Extremely Delayed Update

You might be tempted to think I've abandoned this blog. Yet here I am with a new post. A couple things happened since the last post. Obviously Chrontendo Episode 49 was released.

And now, Chrontendo Episode 50 is also out! As always you can stream it on Youtube in high-ish def ad 60 fps, or you can download it on Archive. There are a few video options.

The purest, least processed version is the 480p AVI file here.
There is a also a large 720p mkv version here.
And a smaller 720p mkv here.

There is are also mp4 versions of the about two files. You can see all the downloads here, but avoid any version not mentioned above.

Chrontendo Episode 50 has one of the worst selection of games of any episode so far. A couple decent titles, Softball Tengoku and Super Spike V'Ball turn up, but the remainder is mostly crap from the likes of Beam, Rare, Tose and the like.

To fill out this episode with something worthwhile, I included the 1989 computer game roundup. A look at some of the highlights (and a few lowlights, like the amazing David Wolf: Secret Agent), the round up takes a good 30 minutes of Episode 50's run time. The most well known computer games from 89 would be Sim City, Populous, and Prince of Persia, but there are plenty of lesser known important titles like Catacomb (essentially the 2D blueprint for Doom) and Harpoon (considered to be the greatest naval warfare simulation game of all time). The overall narrative of the history of computer gaming in the late 80s and early 90 is: a) the triumph of the DOS based PC over its competitors and b) the ever increasing graphical powers of PCs, when led to the transition from 2D games to 3D games. We see a number of  early, almost forgotten 3D games in this episode, including Interphase and Archipelagos.

The highlights of Episode 50 are two reasonably fun/competent sports games Softball Tengoku and Super Spike V'Ball. Softball Tengoku, perhaps the first all-furry baseball videogame, is a crudely made yet creative and fun game featuring a bizarre roster of animal and monster players. It was made significantly less weird for the US market and released as Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball.  Technos Japan's  Super Spike V'Ball is a less creative, though sturdily designed volleyball game.

On the lower end of the spectrum we have... well, almost everything else.  The Three Stooges is a port of the Cinemaware Amiga game and my least favorite game this episode. A hastily slapped together collection of bad minigames, the Amiga version at least had nice sound and graphics. The NES port, developed by Beam (seen last episode with their Back to the Future) is a ugly unpleasant mess.

Episode 50 breaks the baseball game record with four baseball games total. Aside from Softball Tengoku we have:

Kattobi! Warabe Ko

This is a rather odd card-based game taken from a manga. Published by Pack-in-Video.

Choujin Ultra Baseball/Baseball Simulator 1.000

Similar to Softball Tengoku, this Culture Brain title features players with superhuman baseball abilities. Too bad they released under the incredibly boring and inappropriate name Baseball Simulator 1.000 in the US.

Major League

Yes, a Japan only game based on Major League, the movie with Charlie Sheen. Sadly, after the opening scenes, it's a totally generic baseball game.

Tose developed Softball Tengoku, and they were responsible for two other games this episode:

Tashiro Masashi no Princess ga Ippai

Fan translated under the absurd title Princesstual Orgy, this action platformer stars the (now disgraced) comedian Tashiro Masashi. A relatively nice looking game from Tose, it's absolutely sunk by the horrible slippery controls and terrible level design. A shame since I was looking forward to this one based in it's loony title.

Dragon Ball 3: Gokuuden

Tose games are actually getting pretty slick at times. An RPG/card game/board game based on the manga and anime. A little prettier than the last Dragon Ball game.

Rounding out the detritus:

Dungeon Magic

Published by Natsume in Japan and by Taito in the US, this is one of few Japanese developed games that attempts to imitate the Bard's Tale style of western RPG.  The results are shockingly ugly, but it turns out this game has its fans.

Jeopardy Jr Edition/Wheel of Fortune Jr Edition

Two very slightly revised versions of these Rare/Game Tek titles from 1988. Rare just went in, slightly altered some graphics and replaced the questions/puzzles with easier ones aimed at younger kids.

 Stealth ATF

Cashing in on the interest surrounding the recently unveiled stealth fighter, this gem from Activision/Imagineering feels like the lost cousin of Top Gun, right down to a plane that's impossible to land without crashing.

Gozonji Yaji Kita Chindochū
Yet another humorous menu based adventure game, this time from HAL.

Twin Eagle

One of the rare instances where a game is released in the US first, then much later in Japan. The original arcade game was not particularly notable. This NES port is notable for being one of the worst shoot-em-ups on the system.

Mahjong Taikai

Of course there's a mahjong game. This is published by Koei, strangely enough. It's a port of a computer game in which famous historical figures face off in a game of mahjong.

Coming soon is a Video Nasties double header! Two episodes back to back featuring Lucio Fulci's The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery.

After that, Episode 51 will finally take us to December 1989! Highlights include Square's Tom Sawyer and an almost forgotten game published by Nintendo.

Video Nasties Episode 3!

Seems like I hardly ever update this damn blog anymore, but here's the latest scoop.

The newest video on the Dr. Sparkle After Dark channel has been posted. In response to Wes Craven's death, I decided to cover 1972's Last House on the Left, which was produced by Sean Cunningham and written/directed by Craven. Aside from the 1080p Youtube version, you can find downloadable versions on Archive in 1080p, 720p, and a smaller sized 720p formats.




Aside from discussing the film itself, I go into a bit of professional history of some of the cast and crew. Craven's work in the porn industry is somewhat well known, though little discussed. Additionally, several members of the cast, namely Sandra Cassel & Lucy Grantham, who played Mari & Phylis, as well as Fred Lincoln (Weasel) and 'Gaylord St James' (Dr Collingwood), had history in the sex movie industry. Lincoln, in particular, was an extremely prolific actor and director, who worked in the porn biz until two years before his death in 2013. He was also the co-owner of the notorious NYC swinger's club Plato's Retreat.  (Richard Dreyfuss was a regular there. Jeramie Rain, who played Sadie in Last House, married Dreyfuss a few years after Plato's Retreat opened. Coincidence?)

One way to look at Last House is that it is a porn movie without hardcore sex. It was originally planned to be a sexually explicit film. This element was dropped in pre-production, but it does explain the casting of several porn actors. There were also numerous ties, both personal and professional, among the cast and crew. For example, Fred Lincoln and Lucy Grantham were dating at the time; David Hess was dating Martin Kove's sister, and so on. 

One thing about Last House that really bothers people is the severe tonal shifts throughout the film. Scenes of psychological torture and violence are intercut with the goofy antics of the local sheriff and deputy. The music (by David Hess) appears to be wildly inappropriate at times. The killers' theme song is a rollicking bluegrass-y number that refers to  Krug, Sadie, etc as a "quartet in harmony/barbershop band" and describes the film's murders and rapes as a fun little afternoon outing.

The first time I saw Last House, the silly humor and inappropriate music struck me was being very strange. Having seen it a couple more times over the years, and then scouring every inch of the film while editing the video, I realize these elements are essential to Last House's artistic success. The lighthearted moments not only keep Last House from being 90 minutes of unrelenting bleakness, but also provide enough contrast to make brutal moments feel that much more brutal. 

The use of irony, especially in the soundtrack, acts as a distancing technique. Craven must have picked this up from studying Europeans films such as those by Bergman. Watching it now, I can see its art film roots much more clearly than I could when I was younger. For a debut film, Last House on the Left is surprisingly sophisticated.

Next up is Chrontendo 49, which will cover a bunch of crap along the lines of LJN's Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. A pretty rough episode, for the most part, considering it also has a Hokuto no Ken RPG and another Japan-only adventure game from Nintendo.

When The Video Nasties return, it will cover the bizarre 1980 horror movie The Frozen Scream, which was recently released in a pretty watchable edition, taken from the original negative, for the first time.