Follow us into the winter of ’88 going into ’89 as we step into the final year of the decade and bid adieu to President Ronnie when he exits the White House.

In the arcades, fists are flying with the likes of Technōs’ sequel to Double Dragon, SNK’s third Ikari Warriors game and SEGA’s pretty spectacular Wrestle War. SEGA also release the hyper innovative tactical shooter Gain Ground and present an alternative Wonder Boy III by Westone that feels like a bit of a throwback to the first game in its oh so confusing series. There is of course more, but maybe most notable of all is that Namco drop a polygonal racer that eclipses Atari’s Hard Drivin’ in just about any way, with Winning Run. And they do it in the very same time period!

At home, it’s all about computer gaming, but SEGA and Nintendo’s 8-bit gaming consoles are creeping on a come up in Europe, with especially the NES getting a real heavy hitter that goes by the curious name of Castlevania.

With the end of the decade nigh, the music charts and even the Metal scene make for a real uneven, but not entirely uninteresting hodge podge of musical output. On the other hand, the genre of Hip-Hop enters the second year of its first real golden era, as N.W.A., De La Soul and 2 Live Crew enter the stage while making major impact.

In movie theaters, excited silver screen enjoyers get to viddy a variety of Guns, from the Young to the Naked variety, while The Living Dead unfortunately return a second time, for a bit of fairly redundant horror schlock.

While this episode has a bit of chronological overlap with episode 1 of Video Wizards, you’ll find that there is very little redundant about this latest monster in nostalgic, retrospective and reflective podcasting 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 30, L-R-T-B: Gain Ground. Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, Double Dragon II: The Revenge, M.I.A.: Missing in Action, Winning Run, Asuka & Asuka, Ikari III: The Rescue, Wrestle War</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.

Welcome to the Video Wizards News Network composed by Riff Mason and licensed exclusively to The Video Wizards Podcast, ©2023 Riff Mason, 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:

• Round 1 – by Shinji Hosoe for Ordyne, 1988





• Genesis / Causing (Brave Men’s Themes) – by Katsuhiro Hayashi & Dolphin for Gain Ground, 1988





• Stage 1 – by Shinichi Sakamoto for Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, 1988





• Mission 1 – by Kazunaka Yamane for Double Dragon II: The Revenge, 1989





• Boss – by ??? for M.I.A., 1989





• Theme from Winning Run – by ??? for Winning Run, 1989





• Current City (Round 1) – by ??? for Asuka & Asuka, 1989





• Area 1 – by Kikuko Hataya & Toshikazu Tanaka for Ikari III: The Rescue, 1989





• BGM 1 – by ??? for Wrestle War, 1989





• Stalker – by Kinuyo Yamashita, Satoe Terashima & Hidenori Maezawa for Castlevania, 1986





• Straight Outta Compton – by N.W.A., 1988





• Fuck Tha Police – by N.W.A., 1988





• Potholes in my Lawn (Instrumental) – by Prince Paul & De La Soul, 1988





• Me So Horny – by 2 Live Crew, 1989





• One in a Million – by Guns N’ Roses, 1988





• Youth Gone Wild – by Skid Row, 1989





• Caught Between the Tigers – by TNT, 1989





• Tonight I’m Falling – by TNT, 1989





• Mayor of Simpleton – by XTC, 1989





• Two Hearts – by Phil Collins, 1989





• Smooth Criminal – by Michael Jackson, 1988





• Loco in Acapulco – by Four Tops, 1988





• She Drives Me Crazy – by Fine Young Cannibals, 1988





• Big Fun – by Inner City, 1988





• Respect – by The Real Roxanne, 1988





• Good Life – by Inner City, 1988





• Buffalo Stance – by Neneh Cherry, 1988





• The Lover in Me – by Sheena Easton, 1988





• Main Theme from Als je begrijpt wat ik bedoel – by Herman Schoonderwalt & Gildo del Mistro for the motion picture Als je begrijpt wat ik bedoel, 1983

Episode edited by: Juli Reed & Michiel Kroder

And finally: our special thanks to Andy Hofle.

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