughson. It was everything I hoped and more. We discussed how he came up with the idea for Witch n' Wiz and developed it into the game we all love. He explained his process for devising the levels and gets the difficulty level just right, before moving on to tell the story of his involvement with Evercade. 

Matt, who is based in Vancouver and works as a developer in his day job too, is also a fierce supporter of the homebrew developer scene and he explains why the community is so supportive, and tells us about some of his own favourite games. 

As always, we covered his top choices of a device and carts to take away for the Desert Island Carts feature. 

If you enjoyed Witch n' Wiz or have any interest in how games actually get made, this episode is for you. 

🔗 Links:

Linktr.ee - @matthughson

X / Twitter - @matthughson

🎵 Music 

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

Nebs 'n Debs, by kulor (thanks to Chris Cacciatore)

The Evercade Facebook groups have been lit up in the past few weeks discussing collecting and selling carts. As a non-collector myself, I am intrigued by the desire to own the whole collection and equally curious about the prices some of these carts can command. So, to understand more about the art of collecting on Evercade, I spoke to reviewer, collector and all-round retro gaming fan Connor (aka Connor The Braixen) from Seafoam Gaming. 

We also have time to discuss licensing, why some carts go legacy and which ones could be up for deletion next. Connor has an extensive knowledge of Evercade and retro gaming in general, and his enthusiasm is infectious. 

As always, we have time to discuss Connor's desert island carts and play out with one of his favourite retro gaming tunes. 

🔗 Links:

Website - seafoamgaming.com

Blue Sky - @seafoamgaming.bsky.social

🎵 Music 

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

Valis III - Nizetti, by Hisao Inoue, Jun Hasebe & Shingo Murakami

The Mega Cat Studios Collections (I & II) are firm fan favourites amongst the Evercade community, so having the opportunity to talk to the company’s founder James Deighan and cinematic director Andrew Marsh was a real treat.

This episode covers a lot of ground, from the origin story of Mega Cat Studios and how they started working with Blaze Entertainment, through to the business of making indie games and defining success in a hit-led industry.

If you have any interest in developing your own game or you’d like to peep behind the curtain of a successful game studio, this episode is for you!

It also happens to have a banging tune to play out at the end.

🔗 Links:

X / Twitter - @megacatstudios

Instagram - @megacatstudios

Facebook - @megacatstudios

Discord - @megacat

🎵 Music 

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

Coffee Crisis theme tune, by Mega Cat Studios

Fresh from a mid-season break, we talk to gaming journalist and YouTuber Andi Hamilton and get his take on the latest Evarcade news, the growth of retro gaming and his love for Duke Nukem, Street Fighter and Sensible Soccer. 

As usual we have the Desert Island Carts feature, where Andi tells us his choice of device, carts and music to take away on a desert Island. 

Do make sure you subscribe to Retro Titans to never miss an episode and give us a review, if you have a moment to spare. 

🔗 Links:

X / Twitter - @andihero

YouTube - @andihamilton

🎵 Music 

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

Splatterhouse 2 Genesis Music - Bellache Boss Battle, by Eiko Kaneda

We catch up with Nik Tyrrell, a retro gaming YouTuber, Evercade collector and fan of the 8-bit era. As well as providing his thoughts on all things Evercade, Nik gives us his perspectives on the golden era of gaming, what the appeal of collecting cartridges is and his hidden gems in the Evercade library, amongst other things. 

We also play an Evercade game, 'Evercade Family Fortunes', which you're welcome to join in at home or on the move. All you need is a pen and paper before you start listening. 

Do make sure you subscribe to Retro Titans to never miss an episode and give us a review, if you have a moment to spare. 

🔗 Links:

YouTube - @NikTyrell

Facebook Group - Nik Tyrell on YouTube

🎵 Music 

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

New Zealand Story - arcade in-game music

In our sixth epsiode, we catch up with three of the team behind Evercade Evolution, a fan magazine devoted to the world of Evercade. We find out why the magazine was created and hear some of the highlights so far - from a chance encounter with OutOfTheBit, which led to first Evercade single cart release, to how the magazine runs as a non-profit and raises money for charity. 

Liam, Mark and Vaughan also give their thoughts about the world of retro and indie gaming on Evercade, why they'd like to see a Spectrum cart and make their predictions on games and hardward for the year ahead. 

🔗 Links:

Evercade Info - Evercade Evolution

Twitter - @EvercadeMag

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

Boomerang Kid, by AceMoon

So, what happens when you discover Evercade? You want to share your experiences and ask questions of like-minded people, of course. Thankfully there are plenty of options to choose from, including the Evercade Hangout on Facebook.

This week, we catch up with Ryan Andrews, head admin of the Evercade Hangout, which promotes itself as 'the only Evercade group that allows all opinions whether they're good or bad.' We find out what goes into running a successful Facebook Group, how the sister channel, the Total Evercade YouTube livestream works, and Ryan's personal take on all things Evercade. 

🔗 Links:

Facebook - The Evercade Hangout

YouTube - Retro Gaming Revival (where Total Evercade lives)

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

Goal-scoring Superstar Hero, written by Jon Hare and Richard Joseph, performed by Jackie Reed

In this episode we catch up with three of the team behind the futuristic, dystopian Evercade classic, Full Void. The game's developer Out Of The Bit is a small independent studio based in Wimbledon London and was founded in 2008 by Ali Motisi.

Ali and two of his team Tom Cullen and Leo Halwart explain how the pandemic was the inspiration for Full Void and some of the decisions they made, from the choice of music to the style of pixel art. 

We also get find out how it got picked up by Evercade to become Blaze Entertainment's first single-game cartridge and how it felt to pick the Debug independent gaming Subscriber's Choice award.

If you are interested in indie gaming or the Evercade platform, this is a must-listen episode. 

🔗 Links:

Website - Out Of The Bit

Twitter / X - @outofthebit

Facebook - @outofthebit

Instagram - @outofthebit

🧑‍💻 Interviewees:

Twitter / X -@Ali Motisi

Twitter / X - @TCullenDA

Twitter / X - @Leoliolao 

🎮 Out Of The Bit games on Evercade:

Full Void 

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Desert Island Disc theme tune, by Eric Coates and his orchestra

Full Void (Amiga version), by Robyn Powell