Podouken

Travel with us back to 1993 when Bill Clinton became the 42nd President of the United States, your mom and grandmother's favorite collectible was released, Samuel L. Jackson implored people to hold onto their butts, and a Dolly Parton song takes off again. Sadly it appears our Neo Geo 4-slot has a slight malfunction so we'll only fill it with three of our four picks this episode with Sengoku 2, 3...

It's the year 1992 - the public witnesses the first televised presidential threeway debate, eating liver with a nice Chianti is all the rage, and the Cartoon Network debut helps mold the tastes of a generation. Join us as we compose our 1992 Neo Geo 4 slot with Mutation Nation, Last Resort, King of the Monsters 2, and Viewpoint. What game gives us some Nautiboys, Thornygirls, and a viking crusader...

Welcome to the year 1991 where war is the hottest collectible, geography tests just got a whole lot harder, and arguably the best movie sequel ever came out. In this very sick episode we'll be assembling the Podouken 4 slot with Ghost Pilots, Eight Man, Crossed Swords, and Thrash Rally. Why are we recording this episode remotely? Can you still hire pontoon plane pilots on Fiver? Will we make Jarro...

It's 1990 - the year of the Berlin Wall coming down, the Hubble Space Telescope going up, and Wilson Phillips asking us to hold on for one more day. In this episode we'll fill the Podouken 4 Slot Neo Geo with Ninja Combat, Cyber-Lip, The Super Spy, and Blue's Journey. Does this episode have our worst bit ever? Why is Debra a fat man holding an ax? How are we disappointing the futurists from the 90...

New year, new miniseries as we dedicate our next group of episodes to answer a question posed years ago: "What Neo Geo games make it in the Podouken 4 Slot?" This episode is a gimme as the Neo Geo launched with four titles in the US: NAM-1975, Baseball Stars Professional, Top Players Golf, and Magician Lord. What are the hosts' first memories of the Neo Geo? Did Mr. SNK skate regular or goofy mong...

We're closing off the Hollywood miniseries with our first Arcade Obscura in over a year! And it's been so long that some of us have forgotten how it works (and how much content to prepare for the episode). So get ready to hear a whole lot about one game (and a little bit about two others) as we bring our picks for obscure or underrated arcade games based on movies. Are we going to cover a Star War...

Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho. On this special holiday episode of Podouken we take an in-depth look at not just a Christmas movie, but THE Christmas movie - Die Hard (and the very literal arcade game by Sega). How did this film based on a book that was written as a sequel to a Frank Sinatra film turn into a holiday classic? What led Golden Axe's creator to use Die Hard to revive the beat 'em...

Sorry X-Men, there's a new longest episode in town. It's time to talk about George Lucas's totally-not-inspired-by-Lord-of-the-Rings fantasy epic (and Capcom arcade game) Willow, which coincidentally (or not) has a new TV series coming out… today! Why are all the names in this movie so awful? Does Val Kilmer make the perfect Madmartigan or would John Cusak have done it better? Did we talk about th...

Hold on to your butts as we explore a Steven Spielberg directed film that was a #1 top grossing box office movie and spawned a video game. No, not Jaws . No, not E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . Welcome to Jurassic Park (cue the kazoos). How did one Spaz lead to the extinction of a special effects technology and the supremacy of another? Which Jurassic Park arcade game is the best? Who is the Gatekeep...

Dead or alive, you're coming with me to hear the Podouken gang explore RoboCop the movie… and the arcade game! How did a home video game company play the Uno Reverse card on an arcade maker? Why are there so many dicks in this movie? What movie set gave inspiration for the creation of RoboCop? What makes this movie and Starship Troopers so similar? Would you like to know more? Fun fact enough: Rob...

After 80 episodes we're not going home. We're going to get on our boat, and we're going up river, and we're going to kick that son-of-a-bitch Bison's ass so hard that the next Bison wannabe is gonna feel it. Now who wants to go home, and who wants to listen to a Street Fighter: The Movie podcast?! Why have we been watching this movie all wrong? How did breaking the Seven Dwarfs rule ultimately doo...

After three years of podcasting, nearly 80 episodes, and covering 200 arcade games, it's time to switch our focus to something with more audience potential. So we're going full Hollywood and rebranding as a video arcade game… movie podcast! To start we're covering the live-action Walt Disney classic, Tron. How was this movie inspired by Pong? What convinced Tron's creator to move away from traditi...

The Listeners' Choice miniseries wraps up with a game that won't give you power and wealth by punching hard, or knowing economics, or looking good. Nope, you have to blow up a bunch of hover tanks in T-MEK released by Atari Games. What popular games was T-MEK inspired by? How did this game make Rob thousands of dollars? Is there a secret Atari meetup that we're blacklisted from? Why is there so li...

Time to go SHBROOM-ing with the bros as we fight to protect all animal life - except bats - ef them bats. Come experience the EXCITE, ACTION, THRILL, EXCITE, and FIGHT of Taito's Growl. What is the secret twist that may have you feeling sympathy for the bad guys? How many characters were lifted from Indiana Jones? How did some popular Konami beat 'em ups end Growl's time in arcades before it even...

It's the year 20XX and the economy sucks, warfare is spreading, and terrorism is rampant. No, we're not doom scrolling, we're talking about the Psikyo/Capcom collaboration Cannon Spike! How long can we talk about a game that takes 15 minutes to play? Is Cannon Spike primarily a shmup or a beat 'em up? What's the correct way to describe a single ski? Is the Dreamcast version better than the arcade?...

We hope you saved room for the final course in our Blue Collar series because it's a whopper. We're talking about the deliciously classic food service game by Data East - BurgerTime! Peter Pepper packs a lot of peppered pickles in his burgers, but how many peppered pickles can Peter Pepper pack? How did PastBlaster score a free BurgerTime? What are the hosts' picks for their favorite burger chain?...

We grab the Blue Collar miniseries by the handlebars and cover the game that seems to be the talk of the town, Atari's Paperboy. How did this game deliver something fresh and newsworthy to the mid-80s arcade? What makes the technical descriptions in Atari manuals so delectable? Will you choose to play Paperboy as a Paragon or Renegade? How did Paperboy's evolution into Atari System 2 sacrifice som...

Stop us if you've heard this one before: a crazy monkey has kidnapped a girl and it's up to our hero to get her back. And the girl is Zelda. But we're not talking about a Nintendo property here. We're talking about Taito's Zoo Keeper. Who was the Zoo Keeper co-creator that drastically altered the face of arcade history in the U.S.? What non-video arcade game released just before this is a Podouken...

Pull a stool up to the bar and prepare to be overpoured as we talk about Bally Midway's ode to the service industry, Tapper. Who was actually behind this strategic bartending simulator? How did a marketing opportunity lead to a lot of bad PR? Exactly who is this overworked bartender? How did Yakity-Yak Talking Teeth  lead to Wacko, Timber, and Journey (and even to Golden Tee and Street Fighter: Th...

Welcome to the beginning of the Blue Collar miniseries that explores the ordinary and dependable workers who somehow become the hero of their own arcade game. So it's time to pop some Pookas, fry some Fygars, and eat some dirt with everyone's favorite divorcé, Dig Dug. Is it ethical to euthanize nuisance animals from your garden by any means necessary? What did Namco's writers have against Taizo H...

We're out of continues on the Nintendo Life miniseries so let's end with a C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER! What happens when some of the top 90s arcade companies come together to make a game through brute force? We get the Killer Instinct. How did Jurassic Park lead into Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country? What role did a small English village with a population of 850 people play in giving us some arcade classic...

In this very nice episode we discuss the classic Irem shooter that became known as the last dedicated Nintendo arcade released in the States all thanks to Kung Fu - the tubular R-Type. How did a dung beetle become the main inspiration for this STG? Is this the last episode of our Nintendo Life miniseries? Why did Irem design a level specifically to get the player to give up? Is a hotdog a sandwich...

Unlike the PlayChoice-10 we won't charge you a quarter for every 300 seconds that you listen (which would be about $11.00 for this episode) but we sure will talk about it and the SNES counterpart - the Nintendo Super System. What was the best PlayChoice-10 game released each year? Was the Super System the perfect arcade to be featured in Bayside High's The Max? Why does Jarrod hate Nintendo arcade...

It's our unrequited love letter to one of the best arcade cabinets ever made in an episode that doesn't focus just on a game or a series, but an entire system - the Nintendo Vs. System. How did Nintendo find success in the worst possible time to sell video games? Why did American audiences have to pay a quarter for the first taste of the Famicom? How did stupid sexy Flanders blaze a trail for Gold...

We're heading into the sewers to clean out the pipes with the Mario Bros. in the game that gave us their ultimate occupation. So join the Podouken crew as we explore how Mario Mario and Luigi Mario take on the shellcreepers, sidesteppers, and fighter flies. Exactly how many jobs has Mario had? How did the success of Nintendo's Beam Gun lead to the first erotic arcade game? Is Mario Bros. part of t...