In episode 23 of Video Wizards, we return to the year 1994 to bask in the sunrays of the summer, for another seasonal spectacular. With the midpoint of the ’90s just one year away and the ’80s now full and well behind us, we find ourselves in a period of cultural turmoil, where the arcade industry, the music industry AND the film industry seem to lack a general direction and focus and throw a lot at the wall to see what sticks. In the arcades, we deal with the hodge podge of flat shaded polygonal experiments Wing War and Desert Tank by SEGA and Midway’s bizarre attempt to put aging rockers Aerosmith forward as dangerous symbols of youth culture that need to be silenced by a sinister fascist government in the lightgun shooter Revolution X. Atari, meanwhile, goes full stop motion animation for the feral fighter Primal rage, as we can still count on Capcom and SNK to deliver noteworthy, quality fighting games in the shape of Darkstalkers and the first entry in the The King of Fighters series.

And what about those other industries? The pop charts in the UK and the Netherlands are generally a mess, but there is a lot of solid music being made in the scenes of Hip-Hop and metal. And in theaters we see more scattershot releases, with a massive, animated movie centered around a family of lions by Disney, a bit of 20th century history viewed through the eyes of a lovable simpleton who has a knack for cutting to the core of things and the comedic exploits of a band called The Lone Rangers, as they take a radio station hostage to get their demo played on air.

With the Atari Jaguar out on shelves and a new generation of CD-based consoles around the corner, all bets are off when it comes to this chaotic period in the late-early nineties. But these are still simpler times, and we invite you into their comforting, sun drenched embrace, for the next 6 and a half hours.

Show theme tune: NEON CITY, composed by Ed 「イートレム」 Tremblay for Mudprints Music and licensed exclusively to The Video Wizards Podcast, ©2019 Mudprints Music, all rights reserved.

Baller of the Month Jingle composed by Yuli Anna and licensed exclusively to The Video Wizards Podcast, ©2022 Yuli Anna, all rights reserved.

Other music used in this episode:

Episode edited by: Juli Reed & Michiel Kroder

And finally: our special thanks to Andy Hofle.

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