Episode 614: Video Games and the Nuclear Apocalypse
Added 2024-05-20 11:00:10 +0000 UTCNadia: "Jesus Christ, they've done it."
This week on Retronauts, Nadia Oxford huddles underground with Jeremy Parish and games journalism sage Jaz Rignall to talk about the best depictions of nuclear devastation in retro video games. The medium came of age through the Cold War, so it's no surprise even the earliest, most primitive games made statements about the plutonium-tipped Sword of Damocles that dangled above us.
We crawl from Missile Command's nightmare-inducing story scenario to the traumatic nuclear attack scene in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. And there are plenty of stops in between where Jaz, Master of the Old Ways, describes what Europe's apocalyptic game scene looked like. Fry up a bloated rat, pop a bottle of low-rad Nuka Cola (keep that cap!), and tune your transistor radio onto this station.
Edits: Greg Leahy; Art: Nick Wanserski
11:34 - Frankie Goes to Hollywood: "Two Tribes"
20:12 - David Bowie: "When the Wind Blows"
32:42 - Jethro Tull: "Protect and Survive"
44:29 - Grave of the Fireflies: End Title | Trojan (Arcade): Stage 3
55:33 - Missile Defense 3-D: City
1:03:46 - Bionic Commando (Arcade): Top Secret (Round 5)
1:11:23 - Jefferson Airplane: "Crown of Creation"
1:23:57 - Chrono Trigger (SNES): Ruined World
1:36:34 - Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl: Fallen Capital
Closing - Vera Lynn: "We'll Meet Again"
Comments
This was a very interesting episode! I especially liked when Jeremy described how Japanese media specifically treats the subject compared to the rest of the world, it was eye opening and something I’d never considered!
Jackie G
2024-05-31 13:22:34 +0000 UTCThanks for the episode! I particularly love the topical Retronauts episodes like this one that follow a theme or idea and how it has been treated and depicted over time and across different platforms by different peoples and cultures. It sounds obvious and self-evident to say it out loud, but only when someone brings it to the forefront in an episode like this do I remember that video games are also products that reflect the historical and cultural contexts of their creators. Also somewhat unrelated, but I wanted to give a shoutout to the Phantasy Star series, which I loved. Not quite a nuclear apocalypse, but its depiction of massive environmental/natural disaster and human(oid) response has always intrigued me. Maybe we could get a more inclusive Retronauts episode on eschatology generally?
CapNChris
2024-05-29 02:44:51 +0000 UTC
