Episode 156: Read Only Memo

From Video Game History Hour by Video Game History Foundation

May 27, 2026 · 1h 13m · Season 2 · Episode 156

About this episode

Frank Cifaldi and Wes Fenlon discuss the importance of emulation and fan translations in making old games accessible.

Host Frank Cifaldi is joined this week by Wes Fenlon, author of the bi-weekly newsletter Read Only Memo , which focuses on emulation, ROM hacks, translations, and decompilations. The two discuss the niche nature of Wes’ content while he emphasizes the importance of emulation and fan translations, highlighting their role in making old games accessible. Wes and Frank get way into the weeds as they chat about the challenges and innovations in emulation, such as static recompilation and decompilation, the impact of companies like Nintendo on the emulation community, and the potential for fan-driven innovations to influence commercial retro game releases. Mentioned in the show: GitHub ShaderBeam and Blur Busters article - an overlay you can run over a window: https://github.com/mausimus/ShaderBeam You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify , or on our website . See more from Wes Fenlon: Bluesky: @wes.readonlymemo.com Newsletter: Read Only Memo PC Gamer: pcgamer.com/author/wes-fenlon Video Game History Foundation: Email: podcast@gamehistory.org Website: gamehistory.org Support us on Patreon…

People in this episode

Host: Frank Cifaldi

Guest: Wes Fenlon

Topics covered

emulation
ROM hacks
translations
decompilations
fan translations
retro gaming

Keywords

emulation
ROM hacks
fan translations
decompilation
retro games
Nintendo
video game history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Read Only Memo, Nintendo, Video Game History Foundation, PC Gamer

Books & works: Read Only Memo, GitHub ShaderBeam, Blur Busters article