Retroist Tempest Podcast

Nov 11, 2019

On this episode of the Retroist Podcast, I talk about the 1981 arcade classic, Tempest. I begin the show by talking about how terrible I am at Tempest, how I spent quarter after quarter on it, never improving, but somehow just getting more infatuated with the game.

Then I move onto the game itself. I talk about the game’s creator David Theurer and the company he worked for, Atari. After coverings those two gaming icons, I jump into the development of the game, gameplay and much more.

Tempest is an iconic game, easily one of the top 20 arcade games ever made. So if you ever never played it, I hope I can persuade you to check it out.

Listen and download the Retroist Tempest Podcast

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Production Notes

I had a bit more in my story about watching people play and how I could stand at arcades for hours. Felt unneeded.
Removed a section on scoring in the game.
Removed my discussion of strategy. It was almost 3 minutes long and when I was listening to it, even I felt lost. Plus why would you listen to someone who is terrible at a game talk strategy? Lots of better sources for that online.
Removed a section where I discuss the cabinet art. Was only about 40 seconds, but wasn’t useful.
I recorded myself emulating Tempest very poorly, but as audio, it was not compelling. So I removed that.
The technical overview was a mess. So I cut it out but added some stuff from it into the end of the show. Listen to me step all over myself trying to say words.
Show audio includes two commercial for Atari. One for Atari overall that is narrated by Jack Palence and another for the Atari Jaguar and Tempest. Music is my go-to standard by Peachy. Sad Toyz is played under my story and the Power Closing Loop plays under the closing of the show.
The show should be appearing on Apple Podcasts now. Thanks to Lisa for helping sort that out.

Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great week.