376 - A Mixed Bag of Hidden Gems

The games brought us there. The people made it special. Join the RGDS crew for our Arcade Club Meetup 2026, celebrating classic arcade gaming, catching up with friends and sharing our love of the machines that keep us coming back for "just one more go". Expect arcade chat, plenty of banter and the joy of getting fellow retro gamers together under one roof. Whether you joined us on the day or couldn't make it, pull up a chair and join the conversation. Insert coin, meet your mates — this is RGDS!

The continuing series of 8-Bit Underdogs returns.  This mini-series shines a light on lesser spoken about 8-bit home micros and their games.  This time round Kingy and Almac discuss the one and only Dragon 32. Games List: Time Bandit Downland Airball Backtrack Cuthbert in the Mines Cuthbert in the Cooler Draconian Ugh! Phantom Slayer The Dark Pit Shock Trooper Honourable, and very brief mentions: Chuckie Egg Jet Set Willy Manic Miner Buzzard Bait (Joust) Cuthbert in the Jungle (Pitfall) Donkey King (Donkey Kong)          

Four us make the show to talk all about our retro gaming room setups

Hosts: Paul Driscoll (The Drisk) & Garron Tungate (The G Man) The bugs are back… and this time they're taking over the show! In this swarm-tastic episode, The Drisk and The G Man dive headfirst into the sticky, six-legged world of classic bug-themed games. From arcade flyers to cartridge classics, we're covering a buzzing lineup of insect invaders, mechanical creepy-crawlies, and absolute chaos on screen. Games featured: Black Widow (Arcade Flyer) Buck Bumble (N64) Insector X (NES) Lady Bug (Arcade & ColecoVision) N2O: Nitrous Oxide (PS1) Yars' Revenge (Atari 2600) Mushihimesama (Arcade Flyer) Mr. Mosquito (PS2) Expect plenty of nostalgia, questionable game design choices, hilarious stories, and way too much talk about pixelated blood-sucking and robotic bees with jetpacks. Grab your virtual fly swatter and join us as we ask the important question: Can anything stop the bug invasion? Don't get squashed! 🐛🕷️🐝

  Join Kingy and Drisky as they dive back into the world of overlooked classics and forgotten favourites, this time exploring the rich history of Nintendo's consoles and handhelds, with one SEGA stop along the way. From futuristic racing and ninja action to bizarre dreamscapes and pinball adventures, the lads uncover a selection of hidden gems that deserve a place in every retro gamer's collection. The games featured are: GameCube – Wario World Game Boy Advance – Densetsu no Starfy 3 Nintendo 64 – F-Zero X Virtual Boy – Galactic Pinball Super Nintendo – Psycho Dream Game Boy – Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters Nintendo Entertainment System – Fire 'n Ice (Tecmo) Mega Drive – Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master  

Join Kingy and Drisky as they return to their favourite topic of hidden gems.  This time around, the guys have opted for various gaming systems instead of sticking with one. The games features are: The Factory - C64 Fast Eddie's Pool and Billiards - Amiga Rocky Rodent - SNES Rapid Reload - PS1 Slipstream - Arcade Cliffhanger - ZX Spectrum   Show notes: Moss Moss game - https://noelcody.itch.io/moss-moss    

Join Kingy and Drisky as they return to their favourite topic of hidden gems.  This time around, the guys have opted for various gaming systems instead of sticking with one. The games features are: The Factory - C64 Fast Eddie's Pool and Billiards - Amiga Rocky Rodent - SNES Rapid Reload - PS1 Slipstream - Arcade Cliffhanger - ZX Spectrum   Show notes: Moss Moss game - https://noelcody.itch.io/moss-moss    

🎙️ Love at First Byte Spectrum crushes, Amiga affairs, and the awkward romance of growing up digital What do you remember falling in love with first: your gaming system… or your teenage sweetheart? In Love at First Byte, Drisky and Kingy dust off the cassette tapes, fire up the disk drives, and confess their first proper loves – the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore Amiga. Along the way, things get uncomfortably honest as they compare late‑night loading screens to teenage dating, joystick fumbling to first kisses, and the emotional trauma of both game crashes and heartbreak. It's a funny, warm, and gloriously nostalgic chat about: The moment a computer stopped being a thing and became "the one" Why waiting 5 minutes for a game to load felt exactly like waiting for a crush to call Spectrum squeaks, Amiga swagger, and fierce playground loyalty How our early tech obsessions shaped who we became (and possibly ruined our dating skills) Whether you were a proud Speccy owner, an Amiga devotee, or just someone who remembers being young, awkward, and hopelessly devoted to both silicon and someone who sat two desks away in Maths, this episode is for you. Boot up. Tune in. Fall in love all over again. 💾❤️   Show Notes: Music on Episode: https://youtu.be/7-GlmU2mEow  old RGDS host Andre Fosters song Other Links: BoxRoom App:  https://pantaloon-io.itch.io/boxroom Rohan Khar PC: https://archive.org/details/@rohankar Don't forget to check out our YouTube channel with video versions of the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@RGDSPodcast-qw6mw We have loads of cool stuff already and loads more on the way, so please consider subscribing, watching, and liking to help our fledgling channel grow! Also, come join us on Discord and chat with us and other listeners: https://discord.gg/HzGAZ5FV7u

OpenBOR (short for Open Beats of Rage) is a free, open-source game engine designed primarily for creating side-scrolling beat 'em up games — the classic style made popular by titles like Streets of Rage and Final Fight. There are literally hundreds of homebrew games made with this and if you love a good WRAF, then this is the episode for you. Join Kingy, Almac and Retroric as they discuss their favourite choices from the plethora of games. Games in this Episode: He-Man Castlevania: Silver Night's Crusaders Ghouls 'n' Demons Dungeons and Dragons Evil Dead Nightslashers X   Show notes: Wardner by Ric for Amiga - https://retroric.itch.io/wardneragademo   Chronocrash -  https://www.chronocrash.com   New He-Man game-  https://store.steampowered.com/app/3749580/HeMan_and_the_Masters_of_the_Universe_Dragon_Pearl_of_Destruction/ Dungeons and Dragons cartoon -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-34TlmRULR8    

Drisky and Kingy take a deep dive into the digital realms of Middle‑earth as they journey through the long and varied history of Tolkien‑inspired video games. From humble text adventures on the 8‑bit micros to sprawling action epics on the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, the boys explore how developers across the decades interpreted one of fantasy's greatest worlds. Games Covered: The Melbourne House Text Adventures (8‑bit) The Hobbit (ZX Spectrum) Lord of the Rings (ZX Spectrum) Shadows of Mordor (ZX Spectrum) Crack of Doom (PD DOS) War in Middle Earth (Amiga) Lord of the Rings Vol. 1 (Amiga, 1990, Interplay) Lord of the Rings (SNES, 1995) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (PC/PS2, 2002) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (GBA) The Hobbit (GameCube) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (PS2, EA) The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (PS2, EA) So  Whether you're nostalgic for Speccy parsers or cinematic hack‑and‑slash, this episode celebrates how Middle‑earth has evolved across generations of gaming hardware. So, what are your favourite Tolkien games? Have you ever typed "THROW ROPE" at a troll? Come join us on this An Unexpected Journey. Show Notes: BlueSky for Jet Set Willy Online v2: https://bsky.app/profile/mausthekat.bsky.social Don't forget to check out our YouTube channel with video versions of the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@RGDSPodcast-qw6mw We have loads of cool stuff already and loads more on the way, so please consider subscribing, watching, and liking to help our fledgling channel grow! Also, come join us on Discord and chat with us and other listeners: https://discord.gg/HzGAZ5FV7u