Podcastapalooza!
Get all the Aidan you can handle in your ears
Since upgrading my podcasting gear, I've been making a ton of guest appearances across various podcasts (as well as working on something else *cough*), so I wanted to round those up here in one easy list, in case y'all missed me. It runs the gamut from promo for my new book, a lot of discussion about the recent Suikoden remasters, a Chrono Trigger deep dive, GenAI in gaming, Diddy Kong Racing, Clair Obscur, Pokemon, and a whole bunch more.
So, let's dive in.
Suikoden 1 & 2 Promo
Kicking things off, I made several appearances last on various cool podcasts to talk about Suikoden I & II HD Remaster (which is very good, despite my few quibbles) and my upcoming book about Suikoden from Boss Fight Books. (Coming 2026!) My approach here was "How can I leverage this opportunity to talk to my favourite people about some of my favourite games?" And the result is that I'm on a bunch of podcast I listen to every week—which is very surreal.
Axe of the Blood God
We kick things off with a long look at the remasters—what they do well, why they're lacking, and how a newcomer to the series should approach the remaster. And then hosts Eric and Kat go deep on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which has shot WAY up my to-play list after their impressions, and some chatter about the puzzling Suikoden mobile gacha revival.
Retrograde Amnesia
Friends of the show Eric and Chris kindly invited me onto a special episode of their Suikoden deep-dive season (where they look at Suikoden 1 & 2 in exhaustive, line-by-line detail) to chat about my new book, Suikoden's legacy, and the remasters.
Party Chat: A JRPG Podcast
Cam and Kevin's new JRPG podcast is one of my favourites, so it was fun to join them for a dig at Pokemon's recent visuals (with Cam running defense), a Suikoden lovefest between Kevin and me, and an Inside Baseball-style look at how my Suikoden book came together behind the scenes.
Tokyo Game Life
This was a lovely exploration of the Suikoden series, the remasters, and my new book, along with a fun discussion of why Suikoden II antagonist Luca Blight remains one of the GOATs.
Everything Else
On top of all the Suikoden 'casts, I've also made a few unrelated, but equally interesting, appearances on various shows.
CSI Skill Tree
Y'all know I love Chrono Trigger, so joining Joey and Troy on this episode of CSI Skill Tree for an elaborate and nuanced conversation about how Chrono Trigger addresses climate crises, individual and collective agency, and so much more, was a delight. Troy and Joey taught me SO much about a game I thought I knew inside and out. Truly one of my favourite discussions of all time—and one of the few times I'm compelled to relisten to an episode I've recorded.
Pixels & Polygons
To celebrate his show's one year anniversary, I joined up with host Darren Hupke and fellow guest Luis Aguasvivas to do an RPG draft, and, I gotta say, I'm pretty darn happy with my list (even if I didn't end up with Suikoden II...) What'd I miss?
Flashback 64
Is Diddy Kong a sociopath? Is Diddy Kong Racing better than Mario Kart 64? Where ARE Timber the Tiger's parents? Get all the answers on this laugh-a-minute episode of Flashback 64.
GG, Everybody!
Taking a break from my book promo and feature beat, I returned to the GG, Everybody! podcast to talk about gaming news, what success looks like in the modern gaming landscape (hi, Balatro!), and the scourge of GenAI in the games industry.
Support
There are lots of ways to support Astrolabe and my other work. Check ‘em out!
Keep In Touch
Enjoy Astrolabe? Want more SFF and retro gaming goodies? You can find me on Bluesky and my website.
Credits
Astrolabe banner photo by Shot by Cerqueira on Unsplash