Radio Free Nintendo began in 2006 as the official podcast of Planet Gamecube (now Nintendo World Report) and originally hosted by Mike Sklens and Evan Burchfield, later joined by Karl Castaneda and Jonathan Metts. In 2008, the podcast launched its "second season" under the direction of Metts, Greg Leahy, James Jones and Jon Lindemann and continued to refine its style into the best podcast you're probably not listening to.
Although it is a 4 guys over Skype podcast, the audio quality is amazing thanks to the 16-hour weekends of Greg and Guillaume. It's also one of the few gaming podcasts that uses the .aac format if getting it through iTunes, which means chapter art and (most importantly) easy skipping to particular segments.
The typical show will have at least of these segments:
New Business - Discussion of new games being played by the hosts. All major Nintendo releases are mentioned, as well as major releases on other consoles.
Now Playing - Quick rundown of NWR content. Or, random rap music.
Feature Discussion - A longer analysis of a major news story in gaming or a look back at a particular genre/system. Examples of the former include the Gaming Bucket List, the N64 at 15, the best of the SNES and Operation Rainfall.
Retroactive - The hosts and members of the NintendoWorldReport forums vote on and play through a game of Nintendo's past - or Sega/Hudson's, if it was released on Virtual Console. These discussions are long, informative, and usually end up coalescing around RPGs if given the option. This feature began in 2009.
The list of games previously discussed:
(There are also retrospective episodes for Ocarina of Time (non-numbered, available here) and Super Metroid (142, available here) but these fall outside of the Retroactive banner.)
Listener Mail - When in doubt, let the listeners decide your topics. These can range from "What game would you recommend" to "What's every Nintendo development studio doing" and everything in between. Even when questions about the perceived self-loathing and hatred of Nintendo by fans and media respectively comes up, it's handled with a quiet dignity and understanding of the situation.
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THE HOSTS
James Jones (GAF: Crimm / @NWR_James)
- NWR reviewer and man about town, former podcast editor
- Turns the snark up to about 14 for the podcast, is the curmudgeon despite being the youngest of the regular 4
- Plays a lot of RPGs, on both sides of the West/East debate
- Most likely to declare someone wrong by default
- Likes: Ogre Battle 64
- Dislikes: Everything. But especially rougelikes, King of Clubs, and competitive Smash.
Jon Lindemann (GAF: silks / @MrDiamondJ)
- NWR Director Emeritus (served as director from 2009 - 2011)
- More likely to play a shooter of the "dudebro" variety
- Expatriate Canadian, living in California by way of Boston
- Has an immense pile of games that are not only unplayed but unopened, frequently special editions. Led to the declaration of "Lindemann Syndrome" on a podcast late in 2010
- Likes: Busting James's balls, rapping, cat helmets, NHL '94
- Dislikes: Zelda II ("it can eat a dick")
Guillaume Veillette (GAF: GuillaumeNWR / @GuillaumeNWR)
- Editor from May 2012 onwards
- Previous experience hosting the NegativeWorld podcast
- Born and raised in Montreal, Canada and taught himself English with assistance of Final Fantasy Legend II and a French-English dictionary
- Likes: Platformers, retro games, poutine with bacon and onions
- Dislikes: US lockout on preorders, bad audio, Majora's Mask
Greg Leahy (Too many Twitters to list)
- Podcast editor 2009-2012, former NWR reviewer
- Despite being in the UK, prefers his football American style - specifically, the Buffalo Bills (the poor guy)
- Has access to a Japanese Wii and frequently imports, as well as providing a look as to what's on the Japanese Virtual Console on occasion
- Has no less than 5 Twitter accounts vying for supremacy, although none are legit
- Likes: Shooters of the R-Type/Treasure varieties, platformers
- Dislikes: Bill Belicheck, bad audio
Host Emeritus:
Dr. Jonathan Metts (GAF: Jonnyboy117 / @jonnymetts)
- Longtime Planet Gamecube site director/reviewer. Officially current site historian.
- Yes, he has a doctorate. No, he's not that kind of doctor (he's an aerospace engineer when he's not podcasting)
- Has all platforms in addition to his Nintendo hardware
- Likes: Metroid, Illusion of Gaia
- Dislikes: Super Ghouls and Ghosts ("This game can go f**k itself")
Frequent guest hosts:
- Michael "TYP" Cole - Host of Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition, most common fill-in, impression of Wario is frighteningly accurate
- Billy "Plan B" Berghammer - Founder of Planet N2000 -> Planet Gamecube -> NWR, now an employee of the Treehouse.
- Karl Castaneda - Former host of both RFN and Nintendo Pirate Radio, has to defend Killer 7 frequently, largely responsible for the infamous Episode 103 (see below)
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RFN LIVE
It takes a rare event to get RFN off of Skype - but when they do, Penny Arcade is involved. A much-beloved tradition of PAX East, the yearly RFN live panels provide interesting conversation and live Listener Mail.
Audio downloads:
2010 - http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/22823
2011 - http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/25684
2012 - http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/29760
2013 - http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/33637/rfn-live-panel-at-pax-east-2013
The show also has an annual tradition of hosting a live podcast telethon with the funds going to Child's Play. Big names come out - 2011's featuring appearances from Jeff Cannata, Mark MacDonald and our own sprsk. And a few hours in, bombs start dropping - like when it was revealed that Battlefield was going to be a Gamecube game.
2010 - GAF thread | Telethon Recordings
2011 - GAF thread | Telethon Recordings
2012 - GAF thread | Telethon Recordings
2013 - GAF thread | Telethon Recordings
2014 - Telethon Recordings
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WILDEST MOMENTS
Every podcast has its moments that live in (in)famy, and RFN is no exception.
Season 2 (80 - 292)
84: Intervention - Come for the discussion of the Power Glove. Stay for Jonny's Magic obsession.
97: Reimagining RFN - When Mario Kart Wii's online goes horribly awry with a little help from BJ. Also, James v. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon.
99: Beware Our Man Beams - With that title, you would think Cho Aniki. You would be right.
103: James Jones, Box Hunter - What happens when Jonny misses an episode? Well, the show goes off the rails inside of 5 minutes and stays off for the rest of a 2 and a half hour show. Not even the downloads are immune. It's so crazy that Jonny has to issue corrections in the next episode.
112: Afterglow - James. King of Clubs. That's all you need to know.
126: Force of Nature - The wild reimagining of Disaster: Day of Crisis. See, if Nintendo brought this version out in North America, it'd have cleared 10 million.
139: On the 859th Day, He Rested - The first post-GDC '09 episode features a religious revival in the first two minutes. Not making this up. Also, the joys of PAL gaming and the fastest return in RFN history.
181: March of the Muscles - Someone on the message board gifts the North American hosts Muscle March. Hilarity ensues.
Special: The Drunkcast - After the RFN panel at PAX East 2010, most of the hosts got drunk and turned on a recording device. This is the story. Spoilers: Something gets lit on fire.
226: In The Flesh - Instead of Now Playing for the first week of January... we get a rendition of Regulate, starring Jon Lindemann as Warren G and Jonathan Metts as Nate Dogg.
248: Perfect Agent Greganna - Greg's Oscar-winning impersonation of Joanna Dark.
287: Demolition Sherpa - "So I see you've selected Demolition Man..."
291: Good Night, Sweet Prince - Greg's farewell episode, beware of manly tears.
Season 3 (292 - 400)
362: The Day The Music Died - Just because it's a Nintendo podcast doesn't mean it's not realistic. In the wake of the November 2013 NPDs, a long, hard look at how bad the Wii U has it.
371: Ghost Commander - Hot off Weekend Confirmed, Garnett Lee appears. Awesomeness ensued.
372: Mystic Quest Is (Not) Okay - Some nutjob talks about Danganronpa, a live Twitch Plays Pokemon report, and James v Mystic Quest.
373: Death of a Soft Salesman - Billy Berghammer and RFN v Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Season 4 (401 - 439)
407: Gullaume 'n Watch - Recorded live in the middle of a series of Smash Bros matches on Wii U.
414: Glitter Glory - Chris Kohler crashes the annual predictions show, but the big story? Glitter Metroid.
422: Alien Movement - The reaction episode to Nintendo and DeNA.
438: Spiritual Predecessor - James lays the smack down on a businessman (not a creator) and Jonny announces his farewell.
439: Grapple Dem Tears - Jonny says goodbye. For 3 hours.
You may also want to grab these milestone episodes:
100 (the early days of RFN, 3.5 hours)
150 (best of the first 150 mixed into a discussion of RFN history)
200 (massive DS retrospective)
250 (behind-the-scenes tales and a massive call-in segment.)
300 (Wii retrospective, 5+ hours)
350 (Includes a long set of tales from the editing room while Jonny's caught in a flash flood)
400 (Recorded live in Colorado. 3+ hours, lots of games.
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SISTER SHOWS
The Famicast - Special bonus content on the RFN feeds, as NWR's Japanese correspondents bring knowledge on Nintendo and life in Japan.
Connectivity - Formerly known as the Newscast before a late 2011 reboot, covers news of the week and more featured topic discussion. Also known to randomly break into Jeopardy games on little provocation - such as in their 2012 PAX East panel.
Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition - For most of the early 2000s, a regular site feature of Planet Gamecube was Radio Trivia, in which site staff would play a few songs from a Nintendo game and challenge you to guess the game. In 2006, a podcast was kicked off that, like clockwork, discusses 5 games per episode. No prizes, but enlightening discussion of game music both classic and modern.
Box Office Poison - Four former RFN hosts (Jonny, Mike Sklens, Stan Ferguson and Karl Castenada) along with friend Jonathan Rind discuss films both quality and otherwise. For an example of the former .there's Contact and for the latter, well, they've talked about the Super Mario Bros movie and Caligula.
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OTHER LINKS
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn - RFN main page
feed://www.nintendoworldreport.com/podcast/mp3feed.xml - MP3 feed
feed://www.nintendoworldreport.com/podcast/feed.xml - AAC feed
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=156274672 - iTunes
http://www.facebook.com/RadioFreeNintendo - RFN Facebook page
http://www.twitter.com/Nintendo_NWR - NWR Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/rfnpodcast - RFN's official Twitter
http://ninwr.spreadshirt.com/ - The Radio Free Nintendo T-Shirt
