Jeremy takes a back seat to Frank for this reunion episode with Tengen programmers Steve Woita, Franz Lanzinger, and Mark Morris.
Tengen was Atari’s console publishing and development branch, porting arcade games to the NES, and later to the Genesis. Nintendo’s strict restrictions on NES developers — manufacturing cartridges, dictating the number that were manufactured, and taking a large cut of the profit for themselves — made for an oppressive atmosphere. Tengen mostly made games without Nintendo’s Seal of Approval, sidestepping these restrictions.
The developers don’t get deep into the games they made, mentioning several titles but not dwelling on any of them. Franz has anecdotes to share on Ms. Pac-Man’s port, which he had to reverse-engineer without access to the source code. Steve talks about several games including his forthcoming game made entirely of boss fights. He seems to be obsessed with bosses. Mark talks about work on the cancelled Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors, which included Desert Bus — often called the worst game ever.
They finish as they started, comparing iPhone developers with the early basement developers. Mark’s still not happy with the state of the Apple marketplace and thinks the jailbroken scene is more exciting.
Frank Cifaldi plays host to a Tengen reunion as former programmers Steve Woita, Franz Lanzinger, and Mark Morris share tales of life at the greatest unlicensed Nintendo publisher ever.
Runtime – 1:28:20
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