517: From Zzap!64 to Thalamus: How a C64 Legend Came Back - The Retro Hour EP517
The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast)
The Retro Hour
4.9 • 558 Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2026
⏱️ 113 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week we’re catching up with Andy Robert of the legendary Thalamus Software, for a chat about one of the most fascinating careers of the 8-bit era. From discovering computers via library games and typing in listings, to writing for Zzap!64 and Commodore Format, Andy shares incredible stories from the golden age of the Commodore 64. We dig into Creatures, Mayhem in Monsterland and that infamous 100% review score, the realities of magazine bias, late-night map drawing, and the risks of going indie before “indie” was a thing. Plus, we fast-forward to the modern Thalamus revival, deluxe boxed releases, Amiga hits like Roguecraft, and why nostalgia still needs to be done properly.
Thalamus: https://www.thalamus.shop/
Contents:
00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories
41:26 - Andy Roberts Thalamus Interview
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Show notes
Sonic R Platformer Mod: https://tinyurl.com/mu6e538j
Lemmings Reloaded On C64: https://tinyurl.com/hh856em2
Lost Beavis & Butt-Head Game: https://tinyurl.com/h8wt9um9
The Last Of Us Demake: https://tinyurl.com/2abjtn6c
Gamebox For Classic Mac: https://manticore.nz/gamebox
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Coming up on this week's show, The Last of Us gets an 8-bit demake. |
| 0:04.3 | Lemming's reloaded for the Commodore 64. |
| 0:06.5 | And we talked to Andy Roberts, Falamus. |
| 0:19.6 | And the Retro Auerreau podcast is brought to you every week with our sponsor, |
| 0:23.5 | and I've got mates, a bitmap books now, one of their books, I think probably my favorite book they've ever done. |
| 0:28.0 | Commodore Amiga, a visual compendium. |
| 0:30.9 | Now, if you love the Amiga, you've got to check this out, weighing in a massive 420 pages. |
| 0:36.3 | This covers the entire gaming history of one of our favourite machines. |
| 0:40.6 | From the early titles, like Defender of the Crown, Barbarian, |
| 0:43.6 | through stuff like Marvel Madness, Space Harrier, |
| 0:45.5 | that incredible Rainbow Islands conversion and games that define the system. |
| 0:49.3 | Populous, Canofoda, Speedball, Worms, they're all in here |
| 0:52.3 | and showcasing more than 140 of the biggest Amiga games. |
| 0:55.9 | Check it out and the rest of their retro gaming collection. |
| 0:58.3 | You'll find it at bitmapbooks.com. |
| 1:01.2 | And with our friends at PCB Way. |
| 1:04.0 | Now, PCB Way offer fully featured custom PCB prototypes with low-cost, fast turnaround quality boards. |
| 1:10.7 | Now, maybe you're looking for |
| 1:11.9 | someone to do quality 3D printing or injection molding. They've got you covered and they've got |
| 1:16.4 | an amazing section on their website, which is a shared project section, loads of retro goodness |
| 1:20.5 | in there as well. So get an instant quite right now at PCBway.com. |
| 1:26.5 | Hello and welcome to the Retro Hour podcast, episode number 517, your weekly dose of retro |
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