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Mad greets, kids. Uh… I mean, hello! I'm back onto more of an optimal production schedule again, and here is the latest Super NES Works episode to prove it. I do need to re-render/re-upload it to correct the "next episode" date (sorry, but episode 14 won't be launching 3 days ago), but I did want to send this out despite the error so you can enjoy it before hunkering down for holiday time. That is, if you'll be celebrating holidays this weekend. I don't want to makes assumptions, here.

This episode is kind of my platonic ideal for what this series should be. It's not just a retrospective about the game, but about this specific version of Populous. I had the occasion to interview Yukio Horimoto of Infinity a couple of years ago, and he mentioned the important role that Populous for Super NES played in his company's history. I tucked that nugget away to use here.

If I had my way, every single one of these videos would offer secondhand insights (or even firsthand!) into the studios responsible for creating these old games, but until the videos become a lot more profitable, it simply isn't financially viable for me to travel the world interviewing the people behind obscure studios doing thankless contract work. I guess that's a weird dream to have, but it's mine. Maybe once I win the lottery or something.

In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy this rare glimpse of what Retronauts Video Chronicles could be. And please enjoy the coming holidays, whichever and however you choose to celebrate! I'll have one more video for you before the year closes out. 

Edit: Fixed!

Files

Populous retrospective: Foster the Papal | Super NES Works #013

A look at Nintendo's very own console conversion of Peter Molyneux's god-sim, Populous. Wedged in between the superlative SimCity and the excellent ActRaiser, Populous admittedly struggles a bit to hold its own among its peers. But all credit goes to developer Infinity, who did a bang-up job with the conversion and used this as the cornerstone of a brief but well-intended career transforming Western PC games into forms suitable for Japanese gamers.

Comments

Steve Martin

If thinks the SNES version is the worst, what does that make the Game Boy version that you'll eventually be presenting?