For this 25th episode of Video Wizards, we find ourselves back in the earlier 1980s, when health and safety regulations were of a lesser concern. It’s the cold, cold winter of 1983 going on 1984 and the arcade industry was rocked to the core by the “Atari Shock”. Picking up the pieces and strapped for cash, developers West and East had to make do with what they had, with incredibly varied results, ranging from Midway’s Tapper to Nintendo’s Punch-Out!! and even complete oddities such as unkowns Diatec’s Uncle Poo. Irem, meanwhile, released the influential 10-Yard Fight, Konami put out the cute and clownesque Circus Charlie and our good friends at Atari dropped a not-half-bad laserdisc game with a title that’s tough to look info up on in Altavista: Firefox.

With consoles such as the mighty Vectrex failing to etch out anything even resembling a lucrative piece of the market, it was up to computers like the MSX, C64, the freshly launched Macintosh and the ZX Spectrum to bring home some gaming goodness. All while Slayer released their first LP and Hip Hop’s early beginnings were documented with the original soundtrack of the film Wild Style. And while we’re on the topic of film, how about some iconic 80s silver screen fare like Brian de Palma’s Scarface and Footloose, as well as the incredibly poor Hot Dog… The Movie.

Grab a blanket, grab a hot beverage and get ready to warm yourself with a new four and a half hours of seasonal Video Wizards fun!

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The top billing arcade games of the era we discuss on Episode 25, L-R-T-B: 10-Yard Fight, Uncle Poo, Tapper, Circus Charlie, Punch-Out!!, Firefox</figcaption></figure>

Show theme tune: NEON CITY, composed by Ed 「イートレム」 Tremblay for Mudprints Music and licensed exclusively to The Video Wizards Podcast, ©2019 Mudprints Music, all rights reserved.

Baller of the Month Jingle composed by Yuli Anna and licensed exclusively to The Video Wizards Podcast, ©2022 Yuli Anna, all rights reserved.

Other music used in this episode:

• Track 3 – by Rick Hicaro for Tapper, 1984





• Track 2 – by ??? for Circus Charlie, 1984





• All Night Long – by Lionel Richie, 1983





• Subway Theme – by Grand Wizard Theodore, 1983





• The Final Command – by Slayer, 1983





• Bark at the Moon – by Ozzy Osbourne, 1983





• Radio Ga Ga – by Queen, 1984





• Relax – by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, 1983





• Holiday – by Madonna, 1983





• Hey You (The Rocksteady Crew) – by Rocksteady Crew, 1983





• Owner of a Lonely Heart – by Yes, 1983





• Just Be Good to Me – by S.O.S. Band, 1983





• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Theme – by Keith Stachan, 1998





• Intro Theme for The Snowman – Howard Blake, 1982

Episode edited by: Juli Reed

And finally: our special thanks to Andy Hofle.

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