Lucky & Wild - Episode 153
Podouken
Let’s go! Ah, the early 90s when the perfect date night meant hopping into a sit-down arcade game based on buddy cop movies, grabbing the steering wheel with one hand, gun with the other, and having you and your passenger blast away the bad guys in gory pixelated glory. Was there anything better than Namco’s unique driver/shooter Lucky & Wild? Do you believe the story that Lucky & Wild drew no inspiration from Tango & Cash? How do we like DotEmu’s new Marvel Cosmic Invasion (we swear it’s not a paid advertisement - unless they want it to be)? Was this entire game a thinly...
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Shinobi - Episode 152
Podouken
The late ’80s were packed with pop-culture obsessions: arcades, action movies, neon aesthetics, and of course, a nationwide fascination with ninjas. Sleek, masked warriors showed up everywhere from toys to TV, shaping the era’s love of fast, flashy combat. But no arcade game captured the ninja craze as perfectly as Sega’s iconic side-scrolling adventure, Shinobi. How did Shinobi perform a bait and switch on poor kids at the arcade? Is a mining engineering degree the perfect educational pursuit to get into game design? Did Pastblaster enjoy Free Play Florida 2025? What is the...
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Arcade Obscura (Rhythm) - Episode 151
Podouken
The music is fading and the lights are coming up on our Rhythm miniseries. Time for the final encore as each host picks one more game for this rhythm Arcade Obscura. The first pick is a helluva ride that features a very familiar arcade character. The next pick takes us to heaven with a development contract made in hell. Our final pick may be one of the most obscure games we’ve ever featured and requires you to bring a friend. We field your questions like if any arcade machine could be perfectly resurrected, what would be our choice to bring back from the dead, and which video game music...
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Sound Voltex - Episode 150
Podouken
It’s our penultimate episode of the Rhythm miniseries (and hey, we also hit episode 150)! We return to BEMANI to explore their sub-sub-culture game that allows you to ruin good music just like real DJs, Sound Voltex (or SDVX as the cooler kids say). What is it about the Bop It nature of this game that causes some people to love it or hate it? Want to hear our spoiler-free thoughts on Tron: Ares? How embarrassed should we feel picking energetic anime girls as our avatars? Are you ready to submit your pick for our next Listeners’ Choice?! We have some odd questions to answer this time: who...
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Chunithm - Episode 149
Podouken
Sega is no stranger to the arcade rhythm games but they really hit their stride with their Performai series of games. So scan your Aime card, select your song, and let’s play the game that literally translates to “pre-teen kids who think they’re cooler than they are playing a rhythm game” - Chunithm. What is it about Chunithm that makes it so addictive? Do you really need gloves to play? Was Adam a part of any other bands? Why does Chunithm have a penguin mascot? We teach our co-hosts about a non-arcade interest that we have (or at least talk about what it would be) and discuss which...
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Guitar Hero Arcade - Episode 148
Podouken
This “Behind the Music” is an 8-part retrospective of the biggest rhythm game franchise to ever hit the States (and the reason so many of us still have plastic guitars stashed in our hall closets). Featuring opening acts Harmonix and Red Octane, and headliner trio that gave us Guitar Hero Arcade - Activision, Konami, and Raw Thrills What is the musical instrument-based peripheral you never got but always wanted in a Guitar Hero or Rock Band game? Could we see a reunion tour of Geriatric Drive-by in our lifetimes? Why is Rob fed up with FedEx? How are fan-created games like Clone Hero and...
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Taiko No Tatsujin - Episode 147
Podouken
Namco set out to create a super popular rhythm game and accidentally created the most popular mascots since Pac-Man. Don-chan and Katsu-chan are unavoidable as we talk about the extremely popular in the East but largely ignored in the West drum game, Taiko No Tatsujin! Why was this game never released in the U.S. until now? How did an instrument mishap lead to the most embarrassing moment of young Rob’s life? Is every arcade game released after the year 2000 just a Playstation in disguise? How did Donkey Kong steal this game’s popularity? We answer your questions like what arcade game...
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Jubeat - Episode 146
Podouken
Finally a rhythm game that is unlikely to give you a cardiac arrest. We explore the often mispronounced (hint: the “j” is silent) BEMANI hit that is DDR for your fingers, jubeat! What is the magic behind this geometric anomaly of an arcade game? Is Scatman or Y.M.C.A. the most beloved of all western songs by Japanese game developers? How hard is it to get a jubeat in the States? Does everyone want a Dance 86.4 Funky Radio Station now? This episode we answer questions about what hobbies we’d pursue if we weren’t always fixing arcade games and who are our favorite real-life people in...
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Dance Dance Revolution - Episode 145
Podouken
This miniseries is all about rhythm - rhythm games, that is. We recognize that three middle-aged white guys may not be the best option to talk about this episode’s game so we asked local (and international) legends Chris Austin and Leon Brunson to give us an insight into the strategy, gameplay, and tournament scene of Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution. What kind of hardware do Leon and Chris (literally) bring to the table? How many times have we moved Adam’s DDR? What ever happened to Toshiba? Did we identify the perfect footwear for home DDR play? Questions this episode include what...
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Arcade Obscura (Light Gun) - Episode 144
Podouken
It’s the end of the Light Gun miniseries and we’re down to our last remaining bullets. Now it’s time for each host to shoot their shot on their pick of an obscure or underrated Light Gun arcade game. Did it finally happen? Did we pick the same game?! Adam brings the cinematic rage with his choice. Jarrod channels familiar territory with a game made by familiar people from a familiar company. Rob goes rogue with a controversial game that may or may not break all the rules (we’ll let you decide). The listener questions in this episode include our favorite of the light gun games, how we...
info_outlineAre you the best tennist? Well then, slap on your Citizen watch, drink a fresh bottle of Evian, and prove it on Sega’s virtua carpet courts against tennis legends like Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Mark Phillipoussis. Lets Power Smash it with Virtua Tennis!
Wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world? Should we have a Real Arcade Wives of Podouken episode? What are our controversial takes on Pickleball and will those takes alienate some of our listeners?
Our questions this episode include some doozies like asking us to come up with Podouken pickup lines and what top 80s or 90s IP would we love to see turned into an arcade or pinball game. Want your questions answered in a future episode? You can join the Podouken Discord by following this link and ask away in the episode questions channel: discord.gg/k5vf2Jz
The new listener questions segments are also available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@podoukenpodcast2716
Thanks to Matt (aka Momsecretrecipe on the Podouken Discord) for the Listeners’ Choice game nomination!