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

In this episode, we return to one of our favourite topics on Retro Titans: the wonderful world of Evercade. Joining Phil are Sean Cleaver (Head of Marketing) and Ryan Dekker (Head of Technology) for a special fan-led Q&A — the first of its kind on the podcast.

Across a wide range of listener questions, Sean and Ryan discuss the future of Evercade's library and hardware, how they balance nostalgia with modern development, and the ongoing dialogue with the community across platforms like Reddit and Discord. They talk screen improvements, accessibility ideas, bug fixes, and the evolving developer program — including how indie creators can get involved. There's also insight into upcoming collections, the return of Spectrum titles, and what fans can expect in 2026.

And to wrap things up, Desert Island Carts makes a triumphant return. Ryan picks his dream Evercade setup, three essential cartridges, and the gaming music track he'd take to his tropical retreat.

🔗 Links:

Website - evercade.co.uk

Discord -  @evercade-official

Facebook - @evercaderetro

Reddit - @evercade

X - @evercaderetro 

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

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

Roguecraft DX - by Jogeir Liljedahl

Tony Warriner is a co-founder of Revolution Software — the team behind Lure of the Temptress, Beneath a Steel Sky, and Broken Sword. From his teenage coding experiments on the Amstrad CPC to shaping one of Britain's most iconic adventure studios, Tony's story is one of creativity, independence, and survival.

In this episode, Tony joins me to talk about building Revolution from the ground up, the clever tech behind the Virtual Theatre engine, and what it really took to bring Broken Sword to life. We discuss the indie spirit that's guided him through decades of change, his self-published book Revolution: The Quest for Game Development Greatness, his upcoming game UrbX Warriors, and his thoughts on the future of small-scale game development.

Plus, Tony takes on a round of quickfire questions — including a story behind the goat puzzle, the most chaotic genius at Revolution, and the one game cover he'd want on his gravestone.

🔗 Links:
Instagram: @TonyWarriner

X: @tonywarriner

Bluesky: @tonywarriner.bsky.social

Tony's book: Gumroad

🎵 Music:
Intro – Neon Gaming by Dope Stuff
Revenge of the Mutant Camels (C64), by James Lisney

Despite being over 27 years old, developers are still making games for the Game Boy Color - and one such game designer and coder is Shane McCafferty. He has been making games since he was 11, but has taken his side hustle and hobby onto a whole new level, releasing 9 Game Boy Color games on ItchIO in the past 18 months. 

We find out what it is that compels Shane to make games like Block Droppin, Cave Dave and Word Forward for the Game Boy Color, which projects kept him up at night, and the ones he's most proud of. We also discuss his current project to make a 'What If?' version of OutRun for the GBC.  

🔗 YouTube Links:

Itch.IO - @egvrooms-game-boy-games

BlueSky - @EGVroom

X - @EGVroom

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming and Space Technology, by Dope Stuff

Robocop (Spectrum version), by Jonathan Dunn

Retro Asylum is widely regarded as one of the top gaming podcasts in the world, so we wanted to find out the secret to their success and why they've taken on the challenge of playing through and reviewing every single Evercade cart, on top of the rest of their output. So, Jim Middleton and Chris Worthington were kind enough to share their views and experiences covering the space, why they love Evercade, and whether it's OK to play emulation-based devices. 

🔗 YouTube Links:

Website - https://retroasylum.com/ 

Discord - @RetroAsylum

YouTube - @TheOfficialRetroAsylumYouTubeChannel

Spotify - Retro Asylum on Spotify 

Spotify - Playthrough on Spotify

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming and Space Technology, by Dope Stuff

The Secret of Monkey Island, composed by Michael Z. Land

In this episode, we return to the world of Evercade to discuss the Evercade Showcase, which was released on 31st March. In a packed announcement, Evercade released 3 new carts, 2 Super Pockets, a hardware refresh for the EXP-R and VS-R, and teased a few things for the future. To make sense of it all and offer some analysis and predictions, we are joined by our regular special guest: retro gaming and Evercade YouTuber, Crazy Burger. 

In addition to Crazy Burger's thoughts and opinions, we managed to get a quick Q&A with Blaze Entertainment's head of marketing, Sean Cleaver. 

🔗 YouTube Links:

Crazy Burger

Evercade Showcase 

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming and Space Technology, by Dope Stuff

For 8-bit home computing fans, Thalamus is one of the great names of the late 80s and early 90s, publishing classics such as Creatures I & II, Hunters Moon, Hawkeye and Armalyte. When the company went bankrupt in the early 1990s, everyone thought the story was over - but the rights to the games were bought by former Commodore Format games writer Andy Roberts, and the company was reborn.

This interview with Andy Roberts tells the full story of Thalamus's heyday, decline and return, including insights into the 80s/90s games industry, writing for Zzap64! and Commodore Format, publishing games in the early noughties and two of the latest games, Ceccanoid and Roguecraft. 

🔗 Links:

Website - thalamusdigital.co.uk

Itch IO - thalamusdigital.itch.io

Facebook - @thalamusdigital

X - @thalamusdigital

Bluesky - thalamusdigital.bsky.social

Evercade - Thalamus Collection 1

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Wizzball (C64 remix), by Martin Galway and remixed by Tonka

Jon Hare is the co-founder of legendary game studio, Sensible Software, and was behind a host of global best-selling games, such as Sensible World of Soccer, Cannon Fodder, Mega Lo Mania and Sensible Golf. Jon's career as a creative director and game publisher stretches from the 1980s through to today, and is currently launching Sociable Soccer 25. 

We cover a lot of ground in this interview, from how he found his way into the industry, through to developing hit games and navigating the challenges of the games industry. We also discuss gaming music at length, including insights into working with gaming music legends Richard Joseph and Martin Gallway, and making music with his own group, The Sensible Band. 

Jon also offers advice to aspiring games developers and gives his thoughts on channelling creativity. It's an epic interview! 

🔗 Links:

Website - Sociable Soccer

Facebook - Sociable Soccer

X - @JonHare

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Narcissus, by Jon Hare and Richard Joseph

Canon Fodder Theme, by Jon Hare and Richard Joseph

Parrallax, by Martin Galway 

If you loved football management games, this episode is a must-listen. That's because we got to speak with the man who pretty much invented the genre, Kevin Toms. He's the developer of Football Manager, the 1980s series of games that started the whole thing. Since you can also now play Kevin Toms' Football Manager on your mobile, we thought it would be a great excuse to find out the story behind the original games, and why they've returned. 

🔗 Links:

Website - kevintoms.games

Facebook - KevinTomsGames

X - KevinToms

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Space Invaders by Tomohiro Nishikado,

In this episode we catch up with Blaze Entertainment CEO, Andrew Byatt to find out more about the origins of Evercade and the key milestones that have led up to its popularity today. Andrew describes Blaze's vision for retro gaming, the reasons behind the Hyper Mega Tech! brand and explains how licensing works in retro gaming. 

We also hear Andrew's desert island carts - can you guess what he picked? 

🔗 Links:

Websites - Evercade, Hyper Mega Tech!

YouTube  - @EvercadeRetro

Instagram - @EvercadeRetro

Facebook - @EvercadeRetro

X / Twitter - @EvercadeRetro

BlueSky - @Evercade

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

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

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES), by Jun Funahashi 

In our second season of Retro Titans, we welcome back Ally Low, game designer and founder of Lowtek Games. Ally discusses the inspiration and challenges around making Flea 2, which returns to Evercade as well as Steam, NES, Dreamcast and Itch-IO. We also cover his new innovation, the Lightbook project-mapped popup book, and his work around making games dyslexic-friendly. 

Season 2 will continue to cover Evercade extensively, but we'll also be looking beyond at other systems, so subscribe to get all the latest interviews with games designers, publishers, manufacturers and industry insiders. 

🔗 Links:

Website - Flea2 press kit

YouTube - Lightbook teaser

Facebook - LowtekGames

X - Wallmasterr

🎵 Music:

Neon Gaming, by Dope Stuff

Noah's Ark NES music, by Chris Gill and Paul Summers.