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.
We are all but puppets, dancing as they pull our strings. You are all but listeners, frolicing as we’re taking shelter from the rain, meeting with an outland mage, being honest about forbidden knowledge, refusing to be a puppet, wishing no more need…
Only with power can dreams be made real. Only with this podcast can we tell you about wishing for the Auto-Face, persisting in a fool resistance, fighting in the book store, confusing opponents by betraying our class, normalizing the battle gauntlet,…
What nonsense is this? Well, it’s an audio variety show where we’re playing Dycedarg’s theme for a meeting with Zalbaag, wondering if Zalbaag is dumb, failing to avoid Alma, proving truth words, fighting a heresy examiner, perverting into the…
Mentally, are you becoming a coward? Vocally, we’re entering a pope meeting, pronouncing “Orlandeau,” feeling lost in the sauce, using a prisoner’s confession as an excuse to kill a guy, recognizing Orlandeau’s prowess, showcasing multiple…
Think of us simply, as allies. Allies who are not touching our supper, expressing a shit head belief system, revealing a princess as false, laying out different scenarios, figuring out scenes were added to the PSP release, swearing vengeance to…
Stop looking at girls, stop looking at rocks. Instead, look at us with your ears as we’re warning Ramza off the criminal conspiracy, reading six books, wondering who pilled Delita, realizing the nobles and the clergy are united in corruption,…
Just when I thought this fen could grow no fowler, we’ve cast another pod. Indulge us as we’re believing in god to get through a gate, identifying the manipulator, vexing with such worryment, listening to myths and legends, understanding auracite…
Those who live by deceit are the first to die by it. Those who listen to this episode will hear tales of jumping in first-person, rescuing a pony-tailed squire, blinging the magic rocks, climbing walls and talking shit, bringing a gun to a wizard…
The day grows lovelier by the hour. Just like us, as we’re eavesdropping on a conspiracy, threatening a heretic brand, wonder which magic spell hurts the worst, rescuing a large bird from goblins, gouging eyes out, climaxing at a waterfall,…
It’s about time you learned about difference. The difference between battling under the threat of crimson snow, taking hostages, shooting the hostage, mongering flowers on a street corner, looking for a woke, losing ourselves to vengeance, flitting…