Space Wars - Episode 163

Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?

In 1977 arcades lit up with a new vibrant and high-resolution display that brought a dead video game publisher back to life. This was the vector monitor and it did more than just connect the dots, it dropped jaws and led to some of the most memorable arcade games ever created. We kick off our new miniseries with the first vector coin-op game, Space Wars by Cinematronics!

Was Larry Rosenthal, the creator of Space Wars, the best business man in the arcade industry? What elements from this game were "borrowed" by some of its more popular successors? Who was Rob's arcade Yoda when he was starting out? Exactly how dangerous can malfunctioning cathode ray tubes be?

Listener questions for this episode include do we have a console game we'd like to see get the arcade treatment, what arcade restoration project are we most proud of, and which do we prefer: coffee or tea? Join the Podouken Discord and ask your own questions that could be included in a future episode: discord.gg/k5vf2Jz

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