Follow us to the transitional, warm summer glow of 1997 for episode 29 of the Video Wizards podcast. It’s a tumultuous and fisticuffs filled time in the arcades as we look at a range of fighting games that would go on to have a keen audience at home as well, such as The King of Fighters’ 1997 installment by SNK, Hudson and Eighting’s own mighty morphin’ Bloody Roar a.k.a. Beastorizer and the loudest and most attention grabbing of them all: Capcom’s Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter!!! Capcom also takes a page out of the book of Pilo Fonck and presents the rather fun Capcom Sports Club and SEGA almost effortlessly reaches a wider audience with a thirst for blockbuster spectacle with the thrill ride that is The Lost World: Jurassic Park. And then there are once again a lot of fish to shoot in G-Darius by Taito.

While the UK is reeling from the death of Lady Di and Evander Holyfield is reeling from a smack whackin’ assault on his ear by Mike Tyson, Hip-Hop starts its summer takeover, despite a widening gap between the commercial and underground branches of the genre, as Wu-Tang Clan is reunited to get the world all excited with their double LP, followed by a whole host of artists of all sorts in their wake, including the increasingly maligned Puff Daddy.

The summer of 1997 is also a great time for Hollywood, as it appears, exhibited by the major financial success of the teaming up of John Woo, John Travolta and Nicolas Cage for Face/Off… and this goes even more for Men in Black, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. And if we’re talking gaming at home, nobody has to get bored with a plethora of games to play on PlayStation including megahit Tomb Raider II, the Nintendo 64 enjoying its first summer in Europe with smashes such as Mario Kart 64 and Lylat Wars and even the Saturn is still showing signs of life, with a fine home port of SEGA arcade fighter Last Bronx!

Get ready as we dive into almost 7 hours of nostalgia basking as we cover everything from the legal challenges of rap duo CNN (Capone -N- Noreaga) to the founding of Dutch broadcasting organisation BNN (Bart’s News Network), with all the usual laughs, tears and reflective moments you’re used to from us!

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.

Welcome to the Video Wizards News Network composed by Riff Mason and licensed exclusively to The Video Wizards Podcast, ©2023 Riff Mason, 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 テクノワールド奥州.

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