492: “My Teacher Said I Wasn’t That Good” – The Story of Worms with Andy Davidson - The Retro Hour EP492

The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast)

The Retro Hour

Technology, Leisure, Video Games

4.9 • 558 Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 101 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we chat with Andy Davidson, the creator of the legendary game Worms. Andy shares how a quirky artillery game made on a school Amiga evolved into one of the most recognisable franchises in gaming history. From ripping sprites out of Lemmings for a laugh, to a five-minute pitch that landed him a publishing deal with Team17, plus some updates on the upcoming Worms Director's Cut 1.5 for the Amiga!

Andy Davidson on X: https://x.com/totalwormage

Contents:

00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories
35:31 - Andy Davidson Interview

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Show notes

Rare's 40th Anniversary Blue Plaque: https://tinyurl.com/yfvut7sc
Rare Evercade Collection: https://tinyurl.com/bdd3emcb
Rare Vinyl Set: https://tinyurl.com/4puzktvw
Rick Dangerous Mega Drive Port: https://tinyurl.com/ydr25k9f
Zelda Homage NES-Style Spin-Off: https://tinyurl.com/4ahudfru
Groundbreaking Game Descent’s Anniversary: https://tinyurl.com/tddfybfa

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Coming up on this week's show, one of the UK's biggest game studios, terms 40.
0:05.3	An Amiga Classic lands on the Mega Drive.
0:08.0	And we get the story of Worms with this week's guest Andy Davidson.
0:28.0	And the Retro Hour podcast is brought to you each and every Friday with our friends, our sponsor Bitmap Books.
0:33.2	Now, of course, today we're going to be talking about worms that famously started life on the Amiga.
0:37.5	Have you seen Commodore Amiga a visual compendium?
0:40.6	Now this is a real celebration of Amiga gaming.
0:44.9	Cover in all the early titles like Defender of the Crown, Barbarian in there as well,
0:46.3	through to all the games that we play.
0:49.8	This kid's Rocket Ranger, Cannon Fod of Speedball, worms of course, in there as well,
0:54.3	and weighing in at more than 420 pages.
0:56.7	A real love letter to Amiga Gaming.
0:57.4	You can check that out.
1:00.8	It's in stock right now on their website at bitmapbooks.com.
1:04.5	And with our friends at replay events who this weekend are heading to Crawley for their huge gaming market.
1:08.6	That's going to be happening tomorrow.
1:10.0	Saturday, the 9th of August. You can expect loads of traders, grab yourself some amazing bargains, and there's even going to be heaps of pinball tables that you can play for free there as well. So you can get your ticket right now for the Crawley Gaming Market. Head to Crawley Gaming Market.com, and I'll pop that link in this week's show notes.
1:34.6	Hello and welcome to the Retro Hour podcast, episode number 492, your weekly dose of retro gaming and technology news with me, Dan Wood, me Ravi Abbott, and me Joe Fawkes.
1:39.7	And great to be joining us for another podcast where we bring you up to spin on what's been
1:43.1	happening in the wonderful world of retro gaming and technology from over the last seven days.
1:48.4	And welcome on more veterans of the industry to tell us the story about their career,
1:54.3	the games they worked on, the companies they were at in the second half of the show.
	...

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