Episode 640: How History Shaped the Games, Pt. I
Added 2024-09-20 12:03:33 +0000 UTCJeremy: Retronauts is about video game history, sure, but with this episode we finally take the "history" part seriously. If you watch my weekly NES Works (etc.) videos, you know that I always like to start each episode with a little clip of music, film, TV, or news reports from the month the games in question debuted. Well, this episode is the first of a two-parter that expands that premise into a more elaborate exploration of some of the key events of the 1970s and ’80s and the direct impact they had on video games.
It was supposed to be a single episode covering everything, but when you get this collection of motormouths and game history buffs into a single room, you know damn well brevity isn't top of mind for the crew. And that's OK! There's a lot to say about the real world! From economic crashes to political scandals to harrowing international crises, the events of the era directly shaped the games biz—both economically and in terms of content. Truly, an episode ripped from the headlines, in which the headlines happened 40-50 years ago.
Bonus feature: A rather strident jazz band playing video game music on the other size of a thin conference room door! Special thanks to Ryan Shapiro for setting up the recording space for us.
Art by Nick Wanserski. Edits by Greg Leahy.
08:30 - The Omen (1976): Ave Satani
23:14 - The Conversation (1974): Main Theme
34:23 - Three Days of the Condor: Sing Along with the C.I.A.
45:38 - Choplifter (Arcade): Mission 1
54:44 - 1979 Revolution: Staff Credits | David Hasselhoff: "Looking for Freedom"
1:11:41 - Tetris (NES, NCL): BGM 1
1:25:06 - Vectorman: Options
1:34:46 - Machete (2010): Ave Maria
1:47:22 - Nicholas Schnier: "Theme from Video & Arcade Top 10"
1:57:14 - Ghosts 'n Goblins (NES): Stage 5
Closing - Genesis: "Land of Confusion"
Comments
Listening to the banter at the beginning of the episode about Canada being a fake state is funny in Feb 2025
Incredibleplum
2025-02-25 22:07:27 +0000 UTCA correction on Jeremy's comments on the Fairness Doctrine: it only applied to terrestrial broadcasts. So while its repeal certainly affected AM radio, it had no direct impact on cable stations like Fox News.
Thad Boyd
2024-10-07 20:04:28 +0000 UTCAs a leftist myself, and as someone with very real anxieties about World War 3 and climate change, I just want to say that constantly and flippantly referring to these subjects that will result in the real deaths of millions of real people as sardonic sarcasm doesn't accomplish anything, is not good politics, is not entertaining, is not funny and is not anything that someone is listening to Retronauts for. Please stop doing it, nobody will miss it, even people who agree with you like I do. Respectfully, Ken
Ken Hoyt
2024-10-01 17:18:40 +0000 UTCWe've been getting some incredible topics lately. Also, some brilliant music picks - almost spat out my drink when I heard The Conversation. I feel like this is the type of 'retro' Retronauts has been needing; the cultural context and sociopolitical factors beyond our control that shape what we play.
Shrunken Shrine
2024-09-25 02:21:46 +0000 UTCThat was a great episode that covered so many topics! Despite Jeremy's trigger warning, it was only mildly political, for which there is no need for apology. Here are my disparate thoughts: - I don't want to drop a turd in the punchbowl, especially since I admire the ambition and creativity behind the episode. But the history could have been a bit more polished... - I've always been fascinated by how events at the periphery of empire and/or the developing world can have profound cultural and other effects on the metropole itself, which I shouldn't be surprised also appears in video games. - The negative portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in Western media far predates America's entanglements in the Middle East. There's a famous (within certain academic circles) book and documentary about this called Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. I'm no video game scholar, but it wouldn't surprise me if this cultural portrayal extended through video games (for the most part). And a question/suggestion for a future topic: I've read/heard in many places about Japan's economic history and how it shaped video game history. What I haven't read/heard about is the effect that domestic Japanese politics played in video game history and/or the lives of Japanese video game creators. I've heard discussions about manga artists in this context, but not much about video games. Were there any political trends in Japan that had a strong influence on the emerging industry? Were any of the progenitors of the Japanese video game industry involved with student politics? Protests against Security Treaty? Communists? Ultra-nationalists? I can't imagine that video games and video game creators in Japan existed in a vacuum separate or uninfluenced by these things.
CapNChris
2024-09-24 03:01:03 +0000 UTCI saw him talk about that on a YouTube interview a couple of years ago. To me revealing that would be like telling a kid the host kept missing Polkaroo because the host WAS Polkaroo.
Sebastiano Gerace
2024-09-23 16:04:06 +0000 UTCBut WAS it his real name?!
Nadia
2024-09-23 15:30:08 +0000 UTCFantastic fascinating episode.
Calum Matheson
2024-09-22 21:53:36 +0000 UTCI know she wasn’t lead host here but this is hands down my favourite Nadia episode. I was once scheduled to be on Video and Arcade Top 10 but some scheduling issue prevented me from being on. It might be the greatest regret of my childhood.
Sebastiano Gerace
2024-09-22 20:04:13 +0000 UTCI hate to tell Nadia this but Satanic Panic is a Canadian export. It started with a Canadian book by a psychiatrist specializing in the discredited idea of recovered memories with the book Michelle Rmemebers in 1980, before spreading to the US, and we has our own day care incident later in 1992 with a purely fictional Martensville SK satanic cult scandal that lead to weonfdul charges and persecution
Beefington von Barnstorm
2024-09-22 03:16:58 +0000 UTCGreat Success!
Kormakur Gardarsson
2024-09-21 11:32:21 +0000 UTCRandom fun factoid, I have a BA in history and my capstone was a research paper on the Satanic Panic. As far as the middle east goes, it's not quite a sudden post WWII thing. The whole region had been a protectorate of England, etc post WWI after the fall of the Ottoman Empire with the idea that eventually they'd be guided towards their own independence.
Michael Castleberry
2024-09-20 20:28:16 +0000 UTCGreat episode. I sure do appreciate hearing Jared on Retronauts.
Julian
2024-09-20 20:10:47 +0000 UTC
