517: From Zzap!64 to Thalamus: How a C64 Legend Came Back - The Retro Hour EP517

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 Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show: Bitmap Books - https://www.bitmapbooks.com Go to https://surfshark.com/retrohour or use code RETROHOUR at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Leeds Gaming Market: https://leedsgamingmarket.com/ Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com for all your PCB needs We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you'd like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://theretrohour.com/support/ https://www.patreon.com/retrohour Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8 Website: http://theretrohour.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/ X: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.com Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour 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