Retrograde Amnesia is a deep-dive video game podcast dedicated to exploring classic Japanese Role-playing Games (JRPGs), chapter by chapter, beat by beat. The show blends structured narrative analysis, humor, and immersive production to guide listeners through the worlds, characters, and themes of the genre’s most beloved and strange stories.
Praised for its thoughtful pacing, encyclopedic research, and a blend of sincerity and irreverence, Retrograde Amnesia offers a cozy look back for players who want to engage more deeply with their favorite games within the medium. Play along with the hosts or reminisce your enduring thoughts as we trek through the stories we grew up with.
Each season covers a single game in exhaustive detail, using a a meticulous scene-by-scene format to reexamine every moment. Whether it’s dissecting the political intricacies of Final Fantasy Tactics, or unraveling the existential dread of Xenogears, the show approaches every game with a balance of critical insight and deep appreciation for the medium.
Listeners have described the show as:
“One of the best out there”
“If you love retrospective type podcast this is one of the best out there. They pick great games and take their time going through them. Just the perfect type of podcast for me. It’s like getting to live through these games from my childhood again without having to play all the way through them. Great job guys, I hope there are many more episodes to come.”
— SIumlord, May 27, 2024“What a gem”
“Discovered these guys when I was searching up stuff on Xenosaga, and saw a back catalog of amazing games. Started with [Final Fantasy VIII] and am about to do the next season. Chris and Eric are hilarious, insightful, and worth your time to listen to. Also Fakenet will you marry me.”
— laser canon death sentance, January 23, 2024“Witty, smart, and highly detailed”
“Chris and Eric rock. They play off each other super well, it’s like hanging out with a couple guys with a bottle of whiskey and even though you never have a chance to get a word in, you don’t really want to. Thoughtful and interesting with hilarious in jokes they are more than happy to bring you in on.”
— alinktreetothepast, October 19, 2023
Since 2019, Retrograde Amnesia has been a destination for thoughtful JRPG fans seeking to reckon with the games they grew up loving — while learning to love the ones they missed.
Retrograde Amnesia is hosted by Eric and Chris — two old pals who have been thinking about JRPGs for multiple decades.
Galbadia is a nation of fools. While there, we’re angrily boarding a train, being a major creep, inducing sniper drama, accepting a test of courage, meandering about Deling City, avoiding public transit, navigating a tomb maze, beating up…
Avoid the trauma of past tense. Today we’re absorbing the grandeur of Galbadia Garden, showcasing ostentatious wealth, doing pervert pushups, learning of a surprise execution, psychologically terrorizing Rinoa, searching for an unforgivable villain,…
Evaporating into bats is a great touch for any guy. This time we’re idly panicking in the woods, passing out into the dreamworld, awkwardly fumbling metaphors, slaughtering Esthar soldiers, cramping up, observing the crystal blue, losing an old key,…
As long as you don’t get your hopes up, you can take anything. Today we’re staying irrationally focused on Seifer, laughing inappropriately, telling the cops I got kids, improvising a new plan, finding friends in disguise, diffusing tension on a…
We’re not the fools, you are. This time we’re buying pet supplies, killing soldiers in public streets, realizing everybody in Timber is in on it, trading human lives for AP, retrieving pornography, reading the battle series, listening to adults…
This is a super interesting time in dialogue box history. Today we’re squatting it out, calling a president president, playing with toy trains, indulging a ludicrous plan, speaking with a dummy, leaping over train cars, inputting codes, performing…
I dreamt I was a moron. After waking up, we’re drinking in a hotel bar, approaching a pianist, cramping up like a fucking loser, hearing about it from the boys, living a dream in a nightmare, suffering anxiety-based paralysis, blabbering to my…
Blow it out your ass. Before that we’re suffering through a zealous Zell, receiving our first SeeD mission, reading a weapons book, meeting Mr. Paper Test Boy, riding a hoverboard, exploring Diablos’ core, meeting the Big Bad Rascal, losing a card…
SeeD is not a non-profit organization. This time we’re appreciating the world map map, realizing the invasion was all for cash flow, shaming Seifer, interrupting Cid’s exposition, receiving our SeeD rank, hearing GF rumors, wearing dumb formal…
I’m gonna tell you ‘bout my Romantic Dream. It involves reassigning Squall’s inspiration, falling down a hill, assuming chicken-wuss, meeting Biggs and Wedge, discussing Guardian Force ethics, slaying Elvoret, uncovering GF compatibility, both…