545: Region Locked: The Untold Story of Australian Video Games – The Retro Hour EP545

Australia gave the world pioneering adventures, cult classics and global hits,but much of its gaming history has been left out of the story. This week, we're joined by Region Locked creative lead Michael Refalo and veteran game designer John Passfield-co-creator of Halloween Harry, Flight of the Amazon Queen and TY the Tasmanian Tiger, to explore bedroom coding, cassette-tape publishing, The Hobbit’s groundbreaking parser, Beam Software reverse-engineering the NES, the infamous Power Glove and the games you never realised were Australian. Plus, discover how the new Region Locked documentary series plans to preserve these stories before bit rot, and time, erase them for good. 

Region Locked Kickstarter: https://lnk.ua/ueFZbW6cf

Contents:

00:00 – The Week’s Retro News Stories53:42 – Region Locked Interview

Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show:

Bitmap Books – https://www.bitmapbooks.com

Go to https://surfshark.com/retrohour or use code RETROHOUR at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!

Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com for all your PCB needs

PlayEXPO Blackpool: https://www.playexpoblackpool.com/

We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you’d like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:

https://theretrohour.com/support/

https://www.patreon.com/retrohour

Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8

Website: http://theretrohour.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/X: https://twitter.com/retrohourukInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.comTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour

CeX Revisits Retro-Only Stores: https://lnk.ua/LT8x2d9DIZeewolf Spiritual Successor Revealed: https://lnk.ua/vGAlWUAcELara Croft Statue in Derby: https://lnk.ua/yBaKkiM3RFan-Made Donkey Kong Country 4: https://lnk.ua/0nxUrpxQ9Multi-Mega Flash Cart Mod: https://lnk.ua/HsC93CDQr