Follow us to 1983 for our very first springtime seasonal show! Star Wars is on the brain of George Lucas, President Ronnie and Atari in a chaotic period underlined with nuclear threat.
And speaking of our good friends, a full on tanking of the North American video game crash, also known as the ‘Atari Shock’ is approaching fast, but that doesn’t stop promising and plucky upstart developers from putting out stone cold classic arcade games. Future Capcom legends Fujiwara and Okomoto see their early works released under the Konami banner with Roc’n Rope and Gyruss, respectively. And one Shigeru Miyamoto’s regular old Mario Bros. lands on arcade floors as well. Namco puts out Mappy, SEGA releases the perhaps slightly vindictive Congo Bongo, the Gottlieb massive try their hand at a movie licensed effort in the shape of Krull and Atari hits us with the somewhat questionable food fight and the admittedly pretty stellar and unforgettable Star Wars arcade game.
At home, meanwhile, the consoles are more or less in their death throes, but in our part of the world, computers like the ZX Spectrum, Commodore C64 and MSX are simultaneously creeping on a come up of becoming the bedroom gaming format of choice.
Movie theaters are blessed with remarkable silver screen showings of absurdist philosophy, helicopters and galaxies far, far away and when we turn our ears to the streets and charts, we are met with a rich sonic tapestry of early hip-hop, metal from Maiden and a huge range of diverse pop music.
It all makes for a mad new instalment of this podcast series of ours. Get comfortable and brace yourself for a regular range of concussive blasts from the 1983 past!
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.
Simone Angel 80s Theme by Simone Angel and Riff Mason ©2025
Other music used in this episode:
- Don’t Stop Believin’ – by Journey, Elaine Hodgson & Steven E. Meyer for Journey, 1983
- BGM 1 – by ??? for Roc’n Rope, 1983
- Main Theme 2 – by Masahiro Inoue for Gyruss, 1983
- Main Theme – by Nobuyuki Ōnogi for Mappy, 1983
- High Scores / Cantina Theme – by John Williams & Earl Vickers for Star Wars, 1983
- Buffalo Gals – by Malcolm McLaren and the World’s Famous Supreme Team, 1982
- Outstanding – by The Gap Band, 1982
- Atomic Dog – by George Clinton, 1982
- New York, New York – by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, 1983
- The Haunted House of Rock – by Whodini, 1983
- Flight of Icarus – by Iron Maiden, 1983
- The Trooper (Live in Dortmund, 1983) – by Iron Maiden, 1983
- Thunder and Lightning – by Thin Lizzy, 1983
- Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) – by Eurythmics, 1983
- Billie Jean – by Michael Jackson, 1983
- Beat It – by Michael Jackson, 1983
- Speak Like a Child – by The Style Council, 1983
- Electric Avenue – by Eddie Grant, 1983
- I’m Specialized in You – by The Time Bandits, 1982
- Too Shy – by Kajagoogoo, 1983
- Keep the Fire Burning – by Gwen McRae, 1982
- Pa – by Doe Maar, 1983
- Linda – by Frank Boeijen Groep, 1983
- Theme from The Adventures of Portland Bill – by Mik Parsons, 1983
Episode edited by: Juli Reed & Michiel Kroder
And finally: our special thanks to Andy Hofle.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Android, Google Podcasts, Player FM or via RSS.
The Video Wizards Podcast 