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Podouken

Dec 17, 2025

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...


Dec 3, 2025

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...


Nov 19, 2025

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...


Nov 5, 2025

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...


Oct 8, 2025

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...