The Retro Asylum podcast show was launched in October of 2011 by Andy Godoy & Dean Swain after they had decided to bring their previous show (which had focused on all aspects of gaming) to an end. The new show would focus on the guys main passion, namely the games that they had grown up with. Unlike other “retro” focused shows that were around at the time, Retro Asylum looked at the scene from a UK prospective. Whilst other shows talked nothing but Atari, Nintendo & SEGA, Retro Asylum discussed the systems that the British audience had grown up with such as the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 & Amstrad CPC as well as the consoles and looked at classic British games such as Manic Miner & Chuckie Egg. Within a few months of the show being launched it had shot into the top 20 of the iTunes gaming chart. Eventually Retro Asylum would manage to knock corporate podcast’s such as IGN, Giant Bomb & The Official PlayStation Podcast off of the top spot of the iTunes gaming chart and has continued to do so on numerous occasions. In 2014 Andy Godoy decided to leave Retro Asylum due to family commitments, leaving Dean Swain at the helm. Steve Erickson joined the show in 2015 and shortly afterwards Retro Asylum was voted “Best Video Game Podcast” of 2015 in the very first UK Podcasters awards. Mads Kristensen joined RA in March 2016 and in the same year Retro Asylum was voted "World's Best Podcast' in the NME awards. Matt Wilsher, who had been a previous host in the shows early days also rejoined the show later this year. The shows line-up of hosts was completed when Chris Worthington joined in 2018. In 2021 Retro Asylum celebrated it's 10th Birthday making it not only the UK's Number 1 retro gaming podcast but also one the UK's longest running shows.
12 years since the podcasts inception and Retro Asylum is still going strong.
