Video Game History Hour

Frank and Kelsey close out the year 2020 by answering your burning questions. We touch on topics of policy, found oddities, white whales, what we’ve accomplished this year, and what we’re looking forward to in the year to come. Thank you to everyone for all your support of the podcast, for sending in your questions, and for the amazing love and support shown during our winter fundraiser. Happy New Year! 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/

Today’s episode features the bizarre origins of SimRefinery as well as other Sim titles which never came to be. Phil Salvador joins the Video Game History Hour to discuss a branch of Maxis, Business Simulations Division, which gives us a glimpse into a path-not-taken, alternate reality where Maxis might have only made a name for themselves in the world of business. A world where powerhouse franchises like SimCity and The Sims never existed. But alas, perhaps we could have had, but now never will have, SimArby’s. </3 See more from Phil Salvador: Twitter: @itstheshadsy Website: obscuritory.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/

Much the way we all set our status to not show when we’re in a game, the Game and Watch was originally created to allow Japanese sallarymen to play games at work while their boss was none the wiser. This week we’re joined by Matt Alt as he discusses his article, “How Gunpei Yokoi Reinvented Nintendo,” which is pulled from a chapter in his new book Pure Invention. See more from Matt Alt: Twitter: @matt_alt Instagram: @altmattalt Website: mattalt.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/

In his documentary, Insert Coin, Josh Tsui explored the good, the bad, and the ugly of Midway Games' Studio from varying management styles and their resulting culture to the magic formula for sequel games. Listen in with the guy who knows where all the skeletons are buried and learn how the NBA may owe much of its current popularity to NBA Jam. See more from Josh Tsui: Twitter: @insertcoindoc Instagram: @insertcoindoc Website: insertcoindoc.com A full transcript of this episode is available on our website: https://gamehistory.org/ep-9-midway-games-as-seen-by-josh-tsui/ 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/

In this turn-based interview, Sid Meier takes us from zero to 255 and brings the show nuclear! Well, at least that’s the rumor. Sid opens up his lifelong dev notes to discuss how he got started in games, why he decided to write his recent book, Sid Meier’s Memoir!, and how he’s better at Red Baron than an actual fighter pilot. On a personal note, we can officially say Sid agrees: dinosaurs are the coolest thing, ever! (We see you, Argentavis). See more from Sid Meier: Website: sidmeiersmemoir.com A full transcript of this episode is available on our website: https://gamehistory.org/ep-8-sid-meiers-episode-of-the-video-game-history-hour/ 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/

Garry Kitchen joins the podcast to discuss his lifelong career in gaming and how spending his summer of 1982 porting Nintendo’s Donkey Kong over to the Atari 2600 was tedious, but worth it. He’d also like you to know he’s a hell of a good ROM hacker, Mario’s eye is just a void, and you’re darn right he slanted those ramps. See more from Garry Kitchen: Twitter: @kitchengarry Medium: https://garrykitchen.medium.com/ Website: garrykitchen.com A full transcript of this episode is available on our website: https://gamehistory.org/ep-7-donkey-kong-came-to-the-atari-2600-thanks-to-garry-kitchen/ 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/

Spoiler Alert: It’s a monkey wrench! You find a banana to put on the metronome to hypnotize the monkey to put in your pocket to take to the waterfall to use on the valve as a “monkey wrench.” *puff, puff* Oh, you don’t have monkey wrenches in your country? Mm okay, that may throw a spanner into the works… Pete Armour and Frank get pretty far into the weeds of The Making of Monkey Island (30th Anniversary Documentary). See more from Pete Armour YouTube: /onaretrotip Twitter: /onaretrotip A full transcript of this episode is available on our website: https://gamehistory.org/ep-6-pete-armour-and-the-scumm-of-monkey-island/ 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/

Though it’s the reason he was hired as a video producer at Game Informer, Ben Hanson back-burnered his documentary, Trailheads: The Oregon Trail's Origins Documentary, for 11 years on a game that took 5 days to create (don’t we all have some project like that?). And yet, the wait has been worth it: You’re gonna party like it’s 1999 when you find out what role the late Prince may have played in The Oregon Trail! See more from Ben Hanson: Twitter: @yozetty Website: www.Minnmax.com Patreon: /minnmax Podcast: The MinnMax Show A full transcript of this episode is available on our website: https://gamehistory.org/ep-5-ben-hanson-travels-the-roguelike-oregon-trail/ 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/

The Video Game History Hour kicks off its inaugural episode with Mr. Gaming Historian himself, Norman Caruso, who recently published a nearly 45-minute long YouTube documentary about the 1992 Super Nintendo title, Mario Paint. By providing the context of history, Norm ‘paints’ us a full picture of how and why this classic title came to be, who it was made for, and what this program inspired to come after. Find more content from Norman Caruso: YouTube: /gaminghistorian Twitter: @gaminghistorian A full transcript of this show is available on our website: https://gamehistory.org/ep-1-norman-caruso-and-the-story-of-mario-paint/ 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/

Matt Leone, features editor of Polygon, recently published the second in a series of articles delving into the history of the Street Fighter franchise: Street Fighter 1: An oral history. Matt helps us understand the market conditions that made this game unique for its time and how it served as a foundation to a wildly successful giant in fighting game history. Hear more from Matt Leone: Twitter: @LattMeone A full transcript of this episode is available on our website: https://gamehistory.org/episode-2-matt-leone-and-the-making-of-street-fighter-1/ 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/