This Week in Retro

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An exclusive reveal this week as ex-Melbourne House/BEAM Software developer Tony Smales shares an in-depth tour of the never-released Arcade Wizzard pinball game for Commodore 64! We also look at the definitive overview of the rise and fall of the Sega Dreamcast and explore home computer shopping in 1998. 

00:00 - Show Opening

08:21 - Pinball Lost and Found
Story Link: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2026/06/three-big-commodore-64-recoveries/

40:09 - Sega’s Nightmare
Story Link: https://youtu.be/tcOtWuNlUF0?is=O4C-puLKHHWyGIV4

Rumoured handheld: https://www.notebookcheck.net/SEGA-rumor-new-2D-retro-handheld-with-physical-cartridges.1317101.0.html

53:12 - Housekeeping - News links found below

01:00:29 - 1998 Computer Shopping
Story Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpLew7igK-w

01:20:19 - Community Question of the Week

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Jason - https://www.youtube.com/@TheRetroAdventurers

Audio Podcast:
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Subscribe to the audio version of the show!
📻 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-retro/id1526487568?uo=4
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This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

Atari 2600 chess (again): https://www.pcmag.com/news/chatgpt-gets-absolutely-wrecked-in-chess-match-with-1978-atari

GentleOS: https://github.com/luke8086/gentleos32

AGP on Windows 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs4bqCEnvUA

THEA1200 prototype video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy07UEd6rng

Spray-on Retrobrite: https://youtu.be/L5anoqGw-hc?is=pkPR7AtAbArCOUgX

Sealed NES Super Mario auction: https://www.theverge.com/games/949593/super-mario-bros-3-million-auction

LEGO Batman C64 Easter egg: https://bsky.app/profile/cabel.panic.com/post/3mnpxqsbwok2i

Episode Credits

"Sega-dreamcast-set" by Asim Saleem (Asim18) is licensed under CC BY 3.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/?ref=openverse.

By Evan-Amos - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17385690

This week's guest Jason Timmons has quietly built up Vintage Computer Festival Midwest (https://vcfmw.org/) into the world's largest annual retro computing event. He joins the crew to talk about the end the line for the revived Checkmate Amiga case, the surprising differences in teletext penetration in the United States vs. the United Kingdom, and a look at the "overrated?" Amiga 500 Batman Pack.

Visit https://www.addict.media/ for your copy of Pixel Addict magazine.

00:00 - Show Opening

09:48 - Checkmate Check Out
Story Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOssyAw8LoQ

33:05 - Teletext Admiration Society
Story Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCZEHoolBCg

54:18 - Housekeeping - News links found below

58:23 - Holy Clickbait Batman!
Story Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QY3Ud7zNQM

01:17:38 - Community Question of the Week

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Youtube:
Chris - https://www.youtube.com/@005AGIMA
Jason - https://www.youtube.com/@TheRetroAdventurers

Audio Podcast:
https://retroadventurers.podbean.com/

Subscribe to the audio version of the show!
📻 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-retro/id1526487568?uo=4
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This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

Daytona USA Recomp: https://youtu.be/p0U5ltlUf30

Family Computing 1998: https://youtu.be/IpLew7igK-w

Metal Slug Vodafone Live: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/06/the-small-sprites-are-really-cute-a-long-forgotten-mobile-port-of-metal-slug-has-been-rescued-from-the-digital-abyss

Red Dwarf Adventure pitch: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/06/the-devs-behind-loco-motive-once-pitched-a-red-dwarf-adventure-game-and-it-looks-smeggin-brilliant

Older gamers: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/06/i-think-they-are-missing-a-trick-evercade-boss-says-the-games-industry-is-failing-older-players

Commodore 64 spellchecker: https://github.com/johnwbyrd/bloomer

Stop Killing Games: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8e8e7g0r82o

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Welcoming back guest Iain Lee (www.iainlee.com)  after too long away, we revisit Nintendo's all-too-brief commitment to low-cost crowd-pleasing mini consoles, explore the surprising history of videoconferencing and remote collaboration for Microsoft NetMeeting's 30th anniversary, and find out what made an octogenarian game developer sit down at the keys and settle unfinished business.

00:00 - Show Opening

05:54 - Why A Mini?
Story Link: https://nintendoeverything.com/former-nintendo-exec-confirms-nes-and-snes-classics-were-made-to-sustain-the-companys-business/

18:38 - See You Online
Story Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhay6VryyvE
Microsoft memo: https://sriramk.com/memos/CU-NET.pdf

40:25 - Housekeeping - News links found below

47:03 - Head Over Heels 2
Story Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SwQKv36bEU
Game release: https://thalamusdigital.itch.io/return-to-blacktooth-amiga 

55:12 - Community Question of the Week

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https://bsky.app/profile/jasoncompton.bsky.social

Youtube:
Chris - https://www.youtube.com/@005AGIMA
Jason - https://www.youtube.com/@TheRetroAdventurers

Audio Podcast:
https://retroadventurers.podbean.com/

Subscribe to the audio version of the show!
📻 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-retro/id1526487568?uo=4
📻 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2OPQ3cADaB92E9SpRdTe5y
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📻 Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/show/5734337
📻 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/TWIR/feed.xml
📻 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinRetro

This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

Ultima Underworld Unity: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/after-10-years-of-work-modders-have-remade-classic-rpg-ultima-underworld-in-unity-with-3d-models-new-sound-effects-and-controller-support

UU project: https://kweepa.itch.io/unity-underground

Lenovo handheld: ​​https://www.t3.com/tech/gaming-consoles/lenovo-pulls-its-controversial-g02-retro-handheld-from-sale-starting-a-chain-reaction-that-could-decimate-the-retro-gaming-market

Anbernic handheld spec: https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/handheld-gaming/gaming-handhelds-are-quietly-losing-ram-vendors-aggressively-trim-memory-specs-as-supply-dries-up

War of the Worlds: https://michel-molenaar.itch.io/war-of-the-worlds-c64

PD-64 power supply: https://github.com/sideprojectslab/PD-64

Dan Wood on Commodore OS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Lw-Zl7tCM

Commodore OS homepage: https://commodoreos.net

Amiag Unix 2.02 found: https://hackaday.com/2026/05/25/lost-version-of-amiga-unix-suddenly-reappears/

Amstrad PPC640 US edition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tt874nkplo

Rob Smith PaulaNET video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhAg-fT83o8

PaulaNET project: https://github.com/caddy666/Nebula32

Episode Credits

Parts of "Microsoft NetMeeting was WAY more important than you think" courtesy of The Serial Port.
See the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhay6VryyvE

Exclusive hardware development news caps a retro kit roundup this week which includes news of a MiSTer handheld from Heber along with updates on the PicoCPC, PicoIDE, and PicoGUS projects. In other news we take a closer look at reimagined Atic Atac and Wolfenstein 3D, and explore the many wild and wonderful corners of operating systems in the Virtual OS Museum.

00:00 - Show Opening

03:54 - Give Us A Hand Mister?
Story Link: https://youtu.be/arSnNwDQS2k
Wide Boy: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YxGXvZRs4UI

20:22 - Run (Almost) Every Operating System!
Story Link: http://virtualosmuseum.org

39:11 - Housekeeping - News links found below

44:33 - From 2D To 3D And Back
Story Link: https://stephensmith.itch.io/atic-atac-3d
Additional link: https://www.moddb.com/mods/isowulf 

57:34 - Community Question of the Week

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https://bsky.app/profile/jasoncompton.bsky.social

Youtube:
Chris - https://www.youtube.com/@005AGIMA
Jason - https://www.youtube.com/@TheRetroAdventurers

Audio Podcast:
https://retroadventurers.podbean.com/

Subscribe to the audio version of the show!
📻 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-retro/id1526487568?uo=4
📻 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2OPQ3cADaB92E9SpRdTe5y
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📻 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/TWIR/feed.xml
📻 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinRetro

This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

Autodesk EAGLE end of support: https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Autodesk-EAGLE-Announcement-Next-steps-and-FAQ.html

386 microcode: https://nand2mario.github.io/posts/2026/z386/

Amiga 500 receipt: https://i.redd.it/dhez6wdhoq2h1.jpeg 

Atari ST clone "Raven": https://hackaday.com/2026/05/24/meet-the-raven-an-atari-clone-computer-based-on-the-motorola-68060/

S3 BIOS Snake: https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/retro-enthusiast-injects-snake-game-into-vintage-s3-graphics-card-vbios-enjoy-some-serpentum-fun-while-your-old-pc-boots

Apple II clone laptop: https://8086cpu.com/Z80/6502/110.html

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If you've had a hard time getting arcade cabinet purchases past "The Accountant" (as Chris affectionately calls Nicky) a new transformable design from furniture to fun on Kickstarter may be the solution. In addition to the marital politics of arcade ownership, this unprecedented episode of This Week in Retro also takes on the international politics of song through LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER's retro tech-themed contribution to Eurovision and the Australian politics of microcomputer innovation, which culminated in "The Matilda." All this, a Minty Cyberdeck, a replacement for the Atari POKEY, and more!

ERRATA: Jason accidentally says "Atari 2600" at 19:22. He of course meant to say "Atari 600XL," the 16k microcomputer.

00:00 - Show Opening

01:47 - Small Solutions To Big Tech Problems
Story Link: https://newatlas.com/games/swap-arcade-gaming-system-folds-into-cabinet/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amat/swap-arcade-full-arcade-that-turns-into-a-furniture-cabinet/description 
Swap Arcade Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amat/swap-arcade-full-arcade-that-turns-into-a-furniture-cabinet
Minty Cyberdeck: https://hackaday.io/project/205598-altoids-tin-mini-cyberdeck

14:34 - From Beetles to Bees
Story Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idt-g_UQbqw
Aussie JSW: https://jswcentral.org/jsw48-a-59_aussiecousin.html

23:06 - Housekeeping - News links found below

28:16 - Look Mum, One Point!
Story Link: https://news.sky.com/story/who-is-look-mum-no-computer-the-electro-frankenstein-hoping-to-end-uks-eurovision-drought-13544400
Furby Organ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYLBjScgb7o

34:30 - Community Question of the Week

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Follow your hosts!
Bluesky:
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https://bsky.app/profile/jasoncompton.bsky.social

Youtube:
Chris - https://www.youtube.com/@005AGIMA
Jason - https://www.youtube.com/@TheRetroAdventurers

Audio Podcast:
https://retroadventurers.podbean.com/

Subscribe to the audio version of the show!
📻 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-retro/id1526487568?uo=4
📻 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2OPQ3cADaB92E9SpRdTe5y
📻 Podbean: https://twir.podbean.com
📻 Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/show/5734337
📻 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/TWIR/feed.xml
📻 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinRetro

This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

Isometric Wolf3D: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S59w7Qeu9D4

Atic Atac 3D: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EofGuoLeSrQ

Vacuum tubes: https://hackaday.com/2026/05/11/the-vacuum-tubes-last-stands/

ThamesTV 1980s Computers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_IzLdfVK2k

Windows CE on Nintendo 64: https://hackaday.com/2026/05/17/running-windows-ce-on-the-nintendo-64/

Digital Press forums offline: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/05/thanks-for-destroying-your-own-legacy-quarter-century-of-online-gaming-history-vanishes-as-digital-press-forum-goes-dark

JUST_POKEY: https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=431

Infocom novels online: https://www.reddit.com/r/zork/comments/1tbv4cb/classic_zork_novels_now_in_ebook_format/