Home Artists Posts Import Register

Downloads

Content

Well, whaddya know. It's another episode about a media property.

OK, but not really. Unlike some of our recent episodes about movies and TV, this one is entirely about the related game… because really, who cares about Tom Cruise's attempt to reboot The Mummy? The game, on the other hand, is very much a Retronauts kinda thing, which is why I wanted to talk to its designers. It can be tough to line up interviews with developers who worked on licensed games back in the day — where would we even find the designer of, say, Batman for NES? But since WayForward made a deliberate attempt to evoke the spirit of Super NES licensed games with The Mummy Demastered, it's very much relevant to this show, and I enjoyed talking about the logistics of creating a game that dabbles in a big movie studio's world.

Also on tap this week: A brief conversation with Zack Manko of Megacat Studios, a company that creates a remarkable number of all-new modern-day releases for NES and Genesis. If you've been to a classic games convention, you've probably seen their work on sale! 

I realize this was two interview episodes in a row, which I've tried to avoid. With this episode, we're resetting the publication schedule, basically. Going forward, you can expect Monday podcasts to follow a reliable schedule: 

  • "Classic" Retronauts hosted by Bob
  • A Retronauts East episode
  • "Classic" Retronauts hosted by me
  • A "wildcard" episode that can include interviews, music reviews, or whatever else strikes our fancy

We'll try to keep things varied so you don't get bored. In the meantime, enjoy the show! — JP

Description: Jeremy visits WayForward's offices to speak to Austin Ivansmith and Tomm Hulett making a modern-day licensed "16-bit" platformer with The Mummy Demastered, then chats with Megacat's Zack Manko about his studio's modern-day home-brewed NES games.

Files

Comments

Will Oliver

I'm loving these episodes with current "retro" topics like this and the Limited Run games show. I look (way) forward to more of these along with the retrospectives.

Anonymous

Haven't listened to the episode yet, so I'm not sure if you guys addressed it in the interview, but I took to heart Jeremy's very fair review of the Mummy: Demastered (last Oct 2017) and chose not to purchase the game, despite it looking gorgeous. I did recall that last month (Feb 2018), Wayforward dropped a massive update that pretty much addressed the initial balance-problems Jeremy pointed out. I'm really excited to dive into the episode now, and perhaps finally download the game with the new update patched-in. For reference, the updates, as listed by Nintendolife.com are: - Initial load time has been drastically reduced. - HD Rumble added to Nintendo Switch version - Revamped the death mechanic: - - Health Packs regained from Undead Agents default to full - - Weapons Regained from Undead Agents have more ammo - - Undead Agents health more fairly balanced, based on number of Health Packs they are holding - Health drops are more fairly balanced - Spawn Frequency of Bats, Ravens, and Spiders re-balanced - HP of all bosses has been re-balanced - Game performance greatly increased Really proud to be a supporter of Retronauts, with Jeremy, Bob, friends of the show & the rest of the full-time & part-time crew, especially with how these guys aren't scared to tell it how it is, but still be welcoming and open to allow developers a chance to just talk about their love for their games, and their love for games in general. None of this is ever personal, and it only helps push this industry on its way forward (hehe...my apologies.). Wearing my salmon pixelated dinosaur on a skateboard t-shirt with pride...

retronauts

That's great to hear. I originally kicked off Retronauts with the intent to link gaming's present to its past, but 10-12 years ago that really just meant looking at relevant remakes and sequels. Now, so many games (and recordings, and films) boldly wear their 8- and 16-bit influences on their sleeves… I think it makes sense for the show to expand its scope accordingly. Without abandoning our deep dives into actual old games, of course. — JP

Anonymous

While I love the podcast in general, and all the hard work you all obviously put in, the last few interview episodes -- WayForward for Shantae and Mummy and Limited Run Games -- have been some of my recent favorites. I live pretty close to the WayForward studios, and had no idea they were so close until the Shantae episode. I know there are a lot of game studios in and around L.A., but there's something about hearing about the success of a relatively small studio like WayForward that was refreshing. Unfortunately, I haven't played any of their games yet, but several are on my backlog (Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, Shantae: Risky's Revenge, and the Wii version of A Boy and His Blob). I think I'll move a few of those up the list to play them sooner, in part because of these interviews. And if The Mummy Demastered ever gets a physical release (Switch, please!), I'll definitely give that a look. As for Limited Run Games, I've been a follower and customer of theirs for a bit over a year now. I first heard about them when watching a YouTube video that included a spot about their release of Shadow Complex Remastered. For the first year or so after I heard about them I was one of the customers that purchased every release, even going to eBay and picking up the handful of games that came out before I found out about LRG. As Josh and Douglas brought up in the interview, I was among the group of customers that had to back off due to the density of the schedule. The frequency of releases, especially of games that don't align with my personal gaming tastes, made it impractical to keep up with everything. I still buy LRG releases, but I'm much more selective now. Fun WayForward and LRG connection: LRG published the physical versions of Shantae and the Pirate's Curse and Shantae: Risky's Revenge for PS4.

Anonymous

The interviews are great, I love how it kinda demystifys the whole process!

Anonymous

WayForward needs to make Doki Doki Mummy. I’d preorder that. Stat.