Video Game History Hour

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 Movie, or a *mumble mumble mumble*, like The Watchmen. Either way, the beloved Monkey Island franchise could still find its way to the silver screen as you never know what lies just beyond the horizon. Find Jack’s more in-depth history in his recent Polygon article Spilling the secrets of the canceled Curse of Monkey Island movie. *Producer’s Note: As the producer of this podcast and the writer of these episode descriptions, it is my prerogative to infuse my very personal, and very correct, opinion of Super Mario Bros.: The Movie into the official, and now forever historically archived, VGHF stance on said movie. “The VGHF” loved this movie when she was growing up and thinks people should give it more of a chance. See more from Jack Yarwood : Twitter: @JackGYarwood The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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 the project over the last seven years and what still needs attention in his article Looking Back at a List. He joins the Video Game History Hour to discuss the inner workings of recovering old code (including risky chemistry, dangerous plastic-melting acids, and literally reading 1’s and 0’s with a microscope), the value of Plug and Plays, and what can be learned from poorly designed games. See more from David Haywood: Twitter: @mamehaze YouTube: /mamehaze Twitch: /mamehaze Website: mamedev.emulab.it/haze/ The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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 of the oil crisis on this game and bowling alley laser clay equipment. But, don’t holster your earbuds too quickly at the end! Kate also discusses her 50 part video series Video Dames: The History Of Playable Female Protagonists. See more from Kate Willaert: Twitter: @katewillaert YouTube: /acriticalhit Website: acriticalhit.com Patreon: /acriticalhit Newsletter: criticalkate.substack.com The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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 with its potential for legal entanglements, to light. Look up what samples we know of, so far, in your favorite games in their living spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JJBlHHDc65fhZmKUGLrDTLCm6rfUU83-kbuD8Y0zU0o/edit#gid=1570468977. See more from The Brickster: YouTube: /thebricksterr Twitter: @lebrickster The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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, as Kev did in his editorial “I was a lead on Dinosaur Planet and this week’s leak brought back great memories.” However, things went truly off the rails and we ended up looking back at their time working on not only Dinosaur Planet, later Star Fox Adventures, but also Donkey Kong Country, Diddy Kong Racing, Battletoads, Wheel of Fortune, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Killer Instinct and we’re just not sorry at all. Spoiler Alert: there may be a Dragonheart spoiler ahead. See more from Kevin Bayliss & David Wise: Twitter: @Kev_Bayliss Twitter: @David_Wise Website: dkcreationsltd.com @dkcreationsltd Website: https://www.playtonicgames.com/ The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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 accomplished since. From learning that sometimes, in order to get better, you just need lots of people telling you what you made sucked all the way to realizing everything you touch is an expression of who you are and is perfect as is, we get our therapy session on with The Silicon Valley Therapist. Lie on the sofa and take a listen! See more from Howard Scott Warshaw: Twitter: @hswarshaw Therapy practice: http://hswarshaw.com/wordpress/ All things Once Upon Atari: http://onceuponatari.hswarshaw.com/

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 America in the early 90’s, Earth Bound didn’t come to the US until 25 years later. You may think you know the story... See more from Bones: Trailer:  http://vimeo.com/ondemand/mothertoearth Website:  MothertoEarth.com Twitter:  @MotherToEarthMV The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Journalist Liz Landau reminisces about the old days of text-based adventuring through MUDs (Multi User Dungeons) and how they’re the stepping stones to all current-day MMO’s and social media platforms from her Wired article, “How Old-School Text Adventures Inspired Our Virtual Spaces.” Though some thought the internet was just a passing fad, others dove head first into this game, Gemstone III, they saw on the AOL home page. Imagine: that text wedding cake tasting you held for your in-game wedding for your role playing character is the reason you can now claim Instagram Model as a career. See more from Liz Landau: Website: lizlandau.com Twitter: @lizlandau YouTube: /lizlandau Podcast: Pod Paper Scissors - podpaperscissors.com The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Damian Rogers from Japan’s Game Preservation Society joins us this week to talk about their new documentary series: Geimu. Born out of necessity during the pandemic to replace their annual in-person summer event, Geimu episodes highlight well-deserving Japanese game developers who might not normally get as much media attention. Episode one, 芸夢 [gei·mɯ] File #1 - Yūichi TOYAMA〈外山雄一〉～Pioneer of Modern Real-Time Strategy Games～, puts a spotlight on Mr. Toyama, a pioneer in the RTS genre. See more from the Game Preservation Society: YouTube: /GamePreservationSociety Twitter: @gamepresintl Website: gamepres.org/en The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We uncover lost stories of the never released Power-Up Baseball, sometimes referred to as “MLB Jam,” with then programmer, now arcade game developer, Brian Smolik. Back in those days, Smolik lived the life only a young 25 year old could: programming and testing until 6 a.m. while riding a sugar high brought on by giant Slurpees. This breakneck paced work cycle was mirrored in the sweat inducing, get a running start for you pitch, maybe even break your hand on the screen style of gameplay involved in Power-Up Baseball. See more from Brian Smolik: Profile: Collector’s Call Website: teamplayinc.com Website: bigsquidrc.com The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/