VIDEO WIZARDS PODCAST – Episode 28: May 1993

Video Wizards Podcast

In episode 28 of the Video Wizards podcast, we are confronted with a persisting theme of assassinations and gun violence in popular media as we head back to the month May in 1993.

In the arcades, Frank Castle drags Nick Fury with him into a cycle of carnage on a rampage through the underworld, in Capcom’s The Punisher. And cinemas are in for a shock as the Hughes brothers confront audiences with how little human life is worth in the ghettos of Los Angeles, in their harrowing real world violence loaded directorial debut Menace II Society.

Away from this thematic center piece and back to the arcades, we also walk right on to the curious late era Toaplan beat ’em up Knuckle Bash, examine how SEGA’s Outrunners updates a predecessor that embodied the previous decade for the 1990s and see how Konami do with launching their very own Street Fighter II competitor, Martial Champion.

The charts are ripe with the most terrible music productions and we have to look once more for the genres of Hip-Hop and Metal to save us from the Euro dance onslaught, while the SNES, Mega Drive and Commodore Amiga demand our attention when gaming at home. And we haven’t even touched on a certain historical first silver screen adaptation of a video game property that manages to bring back a long lost Video Wizards staple… likely out of respect for the late Bob Hoskins. Yes, there is little that is Super about this 1993 Mario movie, Bros.

May 1993 feels like a pivotal moment for the 1990s era of the anti-hero and the Video Wizards are here for it. Will you be joining us on our journey of over 5 hours of nostalgic and reflective podcasting goodness? Of course you will.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15419171 Knuckle Bash By Toaplan - https://www.toaplangames.co.jp/license/license-22.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62364755 Outrunners Martial Champion By [http://caesar.logiqx.com/php/game_group.php?id=mtlchamp CAESAR - Martial Champion (ver EAB)], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15123081 ">

The top billing arcade games of the era we discuss on Episode 28, L-R: The Punisher, Knuckle Bash, Outrunners, Martial Champion

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:

• Boss 1 – by Yoko Shimomura & Isao Abe for The Punisher, 1993
• Last Boss (King Building) – by Yoko Shimomura & Isao Abe for The Punisher, 1993
• Stage 6 – by Masahiro Yuge & Osamu Ōta for Knuckle Bash, 1993
• Passing Breeze 1993 – by Hiroshi Kawaguchi & Masayuki Nagao for Outrunners, 1993
• Grasslands (Stage 1) – by Shinji Tasaka, Tsuyoshi Sekito & Hideto Inoue for Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster’s Hidden Treasure, 1993
• Slaughtahouse / Jeep Ass N**** – by Masta Ace Inc, 1993
• Loungin’ – by Guru presents Jazmatazz (featuring Donald Byrd), 1993
• Slam – by Onyx, 1993
• Streiht Up Menace – by MC Eiht for the motion picture Menace II Society, 1993
• American TV – by Terrorvision, 1993
• Only – by Anthrax, 1993
• Live Forever (Live at Gleneagles, 1994) – by Oasis, 1994
• TV Theme Style (The Winner) – by Colin Thomson, 2018
• Ghetto Bird (Instrumental) – by QDIII, 1993
• Blockbusters TV Theme – by Ed Welch, 1983

Episode edited by: Juli Reed & Michiel Kroder

And finally: our special thanks to Andy Hofle.

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