Opening Stage VGH

Dean and Meredith are once again joined by Friend of the Podcast, Chicago artist and candle daddy Joseph Ramski to discuss video game "visionary" Jeff Spangenberg and his slimy masterpiece, The Guy Game. Get your hand sanitizer ready for this one. You're gonna need it.

A majority of the information from this episode game from two of Matt McMuscles' video game essay from his "Wha Happun?" series. They can be found here:

Pre-order Meredith'a book, Ghost Tamer, now! https://camcatbooks.com/Books/G/Ghost-Tamer

Dean & Meredith are joined by host of the "Peace, Love and Baseball" podcast, Kelsey Burd, and head of indie pop-rock group "Validity," Wesley McKinney as they discuss the formation of the Seattle Mariners and their ties to Nintendo of America. Choke up on the bat and slide into our longest episode yet!

A vast majority of the information comes from Norman Carsuo's (The Gaming Historian) documentary, "Foreign-Owned Nintendo and the Seattle Mariners." MLB has unfortunately requested that he take the video down from YouTube, so here's a link to his Patreon account. Please consider donating, if you can: https://www.patreon.com/gaminghistorian

Check out Kelsey's podcast, "Peace, Love and Baseball" for a weekly recap of her thoughts regarding the St. Louis Cardinals and the MLB at large: https://open.spotify.com/show/2d17JQbetqOtrRURMMaiFb?si=c9cced69a1494e3f

Check out Wesley's group "Validity" on Spotify. I hear there's a new song on the horizon! : https://open.spotify.com/artist/4AC02BkzJts3zXLe69wIh8?si=OgPUqVDzQgSSs7HKRRWmew

Pre-order Meredith's book, "Ghost Tamer" : https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Tamer-Meredith-R-Lyons/dp/074430279X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2G18RNA86BGNC&keywords=ghost+tamer+meredith+r+lyons&qid=1680581679&sprefix=ghost+tam%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1

Thanks for listening!

While setting up for the Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree episode, we had a candid and genuinely interesting discussion about horror video games and Konami's last avant garde project: Hideo Kojima's "P.T." This is even more free-form than we typically are, so we hope you enjoy.

Dean & Meredith are once again joined by Josh Zagoran to discuss what might be the most prolific unlicensed video game developer for the NES, Color Dreams and Wisdom Tree. We go over Nintendo's rigorous licensing policies, and Meredith tries WAY too hard to reconcile the plot of Sunday Funday.

A lot of the information in this episode came from MattKC's video, "Why do some NES games say 'Starting Machine'?" Please give it a watch!: https://youtu.be/SWGEy8H8V5M

Check out Josh's podcast, Chad the Birdcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1QsZKtaJP0V9rgZbkR1Iw9?si=82eb511e155e4d80

Pre-order Meredith's book, Ghost Tamer: https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Tamer-Meredith-R-Lyons/dp/074430279X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=SYOX4TZX5AVK&keywords=ghost+tamer+meredith+r+lyons&qid=1679371807&sprefix=ghost+tamer%2Caps%2C106&sr=8-1

During the course of the episode, we briefly touch on a number of resources available to those in need. If you need their services, please find them below:

SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 (HELP)

Crisis Text Line: text 741741

RAINN (Rape Abuse and Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (HOPE)

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness): 1-800-950-6264 (NAMI)

S.A.F.E. Alternatives (Self-Abuse Finally Ends): 1-800-366-8288 (1-800-DON'T-CUT); http://wwwselfinjury.com

Dean & Meredith are once again joined by official Friend of the Podcast, The Sky Hook's own Chris Pennant to discuss one Shaquille O'Neal's licensed fighting game, Shaq Fu. Dean questions what he calls the thing he writes, and Chris describes the subtle nuances of breaking backboards. We recorded this episode a little while ago, so some of the references are a little untimely. We're working on getting things back on track.

A vast majority of the information for this episode comes from Matt McMuscles' video essay, "Shaq-Fu: The Worst Fighting Game." Please check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpgIWtQob9w

Check out Chris' podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6zMWYjLsVu5M2UwMF3G05E?si=74fbd18cbf7f4597

Pre-order Meredith's book: https://camcatbooks.com/Books/G/Ghost-Tamer

Thanks for listening!

Dean and Meredith are joined by their friend Elyse Dawson to discuss Kowloon Kurosawa and what might be the most offensive Super Nintendo game ever created, Hong Kong '97. Just a heads-up, but this episode gets a little spicy, as we dive into the complex relationship between China and Hong Kong, the limits of good (and bad) taste, and the only Super Nintendo game to drop the f-bomb.

Thanks for listening!

Dean and Meredith are joined by All-Around-Nice-Guy Alex Blanchette to discuss the lives of influential Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and video game designer Sid Meier, and how the two collided with near-nuclear results. We discuss getting DOOM to run on various electronics, an unexpected Robin Williams cameo, and how we probably should have known more about Gandhi's life as human in 2022.

Dean and Meredith are joined by the Speak Beasty Podcast's own Ann Lysy to discuss the history of the Addams Family and its 1989 video game spin-ff, Fester's Quest. Meredith recounts the horrors of pre-Audacity sound editing, while Dean and Ann also delve into the dark cost of retro video game collecting.

No, you're not reading that incorrectly. Dean and Meredith are joined by Jeff Newman, host of the Movies 4 Dayz podcast to discuss James Cameron's 1997 cinematic blockbuster Titanic and the bootleg Chinese Famicom game it spawned. We talk about whether the Oscars are still necessary and the evils of boyhood sleepovers, as well as narrating a badly-translated synopsis of the film.

Interested in hearing Jeff's podcast? You can find it here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3w47yIz6N1PTUFylmVWAgS?si=ca3d52c39b7e43be

Outro credit to Matt Mulholland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2WH8mHJnhM

Dean & Meredith are joined by not one, but two previous guests: Joseph Ramski and Brian Zinda to discuss the life of influential filmmaker Takeshi Kitano and what might be the first intentionally-bad video game, "Takeshi's Challenge." Brian learns the meaning of the phrase "Press the flesh," and we end the episode having a big discussion about whether or not video games are a valuable pursuit of one's time. Spoiler alert: they are if you think they are.