Maximum Power Up

Chris and Paul once again realise almost another year has gone by since they last recorded.

Join us as we catch up on the year just gone, and manage to almost entirely avoid talking about Christmas. 

You wait weeks for a podcast, then two hours come along at once.

Chris is joined by returning host Paul to look at their highlights from the games that have been announced for the year ahead. With a brief diversion to discuss the Amiga Mini, because there was no chance of them staying on topic.

Chris Smith the Newer is joined by returning hosts Jake and Tommy to discuss the last 12 months, and what they've been up to in life and videogames since Maximum Power Up last released an episode.

Chris Smith mk 2 is joined by returning host Tom Charnock to share fond memories of Atari’s much maligned console. They cover their own introductions to the console, and discuss their favourite games on the platform. 

As always, if you enjoy this episode, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever else you choose to listen to your podcasts. If you want to continue the conversation, or give us any feedback, feel free to contact us on any of the socials below:

Our latest guest is Ashley Day, currently employed by Team17. Over this three hour chat we discuss all aspects of his career.

Starting out writing for GamesTM, Ashley discusses his love of games mags and the challenges faced in his time on the magazine including getting interviews.

In 2012 he moved to Nintendo working in Digital Marketing which involved coming up with some fantastic ideas to help drive Nintendo franchises.

Now at Team17 he shares a few thoughts on a childhood dream working for a local company, the A500 Mini featuring several Team17 games plus more.

We hope you enjoy the show and thanks to Ashley for his time.

This episode we are joined by two guests, both writers and they also produce their own podcast.

Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle join Paul to discuss their career working on games magazines.

Both starting in the mid '00's we cover more recent gaming discussing the PS3, PS4, Wii, DS, X360 etc. Working on Official Nintendo Magazine, NGamer, X360 Magazine, PC Gamer and more game us lots of memories to chat about. 

There are some great stories shared including trips away, challenges of ending magazines and Samuel's experience with The Walking Dead.

We hope you enjoy the show and thanks for listening.

Our 42nd magazine related guest is Tim Ponting. Paul spoke to Tim about his career in games magazines and PR. Starting out on drumming magazine Rhythm, he soon joined Dennis Publishing on the much loved magazine Zero.

He shares some memories of being editor and the challenges he faced against other magazines, coverdisks and more. From there we go onto his time on PC Zone and how the industry changed, the rivalry with PC Gamer, and what it was like to work with the late Felix Dennis.

Finally we cover his time on Official Dreamcast mag, PR role at Activision which led to an amazing Call Of Duty 2 event plus much more.

We hope you enjoy the interview and thanks to Tim for his time.

Paul is joined by best selling author and journalist, Keith Stuart.

Keith started his career in the 90's at Big Red Software helping write game manuals. However in 1995 previous MPU guest Jason Brookes gave him his first games magazine role on Edge.

We discussed his memories of working on Edge at such an important time in the games industry. As well as this we discuss his work on DC-UK and how the mag upset Sega. 

Also covered is how he began writing for The Guardian and how that role evolved as well as taking the leap into writing novels (his latest Frequency Of Us recently released).

We hope you enjoy the show and thanks to Keith for his time. 

The same motley crew as the last bonus episode return for another pandemic related show, as Chris, Chris, Jake and Arron do their best to appear like they still have it together as we approach the anniversary of the pandemic. 

As ever, this show is as much about life as anything else, but if you just want the games chatter, I'd skip the first 20 minutes. .

As ever, if you like the episode or have any feedback, we'd love it if you'd hit us up on the socials and leave reviews. More importantly though, stay safe everyone and look after each other. We'll be okay.

There is plenty for Commodore Amiga fans in this episode. Paul sits down to speak to Marcus Dyson who spent 4 years on Amiga Format, as well as some time at Team 17.

Starting in 1990 at Future Publishing Marcus started off as an artist for the magazine before moving to editor. He shares some of his memories as well as challenges faced on the magazine at that time. We discuss reviews, cover disks, fave games and more.

In 1994 Marcus moved onto Team 17 helping bring several well known Amiga titles to other systems including Worms. He shared some great stories with us including the Tower Assault FMV film for CD32.

We also cover how SPOnG website came about and what the original aim for it was.

A massive thank you to Marcus for his time and we hope you enjoy the interview.

Our latest interview is with VP of IGN, John Davison.

John started his career in the games industry over 30 years ago with his first fulltime role on Games-X magazine.

John shares the challenges he faced on a weekly games magazine before moving onto Megadrive Advanced Gaming, PC Zone and more.

We discuss how PC Zone became one of the leading PC magazines and some of the standout features in the mag.

Moving onto his time in America we cover EGM, GamePro,  Metacritic, 1Up podcast, Gamespot and loads more! To finish we briefly mention his most recent role at IGN.

A massive thank you to John for his time and we hope you enjoy the show.

This episode we are joined by a huge guest! Gary Whitta joins Paul to discuss his career in games journalism, writing Hollywood screenplays, Animal Crossing talkshows and more!

Covering a 30 year plus career, Gary started off on Commodore User being an owner of the Amiga which helped get his big break on magazines. He shares several stories about his time on Games-X, The One, ACE, CVG and more. However the main magazine that changed so much for him was PC Gamer which he edited in the UK before eventually moving to America and taking over on the US version.

He shares a lot of the challenges he faced in America before trying his hand at writing screenplays for Hollywood. We briefly discuss Book Of Eli, After Earth and a little film called Star Wars Rogue One.

Finally we cover how 2020 lockdown life led to his Animal Crossing talkshow and how crazy it has been to have several big name guests.

We hope you enjoy the show.

In this third pandemic related bonus episode, the two Chris Smiths are joined by Jake and Arron for as they check in on each other, and talk life, games and a bit about the new systems. Oh and some of the hottest takes on the PS3 since 2006...

As ever, if you like the episode or have any feedback, we'd love it if you'd hit us up on the socials and leave reviews. However, self-care is more important. Look after yourselves and each other first. We'll be okay.

Tim Weaver has been writing for decades. Currently he has 10 David Raker novels under his belt, a very popular crime/ thriller series.

He started his career at Future Publishing back in 1996 on Nintnedo magazine Total! Tim shares the early days on the mag as well as other Snes magazine Super Play before he went on to work on the magazine that gave him his happiest years - N64 Magazine.

N64 mag still has so many fans today and was the go to magazine for N64 owners. As well as sharing stories and experiences here we also cover NGC, Arcade, Xbox World magazines plus more. Tim goes into detail about the challenges he had on certain magazines over the years also before needing a new challenge as a full-time author.

We do discuss his novels as well as his podcast "Missing" from a few years ago.

We hope you enjoy the interview and thanks to Tim for his time.

In this episode Paul sits down to discuss CVG magazine and more with Paul Glancey and also another Paul, this time Davies! Yes three people on one call all called Paul (that's a mouthful).

Paul Glancey makes his MPU debut to take us through some key moments of his career. Starting on Zzap64, working with Jaz Rignall he soon got into the swing of things and followed Jaz to EMAP and CVG magazine. He tells us about learning the ropes, a few fave games as well as working on Megatech, Mean Machines and more.

Paul Davies returns to the show to speak more in depth about his time on Nintendo Magazine System and CVG. It was great to hear both Paul's share their experiences and crossed paths at EMAP.

We hope you enjoy the show and thanks to PG and PD for their time.

Chris Scullion joins us this episode to discuss his career as a games writer. Starting on Official Nintendo Magazine in 2006, he has also written for the online versions of N Gamer and CVG as well as being a regular contributor to Nintendo Life.

When he joined ONM the Gamecube was on the way out but the Wii would go on to become one of Nintendo's most popular consoles. We discuss some key moments in his career, meeting some well known names, certain games reviews for Sonic titles and much more.

Chris shares some honest thoughts in our conversation especially how CVG ended! Finally we also discuss his work on the NES and SNES Encyclopedias and his future plans for follow up books.

We hope you enjoy the interview and thanks to Chris for his time.

In this episode Paul interviews Paul McNally about his career in videogames journalism and much more.

Paul started his career on ST Action under the guidance of previous guest Nick Clarkson. Working up-to editor he stayed there until the magazine began to wind down in a challenging market for the ST.

Staying at Europress publishing he also worked on Mega Action, Bad Influence (both the mag and show) before the company was bought by IDG Media.

We discuss some mags for the first time with a guest such as Playstation Pro (and it's laddish covers), GamePro UK and others. Paul shares some great stories about games events with the guys from Loaded magazine, an unplanned trip to Mexico and much more!

This interview has a lot so we hope you enjoy it.

This episode we revisit the "listener choice" format, previously used on our Dreamcast, Game Boy and Commodore 64 shows. Back before the world went mad, we asked our listeners to share their five favourite SEGA Mega Drive games with us, which we then got Paul to count up and combine to create a Top 10 of the most popular ones.

Join Chris Smith v2 and Tom Charnock as they tackle the listeners top 10 Mega Drive games, and try to find new things to say about a list that holds few surprises. They mostly seem to manage this by just going wildly off-topic. Enjoy!

Do get in touch on the usual channels to say hello or to give us any feedback. If you enjoy our work, it would be great if you could drop us a review on iTunes, they really do help us get the show out there.

In this episode we celebrate 100 episodes of Maximum Power Up. Since the show started in 2015 we have covered a mixture of modern and retrogaming.

Most of the team share their experiences of making the podcast, fave episodes, games played etc. Even though it does take a lot of work we are very happy to have great listeners that have helped the show grow.

It has been brilliant to have had the chance to have on so many guests from the games industry and many well known games magazines. Hearing their stories has always been a highlight. We have become well known as the podcast for lovers of games magazines and there are more interviews to come.

We hope you enjoy the episode and here is to many more.

In this bonus episode we have two guests, Frank Gasking and Sam Dyer. Frank runs the excellent and informative website Games That Weren't for the last 20 years.

Sam is known for his excellent work over at Bitmap Books.

Games That Weren't features many games that were due to be released but for various reasons didn't happen. Frank has spent years speaking to the people that worked on these games and systems and is now taking it to the next level.

Working with Sam at Bitmap Books, Games That Weren't is coming out as a book.  At over 600 pages it covers over 80 games from 1975-2015 it covers unreleased titles for arcade, home computers, consoles and more. 

We discuss a few things that you can expect to see in the book and why you should preorder it for the release this August.

Follow the link here

https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/the-games-that-werent

In this episode we are very happy to have Dominik Diamond on the show.

For many gamers in the 90's he was the face of gaming on television as the host of GamesMaster. The show covered so many amazing challenges, features and more. We discuss some of Dominik's favourite memories of the show, guests that were on, commentators and more.

We also talk about his other games television show from the mid 00's, "When Games Attack", gaming in general and even discuss his love for Glasgow Celtic Football Club.

We hope you enjoy the show and do check out Dominik's Twitch show Mon-Fri 5pm UK time.

The Maximum Power up team for another special bonus episode as Lockdown 2020 continues.

In this new Pandemic Pod, the team discuss the two "big hitters" Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Streets of Rage 4, and also share what else they've been up to.

As ever, if you like the episode or have any feedback, we'd love it if you'd hit us up on the socials and leave reviews. However, self-care is more important. Look after yourselves and each other first. We'll be okay.

We are delighted to have Danny Wallace on the show discussing his career.

In this 90 minute chat we discuss how he started out doing work experience on Sega Power magazine before being taken on by Future and had several years on much loved mags Super Play, Total and a return to Sega Power.

As well as this Danny shares his early experiences working with Ross Noble and on The Mighty Boosh at the start of their careers. Working in TV, being a best selling author, BAFTA winner for Thomas Was Alone and being a voice actor in Assassin's Creed series, gave us loads to discuss. Oh we also hear about his experiences working with Jim Carrey for the film Yes Man based on his best selling book.

We hope you enjoy the show and a massive thank you to Danny for his time.

Following on from episode 94 we continue our walk down memory lane looking at July to December 1998.

Many gamers see 1998 as one of the greatest years in gaming. All the main machines had several must own titles that were released. We share our experiences and memories playing Banjo Kazooie, Half-Life, Tekken 3 and many more.

We also discuss some of the major gaming news stories from each month and Chris shares his experiences of importing a Sega Dreamcast to end the year.

We hope you enjoy the show and where possible please leave an iTunes review.

In this episode we speak to Glen O'Connell about his career in the games industry as well as sports PR.

For this special bonus episode of the Maximum Power Up podcast, we have an almost full house* as the team gather to keep each other sane during Lockdown 2020.

What games do the team reach for in times of trouble? What games will they play over the coming weeks as they're "staying home" like responsible adults? What tips do they have for you, the listener, to help you get through this time? Does Paul even like videogames? Find out the answers to all this and more, in the Pandemic Pod.

As ever, if you like the episode or have any feedback, we'd love it if you'd hit us up on the socials and leave reviews. However, self-care is more important. Look after yourselves and each other first. We'll be okay.

*Jake and Tommy would have made it if kayjoon had his act together and invited them in time. Although editing six people was hard enough.

Once again Chris Smith mark 2 is joined by Paul & the other Chris Smith, with Arron coming along for the ride too. After the fairly well received Christmas episode, the boys are back with their highlights from 2019, and the old and new games they’re planning to play during 2020. They even manage to commit themselves to a few gaming resolutions that’ll probably be forgotten come February.

Please take the time to leave us a review on your podcast service of choice, and drop us any feedback via the usual socials.

Chris Smith mark 2 is joined by Paul & the other Chris Smith for a bit of Christmas chatter. Somehow Maximum Power Up hasn’t done this before. Tune in as your hosts compare Christmas memories. Some of them are bleaker than others. 

As per Paul’s Christmas wish, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and hit us up on the socials below.

This is a special one off episode celebrating the games writing of Jason Brookes who sadly passed away recently. In 2016 and 2019 Paul had the pleasure of interviewing Jason to discuss his time on Super Play and Edge. These interviews have been taken from episodes 33 and 86 so we understand some listeners will have already heard them but we felt they make a great tribute to Jason's work.

We hope you enjoy the interviews and from everyone at Maximum Power Up we send our love to Jason's family and friends.

In this episode we take a look at one of the most loved 16bit game tie ins. Released in 1993 for the Sega Megadrive and Super Nintendo, gamers were treated to two very nice looking but very different games based on the hit Disney movie.

Chris, Paul and Arron sit down to discuss the two versions and their experiences playing them. The pros and cons are covered of each but which game is the king, Capcom's or Virgin's? We also discuss the amazing Disney film as well as what three wishes would eack of us make if we had a magic lamp?

We hope you enjoy the show.

Well this is a blast from the past, back in 2014, Chris got together with Martin Hinson and Kurt Kalata from Hardcore Gaming 101 to talk all things Castlevania. Now these were thought lost after a laptop containing the files was lost, however Chris had backed them up to an external hdd without realising and here they are now. 

There is another Castlevania episode and Konami shooter episode that will appear in the near future, stay tuned! 

Paul sits down with Cam Winstanley to discuss one of the most popular Amiga magazines, Amiga Power. 

Lasting over 5 years Amiga Power built up a passionate readership that Cam was there to witness for several years starting as a writer and later becoming editor. We discuss some of his favourite memories and games from his time on the magazine. As well as this he tells us why he feels Amiga Power is still fondly remembered even now. 

We hope you enjoy the interview and please leave an iTunes review if possible.

In November 2001 Microsoft released their first console into a market that was changing. Sega's Dreamcast had failed so they left the market. However Microsoft knew how to make an entrance! From the off they set out to do things differently. With a several must own exclusive games, a built in hard drive, some amazing arcade style games from Sega of all people and more, gamers had to take notice.

In this episode Paul, Tom and Chris Smith Mk2 discuss their early memories of the machine, what led to them buying the console, which games they feel should be played and more.

Going up against the Nintendo Gamecube and Sony Playstation 2 was a bold move for the Xbox but with games such as Halo, Fable, House Of The Dead 3, Project Gotham Racing etc  there was plenty for all gamers to get excited about. We hope by the end of this episode you agree.

Join Chris, Phil and Aaron as they take a trip to the movies.

In what’s hopefully a first of many movies based on games episodes the crew take a look at 1993’s Super Mario Bros The Movie. We take you through the movie, offer our thoughts and what we want from a future Mario Movie. 

Welcome to part 2 of the Top 10 Games Mags. These are the final 5 magazines that have been voted by our listeners on Twitter, Facebook and more.

Paul sits down with a guest from each magazine again to discuss their memories and thoughts of each magazine in the list. With over 100 magazines voted for a lot didn't make the final 10 and we give a quick shout out to some of these right at the end of the show.

So if you are a fan of Sega, Nintendo, PlayStation and more we hope you enjoy the episode.

Please check out our past episodes for much more magazine related chat and many other topics.

Games magazines have always been a popular part of gaming. Although there aren't too many around these days, in the 80's & 90's there were loads to choose from.

In January we asked our listener's to tell us their 5 fave games mags. Obviously there were many suggested but over the next 2 episodes we cover the top 10 that made the list. In this part we discuss places 10-6 alongside a guest from each magazine featured. They share some of their experiences from the magazine and what made it so special.

We hope you enjoy the show and thanks to our guests and everyone that voted.

Chris Smith Mk. 2 takes the reins for this episode looking at some highlights from the history of bringing pinball to the world of video games.

Chris is joined by Phil, and our hosts discuss their favourite pinball games and some notable not-so-favourites.

Links from the show: Demon’s Tilt Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/422510/DEMONS_TILT/

Soundcloud link for Demon’s Tilt OST: https://soundcloud.com/ec2151/sets/demons-tilt-sample-fm

As always, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, or your podcast supplier of choice. They all help us reach new people.

In this episode Paul interviews Dave Upchurch. Starting his career at EMAP on popular 90's magazine ACE he soon was moved to The One Amiga where he became the magazines editor. At the time the Amiga was going from strength to strength with games such as The Secret Of Monkey Island 2, Chaos Engine.

In 1996 following his success at The One Amiga he went on to work on Nintendo Magazine System up until the official UK launch of the Nintendo 64 in 1997.

Dave tells us a few tales of his good and bad experiences in games journalism before we move discuss his career away from the magazines. We look at his time working for LEGO who wanted to break into the video games market, his time making educational software for Mangahigh which received a lot of accolades and much more.

Dave currently works for Curve Digital that have released games for the PC, PS4, Switch such as Human Fall Flat, Smoke and Velocity 2X.

With almost 30 years in the games industry now there was plenty to discuss in this 3 hour interview.

Witness Phil using powers that rival those of the World’s Greatest Detective, as he supervises the first joint appearance of Chris Smith original and Chris Smith redux on a journey through the highs and lows of the caped-crusader’s video game career.

Which Chris Smith has the controversial favourite Batman? (Don’t worry, no one picked Clooney), and who had made it until now, oblivious of the delights of Batman Forever Arcade Game? Find out all this and more, as we ask “Dark Knight, or Dark Shite?”

If you enjoy our show, please do throw us an iTunes review as they always help.

In October this year it was announced that after almost 26 years GamesMaster magazine would be ending. A mainstay on magazine racks for so long the mag had many great writers over the years. From the SNES, Mega Drive and Amiga in the early days, it covered all the major consoles up until present day with the PlayStation 4, X Box One, Nintendo Switch, PC.

In this episode Paul speaks to final editor Robin Valentine as well as another previous editor Matt Gilman. They discuss some of their favourite moments of working on the magazine, why they think it lasted so long and more.

If you enjoy this episode check out episode 40 which covered issue 1 interviewing several staff that helped make the 1st issue of GamesMaster way back in 1992.

In this episode Paul sits down with Geoff Glendenning to discuss his career in games marketing. Spending over a decade working in advertising and then onto marketing for companies such as Commodore, Acclaim but most importantly Sony gave us a lot to discuss.

As Head Of Marketing for the Sony PlayStation, Geoff had a lot of great ideas to help build the PlayStation brand. He shares some great stories from his time at Sony but also the days working on adverts for Commodore Amiga 600 and CD32 beforehand. Even after leaving Sony he has some fantastic experiences to share for Tony Hawk, Apocalypse and more.

We hope you enjoy the show and please leave us an iTunes review if you can. 

Join our intrepid three as we go runnin’ and gunnin’, and diving into the shoot’em up sub genre of run’n’gun games. Messers Phil, Jake and Chris Smith MkII pick up some heavy weaponry, don their bandanas and camo kecks, and jump in the chopper… or do they?

As they discuss the well known favourites like Contra and Metal Slug, and the blockbuster movie influence on the games of the time, we ask is the genre all 90s explosions and testosterone? Your hosts pick out their own three favourites – and there’s a few pleasant surprises in there – which our listeners may or may not agree with!

Paul sits down to chat to ex games journalist Neil West in this episode to discuss his career.

Neil started his career on Sega Power alongside Andy Smith (another previous guest). Learning the ropes working on tips, reviews etc Neil soon got his first editor role on MEGA where he was given his own chance to plan his own vision for a Sega Megadrive magazine. 

We also discuss his time doing freelance work for GamesMaster, Total and other magazines before leaving to work in America and launching Next Generation magazine which was the sister magazine to Edge.

Returning to the UK a couple of years later we discuss Arcade a short lived but much loved multiformat magazine from Future.

We hope you enjoy the show and the stories Neil shares. Please check out all our past shows/

In this episode Paul chats with Gary Penn about his career in the games industry that spans over 30 years. They discuss his work on well known games magazines Zzap 64, The One, Amiga Power and more.

As well as this they talk about his experiences and memories working at DMA design and the rise of Rockstar including a little known game called Grand Theft Auto. 

Gary has spent almost 20 years now over at Denki up in Dundee where his latest work is on the upcoming Autonauts. Find all the info about his latest work at www.denki.co.uk 

We hope you enjoy the show and if possible an iTunes review or feedback is also grateful.

“That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.”

Hot on the heels(ish) of the Dreamcast Listener’s Choice episode, Phil, Tom & Chris reunite to tackle nameless horrors and eldritch terrors as they explore video games influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

In this spoilerific episode Julian Hill and guest Richard Otlet discuss some of the most thought provoking and engaging stories in video games, proving that the most powerful tales told in games can be as memorable as any novel or movie and that just because a game is geared towards a mature audience that doesn’t mean that it’s all about sex, drugs and ultra violence.

In this episode Phil, Jake and special guest Matt ‘Gameboyle’ 10 Game Boy titles chosen by our listeners to see how they’ve fared growing old.

We take a trip down a rose tinted, nay, drenched, memory lane and revisit what our listeners decided we the shining examples of  Nintendo’s legendary handhelds library. Some have fared better than others! See if your faves still cut the mustard, and perhaps give some of our alternatives a play too.

In this episode Paul sits down with another well known name from games journalism. Steve Merrett has worked in the games industry for over 30 years working on many well loved magazines such as Nintendo Magazine System, Mean Machines Sega, ST Action and many more.

Currently working in PR for Konami, Steve discusses his experiences working on the magazines, what he loved and hated and how he ended up working for Konami. There are a lot of great stories told covering 30 years so we hope you enjoy the show.

If you enjoy the episode please check out all our others www.maximumpowerup.com

Paul, Julian and Arron are massive fans of the Nintendo Switch so were more than happy to discuss Nintendo's latest home console. With it just over a year old there are loads of games to choose from. From Triple A titles such as Zelda, Mario Kart etc the console has a fantastic range of eShop games at some great prices.

We discuss our thoughts on the console so far and what we are looking forward to for it. In the main part of the show we set ourselves a challenge to find three eShop games for a £20 limit that we enjoy and would recommend. We then wanted to show a good selection of 9 games for less than £60.

We hope you enjoy the show and if possible please leave us an iTunes review or subscribe to the show on Stitcher, Spotify or your podcast player of choice.

In this episode Paul interviews documentary film maker Jonathan Beales about his new upcoming film Retro Gaming The Movie. Jonathan has worked in the games industry for magazines such as ACE for Future Publishing. After working on magazines Jonathan left print media to begin making promotional videos for Psygnosis, Gremlin, Sony and more. Jonathan's upcoming film will feature hours of unseen footage from the games industry and showcase some great behind the scenes footage from the years of 1990 to 1998.

We discuss his career, how he got into the industry, the release of his Call of Duty documentary aptly titled ‘CODumentary’, as well as some of his memories from the games industry.

Hot on the heels of (6 episodes later than) our Commodore 64 Listener Top 10, we bring you another episode in the same format. Once again we bravely outsourced the responsibility for the games we played to you. Listeners were invited via social media to share their five favourite Dreamcast games with us, which we then combined to create a Top 10 of the most popular ones.

Phil is joined by show regular Tom “The Dreamcast Junkyard” Charnock and Chris Smith vol. 2, as they play and discuss the 10 titles you’ve selected. With three self-confessed fans of the system on hand, what could possibly go wrong?

Do get in touch on the usual channels to say hello or to give us any feedback. If you enjoy our work, it would be great if you could drop us a review on iTunes, they really do help us get the show out there.

In this episode Paul sits down for a chat with Andy Smith. Andy started working for Future Publishing quite early on starting his career on multiformat magazine ACE. As the magazine became more popular it was sold to rival publisher EMAP. However that led to Andy's career continuing at Future on new magazine Amiga Format.

Over this 2 hour chat we discuss Andy's thoughts and memories of gaming, his time on Amiga Format and the very popular Sega Power. As well as this we cover setting up Binary Asylum and making Zeewolf for the Amiga, his experiences working at Codemasters and much more.

"Let us go out this evening for pleasure. The night is still young."

Phil and interloper, Chris Smith HD (more a reboot than a remaster) stroll through the candlelit hallways of the Castlevania series, trying not to fall down any pits. Join our heroes as they take on pretty much every game, and almost get away with their sanity intact.

As usual, do get in touch on the channels below with any feedback or to just say hi, and if you enjoy our work, it would be great if you could drop us a review on iTunes.

"But enough talk... Have at you!"

In this episode Paul interviews Nick Clarkson. Nick has been in the gaming industry since the 1980's starting work for Gollner Publishing on ST Action. From his starting role as editor on the magazine it then led to working on popular weekly games mag Games X and then onto GB Action for the Nintendo Gameboy.

In the summer of 1992 Nick left magazine work to start work as PR Manager for Gremlin Graphics helping promote so many well known games such as Zool, Premier Manager and more. Over the years he also worked in similar roles for Ocean, Rage, THQ and more.

Nick now works for Merge Games that release many games for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and more. So in this episode prepare to hear about a lot of experiences and viewpoints from a 30 year career within different aspects of the games industry.

In this episode Paul sits down for a chat with Paul Rose AKA Mr.Biffo. Paul spent 10 years writing popular Teletext section Digitiser from 1993 to 2003. Over the years the quirky sense of humour to go alongside the gaming coverage gained a massive following. Although there was plenty of Sega and Nintendo footage, Paul did manage upset Amiga owners which we do discuss.

As well as Digitiser, they discuss Mr.Biffo's Found Footage, Paul's magazine career on Edge, Retro Gamer and more.

There is also a Kickstarter for Digitiser The Show currently live which is going really well. Check out more details and back it here:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/1534877882/digitiser-the-show-proper-retro-gaming-tv

Also Paul is appearing at Revival 2018 over in Walsall this May for a Q&A session. Get tickets for the event here:

http://www.revivalretroevents.co.uk/

We hope that you enjoy the show and if you use ITunes please leave us a quick review.

Jump into your R-9/Styx/spaceship of choice, and join us defending humanity against incredible odds and bright orange bullets.

Phil and Jake are joined by special guest Shaun ‘In your face’ Holley from 10p Arcade Podcast to discuss shoot ’em ups, stand out titles and companies synonymous with the very best games – over tea and biccies – before destroying the core/robot/mother brain and heading back to Earth.

It's taken us awhile to cover Commodore's amazing 8 bit machine the C64 but we wanted to make a big deal with this one.

We chose the C64 as our first machine for our new Listener's Choice Top 10- the games voted for by the listeners of the show. We asked for your five fave games on social media and then took the top 10 highest voted games and then played them all to give our views.

So good or bad we'll be honest with our viewpoints. We are also joined by Daz from Retro Domination and Arcade Perfect podcasts to give his views on the games.

Finally in this episode Paul interviews Neil Grayson, editor of the excellent Commodore Format Archive. They discuss Neil's history with the C64 and a lot about Commodore Format magazine. Neil's site can be found at www.commodoreformat.wordpress.com and it is full of magazine scans, interviews and more.

Thanks also to everyone who voted for your favourite games and we hope you enjoy the show.

Sony’s entry into the handheld fistfight was everything you’d expect from them. Sleek and glossy black, big bright wide screen display, and a host of titles squeezed down to fit, plus loads of new games made to order. Join us as we take our first look at this future-classic console.

Join us for this pocketsized podcast with Eloy, a young Pokémon fan and his dad Maximum Power Up host Jake and his son Eloy as they discuss the series, from Game Boy to 3DS, the characters, gameplay and tactics. 

Everything that makes this long term series appeal to a youngster… and his dad!

In this episode Paul and Arron discuss their experiences with movie licensed games. From the 80's to now there have been hundreds made. Some have been amazing based on the summer blockbusters of that particular year, Batman, Jurassic Park etc. However there have been many awful ones such as Wayne's World, Home Alone etc. 

Some amazing Disney titles such as Lion King are discussed also as there were many great Disney games out there. So we hope you like some of the games discussed as we know not everything was covered but maybe we can do a sequel?

Indie games are some of the most highly regarded video games on current gen consoles and the PC, and indie development studios represent a hot bed of talent when it comes to creating titles that are not restricted by the business goals of mainstream publishers. 

With this in mind, regular Maximum Power Up hosts Phil and Tom get together in this latest episode to discuss their own experiences with the indie scene and then wax lyrical about some of their favourite games from independent developers. From the dark and dystopian world of Inside and the psychological nightmare of Layers of Fear; to the neon extraterrestrial delights of Sturmwind and the pixellated wonders of Hyper Light Drifter, sit back and relax as we talk about some of the finest experiences available from the indie scene.

Fully Illustrated’s Michael Heald realised a lifelong dream of becoming a bonefide game developer earlier in 2017 when his frst title Wulverblade hit the Nintendo Switch. Initially intended to be an Xbox One exclusive and years in the making, Wulverblade was picked up by Nintendo and upon release it garnered critical acclaim across the board for it’s engaging storyline and solid side-scrolling, old school beat ‘em up gameplay.

In this episode of Maximum Power Up, regular hosts Phil and Tom speak with Michael to discuss just what goes into creating a game of Wulverblade’s scope, and how hours of historical research, visiting Roman historical sites and getting stuck up a hill in a Land Rover all contributed to the development process.

In this episode Paul interviews Dave Perry that is most well known for his time on GamesMaster and Games World. As well as TV, Dave has worked on and launched many well known magazines.

We discuss his time on Sega Pro, launching Games World to tie in with the TV show, the problems launching Play due to Sony's strict ruling over the PlayStation magazine market and more.

Over the interview we also cover Dave's thoughts on gaming TV shows and his own gaming history. Finally we bring things up to date and discuss his upcoming gaming show Games Animal TV that he will be bringing to Revival 2018 in May.

We hope you enjoy the interview and please leave a review if you listen on iTunes. Also check out our YouTube channel for more gaming chat.

For all the details on Revival visit www.revivalretroevents.co.uk and for the Games Animal TV news on Facebook www.facebook.com/GamesAnimalTV/

In this Halloween Special episode, Phil and Amy delve in to the world of Survival Horror tacking an look at the much loved Resident Evil series. Starting way back with Sweet Home, and take us all the way through the main title games in the series. As well as discussing storylines and game play, they also look back on how they were first introduced to the series and drop in a few stories along the way!

Released in 1996 on the PlayStation Resident Evil is arguably considered, the birth of modern day Survival Horror genre.  Created by Shinji Mikami and developed and published by Capcom, the series has been a massive success, with multiple main series games and numerous spin off titles. 

We hope you enjoy!

In March 2005 Nintendo unleashed the DS. A brand new dual screen handheld with a user friendly touchscreen. 

The DS soon became the gamer's handheld of choice with well known Nintendo titles such as Mario Kart, Animal Crossing and many more. Games companies were soon quick on the uptake to how the touch screen controls could enhance the games and a wide range of titles were seen as must buy. 

In this episode Chris is joined by Paul and Darran Jones editor of Retro Gamer magazine. They discuss the impact the DS had in the industry, taking on the PSP, the DS Lite and DSI. We also suggest a few games worth hunting down that aren't the usual games suggested.

We hope you enjoy the show and maybe try a few of the titles we chat about yourselves. 

In this episode Paul and Phil take a look at a few of their favorite sports games.This is a genre that is mainly seen as just a load of yearly updates, however dig a little deeper and there's a wealth of great games.

From the 8 bit systems to present day some classic games are discussed as well as a few lesser known titles. We have chosen games that have struck a chord with us over the years- great ideas in the game, rivalry with friends over some great multiplayer match ups and much more.

We hope you enjoy the episode and let us know which games you love! Thanks to everyone that tweeted about their fave sports games.

Maximum Power Up takes another look at the excellent Sony PlayStation 2. This time Paul is joined by Chris to discuss some of their favourite PS2 games. As well as this they talk about what makes the PS2 such a great console, the range of games for it, their memories of the machine and more.

Is the PS2 the greatest console of all-time?

That's a big question?

As usual please let us know your views on Facebook or Twitter.

Capcom, a studio and publisher that needs little introduction.

From 1984 to 1994, Capcom had developed a solid roster of arcade blockbusters, adult orientated and kid-friendly licensed titles and of course the venerable Street Fighter II.

In this episode Alex, Jake and Phil sit down to reminisce about a golden era for Capcom, their high coin-op standards and the brilliant console releases that left a mark that is still with us all today.

In this episode Paul, Phil and Jake set themselves a challenge to buy games on a budget. With the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 being last gen there are loads of great bargains to be found. Using high street retailer CEX as a price guide the challenge was to buy 5 games for these formats only for under £15.

Easy! However no sports, singing or dancing type games were allowed or games with yearly updates. So who got the best deal? Only one way to find out....

We are back again with the second part of our Super Nintendo episode. Following on from Paul, Julian and Alex's discussion about one of the gaming communities most treasured system, Phil, Chris and Amy present a further 15 games that set the system apart from its peers.

Join this episodes hosts on another retro gaming journey peppered with childhood stories and the ever controversial opinions of our beloved host Chris.

Here it is, part 2 of the top 50 games of all time list! Already in part 1 we have covered classics for the Sega Megadrive, Commodore Amiga, Sony Playstation and more

We had a great response to part 1 of episode 50 which covered a wide range of games. Obviously this hasn't been an easy task as there are many great games and we limited it to 5 games each. We hope you find some games in the final list of 50 that you agree with over the last episode and this one. Also please tell us your thoughts -  which games were YOU expecting? Remember we haven't numbered this list we just took the 50 games with the most votes.

Thanks again to everyone that got involved as we love getting our listener's views.

Here's to the next 50 episodes!

Back in April this year we asked the listeners to help us put together the Maximum Power Up Top 50 games. Each of our hosts put forward their favourite games to get the list started and then with all the other listener votes the list stood at over 450 games!

With the podcast covering new and old gaming we felt as though this episode is perfect to look at which games people see as faves. From Manic Miner to Crash Bandicoot or Dungeon Master to Zelda, every genre and decade got votes.

The 50 games haven't been put into number order - some titles had the same amount of votes so we thought covering the 50 this way was better. So in part 1 we discuss 25 games between us the hosts. We hope you enjoy the show and please comment on Facebook, Twitter etc as we prepare part 2 for later this month.

In this episode Paul interviews legendary games journalist Julian 'Jaz' Rignall. In over 30 years in the industry Jaz has worked on many well loved games magazines including Mean Machines, Zzap64, C&VG and more.

Jaz made the most of massive surge of love for the emerging console market in the late 80's and early 90's which helped make the magazines he worked on so popular. There is plenty of talk about the Commodore 64, Sega Megadrive, Super Nintendo etc.

As well as the magazines we discuss his time working in America for Virgin Interactive, Game Pro, IGN and more.

We hope you enjoy the show and please leave us an Itunes review if possible. Also you can follow Jaz on Twitter @JazRignall 

The Persona series has been going for over 20 years and has featured on many consoles. What started off as a niche game series, Persona has gained quite a large following which has helped latest entry Persona 5 become a huge hit.

Joining Julian for hosting duties on this episode is Sara Ruehlman, herself a massive fan of the series and the RPG genre in general. Join them as they look at the games and spin offs in the Persona series and find out what makes the games so popular and why Persona 5 is such a massive hit.

If you enjoyed Julian's insights don't forget that his BoxedPixels.co.uk website is updated every two weeks. You can also follow him on Twitter (@JulianHillUK).

Sara is a Japanese speaking American based in Pennsylvania. Her writing can be found on http://randomencountersjp.blogspot.co.uk but she is far more active on Twitter (‪@bejiita_buruma) where she regularly posts pictures of her extensive RPG collection.

Follow the show on Twitter @MaximumPowerUp and on Facebook www.facebook.com/MaximumPowerUp?ref=hl

Also for more features and discussion our website is www.maximumpowerup.com

In this episode Paul and Julian discuss their history playing the point and click genre. Back in the late 80's and throughout the 90's this time of game offered hit after hit for fans of the genre.

Lucasarts led the way with great adventures such as Secret Of Monkey Island, Day Of The Tentacle, Full Throttle and many more. Each game gave the player an opportunity to enter a massive world full of colourful characters and some fiendish puzzles in their quest to complete the game.

As well as Lucasarts there were other companies getting involved with the genre, Sierra, Delphine and others. Each of these companies brought their own style and iseas to the genre. Sadly with the industry changing as well as people's tastes, point and click games began to fade away.

Luckily for fans of the genre the Nintendo DS and Wii gave a new breath of life into the games and as well as this, Telltale games started picking up fantastic licenses for Walking Dead, Back To The Future and more. As well as this Broken Sword 5 has been very popular on PS4 and as well as this the legendary Ron Gilbert has returned with Thimbleweed Park in the style of a classic point and click adventure.

One thing is for sure - this adventure is far from over...

The Super Nintendo is often cited as many retro gamer's favourite console. Just looking at game prices on Ebay etc for Nintendo's 16bit marvel shows that demand isn't fading either.

With many amazing games such as Super Mario World, Street Fighter 2, Pilotwings, Starfox and more, fans of any genre were spoilt by choice for the SNES.

The machine's capabilities were also shown with the Super FX chip, Mode 7 and later with the amazing art style of Donkey Kong Country.

In this episode Paul is joined by fellow Super Nintendo fans Julian from the team and Alex Crowley AKA Nintendo Arcade. The guys discuss a few of their favourite games as well as chat about their early Super Nintendo memories. Also don't be surprised if a certain magazine gets a mention.....

As well as this Paul speaks to Sam Dyer from Bitmap Books about his upcoming Super Nintendo Visual Compendium Kickstarter which starts on Monday 10th April 2017.

When thinking back to the 16 bit era, one software developer/publisher stands head and shoulders above the crowd across all platforms. With formidable output on both home consoles and the arcades, Konami built further upon their household name and brand they’d established during the Famicom/NES years.

Konami’s roster of games included strong titles from their back catalogue, (Gradius, Castlevania) new IP and gaming in the likes of Axelay and Boktai, and licensed titles that were actually enjoyable (Animaniacs & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).

Were Konami at the peak of their powers during the 16 bit period? Do the games stand the test of time? Messrs Chris and Jake join Phil to bask in the glory of ‘arcade perfect’ conversions and off-beat, original titles in this homage to Konami.

SEGA Power magazine ran from 1989 until 1997 covering a lot of SEGA games over the years. Although there were many SEGA magazines available SEGA Power had a lot of fans, however in 1994 it went in a different direction.

In this episode Paul is joined by Andy Lowe that became editor in the summer of 1994 and gave the magazine quite a shake up! Adding more comedy to the magazine with the features, reviews and more it did split opinion with readers. Also joining Andy are Alison Binns (Harper) and Dean Mortlock to discuss what went on putting the magazine together in this era and share some interesting experiences.

The Nintendo Famicom or Nintendo Entertainment System (for those of us in the west) was the companies first step into the home console market following their success with arcade machines and the much loved Game & Watch. Although it wasn't an over night success Nintendo’s perseverance and cleaver positioning in the market the NES became a huge success and ushered in a new era that saw Nintendo become a global brand in gaming. In this episode Phil, Jake and Alex discuss the birth of the Famicom, how it won over it’s audience and what games really made the system a must own for many people who had previously shunned gaming. As well as this the guys discuss their favourite games that range from the most popular series’ which were first brought to gamers attention on the NES to some titles that were surprisingly left in Japan.

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did recording it and please check out our other shows at www.maximumpowerup.com

Retro Gamer Magazine has bucked the trend in recent times, as many other print magazines close down or go fully digital the retro-themed monthly publication goes from strength to strength.

Now in it's 12th year of existence, Retro Gamer Magazine shows no signs of slowing down, and every month features original content, exclusive developer interviews and reader interactions. Sections on the indie and home-brew scenes, mixed with reviews of all manner of gaming merchandise and new releases mean there is invariably something for everyone within its pages.

The magazine prides itself on bright, visually appealing page layouts and eye-catching cover designs, and is one of the most popular gaming magazines around.

In this latest edition of the Maximum Power Up podcast, regular hosts Phil and Tom sit down with Retro Gamer editor Darran Jones to discuss the history of the magazine, and some of Darran's enduring memories of being at the helm of such an influential periodical for so long.

Other topics discussed include how Retro Gamer continues to be a success a world where the move to digital is an ever-growing threat, and also how Retro Gamer's unique approach to retro topics of all kinds helps to keep the content fresh.

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did recording it and please check out our other shows at www.maximumpowerup.com

Can you believe that the Wii is over 10 years old? TEN YEARS OLD?!  In late 2006  Nintendo decided it didn’t to play the same game as Sony and Microsoft anymore,  instead they created a revolution! Gamers, grannies and the Redknapps could be  found waggling in their front room with the innovative controller. In this episode just as Nintendo attempt to crack the market again with Switch, join  hosts Chris, Phil and Jake as they discuss the highs, the lows and the games that  defined a generation.

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did recording it and please check out our other shows at www.maximumpowerup.com

This year GamesMaster magazine turns 25 years old and is one of the last remaining games magazines on the shelves. Following on from the television show launched 25 years ago this month, the magazine gave fans something else to enjoy.

In this episode Paul chats to four original staff from issue 1 of the magazine, Jim Douglas, Andy Lowe, Les Ellis and Ade Price. They discuss how the magazine came to market, what they wanted from the magazine, the infamous Sonic 2 review and much more.

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did recording it and please check out our other shows at www.maximumpowerup.com

In this latest episode Paul, Phil and Tom sit down to discuss some of their favourite games from 2002. With the Playstation 2, GameCube and X Box, gamers were spoilt for choice with classics such as GTA Vice City, Metroid Prime and many more. Hopefully we can inspire you to give games a second look that you may have missed buying first time round..

Some fantastic titles from the year have previously been discussed on other episodes such as Eternal Darkness on our GameCube episode, so make sure you check out our growing back catalogue at www.maximumpowerup.com.

Also let us know your favourite games from 2002 on Twitter @MaximumPowerUp or our Maximum Power Up Facebook page.

Also please leave us an Itunes review if possible as everyone helps the show grow.

In this latest episode Paul sits down with Nathan McCree, composer of the iconic Tomb Raider games for the Sony PlayStation.

We look back on his career in the games industry starting at CORE Design in the early 90's working on Chuck Rock 2 and other titles before Tomb Raider. Nathan discusses the style of music he had in mind for the game and how these ideas progressed over the original trilogy for PS1. As well as this we chat about game music soundtracks and their growing popularity. Since working in the score for Tomb Raider, Nathan has always dreamed seeing the soundtrack played by a live orchestra. On December 18th 2016 he gets his wish in London. If the show is a success then the show will be taken to other major cities around the world.

It was a pleasure talking to Nathan and really hope that as many people as possible get to check out his upcoming show. Please find all the links here for tickets are more: FOR TICKETS TO THE SHOW: http://www.eventimapollo.com/events/detail/tomb-raider-live-in-concert SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathanmccreeofficial/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nrpmccree Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanmccree/ Also remember to check out all our shows on www.maximumpowerup.com

Welcome to the latest episode of the show. This time Paul is joined by new team member Julian Hill of Boxed Pixels fame. They sit down to discuss the extremely popular Amiga - the fantastic home computer that was in so many homes with an amazing line up of games.

Covering so many genres the Amiga covered it all from platformers such as Robocod, Superfrog to sim games such as Theme Park, Populous and loads more. If this wasn't enough it had an amazing demo scene showing off loads of great music and videos.

So join us as we discuss a few favourite games and memories from the Commodore Amiga.

Music tracks featured are: SWIV - Intro Shadow of the Beast 3 - Level 1 The Chaos Engine - Intro

Remember to check www.retrocollect.com for the latest retrogaming news as well as our shows. Also find us www.maximumpowerup.com

Also check out www.boxedpixels.co.uk for Julian's work, www.hyperplayrpg.com for the excellent fanzine by friend of the show Kincl and finally www.bitmapbooks.co.uk  for some amazing books including ones covering Amiga titles such as the Gremlin book we covered in episode 20.

On rail shooters is a gaming genre that seems to divide opinion. Some love them for the simplistic hi octane arcade style action, while others see them as nothing more than monotonous gallery shooters.

No game in the genre exemplifies this point more than Rez. On initial release it was met with a very mixed response. The title has since retained a cult status among fans an has stood the test of time to the point that it has now become a killer app for the new Playstation VR Headset.

In this latest episode Phil and Chris discuss some of their personal favourites in the Rail Shooter genres from arcade hits such as After Burner & Space Harrier to home console releases such as the classic Panzer Dragoon series and the aforementioned synesthetic odyssey Rez. Proving that there is more to the Rail Shooter genre than meets the eye.

As well as this Phil and Chris also discuss the announcement of the Nintendo Switch and what the latest generation of consoles could mean for the evolution of the industry.

Music tracks featured are: After Burner Climax - After Burner (Climax remix) REZ - End Credits

We hope you enjoy the show and if possible please leave us an iTunes review or rating.

All our shows can be found at www.maximumpowerup.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Maximum Power Up podcast. In this episode Paul and Phil sit down to discuss some of their favourite arcade games growing up.

The arcade was always seen as a gaming paradise for gamers in the 80's & 90's full of gamesyou wanted to play at home. Although many arcade favourites got home ports they were often nowhere near as good as the arcade version.

So, we hope you enjoy or agree with our choices and even if you don't please tell us why. 

Also if you want to experience a great venue full of arcade and pinball machines check out Arcade Club in Bury www.arcadeclub.co.uk 

Finally if you enjoy the show please leave us an ITunes review.

In this latest episode of Maximum Power Up, hosts Phil, Jake and Amy get together to show the Nintendo Wii U, a criminally undervalued system, some much needed love & try and convince those who may have dismissed the system a second look before the NX arrives.

Many have been put off by the Gamepad, which initially confused consumers on what it actually was. Many thought that it was a new controller for the Wii instead of actually being a brand new system. However for many games that have used the Gamepad, it is one of the best peripherals that have been released for any system, opening up so many avenues for creative ways to interact with many of the games aiding to give the titles a much more immersive experience.

Arguably the Wii U has the very best of exclusive titles available on any system today. We discuss some of these fantastic games available that make this console a must own for anyone who appreciates well creative and well crafted gaming experiences.

Also a massive thanks as always to Retro Collect, check out their website www.retrocollect.com for all the latest retrogaming news

This episode is rammed with Nintendo chat as we discuss the much loved Super Play magazine for the Super Nintendo that ran for 47 issues as well as a one off special Super Play Gold. 

Paul is joined by Chris as well as two special guests - ex Super Play artist Wil Overton and Damien McFerran from the excellent Nintendolife website. The panel discuss the magazine and what made it so special and much loved even 20 years since it ended. As well as this there is general Super Nintendo chat, favourite games etc and more. The Super Play Top 100 is discussed and can be found here http://www.rvgfanatic.com/7464/1450199.html 

As well as this Paul was very lucky to be joined by FIVE other ex Super Play staff discussing their time on the magazine. 

We hope you enjoy the episode and please feel free to follow Wil on Twitter @Kosmikat for his latest updates and check out @dinkybox he runs. Also follow Damien @DamienMcFerran & @nintendolife and www.nintendolife.com for all the latest Nintendo news.

Also a massive thanks as always to Retro Collect, check out their website www.retrocollect.com for all the latest retrogaming news

Valve is one of the most well-known and respected developers around today, and their first game, Half-Life spawned one of gaming’s biggest franchises. When it hit the PC in 1998, Half-Life wowed critics and went on to become one of the most popular first person shooters ever released for both PC and console. A seamless mix of first person shooting action and science fiction storytelling, the adventure catapulted Gordon Freeman into the limelight and cemented Valve as a force to be reckoned with. The success of Half-Life lead to a sequel and spin offs on both PC and console, as well as the development of brain teasing, dystopian puzzlers Portal and Portal 2 – a series which has also been blessed with a whole lexicon of lore and internet memes.

In this latest episode of Maximum Power Up, hosts Phil and Tom get together to discuss their first encounters with Gordon Freeman’s HEV suit, the famous crowbar, Black Mesa, the Combine, the G-Man, the portal gun and whether the cake really is a lie. It’s time to suit up, and blast through the infested sewers of City 17 and the mind-bending Aperture Science Labs as Maximum Power Up looks at the awesome Half-Life and Portal series.

Music tracks featured are: Half-Life 2 - Sector Sweep Portal - Stop What You Are Doing Portal - Still Alive

We hope you enjoy the show and if possible please leave us an iTunes review or rating.

All our shows can be found at www.maximumpowerup.com

Also a massive thank you as usual to Retro Collect who we're associated with. Check out their site for all the latest retro gaming news as well as our podcast episodes and their Retro Collect FM episodes which Chris and Tom were part of www.retrocollect.com

In our latest episode Paul and Chris are joined by Kincl from Hyperplay RPG fanzine and Julian Hill who runs the Boxed Pixels website. 

All four of them are big fans of the RPG (Role Playing Game) genre. They sit down to discuss the genre in some detail including a few of their favourite games, what makes a great RPG, early memories of getting into the genre and more.

Some classic games such as Final Fantasy 6, Dungeon Master, Chrono Trigger are mentioned as well as more recent titles such as Mass Effect 2, Fallout 4 and more.

Even though RPGs aren't everyone's cup of tea we hope you find something you like as the whole RPG genre has quite a few types of games.

You can check out the amazing fanzine Hyperplay RPG by Kincl and his team here: www.hyperplayrpg.com and on Twitter @HyperPlayRPG 

Also check out Julian's website Boxed Pixels here for loads of his views and reviews: www.boxedpixels.co.uk and on Twitter @JulianHillUK

Music tracks featured are: Shadow Run - Grundge Joint Mass Effect 2 - The Illusive Man Chrono Trigger - Memories of Green

Please feel free to leave us an iTunes rating or review if you can spare a moment.

All our episodes can be found on www.maximumpowerup.com 

Also check out www.retrocollect.com and @RetroCollect for all the latest retrogaming news as well as our shows and the classic Retro Collect FM

The controversy surrounding the launch of the SEGA Saturn not only took the media by surprise but also alienated a large amount of retailers. In short the launch was a disaster

However even with the consoles glaring short comings, the SEGA Saturn it has gone on to be a much loved system of the retro gaming community.

In this latest episode Phil & Chris have a look at the what makes the SEGA Saturn a must own for many gamers.

Music tracks featured are: Panzer Dragoon - Flight Burning Rangers - Theme (Japanese Version)

We hope you enjoy the show and if possible please leave us an iTunes review or rating.

All our shows can be found at www.maximumpowerup.com

Also a massive thank you as usual to Retro Collect who we're associated with. Check out their site for all the latest retro gaming news as well as our podcast episodes and their Retro Collect FM episodes which Chris and Tom were part of www.retrocollect.com

Every console has stand out, must own, games but some great titles unfortunately slipped under the radar. In this episode Paul, Phil and Chris sit down to discuss some of their favourite games that in their opinion are hidden gems. Hopefully some of the games mentioned here will inspire you to go back and check out some of the great titles that, for whatever reason, never stuck a cord with fans the first time around.

As well as this we discuss what we've been playing and buying as well as giving our thoughts on a few recent releases. We hope you enjoy the show and if possible please leave us an iTunes review or rating. All our shows can be found at www.maximumpowerup.com

Also a massive thank you as usual to Retro Collect who we're associated with. Check out their site for all the latest retro gaming news as well as our podcast episodes and their Retro Collect FM episodes which Chris and Tom were part of www.retrocollect.com

In this episode Paul & Tom interview retrogaming magazine legend Steve Jarratt. Steve worked on many well known magazines in the 80's and 90's including Zzap64, Edge, Total, Commodore Format and more including launching the Official Playstation Magazine. 

Steve discusses his career, as well as working with Sam Dyer and Bitmap Books. He also gives his honest opinions on the current gaming industry and also takes part in the first (and maybe last!) Maximum Power Up magazine quiz.

Check out the NES Kickstarter from Bitmap books here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2146199819/nintendo-entertainment-system-famicom-a-visual-com and find all the other books from Bitmap Books www.bitmapbooks.co.uk

Also any fans of Commodore Format should check out the excellent Facebook page which is always adding full scans of issues and run by CF fans: https://www.facebook.com/#!/CommodoreFormat/?fref=ts

We hope you enjoy the show and if possible please leave us an iTunes review as everyone helps us grow.

Links for us are:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/maximumpowerup

Twitter: @maximumpowerup

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCrvUX61wemDeRZXOyFDScaw

This episode the team discuss the Nintendo GameCube. Although not as popular as the Playstation 2, the GameCube had a wealth of great games for it. As well as the usual Nintendo series you would expect such as Zelda, Mario, Metroid etc there were many other games that were worth checking out such as Pikmin, Eternal Darkness and many more. 

Paul, Phil, Jake and new host Amy discuss their favourite games for the system as well as add-ons, GameCube memories and more.

Hope you enjoy the show and if you can spare a moment please leave us an iTunes rating or review as everyone helps get us noticed in the chart.

Links for us are:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/maximumpowerup

Twitter: @maximumpowerup

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCrvUX61wemDeRZXOyFDScaw