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In the late '90s, a humble little British studio unexpectedly gave us an end-of-the-century It Girl in the form of Lara Croft. (But don't call her "Laura!") Of course, it helped that her game was a shockingly novel concept; in late 1996, the very idea of of a third-person, completely polygonal action/adventure was enough to get millions to slam down their hard-earned 50 bucks. Tomb Raider's gameplay hasn't exactly held up as "timeless," but despite its many flaws, theres a reason why we're on the brink of yet another reboot some 30 years later. On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Stuart Gipp, and Diamond Feit as they slip on some too-tight tank tops and swan dive into the highly deadly world of Lara Croft.

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Dyllon Ashton

I played through this game for the first time last year (in the remastered collection with modern controls, sorry!) and loved my time with it. There's still something really special about this game.

Notna

I never thought the controls of Tomb Raider were awkward or clunky. Slow, yes, but I'd call them precise and methodical. I honestly took to them quicker than Mario 64. I was used to Prince of Persia and Flashback, so the moveset made perfect sense, and I had played Resident Evil, so third-person tank controls were also second nature. Mash them together and you've basically got Tomb Raider.

Phillip

I remember being confused about the comparison when the game came out and remain confused today at why anyone would compare Tomb Raider to Mario 64. I don’t see how they are in the same genre at all. The first game is by far the best. The worst parts are the handful of times you have to fight another person and shoot them enough until they can run behind something and disappear. The second game relied way too much on other humans where you’d enter an area and notice your life going down because you’re getting hit by gunfire. The third game went even more in the wrong direction while adding climbing that was always hard to tell what you could climb because of the blurry textures.

PosiVibez4evr

Loved this discussion! Tomb Raider 1 was such a major event of the 32 bit generation, remember it vividly.

littleterr0r

Any mention of Tomb Raider just reminds me of the song "Sick Beat" from Kero Kero Bonito: It's KKB, let's go! 走って登って撃って跳んで. Tomb Raider になりたいんだ. かっこ良くて強くて. 憧れなんだ Tomb Raider

Wood Duck [Legacy Edition]

This and the latest Crash episode both have brilliant episode art! (I mean, every episode does, but I'll shout out these two in particular!)

Wood Duck [Legacy Edition]

All three if you did a really great job jumping in to add context (cool Britannia, no analogue sticks, booth babes) to help frame it for the younguns. Also I can't but help of think of the Michael Crichton novel "Congo" when it comes to aggressive animal encounters in ancient ruins. I wonder if one of the designers was a fan, or perhaps "deserted wild places and savage wild animals" goes hand in hand more broadly.

Joanna

I do enjoy the challenge the original Tomb Raiders present, at least up to a point. It took me around 40 hours to beat TR3 while save scumming on the PC, and having to consult a walkthrough once for the Aldywych level. I genuinely applaud anyone who managed to get through these monsters on the PS1 with save crystals. Thr series does hold a soft spot in my hear in general. I remember repeatedly playing the TR2 demo bundled on some shareware CD which featured part of the Venice level. Even my out of date early 90s Pentium 1 based PC could render the game at playable frame rates.

Renaissance 2K

Great episode. I bought my PlayStation at the dawn of the "Love Croft"-ian era, but didn't actually play through the original game until three years ago. I think Stuart said it best when he described the game as work. I've never been so simultaneously appreciative of the game's "platformer as puzzle box" execution, and infuriated by how punishing it is.