Homebrew Game Club
A podcast about new games for old consoles. We're three friends exploring brand-new, original, aftermarket games for retro systems, as well as the quirky communities that create them. Each month we pick a game to play and discuss our experiences with it, on consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Atari 2600, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, and more. Play along with us and discover these great new old games for yourself!
Episodes
The gang reviews Justice Duel, a Joust-inspired arena combat game for the NES from 2017, set in a techno-dystopian America dominated by unhinged AI presidents riding giant eagles. Or something like that. Wait, is this still satire?
Physical versions available from Mega Cat Studios.
As always, find links to our social media and more at: http://homebrewgameclub.com
The gang interviews Chris Totten, Associate Professor of Game Design at Kent State University and the creator of recent Game Club pick Kudzu. This far-ranging conversation touches on GB Studio development, game design as a field of study, publishing indie games, introducing Gen Z students to retro gaming, a possible Kudzu sequel, and many other topics.
This episode has a transcript! You can download the PDF here.
Nick and Bart discuss their trip to the 2025 Midwest Gaming Classic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a convention that's surprisingly become an annual destination event for homebrew fans. After the break, a special guest returns to the podcast (with a slightly deeper voice than last time).
Cover image drawing by Nate Ehlers.
Music break: Shooting Starlight by Tappy - 8 Bit Music Power Final (RIKI Collection, Famicom, 2017)
Bart, Conor, and Nick don their detective hats for Inspector Waffles: Early Days for the Game Boy Color. Tune in as the gang solves the paw-some mystery of just how many cat puns three grown men can handle. Can they make it through with their wits intact, or will it be a cat-astrophe?
Still need to play the game? Find it on Steam or GOG, or get the ROM (and a free demo) at itch.io.
Physical copies are available from Broke Stu...
The gang takes on The Storied Sword for NES and Dreamcast, a Princess Bride-inspired tribute to Ninja Gaiden and Sunsoft's Batman. Is "NES hard" too extreme for modern gamers? Inconceivable!
Still need to play the game? Get links to all physical and digital versions (including a free demo) at Bitethechili.com.
We did a livestream playthrough of this one back in April 2024. Check it out here.
Here's the video trailer Bart and Ni...
After a long, unscheduled break, the Game Club grabs their gardening hats and Birkenstocks to take on Kudzu, a top-down Game Boy adventure set among the vines. Also: Should Nick get another Switch? Or a Steam Deck? A short discussion with an obvious conclusion.
Still need to play the game? Find links to the demo, digital, and physical versions here.
For more about Chris Totten and his work, check out his website.
And you can wi...
Bart and Conor seize the mic to fill dead air with topics suggested by the HBGC Discord audience. Enjoy the ride as our mutinous hosts chat away in the spirit of "We can say whatever we want, because Nick's never going to post this."
This episode has chapters, so feel free to skip any of it. Or all of it. Topics include:
Generative AI (The forbidden topic)
Hot sauces
Coffee
Irish and / or English Breakfasts
Ethnic food in the UK
...In this episode of the Game Club, the gang takes on Courier, a cyberpunk adventure for NES by Khan Games. There’s also a half-baked conversation about AI-generated art that should be inconclusive enough to irritate our entire audience. After the end credits, please enjoy Bart’s short and sticky review of “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.”
Still need to play Courier? Get the game here.
For more Khan Games, check out Kevin's we...
The Game Club takes on Flea! and Tapeworm Disco Puzzle for NES and Dreamcast, two entertaining games about adorable parasitic vermin.
You can find links and information for both at the Lowtek Games website.
Our next Game Club pick is Courier for NES. Get it here.
Check out Nick's livestream playthrough of Flea! on the HBGC YouTube channel.
Here's a shot of that limited edition transparent cartridge (including audio cassette...
In the first-ever live HBGC show, the gang interviews NES developers John Vanderhoef and Greg Caldwell. John is the Byte Off Award-winning creator of the Orebody series, including Hunt the Wampus, Orebody: Binder's Tale, and Oratorio. Greg Caldwell is a member of Retrotainment Games, developers of classic homebrew titles Full Quiet, Haunted Halloween '85 and '86, and Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale G...
Special guest host Chris (aka Deadeye) joins Conor and Nick for a deep dive into Retrotainment Games’ brilliant but baffling Full Quiet for NES. Conor reveals his new game design concept (the F.A.R.T.W.A.L.K.), Nick dusts off his memories of Russian literature, and Chris… probably isn’t used to this amount of profanity in a homebrew podcast.
Still need to play Full Quiet? Find it on Steam, Nintendo e-Shop, or Xbox, or get the cart...
In this extra special bonus episode, Conor, Bart, and Nick scour the "Ask the Podcast" channel from the HBGC Discord server to catch up on unanswered questions over the last year. Questions like: How long should a homebrew game be? What's your favorite video game movie? Is Atari still Atari? And what's your desert island laundry detergent? The gang even employs artificial intelligence to answer the most pressing q...
The Game Club whets their appetites for cyberpunk cool with the demo for Courier, a hackeriffic new adventure for NES from Khan Games.
Courier is available on Kickstarter until January 31, 2024. Grab your copy here.
The gang takes on three very short but action-packed shoot 'em ups: Omega Blast for the Mega Drive, Dangan GB2 for the Game Boy Color, and Flight of Pigarus for the Master System. We also reveal the winners of our 2023 shoot 'em ups high score competition!
Still need to play the games? All are available as free downloads here:
The Game Club takes on Doodle World and Kubo 3, two NESmaker games created with contributions from children. But are we the right audience for this type of game? We invite some guest experts on the show to discuss.
Still need to play the games? Find Doodle World here.
And here’s the link to Kubo 3.
Our next Game Club picks will be shoot ‘em ups Flight of Pigarus, Omega Blast, and Dangan GB2. Join the high score tournament on our Di...
The Game Club takes on three iterations of Nathan Tolbert's Zelda-inspired Anguna series on the Game Boy Advance, Atari 2600, and Nintendo Entertainment System. Conor attempts to define the "walkie-pokey" genre, Nick has a question about where those arrows are coming from, and Bart shares a wholesome story about George Clooney and a litter box.
Still need to play Anguna? Find links to all versions here: https://w...
Twitter, now rebranded "X," has been an important avenue for homebrewers and other indie game developers to connect with each other and promote their work. Tech industry veterans Conor and Nick discuss the decline of the app under Elon Musk, the rise of alternative platforms, and what it might all mean for the homebrew community.
This is an update of a similar episode from December 2022. Find that one in our feed, o...
Game Boy developer Ben Jelter joins the gang for a wide-ranging discussion on… Lots of things. Things like: Game design, GB Studio, his favorite homebrews, how to stay productive as a creative professional, hacker movies, the illusion of choice, Just World Theory, and what retro console he’s interested in developing for next (you won’t guess what it is). Oh, and we also talk about his excellent game The Machine, covered in depth on...
The Game Club takes on The Machine, a dystopian sci-fi dark comedy for the Game Boy Color with surprising depth. Conor theorizes on how to keep hippies from turning into cannibals, Bart clarifies that we’re not watching a completely unrelated movie, and Nick embraces ethically compromised decision making.
Still need to play the game? Get it here: https://incube8games.com/collections/the-machine
Kevin Hanley, creator of NEScape! and co-host of the Assembly Line podcast, joins the Game Club to talk about his history as a developer, what he’s working on next, and why he thinks we’re in a “golden age” for NES homebrew.
Our NEScape! livestream from March 2022: https://youtu.be/xnHryQBMcyE
Kevin Hanley's website, where you can download many of his games for free: https://www.khangames.com/
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