Video Game History Hour

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 62: Super Smash Bros. Dec 15, 2021

Show notes

PushDustIn, aka Will, takes us on a journey through the past of Super Smash Bros. (read: Brothers). Sparing us only a small break from his rather busy work as a content creator, Japanese Translator, Community Manager, PR professional, Co-host of the Memory Card podcast, and creator of the Source Gaming website, Push is here to teach us about the SSB humble beginnings of Ohajiki-style gameplay, goofy 90’s commercials of Mario punching sweet Yoshi, and the brutal process of final character inclusion selection. Has your favorite Nintendo character made it into Super Smash Bros., yet?

See more from PushDustIn:

Twitter: @PushDustIn

Memory Card Podcast: https://www.memorycardshow.com/

Source Gaming: https://source-gaming.com/

Ep. 61: Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

Jacob Salas, of the website Pop History, joins the show to tell us about an ambitious attempt at a Virtual Magic Kingdom CD ROM that, in a lot of ways, is also the story of Hollywood's odd attempts in the 90’s to try to get into the video game market more seriously. In his feature article One Name, Two Games: Virtual Magic Kingdom we learn the story of a massive virtual Disney theme park project which was shut down, revived into an MMO, shut down again, then subsequently revived again by fans and kept going to this day. You may also know this project as Disney’s Villains’ Revenge, the retail puzzle action game: this project certainly has a complex history.

Salas was the recipient of a writing grant from the Video Game History Foundation for the purpose of researching and documenting this history.

See more from Jacob Salas:

Pop History – https://pophistory.club

Pop history twitter: @js_pophistory

Patreon – /pophistory

Twitter – @js_jrod

YouTube – /czfjrod

Ep. 60: Computer Space Dec 01, 2021

Show notes

Alex Smith returns to the show, this time to talk about Computer Space: a 1971 arcade game often considered the beginning of the commercial video game industry. Continuing the annotation series of his book, “They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. I”, Alex Smith has condensed down the history of this first coin-operated video game in his recent blog post: Worldly Wednesdays: A Timeline Of Computer Space. Always the thorough historian, Alex Smith treats us to an incredibly educational hour of video game history.

See more from Alex Smith:

Website: theycreateworlds.com

Blog: videogamehistorian.wordpress.com

Podcast: podcast.theycreateworlds.com

Book: https://www.routledge.com/They-Create-Worlds-The-Story-of-the-People-and-Companies-That-Shaped-the/Smith/p/book/9781138389908

Ep. 59: DMCA Exemption Ruling Nov 24, 2021

Show notes

Cyberlaw Clinic tech lawyer Kendra Albert and librarian and video game historian Phil Salvador join the show to give us their professional insight into the U.S. Copyright Office's October 2021 ruling which affects how libraries are able to provide access to video games and other software. As we discuss this current event, we hope to provide context as to what this ruling means, how it was reached, and how we might approach the next round of exemption proposals to best serve preservation efforts.

Further Reading:

Cyberlaw Clinic (background material): https://clinic.cyber.harvard.edu/2021/03/12/clinic-spn-and-lca-fight-digital-deterioration-prepare-for-1201-hearings/

Final rule (10 page version): https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-10-28/pdf/2021-23311.pdf

Register’s recommendation (300 page version): https://cdn.loc.gov/copyright/1201/2021/2021_Section_1201_Registers_Recommendation.pdf

See more from Kendra Albert:

Twitter: @Kendraserra

Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic: https://clinic.cyber.harvard.edu/

Cyberlaw Clinic Twitter: @cyberlawclinic

Software Preservation Network: https://www.softwarepreservationnetwork.org/

Software Preservation Network Twitter: @SoftPresNetwork

See more from Phil Salvador:

Twitter: @itstheshadsy

Website: obscuritory.com

Ep. 58: FEMICOM Museum Nov 17, 2021

Show notes

Rachel Weil started the FEMICOM Museum to catalogue, celebrate, and remix the history of girl games, girly games, and femme games. She joins us to provide insight into how this massive category of video games has been shut out of history preservation (hint: follow the money) and how she’s been countering this trend for the last decade. As Founder and Director, Rachel combines both an online museum experience with a physical archive of games, electronic toys, and software. We bask in the nostalgia of Barbie Fashion Designer, the Game Boy Sewing Machine, Hello Kitty games, My Little Pony games, Neopets, and so much more!

See more from Rachel Weil:

Twitter: @FemicomMuseum

Website: femicom.org

Personal Twitter: @partytimeHXLNT

Ep. 57: Hit Save! Nov 10, 2021

Show notes

Executive Director of Hit Save!, Jonas Rosland, joins us to showcase some of the amazing work this fellow 501(c)(3) non-profit does in preserving video game history, especially through community-driven projects. Hit Save! has brought together amazing resources in both their Scanning.Guide! and Dumping.Guide! to aid our community in digitizing existing materials as well as a program facilitating interviews with game developers to preserve that history which may not yet have been documented. Rosland also gives us a peek into many other current projects and we learn how any of us can get involved.

Mentioned in the show:

Scanning.Guide! (https://scanning.guide/)

Dumping.Guide! (https://dumping.guide/)

See more from Jonas Rosland:

Website: hitsave.org

Patreon: /hitsave

Twitter: @hitsaveorg

GitHub: github.com/hitsave

Personal twitter: @jonasrosland

Ep. 56: Nintendo in Italy Nov 03, 2021

Show notes

Gaming historian and journalist Damiano Gerli shares the details of how exactly Nintendo marketed itself to the Italian consumer in the 80’s and 90’s as laid out in his article Selling Mario to Italians: the untold story of Nintendo in Italy. They really had their work cut out for them as they tried to bring their console into an environment already heavily favoring PC gaming as well as free of software copyright laws. How did they make it work and what byproducts still survive today as a result?

See more from Damiano Gerli:

Twitter: @damgentemp

Genesis Temple blog - dedicated to obscure gaming history and analyzing interesting elements of game design: https://genesistemple.com/

Patreon: /thegenesistemple

Facebook: /TheGenesisTemple

Ep. 55: Pac-Man Oct 27, 2021

Show notes

Author Tim Lapetino joins us to discuss his new book, Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon. After so many years, why are there still stories to tell about Pac-Man? During a time when shooting aliens was the hot gameplay on the scene, we find out why this game, with such a different experience, had mass appeal. Tim takes us down the rabbit hole of what is just so fascinating about this iconic character, the legendary franchise, and its creator.

See more from Tim Lapetino:

Twitter: @lapetino

Website: timlapetino.com

Instagram: @timlapetino

Book: Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon: Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon

Recommended Book: Art Of Atari

Ep. 54: Kaizo Mario Oct 20, 2021

Show notes

GlitchCat7, competitive gamer/ROM hacker/full time streamer/Kaizo Mario historian of record, joins us to discuss his extensive blog post, The Complete History of ‘Kaizo Mario’. GlitchCat7 helps us understand how ‘Kaizo’ was born from exploring glitched levels, wall clipping, and ROM warping. These rearranged, and quite difficult, Mario levels provide a jumping off point for a philosophical journey through what it means to go beyond the horizon of what’s explorable in a game and play out of bounds.

Mentioned in the show:

https://www.smwcentral.net//

See more from GlitchCat7:

Website: https://www.glitchcat7.com

Twitch: /glitchcat7

Twitter: @GlitchCat7

TikTok: @GlitchCat7

Instagram: @GlitchCat7

Patreon: @GlitchCat7

Mallow’s Instagram: @mallowspiraltail

Ep. 53: X-Rated Atari Games Oct 13, 2021

Show notes

Historian and documentarian Kate Willaert returns to the show, this time to discuss her recent article on “adult” games made under the Mystique banner for the Atari 2600: Porno Hustlers Of The Atari Age. Kate guides us through the very troubled history around these titles’ creation and release, including protests, legal suits, and attempted legislation. She also unravels the complicated company structures behind these games to figure out who was really involved in this story.

See more from Kate Willaert:

Twitter: @katewillaert

YouTube: /a critical hit

Website: acriticalhit.com

Patreon: /acriticalhit

Newsletter: criticalkate.substack.com