A Trip Down Memory Card Lane

In 2001, RuneScape launched as a free-to-play browser game and grew into one of the most popular MMORPGs in the world. We look back at Andrew, Paul, and Ian Gower’s journey from their early project DeviousMUD to founding Jagex in their parents’ kitchen, complete with bacon-sizzling sound effects recorded by their mom. The episode highlights the game’s evolving engines, the creation of RuneScript,...

Its our annual year end review. We're looking back at the entirety of 2021, talking about our favorite episode topics and video games. After looking back, we look forward to 2022, and reveal some of our upcoming topics, and games that we're looking forward to in the following year. Happy New Year's, Everyone....let's take one last 2021 trip down Memory Card Lane.

In 2004, Cave Story emerged from Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya’s five years of solo development and became one of the most influential indie games of all time. We look back at how Amaya balanced his day job with creating music, sprites, and code for a retro-inspired platformer that channeled Metroid and Castlevania. The episode highlights Quote’s amnesia-driven journey, the Mimiga’s tragic plight, and gam...

In 1983, Tapper hit arcades with brass footrails, drink holders, and Budweiser-branded tap handles, making it one of the first widely recognized advergames. Developed by Marvin Glass and Associates and released by Bally Midway, it cast players as bartenders sliding beers to thirsty patrons while snagging empty mugs and tips. Our conversation explores its sponsorship roots, Sega’s Japanese distribu...

In 1982, Atari rushed out E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the 2600 in just five weeks, hoping to cash in on Spielberg’s holiday blockbuster. Designed by Howard Scott Warshaw, fresh off Yars’ Revenge and Raiders of the Lost Ark, it tasked players with collecting phone parts and calling home while dodging FBI agents, scientists, and endless pits. Our conversation explores how the impossible deadline,...

In 1971, three teachers in Minnesota—Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger—created The Oregon Trail as a classroom project, unknowingly sparking the edutainment genre. Our conversation traces its humble start on a school district mainframe, where kids lined up after class to ford rivers, hunt, and hope to avoid dysentery. We follow its evolution through the Minnesota Educational Comp...

In 1990, Super Mario World debuted on the Super Famicom, ushering Mario into the 16-bit era with bigger worlds, vibrant colors, and one unforgettable dinosaur. Our story explores how Nintendo R&D4, led by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, tackled the challenge of designing for brand-new hardware—first porting Super Mario Bros. 3 before charting new territory. We highlight Yoshi’s origins, b...

In 1997, PaRappa the Rapper brought rhythm gaming to the PlayStation in North America, starring a paper-thin dog with big dreams and a simple motto: “I gotta believe!” Our conversation traces the unlikely collaboration of musician Masaya Matsuura and artist Rodney Alan Greenblat, who blended interactive music with quirky visuals to create something entirely new. We discuss how Sony’s Division Zero...

In 2005, Guitar Hero hit the PlayStation 2 and transformed living rooms into rock stages, sparking a rhythm game craze that defined the next decade. Our story traces the unlikely pairing of RedOctane, a peripheral maker turned publisher, and Harmonix, an MIT-founded studio obsessed with making music interactive. We explore how they built the plastic guitar, simplified fret buttons, and added showm...

In 1982, Microsoft Flight Simulator took off on the IBM PC and set a new standard for realism in gaming. Created by Bruce Artwick at Sublogic, the series began with wireframe graphics on the Apple II before Microsoft saw its potential to showcase 16-bit hardware. Our story follows Artwick’s path from graduate research on flight displays to founding Sublogic and releasing FS1 Flight Simulator in 19...

In 2001, Motor City Online hit PCs with the promise of being the first massively multiplayer racing game, blending classic hot rods, pink slip wagers, and diner hangouts into a persistent world. Originally conceived as Need for Speed: Motor City, it arrived in the franchise’s golden era but never lived up to expectations. Our conversation explores its ambitious vision—over 30 licensed cars, deep c...

In 1987, Punch-Out!! hit the NES, introducing players to Little Mac, Doc Louis, and a colorful cast of rivals on the climb to boxing glory. We rewind to Nintendo’s arcade success with the dual-monitor Punch-Out (1984), and how Genyo Takeda’s R&D3 team transformed it into a home console hit. The episode digs into the design choices that created Little Mac, the quirks of opponents from Glass Joe...

In 2001, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney debuted on the Game Boy Advance in Japan, bringing courtroom drama to handhelds and redefining the adventure genre. Directed by Shu Takumi, the game was inspired by a childhood incident where he was wrongly accused of theft, an experience that fueled its focus on contradictions and defense. Our conversation traces Takumi’s path from Dino Crisis to leading a sm...

In 1989, Prince of Persia leapt onto the Apple II and set a new bar for cinematic action in games. Created by Jordan Mechner, fresh off the success of Karateka, it drew inspiration from Disney animation, Arabian Nights tales, and swashbuckling films like Robin Hood. Our conversation explores how Mechner used VHS rotoscoping—filming his brother running and jumping in a parking lot—to craft lifelike...

In 1996, Pokémon Red and Green hit the Game Boy in North America and launched a cultural phenomenon. Inspired by Satoshi Tajiri’s childhood bug-collecting, the games let players capture, train, and battle 151 creatures to become Champion. Our conversation traces how Tajiri and Ken Sugimori grew Game Freak from a fanzine into a studio, nearly collapsing before Creatures Inc. and Nintendo stepped in...

In 2009, Halo 3: ODST landed on the Xbox 360, shifting focus from Master Chief to the human perspective of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Originally tied to Peter Jackson’s cancelled Halo Chronicles, Bungie reshaped the prototype into a noir-inspired campaign set in New Mombasa. Our conversation explores how its open-ended structure let players piece together the story as “the Rookie,” uncovering wh...

In 2002, Animal Crossing arrived on the GameCube in North America and quietly redefined what a video game could be. Our conversation traces its origins on the Nintendo 64 as Animal Forest, the localization hurdles, and how it introduced players to talking animals, seasonal events, and never-ending debt to Tom Nook. We explore how its real-time clock tied gameplay to daily life—catching fish, plant...

In 2021, much of southeast Louisiana was still recovering from Hurricane Ida, forcing the Memory Card Lane team to take an unscheduled break. When power returned, they came back with something a little different—a discussion on remakes, reboots, and remasters . In this episode, David, Rob, and returning guest Matt Sprouse dive into how nostalgia shapes our view of modernized classics, debating whe...

In 2021, Hurricane Ida disrupted life across the Gulf Coast, leaving us unable to record a new episode. Instead, we’re sharing one of our favorites: Episode 19 on Diablo (1997). Released by Blizzard North, Diablo brought gothic horror to PC gaming and reshaped RPGs forever. Originally pitched as a turn-based dungeon crawler, it evolved into real-time, loot-driven combat that set the ARPG template...

In 1997, GoldenEye 007 landed on the Nintendo 64 and redefined what first-person shooters could be on consoles. Developed by a small team at Rare led by Martin Hollis, it began as a proposed SNES platformer before evolving into a 3D shooter inspired by Virtua Cop, Doom, and even Super Mario 64. Our conversation explores how the team, working without finalized N64 hardware, improvised tools, studie...

In 1986, Metroid launched in Japan on the Famicom Disk System and later arrived on the NES, blending exploration, platforming, and atmosphere into something entirely new. Produced by Gunpei Yokoi’s R&D1 team and co-developed with Intelligent Systems, it introduced Samus Aran, a lone bounty hunter sent to stop the Space Pirates and their parasitic Metroids. Our conversation explores how its non...

In 1995, Chrono Trigger arrived on the Super Nintendo, the product of Square’s “Dream Team”: Hironobu Sakaguchi of Final Fantasy, Yuji Horii of Dragon Quest, and Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball. Our conversation explores how this trio, joined by producer Kazuhiko Aoki and writer Masato Kato, set out to create something unprecedented, blending time travel with memorable characters and multiple ending...

In 1992, Mario Paint turned the Super Nintendo into a creativity suite long before “content creation” became a buzzword. Packaged with the SNES Mouse, it let players draw, animate, compose music, and even swat flies in its quirky mini-game Gnat Attack. Our conversation explores how Nintendo R&D1, led by Gunpei Yokoi and directed by Hirofumi Matsuoka, designed the software to prove that console...

In 1981, Donkey Kong stormed into arcades, saving Nintendo of America from collapse and introducing the world to Mario. Celebrating its 40th anniversary, our conversation traces Shigeru Miyamoto’s rise from toy designer to first-time game creator, working with Gunpei Yokoi to turn unsold Radar Scope cabinets into something new. We explore how failed Popeye licensing inspired the gorilla-carpenter-...

In 2001, Max Payne put players in the trench coat of a hardboiled cop trapped in a snowbound New York nightmare, introducing bullet time to gaming. Developed by Remedy Entertainment, a studio born from Finland’s demoscene group Future Crew, it built on their earlier Death Rally before Rockstar stepped in for the console versions. Our conversation explores its noir roots, from graphic novel-style p...