Video Game History Hour

Henry E. Lowood, Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections in the Stanford University Libraries and Co-Editor of ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories , gets deep into the weeds of library science around video games with VGHF Library Director Phil Salvador comparing and contrasting our two organizations. In this episode: we plan to be around in 100 years, Henry gives us a homework...

Derek Alexander and Cassidy recently collaborated on Zeebo: Brazil's Bizarre Delisted Console | Past Mortem [SSFF] , a mini documentary on possibly the most ill-conceived video game console, ever. In this cutest episode of the VGHH, we meet the Zeebo Gringo, a beautiful mutant system is born, we claim diplomatic immunity, and Uncle Zeebo and Kelsey both overstay their welcome. See more from Derek...

Returning guest Jack Yarwood recently wrote about this Mario Paint sequel in his article How a British Developer Made a Japan-Exclusive Sequel to Mario Paint : the Super Nintendo utility to create art, animation, music, etc. Published in 1999, Mario Artist Paint Studio was a direct sequel in everything but name. Being exclusive to Japan and exclusive to the N64 floppy disk add-on 64DD is just the...

We have a quick announcement about the podcast this week - Frank explains: we're changing our publishing frequency, why, and what it means moving forward. We'll be back at it next week; see you then!

Jonathan piqued the interest of our co-hosts with his recent video EarthBound 64/MOTHER 3 N64 Spaceworld ‘99 breakdown/analysis , a detailed account of everything we know about the Spaceworld demo of MOTHER 3 , a game well documented as our ‘holy grail’ in preservation. In this episode Kelsey and Jonathan must defend Cabbage , Frank pleads with you, a time traveler saves our life, Frank is haunted...

Chris Baines shares his recently published documentary, The History of Ghosts 'n Goblins (and Makaimura 魔界村) - Full Series Retrospective | ChrisB Crisps , covering the extensive (if confusingly titled) franchise and its creator Tokuro Fujiwara. In this episode: cringing from ‘go,’ clout is expensive, women are hard to find, we visit Kelsey’s WonderSwan Corner, and Frank ruins Chris’ video. Oh,...

Jon-Paul Dyson, the Director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong, where he is also the VP of exhibits, shares all about the museum and its 2022 World Video Game Hall of Fame finalists. In this episode Disneyland is one of the best level designs ever made, collectors make a whole greater than the sum of their parts, potted palms and vending machines bring a...

Gaming historian Liam Robertson returns as almost a sequel to Ep. 16 to share how Nintendo’s Page Boy was almost a sequel to their unreleased Work Boy, as shown in his recent video Page Boy: Nintendo's LOST Game Boy Add-on | Game History Secrets . Man, that’s a lot of boys! We stack add-ons to get an operating system, find the origin of the selfie, assign Nintendo employees a scavenger hunt item,...

Author Chris Kohler explores the evolution of niche fan culture from analog to digital through stories from his book Final Fantasy V (Boss Fight Books Book 18) . “Young Chris” learns uploading to America Online makes it live forever, all the cool games stay in Japan, you can use Mario Paint as a Rosetta Stone for Japanese, and searching the internet for information about Final Fantasy has no resul...

Veteran game designer Noah Falstein looks back on his 42 year long, and counting, career and reflects on the evolution of both the role and industry over these four decades. We find Noah’s cassette tape, Simon is in Silicon Valley , $30 brings utter horror, Noah has to rein in the fun or else you’ll get hurt, and we put out a call for your tattoos. See more from Noah Falstein: Twitter: @nfalstein...

Benj Edwards - journalist, tech historian, and recovering retro computer hoarder - teaches us a little about MS-DOS and QBasic through their How-To Geek article: GORILLA.BAS: How to Play the Secret MS-DOS Game From Your Childhood . Frank and Benj reminisce back to day zero, Snacks 'n Jaxson gets swatted, we hack a powerful secret instead of learning our lesson, and Frank sings the theme song for h...

A couple months ago we hosted a ticketed event as a fundraiser we called Nintendo Power Reunion - Stories from the Original Nintendo Power Staff . Nintendo Power was one of the most popular and iconic video game magazines in the US, and its original staff have gathered together for the first time to talk about it! Our panelists are Gail Tilden, Howard Philips, Leslie Swan, and Jeff Bafus. Please e...

Translator, localizer, and writer Nob Ogasawara shares highlights of his career working with the Pokémon franchise and at EGM. He shares his birthday with two funny coincidences, gets called a “god,” inadvertently creates a fashion legend, and laments a lost Brittney Spearow. See more from Nob Ogasawara: Twitter: @DougDinsdale Video Game History Foundation Podcast Twitter: @gamehistoryhour Email:...

Dimitris Giannakis, well-known for creating excellent videos on the technical aspect of video game preservation, explains. Luckily, he wears a T-shirt as a perfect example, we ponder at what point the code becomes Michael Jordan, and a boy dancing with a baguette solves a problem. See more from Dimitris Giannakis: Twitter: @ModernVintageG YouTube: /ModernVintageGamer Patreon: /ModernVintageGamer V...

Join us in our celebration of the Video Game History Foundation’s 5th birthday! Let’s take a ride through history as we retrace the long road to how the VGHF came together, what we’ve been up to for these last 5 years, and where we’re going next. Thank you to everyone that has contributed to our dream; we hope we have made, and will continue to make, you proud. Everything we’ve done has only been...

Phil Salvador - video game historian and librarian - has not only joined the Video Game History Foundation as its new Library Director, he’s also joined the show this week to tell us all about what he’ll be doing in this new role. Phil has quite the endeavor ahead of him getting our collection organized, cataloged (what we have, who it came from, why it’s significant, etc.), and eventually digitiz...

Our guest this week, Yahel Velazquez from the Patreon funded YouTube channel Wrestling With Gaming, caught our eye with his recent video How Perfect Dark Surpassed Goldeneye On N64 - The Making Of The Nintendo 64 Classic . Yahel shares the story of the making of Perfect Dark - the Nintendo 64 game made by Rare as the follow up to its smash hit Goldeneye - as well as people who made it happen. See...

Author and oral historian Brian VanHooker recently caught our attention with his very appropriately titled article, An Oral History of ‘The Simpsons: Road Rage’ . Briefly putting aside his obsession with Ninja Turtles , Brian talks to us about The Simpsons: Road Rage , which many consider the first breakthrough game from the franchise since the Konami Arcade debut, as well as the people who made i...

Video game historian and documentarian Kevin Bunch is here to talk about the Fairchild Channel F: the greatest game console ever made by Fairchild. Creator of the Atari Archive series of gaming documentaries about the Atari 2600’s library, Kevin tells us the story of this “alternate universe Atari” console in his latest video The Fairchild Channel F Story - Archive Annex Episode 3 . The channel F...

Gaming Historian and friend of the show, Norm Caruso, joins us to expand on his recent video The Ultimate Guide to NES Light Guns | Gaming Historian about The Zapper and many other NES light guns. Learn the history of how these types of guns were even invented, how these toys worked (and how to cheat!), and how the late Senator Bob Dole was involved in this story. Enteractive Advertisement mention...

Danny O’Dwyer of Noclip is here to talk about the latest episode in their Greatest Hits series, The History of Grand Theft Auto, Lemmings & DMA Design . Now ‘the’ Grand Theft Auto expert , Danny explains the European version of iconic American stereotypes present in this game compared to differing regional stereotypes found in other titles. We touch on how cultural perceptions play an unexpect...

Andrew Borman, Digital Games Curator at The Strong National Museum of Play, joins us to discuss the roles, benefits, limitations, and approaches of institutional versus individual video game preservation. At the end of the day, the entire ecosystem is required: collectors, academia, fans, institutions, and non-institutions all play a necessary part in completing the picture. See more from Andrew B...

It’s time, once again, to answer your burning questions! But first, a big thank you to all our listeners, supporters, and cheerleaders! And, thank you to all the wonderful guests who joined the show and the deluge of information they shared with us this year. We discuss the most important things which happened in 2021, both at the VGHF and in the world of preservation; how much data we currently s...

Dustin Hubbard (Hubz), founder of Gaming Alexandria , and Robert Reeves (Phillyman), founder of Retromags , join hosts Frank and Kelsey in a panel discussion on preserving video game magazines, especially those published pre-internet. We discuss why creating a library of old magazines is particularly important to overall preservation efforts, how we all got started, and how anyone can contribute....

PushDustIn, aka Will, takes us on a journey through the past of Super Smash Bros. (read: Brothers). Sparing us only a small break from his rather busy work as a content creator, Japanese Translator, Community Manager, PR professional, Co-host of the Memory Card podcast, and creator of the Source Gaming website, Push is here to teach us about the SSB humble beginnings of Ohajiki-style gameplay, goo...