Retronauts Pocket Episode 8: Jaws & Friday the 13th
Hello, boils and ghouls -- It's Bob again with my third episode in a row. (Hopefully you're not getting sick of me by this point.) Retronauts Pocket episode 8 comes to you courtesy of David Shuff, who suggested Jaws for the NES as a possible topic, then -- for the sake of filling a half-hour -- agreed to let us talk about Friday the 13th as well. Now, these two typically make every "Worst NES Games Ever" list, and while there's plenty of room for improvement, both Friday the 13th and Jaws contain some great (and distinctly Japanese) design ideas that would have made for much better experiences if the cruel taskmasters at LJN gave their hired guns more time to work with. That said, due to its topic and timing, Pocket 8 became our accidental Halloween episode, helped into creation by Brett Elston and Chris Antista (of the Laser Time podcast network), who you heard on last week's show. Enjoy, and for extra spookiness, be sure to listen to this one in the abandoned summer camp or moonlit pumpkin patch of your choice.
Libsyn (33:43 | MP3 | 24.6 MB) | SoundCloud
This episode's description:
"In the late '80s, Lewis J. Norman had a dream: delivering children awful video game adaptations of movies way out of their age range. But are these 8-bit monsters really just misunderstood? Join Bob Mackey, Ray Barnholt, and special guests Brett Elston and Chris Antista as they uncover the dark truths of Jaws and Friday the 13th for the NES, and brave the horrors of mechanical sharks and machete-wielding goalies."
About the musical selections: Both Jaws and Friday the 13th contain about two minutes of music apiece, so I'm not going to bother listing my choices here. And the closing song is "Angela's Theme" by Frankie Vinci from the 1983 movie Sleepaway Camp. Happy?
