Chris Gentile started off designing nuclear power stations, then joined his brothers' company to design holograms for action figures. It was here he was tasked with turning the $9,000 Data Glove into a $50 consumer product called the Power Glove. This would put Chris on a career path where he would design a 3D game console for Hasbro, and even a VR ride for Disney World in Florida. We sat down and asked him a few questions.
The boys all get together in person to record their progress. Adam shares his results of scraping the entire edit history of Wikipedia articles about the Power Glove, and his correspondence with Jaron Lanier, founder of VPL - the company that created the Data Glove. play our game along with us:Giant Redneck Donkeyhttps://forms.gle/NGekmrhr5DJ5ZmvC8
Evan tracks down Grant Goddard, one of the people incorrectly credited as the creator of the power glove along with Samuel Cooper Davis. We find out just how the two came to be credited in the first place and some insight into why it hasn't been taken down. We also find out Chris Gentile, one of the ACTUAL creators of the power glove, is nice.
Adam looks up the patents for the "optical flex sensor" and the "data glove" - the core technology behind the power glove, and in so doing finds several key people who could be called the rightful creator of the power glove, but none of those names were Samuel Cooper Davis. This gives the back story to how it came to be, it's many iterations, and who was responsible for bringing it about.
The boys embark on an all new adventure, to find the TRUE inventor of the Power Glove! Evan heard from a friend of a friend that he added his own name to Wikipedia as the inventor of the power glove and before anybody has a chance to change it, the article was referenced in other publications, making it impossible to edit afterwards. So who REALLY did make it?
After a long hiatus, the boys circle up the wagons to find a path forward.
The boys discuss the Konami run-and-gun games Mystic Warriors (1992) and C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa(1992) and which is the true successor to Sunset Riders. The conversation meanders around lofty topics such as games as literature, the death of Superman and circles the drain of pornographic Atari games like Custer's Revenge.
The boys discuss whether a cross over between between TMNT and "Friends" would be possible and whether or not they exist in the same universe according to the Tommy Westphall theory. They also discuss Captain Planets strange off-brand episode about AIDS awareness, and Cartoon All-stars to the Rescue.
X-Men producer Masahiro Inoue holds the patent for multi-screen arcade cabinets, but on a recent trip to Tokyo, Adam finds a machine with THREE monitors that predates X-Men by 5 years! The boys get in touch with folks at SVI, and are introduced to The Talent Group, an agency that may have found the voices for X-Men...??
Adam makes some forward progress by contacting the Blaustein brothers - Jeremy who worked as a voice director and localization director at Konami in Tokyo, and Michael who was a producer at Konami in Chicago. They determine the studio and voice agencies behind many Konami games...but are they the games we are looking for?!?!
The boys celebrate Andrew's birthday in true "Searching for Grog" style with M.Bison and Rhinox. Adam gets a surprising email from composer Kenichiro Fukui, and the boys employ the classic search and destroy algorithm.
Adam talks to the X-Men developers to figure out why the credits are such a mess, why Lethal Enforcers director Y. Hatano is thanked in the credits, and the back story behind the classic line "Welcome to Die."
The boys circle the wagons to check in on their progress. Norton has another swing and a miss, Brandon hears back from Bill Archer, and Evan regales everyone with the extreme, possibly illegal lengths he went to to hunt down his contact.
Adam sits down to talk with Asano Yuji, the artist behind Konami's arcade classics X-Men and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They discuss his past as an animator, the process of creating pixel art in the 90s and how the team came-up with the iconic Colossus mutant power move!
At MAG Fest, the Colossus roar has become a battle cry and a sort of secret-handshake that reverberates through the hallways of the festival. Evan and Adam go in search of the story of this MAG Fest tradition, and have a colossus-off with the originator!
The team divides and conquers - Evan follows up on a lead with a former Konami employee, Andrew chases down a sound producer/talent agent, and Brandon gets in touch with the possible sound engineer who recorded voice work for Konami!
Evan digs through old Konami games and finds a surprising link between X-Men and Lethal Enforcers. Adam goes down a different path and uncovers some unexpected clues through the world of professional sports.
The boys check out MAG-West, the sister festival to the long-running MAG-Fest where the Colossus Roar has become its own cultural meme. Nostalgia abounds with Mario Kart competitions, Dance Dance Revolution, and early 00's LAN parties.
Adam switches from researcher/reporter mode to full-fledged stalker mode. In the process, he hits pay dirt and has a chance to talk with the producer of X-Men (as well as TMNT, Sunset Riders and other hit titles). The boys gain insider info about the game including who the real director was, why everyone used pen names and most importantly info about the voice work.
Adam and Evan sit down with Susan Silo to discuss her career that spans decades and genres. From her days as a child performer to her stint on Broadway as Rosalia from West Side Story, Susan has been entertaining generations on shows like Bonanza, Dobie Gillis, The Love Boat, Darkwing Duck, An American Tail, and so much more. Out of her illustrious career, the boys pick her brain about her role as the White Queen in Pryde of the X-Men.