Every month, Ben Cartlidge and Michiel Kroder take a look at the same month in a random year from the last two decades of the 20th century. They discuss what video games were popular in the arcades of that moment in time, but also what was going on in popular culture and the world around us, from a joint UK and Netherlands perspective.
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 29: Summer 1997
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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 mor…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 28: May 1993
5:23:34
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In episode 28 of the Video Wizards podcast, we are confronted with a persisting theme of assassinations and gun violence in popular media as we head back to the month May in 1993. In the arcades, Frank Castle drags Nick Fury with him into a cycle of carnage on a rampage through the underworld, in Capcom’s The Punisher. And cinemas are in for a shoc…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 27: April 1989
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In the 27th episode of Video Wizards, we close in on the end of the Cold War as the political system of communism takes hits left, right and center, in the month of April, 1989. Not in the least as Strider Hiryu bowls into Moscow and assassinates all members of the Duma, in Capcom’s arcade hit Strider. Konami, meanwhile, try their first hand at a D…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 26: March 1985
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In episode 26 of Video Wizards, we get sucked into the cultural maelstrom of March 1985, where the global arcade industry has picked up the pieces and is striking back with, well, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back by our good friends at Atari and Konami’s cutesy, sugary vertical shoot ’em up TwinBee. Namco, meanwhile, are digging in a different di…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 25: Winter 1983/1984
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For this 25th episode of Video Wizards, we find ourselves back in the earlier 1980s, when health and safety regulations were of a lesser concern. It’s the cold, cold winter of 1983 going on 1984 and the arcade industry was rocked to the core by the “Atari Shock”. Picking up the pieces and strapped for cash, developers West and East had to make do w…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 24: Autumn 1998
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In the 24th episode of Video Wizards, we travel to a time close to the “mark of the millennium”, as we find ourselves covering the autumnal months of September, October and November of 1998 for yet another very substantial seasonal spectacular. Arcade games increasingly lose floor space to slot machines and the ones that don’t have specialised cabi…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 23: Summer 1994
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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 l…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 22: May 1988
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In episode 22 of Video Wizards, we find ourselves in the glorious year of 1988, where the 2D shoot ’em up still reigned supreme as the most dominant video game genre. In the arcades we see releases of heavy hitters like Vulcan Venture a.k.a. Gradius II by Konami, Forgotten Worlds by Capcom and Silkworm by Tecmo, the three of them pushing boundaries…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 21: April 1995
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In episode 21 of Video Wizards, we return to the mid nineties, in that period before Sony’s PlayStation was released to change the gaming landscape forever. In the arcades of April 1995, there is a lot of fighting and a lot of flying going on, as Midway drops the much anticipated third instalment in the dominating “kultural” force that is the Morta…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 20: March 1981
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In episode number 20 of Video Wizards, we travel back the furthest yet: all the way to March 1981. With baby Ben keeping his parents awake all night with his lung and vocal chord exercises and Michiel celebrating his 5th birthday, the arcade game scene is typified by innovation and the establishing of brand new genres, with seminal releases like Sc…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Patreon Announcement Minicast
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In this special Video Wizards minicast, Ben and Michiel briefly look back at 2 years of the podcast and announce a new era, as we introduce our Patreon page. Learn more about the why, the how and the extras you get when you support us! Enjoy this shorter conversation and check out our page at patreon.com/videowizards! Show theme tune: NEON CITY, co…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 19: Winter 1990 / 1991
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In the 19th episode of Video Wizards, we again travel back to 3 months in one single episode: December 1990 and January and February in 1991. And we find ourselves in a tumultuous time, with a lot of political twists and turns on the world stage and the arcade industry being on the brink of changing forever, with the impending release of Street Fig…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 18: Autumn 1986
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In the 18th episode of Video Wizards, we again travel back to 3 months in one single episode: September, October and November, all in the year 1986. And do things get more 1980s than this one? Perhaps not when arcade games like Out Run and movies like Top Gun see a release in this time period. It’s a true golden era of mid eighties arcade gaming, w…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 17: Summer 1996
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In this episode of Video Wizards, we ambitiously travel back to 3 months in one single episode: June, July and August, all in the year 1996. In this Olympic summer, arcade floors are dominated by 3D fighting games like Last Bronx, Star Gladiator and errr… Fighters’ Impact by Taito. SNK, meanwhile, represent two dimensions with the fantastic The Kin…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 16: May 1987
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The hits keep on coming as the Video Wizards travel back to the heydays of ninja related crimes in May 1987 and discuss monumental arcade games like Double Dragon, Taito’s Rastan Saga and Super Hang-On. But there is also Konami’s Combat School, which failed to prepare Ben and Michiel for its final level in the White House, and the rather anticlimac…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 15: April 1992
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In this episode of the Video Wizards Podcast we’re traveling back to April 1992 to an arcade landscape that differs wildly from the one we left in the last episode. In the wake of 1991’s Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, we find the scene reinvigorated, with big budget games and showy machines occupying the floors and the 6-player, double scree…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 14: March 1984
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In this episode, the Video Wizards find themselves in March 1984, where they are confronted with the wreckage left by Atari on the North American video game market and its effect on releases in European arcades. It’s nothing but obscure coin-ops this month as SNK quietly introduce the now little known sequel to Vanguard, Coreland and SEGA put out t…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 13: February 1982
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In this episode, the Video Wizards travel back further in time than they ever have, all the way to February 1982. In this month, SEGA make a splash with the visually striking axonometric space shooter Zaxxon while Atari revisits Asteroids in a tethered fashion for Space Duel. Gaming’s first diva appears in the form of a yellow orb with a red bow an…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 12: January 1997
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In this episode of Video Wizards, we travel to January 1997 to witness the sad slow demise of the arcades in Western Europe, with cabinets getting replaced by slot machines in all but the last remaining dedicated gaming halls. But in these bright and colourful sanctuaries, there’s still a lot of video game fun to be had, with head to head combat an…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 11: December 1989
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In this final Video Wizards Podcast episode of 2020, we travel back 31 years, to the month of December 1989. With the last holiday season of the 1980s upon us, we are visited by Santa Haggar, backed up by Cody and Guy, for Capcom’s genre redefining Final Fight. Konami, meanwhile, set out their own brawling path with their first arcade beat ’em up c…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 10: November 1992
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In the 10th numbered episode of the Video Wizards Podcast, the stage for November 1992 is set by U.S. president George H.W. Bush smoothly transfering power to the political face of the ’90s, Bill Clinton, as SEGA brings about a revolution with their introduction of Virtua Racing to the arcade market. Toaplan enlist “mangaka” Joker JUN to make an im…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 9: October 1988
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Episode number 9 of the Video Wizards Podcast sees us travel back to October 1988, where things are about to get all sorts of horrifying! In the arcades, werewolves are fighting zombies, vile monsters and a dark sorcerer in SEGA’s legendarily oddball autoscrolling beat ’em up Altered Beast. Also, Ryu Hayabusa ends up in his buzzsaw filled personal …
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 8: September 1995
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The 8th episode of the Video Wizards Podcast is a huge one: we travel to a little bit over the middle of the mid 90s, namely the month of September in the year 1995. This is a real moment of transition, where 3D polygons start eclipsing 2D graphics in popularity, both in the arcades and in home gaming. Tekken 2 makes people take closer notice of pa…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 7: August 1990
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In episode number 7 of the Video Wizards Podcast we travel to August in the first year of the 90s. It’s a new decade, filled with the hope to wrestle itself from under the looming nuclear threat of the 1980s, but a war that’s far from cold is about to kick off in the Gulf and Atari Games gets gritty with the hyper violent and (for the time) hyper r…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 6: July 1985
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In the 6th episode of the Video Wizards Podcast we travel all the way back to July in the year 1985. In this month, Yu Suzuki and SEGA go “full body” and unleash the Super Scaler revolution on arcade goers with the legendary superbike racer Hang-On. Namco show their quirkier side with the autorunner inspiring Metro-Cross and the cutesy-yet-slightly…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 5: June 1993
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In this fifth episode of the Video Wizards Podcast we travel back to June 1993, where Midway releases the final revision of the digitised live actor driven fighting fantasy Mortal Kombat II. There is summertime amusement aplenty as well, with the thrill ride-like cabs of Lucky & Wild and Alien 3: The Gun, by Namco and SEGA respectively. And Technos…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 4: May 1994
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In the fourth episode of the Video Wizards Podcast we find ourselves in May 1994, where Capcom made a powerful statement in that they were still not done with making “belt scrolling” beat ’em ups, with both Alien vs. Predator and Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom making their mark. In this time period, their fellow Osakan rivals SNK were showing th…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 3: April 1986
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In the third episode of the Video Wizards Podcast we’re traveling a bit further back again, to April 1986, and enter the Fantasy Zone for some unique shoot ’em up stylings by SEGA. Japanese developers continue making their mark as we also look at a string of Capcom hitters like Trojan, Gun.Smoke and Section Z and Konami’s oddly similar looking Doub…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 2: March 1991
4:40:28
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4:40:28
This second episode of the Video Wizards Podcast is huge! We’re traveling back to March 1991 and look at how Street Fighter II: The World Warrior changed the (arcade) gaming landscape… and we get to reminisce about colourful cartoony games like The Simpsons, Caveman Ninja and Bells & Whistles a.k.a. Detana!! TwinBee. We also marvel at Jeff Speakman…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 1: February 1989
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In the first offical episode of the Video Wizards Podcast, we’re traveling back to February 1989 and look at a surprisingly horror-inducing selection of arcade games like Splatterhouse, Ghouls’n Ghosts and Hard Drivin’. We also give an update on our home gaming situation of the day, catch the wave of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, find ourselves…
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VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 0: January 1987
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In this pilot episode of the Video Wizards Podcast, we’re traveling back to January 1987 and look at arcade games like Alien Syndrome, Rolling Thunder, and 720º. We also check out the European, pre-console, home computer scene, Eddie Murphy’s performance in The Golden Child and music from The Beastie Boys, Guns N’ Roses and Cameo… and did you know …
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