Podouken

Atari treads new ground with their first terrestrial vector arcade offering, Battlezone!

Was this the first game with true military applications? How did constant complaining lead to getting credited in one of the best arcade games made? What genius idea did Pastblaster's wife have to witness the Gumball 3000 rally for free? Was Battlezone the original Virtual Boy (but better in every way)?

This episode's listener questions include what animal behavior makes us question reality; and what fast food/arcade promotion would we like to see and what food would we like to see them sell? Join the Podouken Discord and ask your own questions that could be included in a future episode: discord.gg/k5vf2Jz

You can also like, comment, and subscribe to our YouTube channel where we post content like the new Rankdouken episodes (what started as an April Fool's joke now is its own thing): https://www.youtube.com/@podoukenpodcast2716.

Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?

In 1977 arcades lit up with a new vibrant and high-resolution display that brought a dead video game publisher back to life. This was the vector monitor and it did more than just connect the dots, it dropped jaws and led to some of the most memorable arcade games ever created. We kick off our new miniseries with the first vector coin-op game, Space Wars by Cinematronics!

Was Larry Rosenthal, the creator of Space Wars, the best business man in the arcade industry? What elements from this game were "borrowed" by some of its more popular successors? Who was Rob's arcade Yoda when he was starting out? Exactly how dangerous can malfunctioning cathode ray tubes be?

Listener questions for this episode include do we have a console game we'd like to see get the arcade treatment, what arcade restoration project are we most proud of, and which do we prefer: coffee or tea? Join the Podouken Discord and ask your own questions that could be included in a future episode: discord.gg/k5vf2Jz

You can also like, comment, and subscribe to our YouTube channel where we post content like the new Rankdouken episodes (what started as an April Fool's joke now is its own thing): https://www.youtube.com/@podoukenpodcast2716.

The Three's Company apartment lease is up and it's time to move out and move on in the only way we know how - with an Arcade Obscura on underrated or obscure three-player arcade games!

The first pick is so undefineable that Jarrod had to create a new word for the genre. The next pick gives us gore and bad line deliveries to go with our beat 'em up. The last pick takes a famous character, gives them two new friends, and has you do things with them that have never been tried again.

We also talk about the recent UFO dump, the new Mortal Kombat 2 movie, and answer what things from the arcade hobby scene would we like to transfer to our real jobs. Join the Podouken Discord and ask your own questions that could be included in a future episode: discord.gg/k5vf2Jz

You can also like, comment, and subscribe to our YouTube channel where we post content like the all-new Rankdouken (officially the worst name for anything ever created): https://www.youtube.com/@podoukenpodcast2716.

Pastblaster finally gets his flowers as we cover one of his favorite games - Capcom's excellent three-player beat 'em up, Alien Vs. Predator.

Where does Alien Vs. Predator rank on the list of all-time arcade beat 'em ups? Are you familiar with the Vela Incident of 1979? How did comics lead directly to this game (and a movie that we'd rather not mention)? Did Christmas come early for Jarrod with a Neo Geo miracle?

And we got listener questions! What is an arcade or pinball game where if we changed one element it would be perfect for us? In what may be our favorite listener question ever… if The Muppets made a Street Fighter movie, which muppet would be cast in which part? And in the final, related question: what is our favorite Muppets movie? Join the Podouken Discord and ask your own questions that could be included in a future episode: discord.gg/k5vf2Jz

You can also like, comment, and subscribe to our YouTube channel where we post our listener question segments and additional content: https://www.youtube.com/@podoukenpodcast2716.

We return to our normally scheduled broadcast to tear into one of the best 3-player and 80s games ever made - Rampage by Bally Midway.

Did Rampage lay out the landscape for future sandbox video games? Can you tell the difference between Ralph Wolf and Wile E. Coyote? What led to the long-standing partnership between game designers Brian Colin and Jeff Nauman? Did we really just go around the moon or is it just one more elaborate hoax as the YouTubers claim? (Editor's note: stop it. We definitely went around the moon.)

We also answer these vital listener questions: which two fighting game characters from different fighting game franchises would you watch a Heated Rivalry-like TV series about, have we ever had a game that we didn't buy after being discouraged by the maintenance required to keep it running, and what was the animated movie we watched the most as children? Join the Podouken Discord and ask your own questions that could be included in a future episode: discord.gg/k5vf2Jz

You can also like, comment, and subscribe to our YouTube channel where we post our listener question segments and additional content: https://www.youtube.com/@podoukenpodcast2716.