The Retrocast seemed obvious in theory. During the early days of the podcasting scene, there weren’t all that many dedicated to Sonic the Hedgehog. In an era where Sonic Retro was expanding and trying to cover every aspect of the scene, it made perfect sense to dabble in the medium. To blaze a trail where no trail had ever been blazed!
The first episode was uploaded straight onto the Sonic Retro wiki on June 25th, 2008, along with an announcement on the forums. Featuring Scarred Sun and Spexfox (among others), the goal was to make a podcast that didn’t just focus on various topics about Sonic the Hedgehog, but also connect with the community, reading and discussing what was happening on the forums. Was it to be weekly? Bi-weekly? That had yet to be decided.
The podcast immediately went on hiatus.
It would be a year until episode two. Surely, the delay had been a mere fluke! With a couple new hosts added to the mix (including Bartman3010), the topics of the day were covered. It was at this new ground floor that I joined, being in the right place at the right time. In that episode, I joke about how I would never be a staff member at Sonic Retro, let alone an admin. Little did I suspect...
A grand time was had by all. Episode three came out much faster, only three months passing between episodes. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1’s surprise announcement forced episode “3.5” to come out a week later, fulfilling the original promise of the show!
But as you can see, well. We couldn’t carry that momentum. (just like Sonic 4 haha made a joke)
For whatever reason, we could never make the show work. There were always ideas and conversations - and occasional conversations that could have been recorded had we been thinking about it - but the stars could never align. And when an episode would be finished, there were moments that felt forced. That the natural conversation we’d have before hitting record vanished, and we all became far too aware of the microphone in front of us. Growing pains that we never got the chance to get through.
A second season of the show, now featuring NeoHazard, began in 2017. Sonic Mania was fast approaching, and the inspiration to give the show another go hit. Three episodes later, the podcast finally ended. A couple attempts at a fourth were recorded, but remain unreleased.