Maximum Power Up is a monthly podcast covering retro and modern gaming. Join our hosts and special guests as they chat about their love of video game culture.
Phil Hockaday
A touch starved of video games as a child, Phil has developed somewhat of a gaming obsession in his adult life. He started collecting retro games seriously 3 years ago. He is a self admitted Capcom Fanboy and can be often found trawling through stalls at events looking for his latest Vs fighter pickup that he probably already owns on another system.
A former Retro Asylum team member, starting in early 2014 as a regular podcast cover artist and eventually featuring as a co-host on a few episodes before leaving to co-found Maximum Power Up in 2015.
Favourite games:
Gunstar Heroes (Treasure, 1993), Rez (United Games Artists, 2001), Ultra Street Fighter 4 (Capcom, 2014) & Silent Hill 2 (Konami, 2001)
Systems Owned:
Nintendo: NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii, WiiU, Gameboy Advance & Nintendo DS lite
Sega: Mega Drive, Saturn, Dreamcast & Game Gear
Sony: PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4 & PSP
Microsoft: XBox Original, XBox 360 & Xbox One
JXD: S7800b Android Retro Gaming Tablet
Follow Phil on Twitter – @Last1Up
Paul Monaghan
Paul has been playing games for over 25 years and first owned system was the Atari 520 STe. A lot of the early years were building experiences on local arcade machines and a love for gaming magazines – something that is still a major love all these years later. Other machines owned growing up were the Super Nintendo – his favourite of all time, the Amiga, PS1, PS2, PS3.
A former member of the Retro Asylum podcast team for 18 months he always found it difficult to shut up about the ST, games magazines or the SNES. Co-founded Maximum Power Up in 2015.
Favourite Games:
Final Fight (Capcom, 1989), Shadowrun (Beam Software, 1993), Dungeon Master (FTL Games, 1987) and Resident Evil 4 (Capcom, 2005)
Systems Owned:
Nintendo: SNES, Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance, N64 & Switch
Sega: Mega Drive
Sony: PS1, PS2, PS3
Commodore: C64
JXD: S7800b Android Retro Gaming Tablet
Follow Paul on Twitter – @PdmonPaul
Chris Smith(ster)
Chris started gaming at the age of 5 at dingy arcades on the coasts of England. Gaming at home consisted of a Spectrum ZX and Atari 2600 until a Nintendo Entertainment System appeared in 1987. He never warmed to the NES, but the Super Nintendo changed his life!
“I didn’t realise just how much I loved video games until I played Super Mario World. Gaming was something I did with my dad at first and then later my brother and I would play Super Tennis or Micro Machines every day. I was one of those kids who had divorced parents so had a Super Nintendo at my mum’s and Mega Drive at my dad’s so playground console wars didn’t really affect me, however I am a veteran of the Amiga v Atari ST war that raged in the early 90’s. Luckily I was on the winning side playing some amazing games on my Amiga instead of using it for school work.”
Favourite games:
Super Mario World (Nintendo, 1990), Tactics Ogre Let us Cling Together (Square-Enix, 1995), Final Fantasy XII (Square-Enix, 2006), WipEout HD/Fury (Liverpool Studio, 2008), Castlevania Symphony of the Night (Konami, 1997).
Systems Owned:
Nintendo: Four Gameboy Micros, GBA SP & GameBoy
Sony: PS3, PS4 & PSVita
Follow Chris on Twitter – @ChrisSmithster
Jake Smith
The Maximum Power Up import freak. A Speccy gamer from the age of 10 onwards, Jake has lived through both the 8 and 16 Bit wars, during which he imported a Japanese Mega Drive, fell in love with Japanese game cover art and typography, and has been gaming and collecting ever since.
Collecting hardware as much as software, he’s is happy to own variations of well known consoles and obscure systems, aiming to collect the very best games released for them. This leads to an incredible amount of electronic plastic littering the house.
Favourite games:
Bubble Bobble, Power Drift (arcade), Gunstar Heroes, Thunder Force III, Elemental Master (Mega Drive), Donkey Kong Jr (Famicom), Polybius (PS4), Fire Emblem series, Mr. Driller series
Systems Owned:
So many, and so many variations of each console!
Highlights: Sega Wondermega, Pioneer LaserDisc with MD/PCE, Panasonic Q, Nuon, all the PC Engines…
Follow Jake on Twitter – @jake74
Chris “kayjoon” Smith
Thanks to having an excessive amount of older sisters, Chris was introduced to video games when he was just 3 years old. Those early days were spent playing on a Texas Ti99, a succession of ZX Spectrums (damn those rubber keys) and a Commodore 16+4. His first console was a SEGA Master System, which started a SEGA love affair that kept him from owning a Nintendo home console until the GameCube. His gaming time has been split almost 50/50 between PCs and Consoles since the mid-90s.
Chris writes into the void via his own blog liberaljoon, which sometimes gets 10s of views. Wider geek interests include a healthy amount of Marvel & DC, a balanced Sci-Fi & Fantasy bookshelf, and extending the game playing into the physical space with cards, dice and boards.
Favourite games:
TxK (PS Vita, 2014) and all things Jeff Minter, Quake 1 (PC, 1996), Bubble Bobble (SMS, 1988) , Warcraft 3 (PC, 2002) and Saturn Bomberman (Saturn, 1996)
Systems owned:
SEGA: Mega Drive, Saturn, Dreamcast
Sony: PS2, PS3, PS4, PSVR, PSPgo, PS Vita, PSTV
Microsoft: Original Xbox, Xbox One
Nintendo: N64, Wii, Switch, DS Lite, GameBoy
Gaming PC & Steam Link
A couple of RetroPie setups to emulate the gaps
Follow Chris on Twitter – @kayjoon
Amy Hasler
Amy’s first taste of gaming came at the tender age of 4 playing Granny’s Garden on the BBC Micro then later Martello Towers on the same platform. From this sparked a love of adventure and puzzle games with great storylines.
A complete Legend of Zelda lover (especially Twilight Princess!) and big fan of the Dragon Age Trilogy, also a fan of all things Resident Evil.
Some of her favourite consoles owned over the years are the SNES, GameCube, Mega Drive and WiiU.
Favourite games:
Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess (Nintendo, 2006), Dragon Age Origins (BioWare, 2009), Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, 2009), Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega 1986), Bubble Bobble (Taito, 1986).
Systems Owned:
Nintendo: SNES, GameCube, Wii, WiiU, Game Boy, Game Boy Colour, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP Zelda Limited Edition, 3DS XL
Sega: Master System 2, Mega Drive, Game Gear
Microsoft: Xbox 360
Commodore: C64
Follow Amy on Twitter – @AmyHasler1
Arron Timson
Arron tarted gaming on the NES and Master System 1 around 1990, Arron first found videogame love in Street Fighter 2 at age 7 finishing the game in the shop.
Arron always chose Nintendo over SEGA early on but will always have a soft spot for the SEGA Saturn. He has owned pretty much every Nintendo console since the SNES but and will always be a MASSIVE N64 fan which he will never stop playing as he believes the system houses Nintendo’s best games. Arron is also a big Nintendo magazine collector.
Favourite games:
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo, 1998), Goldeneye (Rare, 1997), SEGA Rally Championship (SEGA, 1994), Metal Gear Solid (Konami, 1998), Pokemon Blue (Nintendo, 1996) & Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting (Capcom, 1992)
Systems Owned:
Nintendo: Super Famicom, N64, Gamecube, Wii, Switch & Nintendo DS/2/3DS
Sega: Master System 2, Saturn & Dreamcast
Sony: PS 2 & PS3
Microsoft: XBox One & XBox 360
Follow Arron on Twitter – @timson72
Tom Charnock (on hiatus)
Tom started his gaming adventure in the late 80s on the Amstrad CPC464 and since being bitten by the bug has owned pretty much every major console since then. Collecting rare and obscure gaming paraphernalia is now one of his main hobbies, as is a bizarre affection for failed systems like the Atari Jaguar and 3DO.
Tom founded The Dreamcast Junkyard in 2005, writes for RetroCollect and has written for both Retro Gamer Magazine and tech website T3. A regular at gaming expos and on other people’s podcasts, Tom joined Maximum Power Up in December 2015.
Favourite games:
Doom 64 (N64, 1997), Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998), Colin McRae Rally 2.0 (PlayStation, 2000), Wip3out (PlayStation, 1999), Halo (Xbox, 2001), Rush 2049 (Dreamcast, 2000)
Systems Owned:
Nintendo: NES, SNES, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Pocket, DS, Gameboy Colour, Gamecube, N64, Wii & Switch
Sega: Master System, Mega Drive, Mega CD, Multimega, Game Gear, Saturn, Dreamcast
Atari: Jaguar, Jaguar CD
Panasonic: 3DO FZ10
Sony: PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
Microsoft: Xbox, Xbox 360
Hyperkin: Retron 5
SNK: Neo-Geo Pocket, Neo-Geo CD
Amstrad: GX4000
Phillips: CDi 450
Follow Tom on Twitter – @Tomleecee