Early access: Retronauts episode 85 (Patreon)

Hey everyone, it's Jeremy here, with your early episode for this week. You may notice that this follows on from Bob's full-length Wii episode from last time, and yet it is not a Micro episode. That's because — thanks to your generosity and support, we're all full-length episodes — all the time. And we're only a short distance away from bringing back biweekly Micros on top of that. What incredible times we live in!

Anyway, this episode delves into the history of Activision. I think there tends to be a bit of snobbery where Activision is concerned, given the nature of the company these days — all annualized mega-hits, all the time — but it's important to remember just how good and how innovative Activision was at the time of its inception. Third parties became a viable concept in large part thanks to the extraordinary example Activision set, and the legal hurdles it overcame! Steve Lin and Jaz Rignall join me and Bob this time around to look back over those early days and the impact of games like Pitfall! and River Raid.