The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast)

Australia gave the world pioneering adventures, cult classics and global hits,but much of its gaming history has been left out of the story. This week, we're joined by Region Locked creative lead Michael Refalo and veteran game designer John Passfield-co-creator of Halloween Harry, Flight of the Amazon Queen and TY the Tasmanian Tiger, to explore bedroom coding, cassette-tape publishing, The Hobbit’s groundbreaking parser, Beam Software reverse-engineering the NES, the infamous Power Glove and the games you never realised were Australian. Plus, discover how the new Region Locked documentary series plans to preserve these stories before bit rot, and time, erase them for good. 
Region Locked Kickstarter: https://lnk.ua/ueFZbW6cf
Contents:
00:00 – The Week’s Retro News Stories
53:42 – Region Locked Interview
Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show:
Bitmap Books – https://www.bitmapbooks.com
Go to https://surfshark.com/retrohour or use code RETROHOUR at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!
Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com for all your PCB needs
PlayEXPO Blackpool: https://www.playexpoblackpool.com/
We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you’d like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://theretrohour.com/support/
https://www.patreon.com/retrohour
Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8
Website: http://theretrohour.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/
X: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.com
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour
CeX Revisits Retro-Only Stores: https://lnk.ua/LT8x2d9DI
Zeewolf Spiritual Successor Revealed: https://lnk.ua/vGAlWUAcE
Lara Croft Statue in Derby: https://lnk.ua/yBaKkiM3R
Fan-Made Donkey Kong Country 4: https://lnk.ua/0nxUrpxQ9
Multi-Mega Flash Cart Mod: https://lnk.ua/HsC93CDQr

This week, we’re coming to you from Amiga Kickstart in Derby, where we recorded a fascinating panel looking at what comes next for one of computing’s most iconic names. With the long-running legal battle between Hyperion Entertainment and Cloanto finally at an end, the Amiga company took to the stage to discuss the future, its plans for the platform and what this new chapter could mean for the wider Amiga community. After years of courtroom wrangling and uncertainty, could this finally be the fresh start Amiga fans have been waiting for?
Amiga: https://amiga.com/
Contents:
00:00 – The Week’s Retro News Stories
57:17 - Amiga Announcements 
Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show:
Bitmap Books – https://www.bitmapbooks.com
Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com for all your PCB needs
London Gaming Market: https://www.londongamingmarket.com/
We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you’d like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://theretrohour.com/support/
https://www.patreon.com/retrohour
Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8
Website: http://theretrohour.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/
X: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.com
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour
Show notes
 
Commodore Joystick: https://lnk.ua/F8QM1EnLL
Cancelled Quake 4 Expansion: https://lnk.ua/nknP0xR0K
Atari ST Floppy Archive: https://lnk.ua/bewmRuiAr
DOOM Comes to Evercade: https://lnk.ua/hIDAqsUYx
Mario Kart 64 VR: https://lnk.ua/aeAmS9XiM
New Amiga Racer: https://lnk.ua/i3olxXWTM
Utopia Returns to SNES: https://lnk.ua/VY9P3ILvj
Patrons news

This week, we’re joined by Roel van Mastbergen of Senile Team to discover how a homemade MS-DOS tribute to Streets of Rage exploded to around a million players, crashed two servers and evolved into OpenBOR. Roel also reveals how the project led him into Dreamcast development, the fate of Age of the Beast and what’s next with Hypno Tiles.
Senile Team: https://www.senileteam.com/
Zoom Platform: https://www.zoom-platform.com/
Contents:
00:00 – The Week’s Retro News Stories
45:17 - Beats of Rage Interview
Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show:
Bitmap Books – https://www.bitmapbooks.com
Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com for all your PCB needs
London Gaming Market: https://www.londongamingmarket.com/
We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you’d like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://theretrohour.com/support/
https://www.patreon.com/retrohour
Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8
Website: http://theretrohour.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/
X: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.com
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour
Show notes
 
Hyperion and Amiga Corp Settle: https://lnk.ua/Vw6jkv8IW
Xbox 360 Games Hit PC: https://lnk.ua/XCLKsRbJK
Varta Goes Bust: https://lnk.ua/5ry9AQidd
New Amiga Bullet-Hell Shooter: https://lnk.ua/YLQhUYBU
SpeccyDate: https://lnk.ua/mFt16xLaI
Atari World Championship Announced: https://lnk.ua/MVLR87zko
Jaguar Doom Gets Improved: https://lnk.ua/X0cCtGX46

This week, we’re joined by Veronica from the brilliant YouTube channel Veronica Explains for a journey through a lifetime of tinkering with technology. Veronica shares stories of growing up in a family of programmers, exploring the early Internet through Prodigy and GeoCities, inheriting a 50-year-old COBOL codebase, her love of the Commodore 64 and Amiga, the lost art of the computer manual, and why older computers often encouraged us to understand, repair and truly own the technology we used. 
Veronica Explains: https://veronicaexplains.net/
https://www.youtube.com/@VeronicaExplains
Contents:
00:00 – The Week’s Retro News Stories
50:17 – Veronica Explains Interview
Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show:
Bitmap Books – https://www.bitmapbooks.com
Go to https://surfshark.com/retrohour or use code RETROHOUR at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!
Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com for all your PCB needs
PlayEXPO Blackpool: https://www.playexpoblackpool.com/
We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you’d like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://theretrohour.com/support/
https://www.patreon.com/retrohour
Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8
Website: http://theretrohour.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/
X: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.com
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour
Show notes
Xbox Backwards Compatibility Expands: https://lnk.ua/TLKK3aUEz
Ruff ’n’ Tumble 2026: https://lnk.ua/mRTXvpXvM
3DO Classic Comes To Jaguar: https://lnk.ua/1usp847sO
Conker 64 Footage Surfaces: https://lnk.ua/9Lb4R3KoH
Sega Rally On Mega Drive: https://lnk.ua/NlQIztuNF
Rare Nintendo FamicomBox Discovered: https://lnk.ua/dD0ixsVqO
Homemade PS4 OLED Handheld: https://lnk.ua/qdxKaI6ME

This week's guest is Haz Dulull whose career has taken him from creating FMV and cinematics for games like Colin McRae Rally and Battalion Wars, to working on blockbuster films including The Dark Knight, Prince of Persia and The Chronicles of Narnia. He's returned to his gaming roots with his colourful new SNES style shoot ‘em up, AstroBurn. 
Astroburn: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3810660/Astro_Burn/
Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust: https://lnk.ua/zrymFBq2V
Contents:
00:00 – The Week’s Retro News Stories
50:36 – Haz Dulull Interview
Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show:
Bitmap Books – https://www.bitmapbooks.com
Go to https://surfshark.com/retrohour or use code RETROHOUR at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!
Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com for all your PCB needs
PlayEXPO Blackpool: https://www.playexpoblackpool.com/
We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you’d like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://theretrohour.com/support/
https://www.patreon.com/retrohour
Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8
Website: http://theretrohour.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/
X: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.com
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour
Show notes
Monkey Ball Comes to Dreamcast: https://lnk.ua/ux2w9vqz0
Gloom Reforged Returns: https://lnk.ua/sVe6F0iTq
Super Mario 64 on 3DO: https://lnk.ua/D3uCVFFQo
The End of GAME: https://lnk.ua/EFsnZaDj6
Stains of Decay: https://lnk.ua/8Z1zOF5iX
Lemmings on Pico-8: https://lnk.ua/wqGRgWysw
Dungeon Lurker Interview: https://lnk.ua/U53TAZvj8
 
Patrons news
Blink-182 Team Up With Pac-Man For Arcade Collaboration:  https://lnk.ua/B0qOtMAeh
Lemmings Reloaded Updates: https://lnk.ua/bfmMiD1BH