The Video Game History Hour

Documentarian Danny O’Dwyer of Noclip has been sifting through thousands of videotapes in a recent mass-acquisition of video game (and adjacent) recordings. In this episode: Burger King and Kellogg’s games, Danny can fix your VCR, conferences in 1080p, shop talk on uploading footage, BBC Domesday Project methodology, slow Sonic, is that Frank?, it’s lonely work, … Read more

Historian Racheil Weil returns to the show to discuss the Nintendo Knitting Machine, a never released knitting machine toy powered by the NES. In this episode: Sega Master System smack talk; flier breakdown; just…why?; dissociating like a TV doctor; analyzing the evidence: what’s real, how it might work, peripheral material, screen capture; and bless the … Read more

VGHF librarian Phil Salvador chats with longtime contributor to video game archaeology Misty De Méo, author of CD-ROM Journal: a blog exploring multimedia games and software. We discuss her recent article A Chronology of First CD-ROM Games answering the question: What was the first CD-ROM game? In this episode: the first adventure, the magical dinosaur … Read more

Travis Brown, our very own director of technology, gets technical as we talk about his role with VGHF and how he got started in preservation. In this episode: The Varsity vs The Vortex, scanning 14k pieces of optical media, scaling with Nimbies, Power-Up Baseball restoration and MAME, writing our API glue, and Frank forgets just … Read more

We share the details of our recent field trip to The Strong Museum of Play to celebrate their newest video game focused expansion. In this travel log episode: travel woes; Wegmans toilet paper; Transformers’ shrieks at a cocktail event; a giant, playable Donkey Kong cabinet; video games ARE real; Level Up and High Score; touring … Read more

Brandon Butler, Director of Information Policy at the University of Virginia Library and Law and Policy Advisor at the Software Preservation Network, joins us to talk about a major new study published jointly by the Video Game History Foundation and the SPN which shows 87% of classic games released in the United States are now … Read more

Author and historian Kevin Bunch returns to the familiar guest chair to educate us all on a somewhat obscure 1970’s consolputer from his recent video, The History of the Bally (and Astrocade) Professional Arcade: Archive Annex Episode 4. In this episode, tears are shed, wrapping these things in useless metal, accidental historical revisionism, what’s in … Read more

Frank gets a bit reflective and shares how he got where he is today; not just the video game stuff, but the life stuff, too. In this episode: a youth in Las Vegas, underage drinking and overage smoking, dropping out of school, the Wild West of game cataloging, Frank can do it better, how to … Read more

Historian and game developer Andy Cunningham shares his fantastic new book The World of Nintendo Book, Volume One: A World of Wonders, a visual history of Nintendo merchandising. This first in a series goes deep into the creation of Nintendo of America’s merchandising team of the late 80’s and early 90’s, something often overlooked in … Read more

Kyle Orland, author of the new Boss Fight Books’ Minesweeper, joins the show to talk about one of the most prolific 90’s games by the same name. In this episode: the Minesweeper generation, how Bill Gates got addicted to it, the ultimate time waster, it was a mouse tutorial, Microsoft’s internal conflicts, the moral panic … Read more

Writer, journalist, and ‘several’ time returning guest Jack Yarwood shares his research on two video game logos with stylized R’s, which were subsequently made to be physical objects, as recently published in his articles “It Became Almost Like A Cult” – The Untold Story Behind Rockstar’s Iconic Logo and The Origin Of Rare’s Iconic “Golden … Read more

Kelsey and Frank hit record on a Friday afternoon for an impromptu, off-the-cuff discussion about a scary recent development in the world of video game preservation regarding the preservation organization Forest of Illusion. Total bummer topics include how much we rely on individual people to work for free, how many fragile points of failure there … Read more

Jirard Khalil, aka “That One Video Gamer”, aka “The Completionist,” aka “Dragonrider,” joins us to talk about his recent video I bought EVERY Nintendo Wii U & 3DS game before the Nintendo eShop closes. In this episode: what happens when an E-Shop closes and why it shuts down, preserving games for toddlers, libraries collecting like … Read more

(Content Warning: this episode deals with the topic of death) Collector, preservationist, and founding board member Steve Lin joins us to illuminate the realities of dealing with a collection after the collector has passed away. In this episode: balancing preserving history and helping a family left behind, what you can implement immediately, what is a … Read more

Journalist and researcher Nick Yanes brings us a piece of history not only from his own local area, but also from his own past in his recent article The birth and death of Budcat Creations, Iowa’s first (and only) Triple-A game studio. We take a peek inside the life of a development studio during a … Read more

Frank and guest Chris Kohler recap their recent attendance of the 2023 D.I.C.E. Summit, a Las Vegas convention for executives and other high-level creatives in the interactive entertainment space. In this episode: a little history of the show’s atmospheric evolution, the D.I.C.E. Awards, ‘speed date’ networking, the best games shopping in Vegas, Frank apologizes to … Read more

Frank Cifaldi takes the guest seat for this episode and shares the story of the most obscure caper in Carmen Sandiego’s criminal history, a story we shared in a blog post a few years ago. In this episode: we plan a TV series, deep fried steak with a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator, Broderbund’s involvement in the … Read more

Polygon Senior Reporter Nicole Carpenter joins us to chat about the 1989 Legend of Zelda cartoon, the subject of her recent oral history piece: ‘Excuuuuse me, Princess!’: An oral history of The Legend of Zelda cartoon. In this episode: Zeldathon; this cartoon is basically Shakespeare; The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!; the wild west of … Read more

Jonas Rosland, executive director of Hit Save!, shares their newest Guide to Start Video Game Preservation as an individual not necessarily affiliated with an organization. In this episode we look at the first steps to take, knowing what’s already been done, where to get more material, and we ask some philosophical and big-picture questions around … Read more

Norm Caruso returns to discuss Super Mario Kart’s somewhat humble beginnings as laid out in his recent video essay The Story of Super Mario Kart | Gaming Historian. In this episode: looking for the SMK team photo, an invaluable go kart outing, Mario by any other name, the mechanics of drifting, Norm had to “git … Read more

As we celebrate this milestone episode, we invite our editor, Michael Carrell, and producer, Robin Kunimune, to take a look back with us at some of our and our listener’s favorite memories from the last 100 ‘hours’. In this episode: how this podcast came to be, why we dedicate our time to this project, favorite … Read more

Dreamcast Junkyard veterans Tom Charnock and Brian Vines join us to share their knowledge and experiences of the Dreamcast’s launch in both the European and US markets, respectively, and even a little on the Japanese market’s launch. In this episode: bonding over our strict video game upbringing rules; doing our darnedest to NOT derail into … Read more

Dylan Mansfield, gaming historian and archivist, joins the show to share an odd piece of Sega history from his recent article Saving Sacred Pools: Sega’s Million Dollar Adult Game. This mid 90’s FMV game with adult themes was, until recently, considered lost. In this episode: we want to know why crappy games are crappy; once … Read more

Chris Gliddon, archivist and producer at RocketSnail Games, takes a look back at the inception and evolution of Club Penguin, an MMO virtual world filled with games and activities from 2005. In this episode: Chris and Kelsey can barely contain their excitement, no one wants war – everybody just wants to chat and walk around, … Read more

Computer and video game historian, NYU assistant professor, and all-around rad friend of the show Laine Nooney discusses their recent article One of the most important women in Apple’s history never worked for Apple. In this episode: Bitcoin, ham radios, VR, and the Apple II – it’s all related; Softalk magazine; the 1977 Trinity; and … Read more

Chris Kohler returns to the show, this time to chat with Frank Cifaldi about the Portland Retro Gaming Expo held annually in Portland, Oregon. In this episode: a creepy merry-go-round, PRGE museum iterations, a drive-by pre-announcement, the current collector atmosphere, and the preservation ecosystem. See more from Chris Kohler: Twitter: @kobunheat Website: www.chriskohler.biz Amazon Author … Read more

Alex Smith hijacks the show from co-hosts Kelsey and “the other Kelsey” to dive deep into the history of Magnavox, manufacturer of the first commercial home video game console: Odyssey. In this episode: a ‘loudspeaker’ really is a person who speaks loudly, Futurama, Star Trek, the government creates a monopoly, we’re going to need a … Read more

Drew Mackie, author and owner of gaming blog Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games, joins the show this week to share the history of some of Street Fighter II’s character names. We start off with a recent article of his, If His Name Is Blanka, Why Is He Green?, taking a look at the biggest … Read more

Ernie Smith, editor of website and newsletter Tedium and chum of the show, hooked our attention with his recent article Surf Like A Shark highlighting the SharkWire Online, a totally unlicensed device which brought internet connectivity to the Nintendo 64. In this episode: edgy 7-years-olds are a marketing demographic, Fisher-Price “My First Internet,” Dad is … Read more

Journalist and critic Kim justice recently released a video, The Story of JRPG’s in the UK BEFORE FFVII: Super Play Magazine | Kim Justice, challenging the traditional narrative about how JRPGs were introduced in the UK, perhaps paralleling how it happened in the US. In this episode we shop for hardware live on-air, underserved import … Read more

Designer and Sierra On-Line co-founder Roberta Williams shares how Adventure inspired her own career in creating/designing the King’s Quest and Phantasmagoria series as well as her newest work: Colossal Cave 3D Adventure, a reimagined version of the original title.In this episode we’re joined by a very vocal special guest, avid readers become avid storytellers, we’re … Read more

Jimmy Maher, author of The Digital Antiquarian, returns once more to share his recent article Toonstruck (or, A Case Study in the Death of Adventure Games). We examine this 1996 point-and-click adventure as an illustration of the mainstream decline of its entire genre. In this episode: “Siliwood” interactive movies are the next big thing, the … Read more

Kevin Bunch returns to the show to share a new episode from Atari Archive: The Launch Lineup: Intellivision Archive Episode 1. In this episode we learn the history of the Intellivision launch and many of the innovative, if not long-lasting, ideas that came with it. Get ready for some Backgammon with a shifty-eyed poker man. … Read more

We’re joined by Aaron Reed, creator of a special blog post turned book called 50 Years of Text Games, a project documenting one stand-out text adventure game from every year going all the way back to 1971 (Oregon Trail!). In this episode we look into the 1988 entry, P.R.E.S.T.A.V.B.A., a political protest game from Czechoslovakia. … Read more

Gaming Historian Norm Caruso returns to share The Story of Super Mario World | Gaming Historian: his newest YouTube documentary. In this episode we get to see behind the curtain, so to speak, and witness industry strategies for psyching out your competitors; hear the swan song(s) of 8-bit cartridge games from Nintendo; see some ‘fishy’ … Read more

Henry E. Lowood, Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections in the Stanford University Libraries and Co-Editor of ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories, gets deep into the weeds of library science around video games with VGHF Library Director Phil Salvador comparing and contrasting our two organizations. In this episode: we plan to be … Read more

Derek Alexander and Cassidy recently collaborated on Zeebo: Brazil’s Bizarre Delisted Console | Past Mortem [SSFF], a mini documentary on possibly the most ill-conceived video game console, ever. In this cutest episode of the VGHH, we meet the Zeebo Gringo, a beautiful mutant system is born, we claim diplomatic immunity, and Uncle Zeebo and Kelsey … Read more

Returning guest Jack Yarwood recently wrote about this Mario Paint sequel in his article How a British Developer Made a Japan-Exclusive Sequel to Mario Paint: the Super Nintendo utility to create art, animation, music, etc. Published in 1999, Mario Artist Paint Studio was a direct sequel in everything but name. Being exclusive to Japan and … Read more

Jonathan piqued the interest of our co-hosts with his recent video EarthBound 64/MOTHER 3 N64 Spaceworld ‘99 breakdown/analysis, a detailed account of everything we know about the Spaceworld demo of MOTHER 3, a game well documented as our ‘holy grail’ in preservation. In this episode Kelsey and Jonathan must defend Cabbage, Frank pleads with you, … Read more

Chris Baines shares his recently published documentary, The History of Ghosts ‘n Goblins (and Makaimura 魔界村) – Full Series Retrospective | ChrisB Crisps, covering the extensive (if confusingly titled) franchise and its creator Tokuro Fujiwara. In this episode: cringing from ‘go,’ clout is expensive, women are hard to find, we visit Kelsey’s WonderSwan Corner, and … Read more

Jon-Paul Dyson, the Director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong, where he is also the VP of exhibits, shares all about the museum and its 2022 World Video Game Hall of Fame finalists. In this episode Disneyland is one of the best level designs ever made, collectors make … Read more

Gaming historian Liam Robertson returns as almost a sequel to Ep. 16 to share how Nintendo’s Page Boy was almost a sequel to their unreleased Work Boy, as shown in his recent video Page Boy: Nintendo’s LOST Game Boy Add-on | Game History Secrets. Man, that’s a lot of boys! We stack add-ons to get … Read more

Author Chris Kohler explores the evolution of niche fan culture from analog to digital through stories from his book Final Fantasy V (Boss Fight Books Book 18). “Young Chris” learns uploading to America Online makes it live forever, all the cool games stay in Japan, you can use Mario Paint as a Rosetta Stone for … Read more

Veteran game designer Noah Falstein looks back on his 42 year long, and counting, career and reflects on the evolution of both the role and industry over these four decades. We find Noah’s cassette tape, Simon is in Silicon Valley, $30 brings utter horror, Noah has to rein in the fun or else you’ll get … Read more

Benj Edwards – journalist, tech historian, and recovering retro computer hoarder – teaches us a little about MS-DOS and QBasic through their How-To Geek article: GORILLA.BAS: How to Play the Secret MS-DOS Game From Your Childhood. Frank and Benj reminisce back to day zero, Snacks ‘n Jaxson gets swatted, we hack a powerful secret instead … Read more

A couple months ago we hosted a ticketed event as a fundraiser we called Nintendo Power Reunion – Stories from the Original Nintendo Power Staff. Nintendo Power was one of the most popular and iconic video game magazines in the US, and its original staff have gathered together for the first time to talk about … Read more

Translator, localizer, and writer Nob Ogasawara shares highlights of his career working with the Pokémon franchise and at EGM. He shares his birthday with two funny coincidences, gets called a “god,” inadvertently creates a fashion legend, and laments a lost Brittney Spearow. No one expects the Monty Python reference! See more from Nob Ogasawara: Twitter: … Read more

Dimitris Giannakis, well-known for creating excellent videos on the technical aspect of video game preservation, explains. Luckily, he wears a T-shirt as a perfect example, we ponder at what point the code becomes Michael Jordan, and a boy dancing with a baguette solves a problem. See more from Dimitris Giannakis: Twitter: @ModernVintageG YouTube: /ModernVintageGamer Patreon: … Read more

Join us in our celebration of the Video Game History Foundation’s 5th birthday! Let’s take a ride through history as we retrace the long road to how the VGHF came together, what we’ve been up to for these last 5 years, and where we’re going next. Thank you to everyone that has contributed to our … Read more

Phil Salvador – video game historian and librarian – has not only joined the Video Game History Foundation as its new Library Director, he’s also joined the show this week to tell us all about what he’ll be doing in this new role. Phil has quite the endeavor ahead of him getting our collection organized, … Read more

Our guest this week, Yahel Velazquez from the Patreon funded YouTube channel Wrestling With Gaming, caught our eye with his recent video How Perfect Dark Surpassed Goldeneye On N64 – The Making Of The Nintendo 64 Classic. Yahel shares the story of the making of Perfect Dark – the Nintendo 64 game made by Rare … Read more

Author and oral historian Brian VanHooker recently caught our attention with his very appropriately titled article, An Oral History of ‘The Simpsons: Road Rage’. Briefly putting aside his obsession with Ninja Turtles, Brian talks to us about The Simpsons: Road Rage, which many consider the first breakthrough game from the franchise since the Konami Arcade … Read more

Video game historian and documentarian Kevin Bunch is here to talk about the Fairchild Channel F: the greatest game console ever made by Fairchild. Creator of the Atari Archive series of gaming documentaries about the Atari 2600’s library, Kevin tells us the history of this “alternate universe Atari” console in his latest video The Fairchild … Read more

Gaming Historian and friend of the show, Norm Caruso, joins us to expand on his recent video The Ultimate Guide to NES Light Guns | Gaming Historian about The Zapper and many other NES light guns. Learn the history of how these types of guns were even invented, how these toys worked (and how to … Read more

Danny O’Dwyer of Noclip is here to talk about the latest episode in their Greatest Hits series, The History of Grand Theft Auto, Lemmings & DMA Design. Now ‘the’ Grand Theft Auto expert, Danny explains the European version of iconic American stereotypes present in this game compared to differing regional stereotypes found in other titles. … Read more

Andrew Borman, Digital Games Curator at The Strong National Museum of Play, joins us to discuss the roles, benefits, limitations, and approaches of institutional versus individual video game preservation. At the end of the day, the entire ecosystem is required: collectors, academia, fans, institutions, and non-institutions all play a necessary part in completing the picture. … Read more

It’s time, once again, to answer your burning questions! But first, a big thank you to all our listeners, supporters, and cheerleaders! And, thank you to all the wonderful guests who joined the show and the deluge of information they shared with us this year. We discuss the most important things which happened in 2021, … Read more

Dustin Hubbard (Hubz), founder of Gaming Alexandria, and Robert Reeves (Phillyman), founder of Retromags, join hosts Frank and Kelsey in a panel discussion on preserving video game magazines, especially those published pre-internet. We discuss why creating a library of old magazines is particularly important to overall preservation efforts, how we all got started, and how … Read more

PushDustIn, aka Will, takes us on a journey through the past of Super Smash Bros. (read: Brothers). Sparing us only a small break from his rather busy work as a content creator, Japanese Translator, Community Manager, PR professional, Co-host of the Memory Card Podcast, and creator of the Source Gaming website, Push is here to … Read more

Jacob Salas, of the website Pop History, joins the show to tell us about an ambitious attempt at a Virtual Magic Kingdom CD ROM that, in a lot of ways, is also the story of Hollywood’s odd attempts in the 90’s to try to get into the video game market more seriously. In his feature … Read more

Alex Smith returns to the show, this time to talk about Computer Space: a 1971 arcade game often considered the beginning of the commercial video game industry. Continuing the annotation series of his book, “They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. I”, Alex Smith has … Read more

Cyberlaw Clinic tech lawyer Kendra Albert and librarian and video game historian Phil Salvador join the show to give us their professional insight into the U.S. Copyright Office’s October 2021 ruling which affects how libraries are able to provide access to video games and other software. As we discuss this current event, we hope to … Read more

Rachel Weil started the FEMICOM Museum to catalogue, celebrate, and remix the history of girl games, girly games, and femme games. She joins us to provide insight into how this massive category of video games has been shut out of history preservation (hint: follow the money) and how she’s been countering this trend for the … Read more

Executive Director of Hit Save!, Jonas Rosland, joins us to showcase some of the amazing work this fellow 501(c)(3) non-profit does in preserving video game history, especially through community-driven projects. Hit Save! has brought together amazing resources in both their Scanning.Guide! and Dumping.Guide! to aid our community in digitizing existing materials as well as a … Read more

Gaming historian and journalist Damiano Gerli shares the details of how exactly Nintendo marketed itself to the Italian consumer in the 80’s and 90’s as laid out in his article Selling Mario to Italians: the untold story of Nintendo in Italy. They really had their work cut out for them as they tried to bring … Read more

Author Tim Lapetino joins us to discuss his new book, Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon. After so many years, why are there still stories to tell about Pac-Man? During a time when shooting aliens was the hot gameplay on the scene, we find out why this game, with such a different experience, had mass appeal. … Read more

GlitchCat7, competitive gamer/ROM hacker/full time streamer/Kaizo Mario historian of record, joins us to discuss his extensive blog post, The Complete History of ‘Kaizo Mario’. GlitchCat7 helps us understand how ‘Kaizo’ was born from exploring glitched levels, wall clipping, and ROM warping. These rearranged, and quite difficult, Mario levels provide a jumping off point for a … Read more

Historian and documentarian Kate Willaert returns to the show, this time to discuss her recent article on “adult” games made under the Mystique banner for the Atari 2600: Porno Hustlers Of The Atari Age. Kate guides us through the very troubled history around these titles’ creation and release, including protests, legal suits, and attempted legislation. … Read more

John Rairdin of Nintendo World Report joins us to discuss his ambitious documentary The History and Development of Star Fox Command (Ft. The Original Developers). He shares the previously undocumented history of this Nintendo DS title, its developers from Q-Games, and its many creators. As a side note: John has some pretty good ideas on … Read more

We’re joined, once again, by Norman Caruso to discuss the history of a unique 1990 Nintendo Entertainment System controller, the U-Force. All the rage when it was announced, this hands-free controller uses infrared emitters/detectors to locate your hands in 3-dimensional space for game control input. In his recent video Don’t Touch: The Story of the … Read more

To celebrate the Video Game History Hour’s 50th episode we’ve invited friend of the show, Chris Kohler, to join a thoughtful conversation all about game prototypes. What are they, where do they come from, and what part did they play in forming the Video Game History Foundation? How does the existence of source code affect … Read more

Jimmy Maher, creator of The Digital Antiquarian, returns to the show to discuss his article on The Dig, a LucasArts point and click adventure. Jimmy takes us through the rich, but troubled, history of this title in a way that helps us understand how this project ever made it to the finish line and why … Read more

Tomorrow marks the 22 year anniversary of the Dreamcast’s North American launch back on 9/9/99. To celebrate, we’re joined by Chase, one of the PR professionals charged with creating its memorable launch for Sega and who worked on the release of every single first party game for the console. We get a different perspective on … Read more

In our final week of our three week hiatus, we’re going back to a conversation we had with David L. Craddock back in episode 33. We covered the Resident Evil demo that had come out and other upcoming games, how our gaming styles have changed as we’ve gotten older, and what styles of game reviews … Read more

We’re continuing our brief hiatus, but this week we’re sharing a little after-show chat we had with Alex Smith talking further about the Smithsonian’s oral history project: Video Game Pioneers Archive.  See more from Alex Smith: Blog: videogamehistorian.wordpress.com Video Game Pioneers Archive: https://invention.si.edu/node/20723/p/489-videogame-pioneers-archive Project Transcripts: https://sova.si.edu/details/NMAH.AC.1498?s=0&n=10&t=C&q=&i=0 Book: https://www.routledge.com/They-Create-Worlds-The-Story-of-the-People-and-Companies-That-Shaped-the/Smith/p/book/9781138389908 Podcast:podcast.theycreateworlds.comThe Video Game History Hour music is … Read more

The podcast is going to take a brief hiatus for a few weeks in order to better focus on projects at the foundation. But, don’t worry; we’re not leaving you with nothing! Back in episode 30 we hung out with Ben Hanson after the show and discussed the process of being an interviewer and the … Read more

Greetings and welcome to some quality time with Clint Basinger of Lazy Game Reviews, his YouTube channel dedicated to computer history and software. We originally were inspired to bring Clint on the show to discuss his recent video, Unreal Tournament 22 Years Later: An LGR Retrospective, but we just couldn’t help but expand to the … Read more

A behind the scenes look at one of our recent home preservation efforts. Sometimes we get the call from someone with a house full of items in need of preservation and we just can’t turn down the opportunity. This time, we traveled to the Chicago area for a couple different collections. We can’t wait to … Read more

Martin Robinson of Eurogamer brings us the history of the Neo Geo, an interesting console of its time owned by an interesting type of person. Referring to his recent article, When the arcade came home: a short oral history of the Neo Geo, Robinson lays out what it was like at SNK making games for … Read more

Once again, we’re joined by Kevin Bunch of Atari Archive, this time to talk about his 50th episode of said series: Stellar Track (Star Trek): Atari Archive Episode 50. We learn the history of this very early, very influential game, its many iterations, and its different names along the way.  See more from Kevin Bunch: … Read more

We open up the mailbag and answer some of our listeners’ burning questions! We cover emulation preservation, the definition of a gaming historian, growing pains of the organization, best dinosaur games ever made, plans for our personal collections, and so much more! Quick note: this is episode 40, but we refer to it as episode … Read more

Fan turned archivist Mat Van Rhoon of Big Finish Games tells the story of the lost Tex Murphy series production tapes in a recent article, Tex Murphy and the Raiders of the Lost Tapes. We hear about the sheer elation, joy, and maddening frustration these adventures in preservation led to, as well as the odd … Read more

Norman Caruso is here to share the history of the Sega Mega Modem from his most recent video SEGA Mega Modem: Ahead of Its Time | Gaming Historian. Despite many of its drawbacks and pitfalls, this device pointed to a brighter future that wasn’t able to come to fruition until almost a decade after its … Read more

Grace Kramer and Derek Alexander are this week’s guests discussing the Nokia N-Gage from their recent documentary, N-Gage: Cell Phone Gaming’s First Big Flop | Past Mortem [SSFF]. While there is some debate on the pronunciation of Nokia depending where you live, there is little doubt to the N-Gage’s major DOA status. Find out what … Read more

Game historian, journalist, and content creator Kim Justice joins us to talk about the commercial and critical disappointment, though surprisingly influential, Jurassic Park: Trespasser. In her recent documentary Jurassic Park: Trespasser – A Failure That Stood The Test Of Time | Kim Justice we’re taken through her six part story of its development, its failings, … Read more

We sit down with Jimmy Maher, author of The Digital Antiquarian, to examine his recent four part series: The Ratings Game. This series takes a look at how games came to have age ratings, why it was inevitable and necessary, and the fascinating butterfly effects that came because of it. Maher draws a very clear … Read more

Felipe Pepe is here to showcase his collaborative, non-profit project to create a historical guide to computer role playing games: The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games. What CRPG’s around the world are cool, interesting, historically important, popular, meaningful, and why are they so? Each entry highlights a game’s eccentricities, context of the … Read more

Diving into the history of the Xbox in his recent long read, Bet on Black: How Microsoft and Xbox Changed Pop Culture, Part 1, David L. Craddock goes back to the time of JezzBall, Age of Empires, and trusty ‘ol Minesweeper: the games that kept us entertained while someone else in the house was using … Read more

Eric Switzer joins us to share the development and downfall of Darkwatch in his article The Untold Story Of Darkwatch. A vampiric haunted western, Darkwatch could have, in another universe, been a major franchise. But, through a series of acquisitions and mandated pivots, its storyline deadended after only one title. Will this long silent universe … Read more

Our podcasting duo takes us back to the dawning of real-time computer games: Spacewar! Alex Smith joins us for round two, being our second second-time guest, to pairaphrase the history of this 2-player game of binary ships thrusting around a gravity-well star, who (reluctantly) wrote it, who modded it, who played it, and who created … Read more

Ben Hanson returns to the show to bring us The Oral History Of PopCap Games, a not 4 hour long video in which we learn how the “colors game” spawned the casual juggernaut Bejeweled, the black sheep in the corner made all the money, the PopCap Burrito won’t give us Plants Vs Zombies on our … Read more

Dr. Sparkle, the creator of Chrontendo, takes us through his more than decade long project to analyze every commercially released game for the NES and Famicom in chronological order while simultaneously spinning off this already massive show into two more: Chronsega and Chronturbo. If you’re ever looking for something to do with your free time, … Read more

Raven Simone takes us down the research rabbit hole she fell into while making her video The Girl Games Of Lost Media – Documentary. With few clues to follow, she started researching the Mean Girls game, but soon found herself chasing down info on Clueless and Pretty in Pink as well, discovering that research can … Read more

Should Monkey Island be made into a movie? Could it be? Jack Yarwood lays out the history of how this project almost came to be as well as why it gave up the ghost, instead. He, Frank, and Kelsey cross swords over if this could have been a glorious triumph*, like Super Mario Bros.: The … Read more

David Haywood, AKA Haze, discusses the MAME software preservation project: a collaborative, encyclopedic haven and emulator for all those ‘forgotten’ games of our past. In December 2020, while most of us were cowering under a table feebly awaiting the fresh start of the new year, David took a look back at the community’s accomplishments within … Read more

Author, documentarian, artist, guest VGHF blogger, and wild west gunslinger Kate Willaert claims the title of First FMV Game for this fast draw pistol duelling simulator in her recent article Wild Gunman ‘74: The Forgotten First FMV Game and video by the same name. She’s a straight shooter as we hit topics of the effect … Read more

Musical Archeologist and Demo Stylist (professions we made up just now), The Brickster, explains how he and his colleagues collaborate to recreate music from some of our favorite retro games in a richer, uncompressed, true-to-each-instrument style. The recently viral music from Super Mario World Restored – Fortress brought this unique form of historical research, along … Read more

You and Diddy better jump inside that explosive barrel and get tossed into this minecart because we are going on a trip! This week we’re playing co-op with TWO guests at the same time. We meant to have artist Kev Bayliss and composer (not music engineer) David Wise join us to reminisce about Dinosaur Planet, … Read more

Discussing his new book, Once Upon Atari: How I Made History by Killing an Industry, Howard Scott Warshaw takes us on a trip through his career starting with how he got to Atari (and how he almost didn’t), what he did there (including The Game That Shall Not be Named), and the amazing things he’s … Read more

Documentarian Bones joins us to discuss their directorial debut Mother to Earth. We dive into the mysteries of Earth Bound, the unreleased North American version of Nintendo’s JRPG Mother. Now, this is not to be confused with the Super Nintendo game, Earthbound, which is actually the sequel; we know, it’s complicated. Set to release in … Read more