Explore classic text adventure games from legendary publishers and authors including Magnetic Scrolls, Level 9, Infocom, Scott Adams, and Interplay. A podcast for fans of GET LAMP, Eaten By a Grue, The Classic Adventurer, Renga In Blue, and Quest For Clues.
Episodes
7 days ago
7 days ago
Dave and Jason make another transatlantic cultural exchange in this episode, beginning with the youth-oriented Windham Classics' Swiss Family Robinson before heading to the deadly grownup world of Norse mythology for Legend's Valhalla.
Valhalla playable online (ZX Spectrum)
Tuesday Sep 17, 2024
Tuesday Sep 17, 2024
In this interview episode (cruelly cut short by an impatient harbormaster) we barely scratch the surface of the careers of the legendary power couple of adventure gaming. Jason speaks with Roberta and Ken Williams of On-Line Systems / Sierra On-Line fame. We touch on chapters from the late 1970s to present day, including the first text/graphics adventures on the Apple II to King's Quest and Phantasmagoria, and the new reimagined Colossal Cave published by Cygnus Entertainment.
Farewell to Tara by Roberta Williams
Thursday Aug 22, 2024
Thursday Aug 22, 2024
Dave and Jason take on a pair of BBC Micro originals from the early 1980s in this episode, with the appetizer course of Acornsoft's first adventure game Sphinx Adventure by Paul Fellows, followed by the main course of Twin Kingdom Valley by Trevor Hall.
Saturday Jun 08, 2024
Saturday Jun 08, 2024
Tim Gilberts published legendary text adventure creation systems The Quill and Professional Adventure Writer (PAW) through family publishing house Gilsoft in the 1980s. These products became the basis for hundreds of commercial games, many developed and sold as part of a late direct-to-consumer wave of adventure development in the late 1980s into the 1990s. Dave and Jason discuss with Tim the origins of The Quill and its successors, the reasons for its success and lasting impact, and Tim's connections to gaming today.
Sunday May 26, 2024
Sunday May 26, 2024
Dave and Jason seek revenge on the dread pirate Skarvench and go on an interplanetary hunt for the mysterious Wing. This episode of The Retro Adventurers explores the neo-retro title Down Among the Dead Men (originally published as a Virtual Reality Adventures gamebook in 1993, converted into ZIL (Zork Implementation Language) and Z-Machine binary format in 2020 by SD Separa) and the oft-overlooked Interplay launch title The Tracer Sanction, originally published by Activision.
The Tracer Sanction playable online
Down Among the Dead Men (includes play link)
Transporter by Andrew Laker (includes play link)
Solution and map for Transporter
Friday May 17, 2024
Friday May 17, 2024
Scott Adams of Adventure International and Clopas fame joins Dave and Jason for a conversation on this episode of The Retro Adventurers. We discuss the rise and fall of Adventure International, the Marvel Comics relationship behind the Questprobe games featuring The Hulk, Spider-Man, and The Human Torch & The Thing, building international business relationships, and more.
>GO WEST
You are in an office.
Big Tall Jim Shooter is here.
Stereotypical by Clopas (in development)
Adventure International (Mobygames profile)
Friday Apr 26, 2024
Friday Apr 26, 2024
Retro Adventurers Jason Compton and Dave Hawkins explore iconic early text adventure The Hobbit (by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler, adapted from the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien) and Planet of Death (by Richard Turner and Chris Thornton).
Includes listener mail, an explanation for postponing the promised Knight Orc, and a dive into both games.
Special thanks to Robin Harbron of 8-Bit Show and Tell for final engineering.
Links
Planet of Death playable ZX81 edition
The Hobbit playable Spectrum 128 enhanced edition
Renga in Blue's Planet of Death finale (featuring "Dusty Bin")
Saturday Apr 06, 2024
Saturday Apr 06, 2024
(Please note that Episode 1 has some audio issues which are ironed out in future episodes.)
The premiere of The Retro Adventurers. Three old-school gamers talk about text adventures they have loved, hated, or are just experiencing for the first time. In this episode, Ben Collier, Jason Compton, and Dave Hawkins take a look at early text adventure Around the World and the first Magnetic Scrolls adventure, The Pawn.
Includes news, biographical notes, and a dive into both games.
Links
Infocom Z-Machine interpreter source code
Softside adventure archive including Around the World (Apple II emulator image)
Welcome, keyboard warriors!
The Retro Adventurers is a podcast for everyone who has battled fading lanterns, unmappable mazes, and verb selection. Join us to celebrate text adventures from the peak years of the 1970s and 1980s as well as throwbacks from the modern age. Follow us on Facebook or write contact@retroadventurers.com.