Retrovolve – Half-Glass Gaming [Episode 12] : What's Heroic About Getting Your Finger Bitten Off?

The DuckTales Moon Theme Is the Best Piece of 8-Bit Music Ever Written

It’s no secret that I have an extraordinary passion for DuckTales. It’s also no secret that I have a fondness for 8-bit music. So I think it’s safe to say that the following statement comes with a heaping side of bias: The “Moon Theme” from Capcom’s DuckTales NES game is the most perfect piece of 8-bit music ever written. Let’s be honest here: Anyone who enjoys 8-bit music simply must find this fantastic: And if that doesn’t do it for you, here’s an electric guitar version that will put a smile on your face (unless you have absolutely no soul): And

June 29, 2014

Power Stone 2 Is Everything I Want Super Smash Bros. to Be

Technically speaking, Smash Bros. predates Power Stone 2. While the original Power Stone made its debut in 1999, the sequel wasn’t released until 2000, one year after the first Smash Bros. title. They were two similar games that happened to come out around the same time, and it’s unlikely that either title influenced the other in any way. Still, I can’t help but feel that Smash Bros. could learn a few things from Power Stone. I love every game in the Smash franchise, but none of them have ever compared to the feeling of four-player Power Stone 2. It doesn’t matter

June 22, 2014

I Never Thought the Hoverbike Sequence in Battletoads Was All That Hard

There was this part in the third stage of Battletoads where you had to pilot a hoverbike through a series of jumps and obstacles, and your speed would continue to increase as the level progressed. This hoverbike challenge has gone down in history as one of the most frustratingly difficult video game segments ever made. The thing is, I never really found it that difficult. Now, it probably sounds like I’m just bragging here (and that’s probably valid), but I say it to make a point about the 8-bit and 16-bit game era: The games weren’t necessarily difficult, per se,

July 3, 2012

3/4 of the gang returns from the Minnesota Renaissance Festival with tales aplenty. We drank mead, we threw axes, and we may have run into a familiar friend. Is Pillowcase Head single now? We think so.

Our Ren Fest activities lead into a discussion of The Lord of the Rings, and how the laziness of the Bard of Gondor will forever tarnish the Baggins name. Other post-Ren Fest topics include sexual attraction to fantasy tropes and Shovel Knight. Of course, Shovel Knight reminds us that a listener requested an episode on platformers, so we attempt to deliver one. Did you know that the platformer is kind of a hard genre to define once you start getting into it? Did you know there’s also a platformer-like genre called the comical action game? Did you know that over the course of a single meeting, Bubsy 4 morphed into Syphon Filter?

Yes, we discuss all this and more in the 12th episode of the Half-Glass Gaming podcast. We wager you’ll love it!

To keep the conversation going, or to tell your own tales of Ren Fest gone good or bad, contact us on Twitter. We’d love to hear from you.

Josh (The Forward Thinker)

Rev. Rebecca Nathaniel (The Nostalgic Alcoholic)

Julian (The Moderator)

Mandi (The Research Assistant)

To see a full list of games mentioned in this episode, visit the Half-Glass Gaming website.

And stop back next week: New episodes air every Wednesday.

Jimmy Mamatas

I’m honored that you took on one of my suggestions. I really enjoyed the first Bubsy game when I was a kid and the fact that it’s now widely considered to be mediocre is news to me. I prefer it over Syphon Filter. Another great and educational episode!
- Josh Wirtanen
  
  Yes, I enjoyed Bubsy quite a bit. I haven’t gone back to it in several years, but I remember it fondly. I was as surprised as you were to find so much retroactive hate for it.
  
  Also, thanks for the episode idea! I could see us also doing an adventure games episode in the future, since Mandi has played a bajillion of them, and I’ve played a lot of really obscure ones.
Tyrant

Since you like Atlus I was wondering if you played Catherine? Its like a platformer but you climb instead of jump.
- JulianWhatThe
  
  I’ve heard Catherine is akin to a Q-Bert dating sim. But then again I hear a lot of things, very little of which is true..
  - Tyrant Fluffy Pants
    
    Rofl, if Q-bert had sex, alcohol and jumping on boxes.
    - Josh Wirtanen
      
      Q-Bert has at least 33% of those things, hahaha!
- Josh Wirtanen
  
  I played the Catherine demo back before the game came out. It was fantastic, and I’ve been meaning to go back to it ever since. I just keep getting distracted by other games. (Currently trying to finish the Witcher 3 before the DLC comes out!)
  - Tyrant Fluffy Pants
    
    Its hard as fuck like Demon’s Souls and the story is really good. Catherine good end is the best one though and everything else isn’t as good after that.
discipleofpizza

Julian is wrong, there is platforming in The Witcher like in the mountains and in Skellige
where you fight the sirens. I don’t like it because Geralt never grabs a ledge when you
want him to.
- Josh Wirtanen
  
  Funny thing! I was wandering around in Skellege shortly after this episode aired, and I found a bunch of legit platforming stuff! I think we’ll address that in the next episode.
Jelly Genesis

Wow. I never thought I’d gear a video game podcast namedrop Max Fleischer.
- Mandi Odoerfer
  
  Old Fleischer cartoons are my favorite! I still can’t believe how good the Fleischer & Famous Superman cartoons look!