Podouken

It was fun while it lasted but it's time to retire the Beast Mode miniseries in the best way possible - with an Arcade Obscura! Each host brings their pick of an obscure or underrated arcade game that (mostly) fits the theme. What obscure arcade game is so divisive it has Rob yelling into the microphone? How does Adam take the purest sport in the world today, and Texas's national pastime, and turn...

From one sentence in a notebook to a hundred digital legs, we talk about Atari's second best selling game ever and one of the highest-grossing in arcade history, Centipede. What makes Centipede so appealing to female players? How did Space Invaders lead Dona Bailey from Cadillacs to Atari? Why was there a delay in releasing this episode and is our excuse good enough for forgiveness? How did the fi...

Hear ye, hear ye! His Majesty King Williams invites you to witness the magnificent tournament in ye Land of Molten Magma and Stoned Clouds where brave knights shalt ride their bird and shalt fight with lance. It is long past time to talk about one of the best arcade games ever made… Joust! Who are you playing as in this game? How did the popular 'Fire' button get replaced with another four-letter...

Long, long ago in the land of Og there lived a one-eyed caveman by the name of Trog, and in that land there lived four friends: Rex and Bloop, Spike and Gwen. Let's control some colorful claymation dinos and grab some eggs in Bally/Midway's Trog - in PLAYmation! Why was the original game much different than the Trog that we got? Exactly who's cloaca did all these eggs come from? Is this the first...

Welcome to Urth! It's like Earth but in the future and all the continents look like a dinosaur skull burping fire. This is the world of stop-motion dinosaurs, peetalities, and human volleyball. This is the world of Primal Rage. Why is the Tiger R-Zone the superior arcade port console to play Primal Rage on? How was a stealthy musician involved in this game? Why are level inputs so despised when co...

Now, it is beginning of a fantastic story! Let's make a journey to the Cave of Monsters! Good luck! In this beastly episode we will visit with Bub and Bob as we become the best Bubble Bobble bubble blowers on the block! Is Bubble Bobble the ultimate introvert shaming game? What is a potato party? How much money did Jarrod find in his newly acquired coin pusher? How much "Ice Ice Baby" is too much...

We're back and we have a doctor's note for our absence. So let's continue our Beast Mode series by exploring the ultimate game of cat and mouse with Namco's Mappy! Why did Pastblaster just pick up two new meowkies of his own? What ever happened to Micro Machines icon, Motormouth John? How did a Journey discussion make its way into this episode? What free games did Jarrod just score from a local la...

We're going Beast Mode in this new miniseries by starting off with a "g*ddamn kids game!" It's time to play the Konami developed and the Sega/Gremlin released Frogger. How did a "cross the road" joke turn into this super successful arcade game? Who was the heroine responsible for bringing Frogger to the States? What unfortunate series of events led to a breakdown on the side of the road, in a swam...

Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, never running from a real fight, she is the one named Sailor Moon. The final episode of the fourth Listeners' Choice miniseries is going full shoujo with the short-lived Gazelle's Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. How did a fateful encounter with a cat lead to the reawakening of a millenia old moon princess? What's the difference between Rhett Butler...

Our Listeners' Choice miniseries continues with the penultimate episode! It's a bird… It's a plane… But is it a good game? It's Taito's Superman! Why is Superman fighting the Elephant Man? How do we know geography wasn't the Taito development team's strong suit? What does Muhammed Ali have to do with this game? How cheap were the prices for the world's oldest profession in 1989?! So sit down and e...

It's time for the 4th annual Listeners' Choice miniseries! And we're excited to search the world for our perfect man with listener RaymondTheFrog as we explore Jaleco's City Connection. How did Clarice, the punky teenage protagonist, get replaced by a no-name blonde smoker dude on the NES port? Did Jarrod just receive a newly minted nickname? Why is this game constantly compared to Pac-Man? Excuse...

Growing up in a glass bowl with chameleons, lizards, and tadpoles, it hardly enters your mind that there's something better than this. But pizza power - a flying saucer food delight. Pizza power, oh, that's what makes us feel alright! Time is up for the Cartoon miniseries as we explore the questionable history that is TMNT: Turtles in Time. When did this game actually hit arcades and why is Jarrod...

Sound Boy makes its triumphant return! Since it's nearly our 4th birthday it's fitting we talk about the Cartoon arcade game that puts cake on full display - Konami's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. What is the devastating truth behind the origin of this game? Is this the first arcade game based on a doll? How many times is "Yo Joe!" uttered in this episode (seriously we'll send some prizes to who...

We were too late to throw some poop into the Caddy, hop in the two-seater, and evacuate from the impending hurricane so why not record an episode of the show? And this time we're not even talking about a Konami property! We're headed into the future to talk about Capcom's Captain Planet meets Jurassic Park beat 'em up, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs! By what name is the uber-popular bootleg of this game...

After a brief hiatus we are back to continue the Cartoon miniseries with another Konami title. If you're not a fan of bovine puns that get milked for all they're worth then this may not be the episode for moo. We are discussing the super punctuated Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa! Is this the spiritual successor to Sunset Riders? Which Macaulay Culkin character did young PastBlaster emulate? Wil...

We're rolling over the episode count to triple digits and pulling out all the stops. For our hundredth episode we are covering THE cartoon arcade game - The Simpsons. And who better to talk Simpsons than with guest Chris Antista!   What characters appear in the arcade game that never have appeared in the cartoon? Was Brian Dennehy really Bigfoot? Is this the longest (and last) episode? Why is Marg...

In another dimension, another time and space, a parallel universe was fallin' on its face. When out of the chaos, who else could it be but the animal adventures from S.P.A.C.E.? It's time to talk about Bucky - Konami's Bucky O'Hare! Are we the only podcast to ever spend 2+ hours talking about the Bucky O'Hare arcade game? Did Konami pour more time and effort into this game than any of their other...

A new miniseries begins as we explore arcade games based on cartoons (and there's going to be a lot of bangers). To start, we enter the animated sewers to bring you the #1 most-requested arcade game - Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! How did this game pave the way for Konami arcade domination in the early 90s? Does TMNT have the best gag of any arcade game? Did Lindsay Lohan draw the trainin...

We bring the Mounted Gun miniseries to a close with a good old fashioned Arcade Obscura. Each of us brings our pick for an obscure or underrated mounted gun game but one game is so obscure we invite the only person known to own it onto the podcast - Doc Mack from The Galloping Ghost arcade! Who is giving all these zombies guns? What American city has its own arcade game named after it? Are birthda...

We're back in the saddle again with another Midway mounted gun game that's not the same old song and dance. So if you don't want to miss a thing then walk this way as we cover this amazing and crazy game. Let's get back in the saddle with Revolution X: Music is the Weapon. Featuring: Aerosmith - Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer. Why should this game really have Fea...

Konami trains an entire generation to become snipers as they task you with saving the model 90s American First Family, but not their secretary. In this episode we're taking a long, focused look at the biggest gun in the arcade, Silent Scope. Why are there so many "wow" moments in this game? Will Jarrod ever reclaim the Mr. SNK title from Rob? Is this the only video game where you can shoot Tom and...

Midway hits all their targets when they make THE mounted gun game of the 90s, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (and it was all thanks to Narc). What actors gave it their all to bring the arcade game to life? Which host hasn't seen the prequel to this movie (and how is that not at all surprising)? Who recorded more dialogue for the game than they did for the movie? How does one gameplay tip make this gam...

Let's play the 80s version of Operation! It has a lot of changes over the popular board game like the tweezers being replaced with an Uzi and instead of Cavity Sam we're operating on unspecified enemy troops to rescue hostages… actually these games don't seem to be related at all. In this episode we're talking about THE mounted gun game of the 80s, Taito's Operation Wolf (and the sequels that foll...

It's time to explore the way of the light gun with one important condition - it's mounted to the arcade control panel. Our first episode of this new miniseries explores the transition from electromechanical to video with the Exidy light gun games that brought multiple C's to the arcade with Crossbow, Cheyenne, and Chiller. Is the Chiller controversy valid? What is the best way to describe the game...

Iza Jinjou ni Shoubu! Let's have a good clean fight in this final episode of the Neo Geo 4 Slot miniseries (for now). The board has been repaired and we're dedicating an entire episode to cover our last selection of 1993 - Samurai Shodown! Is SamSho the most underrated fighting game of the 90s? How does the Edo period heavily influence this game and make the inclusion of some characters impossible...