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.
Man, you look way too serious. As the world ends, we’re reaching max level, reading Selphie’s Laguna webpage, breaking down the couch cars, meeting the President, being called a faerie, performing calisthenics at critical plot points, staying on a…
The world’s over, man. While continuing to neglect our witch girlfriend, we’re throwing rocks in a lake, humming to summon a shadow, receiving awful clues, stealing a crop circle, getting Piet fired, scouring the world for unique NPC dialogue,…
We understand each other’s thoughts and hearts. While ignoring Rinoa’s imminent peril, we’re wasting a day with Triple Triad, failing to move the Queen of Cards, sailing past 100 hours, playing Red Light Green Light, picking the hidden option,…
I’m not your mom. In truth, I’m denying romantic impulses, killing and re-killing aliens, scanning my girlfriend, using a radio for the first time, resisting any attempt at creating intimacy, accepting a sorceress’ fate, descending from Hyne,…
Nobody ordered me to escape. Through the wineglass, we’re using our girlfriend as our therapist, cashing out our cards, receiving a ghost punch, breeding monsters on the moon, crying those monsters onto the planet, putting on a space suit, meeting a…
This place sure is weird. Inside this swirling pastel Oz, we’re smiling through the pain, performing unpaid labor, ensuring a moomba develops CTE, taking a gun to work, picking the weirdest guy as the leader of the #resistance, misunderstanding the…
It’s like a swear jar, for meat. Inside the jar, we’re waking up in the infirmary again, asking mom where the rest of her kids are, lying about why we want Ellone, listening to the legend of Hyne, denying responsibility of Rinoa, trading…
Surrender soul, lose brain. After that, we’re wondering if it’s over, staring at an unconscious person, falling into a cold coma, closing out the SeeD candidates, cleaning up after NORG, refusing to remove my sorceress clothes, hearing the…
FATIGUED. We’re excessively caffeinated and we’re rubbing Gardens, doing sick poses in unison, looking for Mark, improvising a fighting game, observing the Braveheart Effect, giving our special boy ring a name, combing through dorms, killing…
