The Podcast of Retro Gaming: 2 Dudes and a NES

Tom Arnold would be impressed!

I always find podcast after they have been on for 6 months or more, with 2 years somehow being a magic number. Not, this time though not with 2 Dudes and a NES I managed to find them a month after they started the podcast which made catching up on past episodes really easy.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself aren’t I? After spending the first few months of this year building up my Atari 2600 collection, and I got my NES fixed and decided it was time to start building up my NES collection a little more.  Having a gotten a lot of guidance on Atari 2600 game collecting  from the Atari 2600 Game by Game Podcast I decided to poke around the Throwback Network a little more to see if they had any podcast on NES collecting, and they did the 2 Dudes and a NES. Seeing how the podcast was only about a month old I decided the first episode I would listen to would be the podcasts first episode as well Super Mario Bros. The first episode was good but not what I would call awesome, but I decided to listen a little more. I was glad I did because the third episode Double Dragon had me laughing almost from beginning to end. After that the shows just got better, including a the “Tom Arnold would be impressed!”, remark that was made in one of the early episodes and continues to be used as a running gag.

What I like the most about the show is its energy. The “2 Dudes” Justin and Michael pretty much talk very quickly and with a great deal of excitement through the whole episode, which makes it a lot of fun. In addition to that the shows format is just a little different than the norm. Sure they discuss the games development, music, and gameplay like other gaming podcast do on their respective games, but the “2 Dudes”, cover these topics very quickly not getting in-depthpersay but providing you with enough information to understand the how and why behind the game, which is actually kind of refreshing.

There are also two original segments that I like as well, “Where did Justin Find the Game”, and “Retro-Fitted Trophy’s”. The “Where” segment gives you some idea as to how easy it is to find the game, the host Justin will let you know if the game is easily found in retro video game stores, if it’s an online find, or if your best off emulating it due to rareness and price. The “Retro-Fitted Trophy’s” segment is a really great one as well since it takes the rating segment of a lot of other podcast to a different and more creative level. The hostsassign each game a trophy, that wasn’t part of the original game. In the Anticipation episode for instance the trophy’s where: These heels are going to walk all over you -   beat the game as the high heels (icon), or Skynet take over – Beat the game over the three AI opponents on very hard setting. These make challenges for the game that weren’t originally part of it, but that you might see in modern games. Then there are the ratings themselves, for the Anticipation episode the theme of board games was chosen since Anticipationis a board game of sorts, Justin chose Candyland, and Mike Life these unique ratings are not only fun but give you an interesting comparison as to the game of the week may be like.

Now, if you have read my past reviews of podcasts you will know that music playing in the background the whole time is a pet peeve of mine in podcast, and sadly it is done during 2 Dudes and a NES. The good news is that the shows energy and format is such that annoying music in the background can be pretty easily overcome as the host keep your attention, by keeping the podcast very fun and fast moving.

Be sure to check this one out. You can find the on iTunes at 2 Dudes and a NES part of the Throwback Network, as well as on Facebook, and Twitter, you can also check out their website at Nesdudes.com