VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 20: March 1981

Video Wizards Podcast

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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 Scramble by Konami and Defender by Williams. Bally Midway are less interested in innovation, however, as they dare to release the plagiarism heavy Gorf, as developed by Dave Nutting Associates. And in the meantime, Namco introduce Rally-X, a vehicle based variation on their very own Pac-Man.

Home gaming is still ruled by the likes of the Atari f***ing 2600, but we also witness the release of Sir Clive’s ZX80 home computer, the imaginatively titled ZX81. Trash from the Classifieds morphs to The Classifieds Report, for a more dynamic dive into the sales ad pages of computer and video games magazines, Hip Hop music sees some truly foundational releases and in the world of guitars, the UK spearheads a new wave of domestic metal music production. Those looking to hit up the movie theaters are advised to stay home, however, as Sam Neil’s antichrist and Gary Coleman himself tag team terrorise the silver screen in this time period.

So you see, despite the early goings, there is no shortage of video games and popular culture to discover and discuss in March 1981. Enjoy 5 more hours of Video Wizards audio goodness!

Scramble By The Arcade Flyer Archive, Fair use, <a href= — The top billing arcade games of the era we discuss on Episode 20, L-R: Scramble, Rally-X, Defender, Gorf

Other music used in this episode:

TV Theme Style (The Winner) – by Colin Thomson, 2018
Main Theme – by Toshio Kai for Rally-X, 1981
Fantastic Voyage – by Lakeside, 1981
Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me) – by The Gap Band, 1980
Don’t Stop The Music – by Yarbrough & Peoples, 1980
Rapture – by Blondie, 1981
Put the Boogie in Your Body – by The Treacherous Three, 1981
Jazzy Sensation – by Afrika Bambaataa & The Jazzy 5, 1981
The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel – by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5, 1981
Wrathchild – by Iron Maiden, 1981
Bringin’ On the Heartbreak – by Def Leppard, 1981
In League with Satan – by Venom, 1981
Once in a Lifetime – by Talking Heads, 1981
Planet Earth – by Duran Duran, 1981
Kids in America – by Kim Wilde, 1981
In the Air Tonight – by Phil Collins, 1981
Embarassment – by Madness, 1980
Vienna – by Ultravox, 1981
Theme of Robin’s Nest – by Brian Bennett, 1981

Episode edited by: Juli Reed

And finally: our special thanks to Andy Hofle.

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31 episodes

#Video Games #Music #Lifestyle #Cinema #Ben Cartlidge #Michiel Kroder #Game #Retro #Retro Gaming #1980s #1990s #Pop Culture