Julian will never understand you.
Welcome back to Nerds Without Pants! This week, we shout out some of our favorite women in games, be they characters, developers, content creators, and more. Then we talk about a couple bad games and a couple better games before pitting Zelda against Dragon Quest in a cage match.
I feel pretty!
Welcome to a special Nerds Without Pants! Eric Peacock from the Soundtracker Podcast joins us for the first time to talk about pretty video game music, his video game origin story, and much, much more!
The Hapless Hero
In 1986, Sega introduced the Sega Card for their Master System home console in the US. It represented the Master System’s ability to play games on small cartridges about the size of a credit card via the card expansion slot on the original system models. Sega wasted no time creating a lineup of games that would be best suited for bite-sized play sessions. My Hero was one of those games. Being released in the arcade about a year before its home console release, the game is a scrolling brawler that had the honor (or disgrace) of being one of the first guinea pigs for Sega’s gamble.
Cute but Deadly
After seeing the incredible success of Konami's shoot-'em-up Gradius, Sega sought to create an arcade game that could rival it. So in 1986, game designer Yoji Ishii (Flicky, Outrun, NiGHTS) came up with a concept that combined the whimsical sensibilities of Twinbee with a giddy samba-esque soundtrack to create Fantasy Zone. As a lighthearted take on side-scrolling shooters that later cemented the "cute-’em-up" subgenre.
...you know that Mario used to talk like human being, right?
Put on your footie pajamas and pour a bowl of your favorite sugary cereal, because this week the Nerds Without Pants are turning their favorite games into imaginary Saturday morning cartoons! Don’t worry, we’ll explain what that is if you’re a young’un. Angelo joins us for this super fun show, so let’s get to it!
Motorcycles and space battles- together for the first time.
There are certain combo cartridges games that leave me wondering why they were ever sold as standalone releases in the first place. I found myself asking that question after playing the Hang-On/Astro Warrior cart on the Master System. I mean, don’t get me wrong- it’s nice to have both games on a cartridge. But neither one held much weight when all was said and done. Even so, I was still able to come away with some goodwill toward Hang-On. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Astro Warrior, but I’ll touch on that shortly. So, without further ado, let’s get to it.
Sega's Little Miracle
Let's take a minute to go back in time to 1986. Nintendo was basking in the success of their NES console with hits like Super Mario Bros., Excitebike, and The Legend of Zelda. Meanwhile, Sega wanted to prove that the Master System was the better entertainment medium of choice. Attempting to go toe to toe with Mario, they created Alex Kidd in Miracle World. For Master System fans, the release of this game was a day to remember. According to them, it was the dawn of a new era. According to some, Mario had met his match, and Nintendo would soon crumble under Sega's mighty fist. But reality had other plans.
Kick, punch, it’s all in the mind.
On October 18, 1985, the Nintendo Entertainment System was launched in the US. Among the 18 games released alongside it was Kung Fu. A rather unassuming title, Kung Fu has an intriguing history behind it. It started as an arcade game from Irem called Kung-Fu Master and was intended to be based on the movie Game of Death- Bruce Lee’s final film before he died. Later in the course of development, the story and characters were changed to become a tie-in to the Jackie Chan film Spartan X (aka Wheels on Meals). Most noteworthy about the game was its genre-defining gameplay elements that are considered by many to be the first example of what would come to be known as a beat ‘em up.
We think back to the before time and the long, long ago.
And lo, the final seal was broken, and Nerds Without Pants exceeded their previous limits and stepped into the world of four-hour podcasts. Yep, strap in, because this is a beefy boy podcast. We’re joined once again by Mike Fallek of the Hackthought Podcast to talk about our favorite things from gaming’s yesteryears, along with a whole lot more. Hey, it’ll get you through half the workday, so that’s pretty cool, right?
A boy and his frog
My earliest years in gaming was a magical time. Every new game I discovered pioneered a fresh mechanic I hadn’t seen before. I'll never forget the moment when my brother's best friend came over with his NES games to show off Blaster Master. I marveled as the story elements unfolded while melancholic music played in the attract mode. Pressing the start button then transitioned me to the opening shot of an armored vehicle speeding off while the triumphant music swelled to a crescendo as I journeyed into the unknown. Never had I witnessed anything like that at the time. While everything I just described is nothing spectacular these days, Blaster Master still has a few gameplay elements that still hold up quite nicely.
