Podouken

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 90s? Did SNK make a game about the worst spy ever?We also answer some listener questions (posted on the Podouken Discord) like if we've ever encountered haunted games, how we tune game difficulty in the arcade, what games we hate but keep around because the public loves them, and our choices for holy grail games.

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 mongo? What are the four games currently in the arcade's Neo Geo 4 slot?We also answer some questions posted on the Podouken Discord like how we started an arcade, what it's like dealing with hurricanes on the regular, our most troublesome games, and our favorite arcade-to-console ports.

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 Wars game in this series? Why are we talking about giving "yutes" drugs? Did we just unlock some of PastBlaster's repressed memories? I'm sorry, you said "peanuts"?Thanks to all our listeners for a fantastic year! We wish you all a happy new year and hope you have an even better time with us in the next one.

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 up genre? Is it true one of the hosts had never seen this movie before this episode? How did a defector ballet dancer turn into one of the biggest badasses in cinema?

So listen, bubbe, as we talk about a dynamite detective, try to buy some Star Wars laser dicks, uncover the true love story in Die Hard, give really bad Alan Rickman impersonations, and try to stifle a raging Wolf Hongo.

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 this movie for almost twice its running time? How does the arcade game reward frugal shopping?Not to miss in this episode: Jarrod references an anime all on his own, we dream up the Forrest Gump video game, discuss the benefits of owning a bone urn, and recap Willow so you can be ready for the new Disney+ series.