506: “Atari’s Actually Doing Things RIGHT?!” – Ctrl-Alt-Rees - The Retro Hour Podcast EP506

The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast)

The Retro Hour

Leisure, Technology, Video Games

4.9 • 558 Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2025

⏱️ 114 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we catch up with the ever-inventive Ctrl-Alt-Rees in his brand new studio. Rees shares his latest projects, retro tech obsessions, and the bizarre story of a Japanese teaching computer with a paper screen. We hear his thoughts on modern Atari’s surprising comeback, his favourite (and most hated) handhelds, the quirks of the Jaguar scene, and why Windows 95 still holds up 30 years later.

ctrl-alt-rees on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ctrlaltrees
Podcast and website: https://ctrl-alt-rees.com/

Contents:

00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories
56:32 - ctrl-alt-rees Interview

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Show notes

GameTank: Next-Gen 8-Bit Hardware: https://tinyurl.com/25fvsyku
Atari 50: Namco DLC: https://tinyurl.com/47w8ztfc
Eternal Hunters: New SNES RPG Revealed: https://tinyurl.com/mt6s387t
Taito Offers $650 Bounty on Lost Tech: https://tinyurl.com/npr3m35b
Commodore Name Battle Heats Up: https://tinyurl.com/46n7c3za
Jurassic Systems Revives 1993 Hacker Vibes: https://jurassicsystems.com/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Coming up on this week's show, a new 8-bit console platform arrives.
0:04.9	Taito needs your help to find their history.
0:07.2	And we catch up with Control Old Reese.
0:20.3	And the Retro Hour podcast is brought to you every Friday with our sponsor, our good friends of Bitmap Books.
0:25.9	Now landing next week on Monday, November 17th, their brand new book, Trigger Happy, a visual celebration of video game controllers.
0:35.8	Now, this covers obviously probably the most important aspect of playing
0:39.7	games, our physical connection to our digital world. And this weighs in at more than 396 pages
0:46.9	and co-authored by legendary games journalist Steve Jarrett, and all the big ones are in there.
0:52.3	Stuff that you remember, the Competition Pro, NeoGeo controllers of PC engine, the PlayStation
0:56.8	as well, even stuff like the Amiga CD-32, and a few other misfits are in here as well.
1:02.4	So if you love the history of game controllers, have a look at this, more than 560 stunning
1:07.8	photos.
1:08.6	You can get notified when it's available.
1:10.2	It lands on Monday at bitmapbooks.com.
1:12.9	And with our good friends at PCB way. Now, maybe you're working on a retro project over the next
1:17.9	few months. You know, PCB way, they offer fully featured custom PCB prototyping, low-cost, fast
1:24.2	turnaround quality boards, and if you're in the market for services like 3D
1:27.7	printing and injection molding, they've got you covered. And while you're on their website,
1:31.3	check out their incredible share project section, massive supporters of the retro community.
1:35.7	Get an instant quote and check that out right now at PCBway.com.
1:41.2	Hello and welcome to the Retro Hour podcast, episode number 506, your weekly dose of retro gaming and technology news with me, Dan Wood.
1:49.6	Me Ravi Abbott and me Joe Fox.
	...

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