In My Footsteps: A Gen-X Nostalgia Podcast

Episode 179: Me v. AI 90s TV Show Themes, 1960s Cutting Edge Tech, Playing Vegas Dream for NES, Ozzy and the Bat(1-22-2025)

• Christopher Setterlund • Season 1 • Episode 179

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The return of Me v. AI Top 5. Some of the cutting-edge technology from the 1960s. Fun times playing Vegas Dream for the NES.
Episode 179 packs so much nostalgia that it might end up spilling over the sides. 
It begins with a trip back over half a century. Long before smartphones, 8K televisions, and 3D printing technology was far different. We take a look back to the 1960s to some of the technology that was cutting edge at the time. You might be surprised at what was on the world's radar back then.
Vegas Dream for the Nintendo Entertainment System might not have been a runaway hit but it was a lot of kids introduction into the glitzy world of casinos. For me, the game reminds me of my Nana. For the rest of you, it might be a mash-up of high rollers, robbers, and falling chandeliers?
It is the return of Me v. AI Top 5. I battle it out with ChatGPT over the best 1990s television show themes. For the first time, there is an actual AI superstar to read out ChatGPT's answers, although not the one I intended.
There is also a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule centered around Ozzy Osbourne and his infamous 'bat incident.'
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Speaker 02:

Hello world, and welcome to the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund, coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This is episode 179. We are heading down the road to episode 200. We are loaded, ready to go with nostalgia. We're going to kick it off with a look back at what was considered the cutting edge technology of the 1960s. We're going to go way, way back in the day and talk about a game that is near and dear to my heart. That is the game Vegas Dream for the Nintendo Entertainment System. There's going to be a brand new Top 5, the return of me versus AI Top 5 as we debate and do battle about 1990s television show themes, what were the best. And there'll be a brand new This Week in History and Time Capsule looking back at the infamous moment that Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off of a live bat. All of that is coming up right now on episode 179 of the In My Footsteps podcast. Oh, it's time to crack open another one, another episode of the podcast. Ah, there we go. It's energy drink. Relax. There's so much coming up this week. I'm so excited about this show. I always say that and I should say that, but no, it's true. I hope that wherever you are, you're having a great day, a great week, staying warm if it's cold where you are. We've had temperatures hovering in the teens this week, which it's terrible, but you know, it's winter. It makes you appreciate spring. I can't start off this podcast without thanking my Patreon subscribers. Lori, Mary Lou, Ashley, Kevin, Leo, Marguerite, Neglectoid, Crystal. Thank you all so much for being my supporters. Quite literally putting your money where your mouth is to support my content. My evergreen dream of being a self-sustaining, self-employed content creator. There's going to be some fun things coming up in my world over the next few months. including my very first film role. I've got a part in Frank Durant's upcoming horror film. So in the coming weeks and months, you'll be hearing a lot about the process of filming, getting into character, I guess, learning scripts, and how the process goes. I'll also be doing several video podcasts, videos on YouTube, interviewing Frank. We're meant to actually go out to Race Point Lighthouse in Provincetown in March. So I'll be interviewing him then. I'll be interviewing people from the actual film. I might even be doing some behind the scenes filming. I recently got a new iPhone, the iPhone 16. It's got some excellent camera features. So I'm hoping to do some of that as well. So those of you that follow me on YouTube, you'll be able to see these videos. I mean, they won't be soon. They'll be March, April. But it's going to be a lot of fun stuff, a lot of new ground I'm going to be covering in my life, in the videos. So stay tuned for all of that. As I go on with this podcast, I'm now in the fifth year or heading towards the fifth anniversary. I'm always on the lookout for podcasts. New subjects to talk about. Like I said, I started doing more 1960s content because I realized that it's a large part of you out there are born, were growing up in that time period. And I've been coming up with new segments. Like I said, me versus AI top five is coming back this week. But another subject I wanted to start to cover was the new technology, the cutting edge technology from different decades, right? Bring back some memories for those of us that grew up then. Make the younger generation shake their heads at what we considered cutting edge. And so that's what we're going to do now. We're going to kick off episode 179 of the podcast by looking at the cutting edge technology of the 1960s. So let's jump into that. Technology is always evolving. When you think about what we have today that is considered commonplace, that kids that are in their teens now have never known life without, things like the internet, smartphones, super-duper high-quality video games, medical advancements. For me, as a person that's staring down 50 in a few years that was a child of the 80s, I love all the stuff that we have. I couldn't imagine not having my smartphone. even though I grew up in the 80s where we had landlines and corded phones. The ever-changing technology, just overall thinking about it, it made me want to do these segments where we pick a decade, this one being the 1960s, and talk about what was the new technology for those of you that grew up then. What I'm going to do with this segment is kind of do a run-through of a lot of different technology that came about in the 1960s, As time goes on, I might do deeper dives into the creations of some of these. And if any of them, if you want me to do a deeper dive, just let me know. But enough of the setup. Let's get into the actual segment. Technology that came around in the 1960s. I mean, the biggest one, the first one I thought of was space exploration. In the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy said the goal was to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. And that happened. Back then, you know, satellites were brand new, communication satellites like Telstar revolutionized global communication. The big thing was NASA and the Apollo program. In this day and age, the 2020s, all the talk is about going to Mars, trying to colonize Mars. Back in the 1960s, it was just trying to get a vehicle that could get you to the moon without being destroyed in the Earth's atmosphere. It all culminated in the Apollo 11 mission, July 1969, one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind. Computers were actually around in the 1960s. They were gigantic. They were the size of a room. The development of integrated circuits by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce in the late 50s came into broader use in the 60s, which led to smaller, more powerful computers. And when I say smaller and more powerful, your smartphone that you probably have near you, you might be listening to me on, probably has double, triple, at least the power of the best computer from the 1960s. I'm probably selling it way short. And in with computers, mainframe computers, IBM System 360 series, that was a significant step forward in computer architecture. I laugh about the power of computers and how big they were back then, but everything had to start somewhere. I guarantee you that 20 years, 30 years from now, the younger generation is going to look back at people like me that are 80 years old then and say, I can't believe you actually lived in a time where you had to hold your phone in your hand. It wasn't just implanted in a chip in your brain. The 1960s also saw the widespread adoption of color televisions. The CBS show The Big Record was the first show ever to be broadcast in color for an entire season. That was 1957-58. I would say even through the mid-1970s, there was still a good portion of people that had black and white televisions. I think when I was a kid, my Nina and grandpa, I'm pretty sure they had a small black and white TV in their dining room. But those were for, you know, if you're sitting out there cooking or something, you have a tiny TV. When you see the HD, the quality of flat screen smart TVs today, it's hard to imagine a time where it was the giant CRT tube TVs that were black and white with the dial on the TV where you only had a few channels. That's some of you listening out there probably are very familiar with that. It took until 1972 for color televisions to outsell black and white televisions. And interestingly, the last TV show to be broadcast fully in black and white was the first season of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood in 1968. I have mentioned smartphones several times in this segment already. In the 1960s, you started to get the implementation of touch-tone telephones. This is where you had buttons you would press down to dial a number instead of rotary dial telephones. But they were brand new, so rotary telephones were still going strong in the 1980s. I remember my Nana having one. And it was always fun dialing people's numbers that had zeros and nines in it. The big sweeping motion of having to dial the number. Touchtone phones were first made available in 1963, and it took until the early 1980s for rotary telephones to no longer be made new ones. But boy, I can even remember when I was... a kid, a teenager, touch-tone phones that still had the cord. So if you wanted to talk to someone, you had to try to go around the corner and hide from your siblings. Another major innovation in the 1960s in technology was the ARPANET. And this was the precursor to the modern internet. So any of you that are on your phone, on Wi-Fi, listening to this podcast now, that technology dates back to 1969. It was created by the United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. That was the ARPA ARPANET. Of course, it took almost 30 years for the internet to become more available in households. But it's amazing to think over 50 years ago was when they started that technology. In transportation, you had the first supersonic flights. The Concorde, which was a supersonic passenger airliner, was developed in the 60s, though it didn't enter service until the 70s, but the technology was there. In 1996, the Concorde jet flew from New York to London in just under three hours. It's amazing because me on Cape Cod where I'm at, I think it would take me about three hours to drive from here to just across the main border. And in that same time, you could have flown across the Atlantic. You also had more innovations in automobiles. Features like the seatbelt became more common. So they weren't invented in the 60s. They just became more widely used. Although there weren't laws for them until the 80s. I remember as a kid in the 80s, you didn't have to wear your seatbelt. We used to all ride in the back of my stepdad's pickup truck or way in the back of the station wagon, five or six of us kids just sitting there. One creation that came around in the 1960s that I'm sure a lot of you have used in the last few days was the first ATM machine. ATM, automated teller machine. The first one was installed by Barclays Bank in London in 1967. Ah yes, an invention for introverts that don't want to go into the bank and ask the teller for $5. Do those of you out there remember that when you could get $5 out of the ATM? I think you can still get tens, but $5? It's like not even worth going into the bank. I was looking it up out of curiosity. The latest numbers I could find were September 2023. In the United States alone, there are somewhere between 520 and 540,000 ATM machines. Just don't use the standalone ones in convenience stores where you put your card in and it charges you like $5 just to take out $5. In the 60s, there was early AI research with the development of early algorithms. The first AI program such as ELISA, which was an early natural language processing program. This is relevant today with the advancements of AI. Those of you that listen to this podcast, you see my cover art for each episode over the last year or so. Those are AI created images. Of course, the AI fear was first really put out there in the zeitgeist of America with 1968's 2001 A Space Odyssey and HAL, the space computer. And it's going to be relevant in a few minutes when I do me versus AI top five again. You had the first floppy disk for digital storage developed by IBM in 1967. These were the ones that were really flat, like a few sheets of paper, thickness probably like four inches wide with the hole in the middle. Those of you that were kids of the 80s like me, you remember those. Later on, they developed the different floppy disks that were smaller, kind of square in shape. I have a bunch of those that have things on it from college. And if I want to look at those programs, I have to get an adapter for my laptop. I can't even put a floppy disk in this. In fact, my current laptop doesn't even have a CD drive in it. I would have to buy a CD drive. Speaking of that, I also have old audio cassettes from 30 plus years ago. I'd have to buy an audio cassette adapter as well. In the mid-60s was when the 8-track tape technology came about. This was the first really portable way to listen to music. You couldn't really take vinyl albums out. I mean, you could take them to someone's house that had a record player, but you couldn't really have a record player in your car. I mean, you thought the old CD Discman skipped a lot. You imagine trying to play records in your car in the 60s? Did any of you out there have 8-track tapes? If you look on eBay, some of them are kind of valuable. Not really, but I can remember cars I was in in the early 80s still having 8-track decks in there. There's a whole bunch more technology that came about in the 60s. Some of it's not as interesting, though. At least to me. Military technology, chemical engineering, microelectronics, superconductivity. These things that I wasn't figuring they wouldn't translate well to a podcast. Because it's meant to be fun nostalgia. There you have it, though. A lot of the technology that came around in the 60s. Those of you that grew up back then, do you remember first seeing some of these things? 8-tracks, floppy disks, the first ATMs, or getting your first color TV? In the future, I'll be definitely doing segments on 70s, 80s, 90s tech. So don't worry, you younger Gen Xers and millennials. I'll be feeding your childhood nostalgia in a little while as well. This week in history, we are going back 43 years ago to January 20th, 1982 and the infamous incident where Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off of a live bat on stage. How could I not talk about this? In the pantheon of rock and roll legends, there are few stories that are as shocking or enduring as the tale of Ozzy biting the head off a live bat on stage. This happened during a concert at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, and it's become a defining moment in Ozzy's career. I think even younger people that don't know much about Ozzy know this story. So according to Ozzy himself and multiple accounts, the concert was a part of his Diary of a Madman tour, and during the performance, a fan threw a live bat on stage. Ozzy thought it was a rubber toy, or at least that's what he says, and he picked it up and bit its head off. Ozzy said that the reality of the situation hit him when he felt the bat's warm blood in his mouth. In a state of shock and horror, Osbourne was immediately rushed to the hospital because he had to get rabies shots. Back in episode 165, I told a story about the brief time that my family had a pet bat, and once it was found out that we had it, they had to come and test it for rabies, which basically meant killing it. Ozzy ended up being fine, but the incident sparked outrage among animal rights activists and the general public, with many condemning him for what they saw as a cruel and senseless act. Ozzy himself... ever since then has repeatedly stated that he didn't realize the bat was real and alive. That didn't stop the controversy from adding fuel to his already controversial image, enhanced his reputation as a rock star who pushed the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Of course, with this story, there are myths versus reality issues. Some people claim the bat was already dead when thrown on stage, while others insist it was alive. But regardless of the specifics, the incident has been immortalized in pop culture. I mean, that's why I'm talking about it now. Even though Ozzy says that he thought it was a fake bat, he often references the story in interviews and even uses a bat logo on some of his merchandise. More than 40 years later, the bat incident has had a lasting impact on Ozzy's career. cementing his status as a legendary and controversial figure in rock music. It's also contributed to the broader narrative of the excesses and extremes of the rock and roll lifestyle. Ozzy is hardly the only rock star to have crazy stories in their histories. I mean, just look up Motley Crue. Despite the initial backlash, Ozzy's embraced the incident as part of his persona. It's more than just a bizarre footnote in rock history. For Ozzy Osbourne, it represents a moment of shocking spontaneity that's become an integral part of his legacy. And that infamous incident of Ozzy Osbourne biting the head off of a live bat on stage occurred 43 years ago this week in history. Oh, here we go. I'm going to bite the head off of a new time capsule. We're going to stick with the same day. So as Ozzy was biting the head off a bat on January 20th, 1982, what was going on in the world of pop culture back then? Let's find out. The number one song was Physical by Olivia Newton-John. This is a song that has the very well-known video where Olivia Newton-John kind of shed her good girl image. This was off of her album Physical. The song spent 10 straight weeks at number one, which at the time tied for the longest consecutive time for a song to be number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Interestingly, the song was offered to Tina Turner first, who turned it down. and Olivia Newton-John's album physical has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide since its release. The number one TV show was Super Bowl XVI. This was a game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals. The 49ers won 26-21, and it marked the first time since Super Bowl III that both teams in the Super Bowl were there for the first time. If you were curious, the cost of a 30-second ad in the Super Bowl in 1982 was about $324,000. Compared to now, so 2024, the cost of a 30-second ad was $7 million. It always ends up being worth it, though, as the Super Bowl is typically the most watched television show of the year, with last year's Super Bowl averaging over 123 million viewers across all platforms. The number one movie was On Golden Pond, and you could get into the theater with a ticket costing $2.94. This is a drama starring Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn about an old married couple that spend their summers on Golden Pond, and this time they are visited by their daughter, played by Jane Fonda, her new fiancé, and his teenage son. The movie was nominated for 10 Academy Awards. It's 91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and is widely considered today to be at least one of the greatest films of the 1980s, if not of all time. And if you were around back then, January 20th, 1982, maybe you were looking to get some portraits of your kids done at a local retail store, department store. Oh, you're in luck. I found something great for you. There's a portrait package at Bradley's. If you put a 95 cent deposit down on your portrait package, you get to take home a little stuffed animal for your child. Hopefully you don't have more than one child because there's a fight waiting to happen. There are 24 portraits in this portrait package. two 8x10s, three 5x7s, etc., and probably some kind of fun background to make your kid look like they're either at a ski lodge or something like that. I know I have ones of me like that. The whole portrait package costs $12.95, and it's available at all Bradley's except for the ones on Cape Cod. I'm looking at the ad. I don't see any from down here, so thanks a lot, Bradley's. That'll wrap up another time capsule, a brand new This Week in History. Now it's time for the return of me versus AI top five, including finally for the first time, real AI voices to voice their own top five. So get ready for that excitement. Oh boy, you feel the excitement in the air. Me versus AI top five returns. This time I'm going to actually have AI to give its own top five to you. Not me reading their words. I think about this every time I do this segment. that I should have actual AI voice. And then when it comes to edit the podcast, I get lazy and I'm like, I'll just leave in my voice reading it. That's fine. But it defeats the purpose of having AI's results. For this top five, we're going to be looking at 1990s TV show themes. Our picks for our favorites for the best. Mine will be obvious. They're my picks. What I did was I went to ChatGPT and I typed in what are the five best television show themes of the 1990s and explain why you choose them. In case you're wondering where I got the AI information from. I was a bit surprised because asking for the best TV show themes, it's kind of subjective. So I thought that ChatGPT would be like, well, I can't give you those because it's subjective. But no, they gave me their five. With these, with the Me vs. AI, there will be no honorable mentions because there's two different top five lists. But they will be in no particular order, at least mine. I don't know if AI went in order. I didn't ask them. So let's dive right into the top five. We're going to do mine first, and I will give you my five and why I chose them. So I'll kick off my top five 1990s TV show themes with number one, Beverly Hills 90210. The original version of this was on for 10 seasons, 1990 to 2000, so it's literally on for the entire 90s. Those of you that watched, you can hear the theme song in your head with all the different... Pictures of the people that were the stars. Shannon Doherty, Jason Priestley, Jenny Garth. For me, this is one of the defining shows and songs of the 90s. No words to it, but they didn't need words. It got you right into the vibe. And it was actually the first one I thought of when it came to 90s TV show themes. Number two is Friends. I'll Be There For You by the Rembrandts. The show was on from 1994 to 2004, and the theme song, I'll Be There For You, topped off at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. I didn't know that the theme song for the pilot episode of Friends was Shiny Happy People by R.E.M., and that the creators of the show actually wanted either that song or a new song by Michael Stipe from R.E.M. as the theme, but he turned it down and that's how I'll Be There For You came about. This is another quintessential 90s show. Six friends that live in New York and their escapades. It's right up there with Simpson, Seinfeld, as far as quotable episodes. And there were 236 episodes of Friends. So that's a lot of times that that Rembrandt song got played. Number three is South Park. Yes, South Park came out in 1997. Going Down to South Park by Primus. This song definitely captured the vibe of this animated show with all of the kids singing parts, including Kenny's part where it's muffled and you had to figure out what he said, but it's something dirty. The story is that Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the show, went to Primus and lead singer Les Claypool and offered $74 and a copy of their original video, The Spirit of Christmas, that inspired South Park for them to record the song. And I mean, they did. And South Park is still going on. It's in its 26th season, which I mean, if you had told me that when it first came out, that South Park would end up being on into the 2020s, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Number four is The X-Files. This is way more spooky with that kind of electronic keyboard in there, the whistling sounds of the keyboard, the sci-fi show, Agents Mulder and Scully and their adventures. The theme was done by a man named Mark Snow. And as soon as you hear the first few notes of it, you know the song even if you didn't watch the X-Files. The original X-Files came on in 1993 and was on for nine seasons and 202 episodes. I remember this being a very big talking point freshman year of high school, especially with my friend John. And finally, for me, number five on my top five 1990s TV show themes is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Will Smith, a.k.a. the Fresh Prince, and his rap about how he ended up living in Bel-Air. This show was on for six seasons and 148 episodes between 1990 and 96. It capitalized on the popularity of the Fresh Prince kind of persona when Will Smith was a rapper, DJ, Jazzy Jeff, and the Fresh Prince. I'm old enough to remember when that's what Will Smith was known for. Not TV, not an actor, but a rapper with DJ Jazzy Jeff. And I bet those of you that grew up in the 90s, you know all the lyrics to this song still. You can probably see it in your head. So there's my top five. Now I'd like to introduce my guest AI speaker. the one and only MS-DOS legend, Dr. Spezo. Dr. Spezo, give me ChatGPT's top five favorite TV show themes of the 1990s.

Speaker 00:

Sorry, Dr. Spatso couldn't be here today. This is Bonze Buddy and I will be reading his picks. Selecting the five best television show themes from the 1990s involves considering their cultural impact, memorability, and how well they set the tone for their respective shows. Here's a breakdown of the top five and why they stand out. Number one. Friends. I'll Be There For You by The Rembrandts. This theme became synonymous with a spirit of friendship and togetherness that the show embodies. Its catchy tune and upbeat lyrics make it instantly recognizable and beloved by fans across generations. Number 2, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Yo home to Bel-Air, by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. The rap-style theme song perfectly encapsulates the show's humor and charm, telling the backstory of the main character in a fun and engaging way. It's a song many can still recite word for word. Number 3, The X-Files. Theme by Mark Snow. This haunted, eerie theme perfectly sets the tone for a show centered around mystery and the paranormal. Its minimalist, yet spooky melody became iconic, often associated with suspense and intrigue. How am I doing so far? Dr. Spatso says you weren't offering him enough money for him to come on your show. He said next time, don't try to pay him an expired Blockbuster video gift certificates. What?

Speaker 02:

That's not

Speaker 00:

true. Well,

Speaker 02:

I'm definitely not paying you as much as I would have, Spatso.

Speaker 00:

Yeah, yeah, the check better clear. Anyway, on we go. Number four. Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Seen by Nerf Herder. The rock-infused theme captures the blend of teenage drama and supernatural action that defines this show. It's energetic and edgy, much like the show's protagonist and storyline. Which Aussie did you like better? Christy Swanson or Sarah Michelle Gellar? Ooh, that's an interesting question. I think I'd like... Who cares? I'm not getting paid by the hour. Let's wrap this up. Okay, number five on mine, I mean Dr. Spatso's, top five 1990s television show themes is, Seinfeld. Themed by Jonathan Wolff. The quirky, taste-driven theme mirrors the show's unique brand of humor and observational comedy. Its simple, yet distinctive rhythm makes it a standout, perfectly matching the offbeat nature of the series.

Speaker 02:

Nice. Good job, Banzai Buddy. Don't worry. The check will be in the mail for you, I promise. Oh, I totally

Speaker 00:

believe you. But just in case I had one of my goons take the air out of your tires, I will mail it back to you once the check clears.

Speaker 02:

Wait, you're going to mail the air to my tires back to me? How do you even do that?

Speaker 00:

Relax, kid. Thanks for having me on your show. I would have you on mine, but you know I don't want to. See ya, Proust!

Speaker 02:

ChadGBT's top five is not that much different from mine, although Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I wouldn't have seen that coming. Who do you think won me versus AI top five? I'm always going to pick me, although I can't blame you if you enjoyed Bonsai Buddy as a substitute for Dr. Spezo. And if you enjoyed this with the actual AI voice, I'll make sure to keep that as part of this when I bring back me versus AI top five sometime in the near future. I think there are some bits of nostalgia that are more meaningful to people because of the impact it had on their childhood or positive memories from it. You could think of any terrible TV show, movie, commercial, video game, and I guarantee you there are people out there that think it's the greatest thing ever because of their positive reaction or it had something to do with their life, their childhood. What I'm going to talk about here is a video game that wasn't the biggest or best game, but my memories of it give it more of an elevated status in my life as far as nostalgia goes. And I was... Looking for a way to get it into the podcast. So what I'm going to do is do a deep dive into a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System called Vegas Dream. For some of you that grew up in the 1980s, early 90s, the game might sound familiar. For me, I think the reason why it stands out so much is A, because when it came out, my Uncle Eric and Aunt Emma lived in Las Vegas. And I also think it's because I have so many positive memories of my Nana playing it and her reaction to things in the game. Vegas Dream was released in 1988. It's a gambling simulation, obviously, mixed with storytelling. It's part of a surge in the popularity of simulation and strategy games in the late 1980s. And Vegas was the capital of gambling in the country and still is. So why not make a game based around it? As far as I could see, this was the first gambling video game based in Las Vegas. This game came out in 1988. The next year, there was already another game for Nintendo called Casino Kid, also based in Vegas. This game, Vegas Dream, was developed by HAL Laboratory and published by HAL America, and it carved a niche for itself, providing a blend of traditional casino games with unexpected narrative events. That's where my Nana's reaction would come in. HAL Laboratory was a Japanese video game developer known for innovative approaches to gaming. They would later gain fame for creating the Kirby series and collaborating on Super Smash Bros. The idea of Vegas Dream was to create a game that captured the allure of Las Vegas while also making it accessible and engaging for a home console audience. In the late 80s, you would think of Gamers as kids that were my age, early teens, you know, late teens. So I believe Nintendo, they were trying to create games that would bring in the older audience. Why not? They were the ones that had the actual money. Also keep in mind that if you go and look this game up, naturally it's not going to look as good as games that are out now. There were challenges in creating a visually appealing and interactive gambling environment with technological limitations of the Nintendo. I am sure there are average teenagers, early 20s people out there now that could create their own version of this game that would be better than the one that was made. But, you know, you deal with what you've got for technology. It's better than the 60s tech that I talked about earlier. There were a lot of the typical gambling games, slot machines, blackjack, roulette, keno. They made it very easy, user-friendly, so that someone like me, who was 11 years old when it came out, I didn't have to know how to play blackjack to actually do it. I mean, hell, when I moved to Vegas, I still didn't know how to play blackjack or roulette, and I went into casinos and blew all my money. It turns out I didn't learn from Vegas Dream. Vegas Dream had two different game modes. There was one that was storyline mode, where things could happen to you. There was another one that was just gambling only. You go in and just play Keno forever. Naturally, as a kid, I wanted to play the storyline mode. Gambling, I didn't care about that. I wanted to see what things would happen to me. So you could play one of the four different casino games, slots, blackjack, roulette, keno, and then things would happen. The game starts with you flying into Vegas. You've got $700 to spend on gambling with the hopes of making it big. You are warned right away to watch out for con men and con women. There's one scenario where you're gambling and a woman comes up to you, wants to join you, and if you say yes, you talk at the bar. And what ends up happening is either she's really in love with you and the casino donates $5,000 to your bankroll, or if it's not real, she swindles you and robs you of some of your money. You get a woman that claims to be a waitress that spills a drink on you and offers to clean your jacket. And she's either a thief that steals half your money or she's a real waitress and you get your coat back and extra money. There are other ones where people at the casino will tell you someone's waiting for you downstairs or you get an old man that wants to buy you a drink. You can get married on it too. If you play as a woman, you can marry Mr. James. If you play as a man, it's Miss Sophie. Those were always funny. That's where my Nana would come in. We'd be playing either I'd play or she'd play or someone in the family. And we'd be watching and you'd have people showing up, buy you a drink or want to sit with you. And it's like a choose your own adventure. And if you got robbed, I could hear my Nana laughing. Some of my favorites weren't stuff with people. It was accidents that would happen to you. You'd have it where you'd drink and fall down the stairs. Or my favorite thing was a chandelier would fall on your head. It's like, what kind of casino is this? I still remember that. The first time that I was playing or watching someone play and they had a chandelier fall on their head and my Nana was in tears laughing. I think eventually you would run through all the storylines. Most games have a shelf life where then you need something different. What was neat about Vegas Dream was they actually had a password system. So you could save your progress, return to the game. And naturally, those of us that grew up on Nintendo, there were cheat codes you could put in for passwords to give yourself more money. Like you'd get $700. There were passwords to give you $1,000, $2,000. The end goal of Vegas Dream was to get to $10 million. And then, if you get there, it cuts to an end scene of you in your pool with servants around you. I never came close to getting $10 million. I typically would bust out pretty quickly, being 11, 12 years old, trying to play this. It matched my real life of living in Vegas. Overdraw my bank account and lose all my money on roulette. Another big fun part of Vegas Dream was the gambling with no consequences in real life. You know, if you play roulette or slots and you lose all your money, whatever, it's fine. You either spend a couple dollars to rent the game or you bought it for, I don't know if it would have been $30. is definitely different than the reality of gambling. Vegas Dream wasn't a massive hit. It didn't change the world as far as video games went. But it was successful enough that they created a sequel called Vegas Stakes that came out for the Super Nintendo in 1993. This game is very similar. You start off with $1,000 with a goal of winning $10,000,000. They got the same games, similar storylines. You have friends with you that play, although they released a version on the Super Game Boy. And on that one, you don't have your friends with you. I said at the beginning of this segment that this game, you know, the graphics, the gameplay, it's nothing earth shattering now. At the time, it was great, the different storylines, being able to get married or robbed or fall down the stairs repeatedly. It sounds like Chevy Chase in Vegas Vacation. For me, though, like I said, Vegas Dream holds a much deeper meaning in my life because of the fact that I played it with my nana who was in her 60s at the time. And I can still hear her laughing about getting hit with a chandelier or getting robbed or falling down the stairs. I can't remember how many times we rented the game. And I can't remember if we had to rent the actual Nintendo console with it. Because that was another thing you could do. Besides going to the video rental store, which is an archaic saying now. But you could actually rent the Nintendo system. I think you had to put down a deposit for what the machine would cost. Naturally, if you returned it unharmed, you'd get the money back, but that was a risk you took. So we probably went to Video Galaxy or Entertainment Stop or Hollywood Video or Blockbuster Video or whichever ones we had around us on the middle of Cape Cod back then and got Vegas Dream and just laughed. You out there must have video games like that or movies or TV shows that aren't that popular, but they hold a special place in your heart for the meaning outside of it, the people that watched it with you or played it with you. So yeah, that's the story of Vegas Dream for Nintendo, avoiding the chandeliers and falling down the stairs and getting robbed. It definitely did a good job of preparing me for actual life in Vegas, which... was pretty similar, except for falling down the stairs a lot. But until next time, that is going to wrap up episode 179 of the In My Footsteps podcast. Thank you all so much for tuning in, wherever you're from. I know I've got a lot of listeners from New England, a lot from the United States, all across the country, and all around the world. I'm so appreciative of those of you that don't live in my neck of the woods. that tune into this show. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and it never goes away. It just keeps growing. Every day that goes by, every year that goes by, it brings more into what's considered nostalgia. 20 years ago, I consider that nostalgia, and that's 2005. And I'll keep the buffet open as far as nostalgia goes. Next week will be episode 180. We are quickly rocketing towards 200, which I think will hit sometime in the late spring. I'll have to think of something special for that episode. It can't be just another one. It's not every day that you hit a round number like that. I figured I would get to 100 episodes of the podcast, no problem. 200 was a bit of a stretch, but I always have new things I'm finding out to put on the show. the cutting edge technology segment earlier, I just thought of that a few weeks ago. I said, hey, why don't I do that? When I say it's like a buffet, I'm continually looking through the catalog to find more items to put in my steam tables. If you enjoy my content, if you want to support my journey of trying to be a self-employed content creator, you can support me on Patreon, $5 a month. gets you access to bonus podcast episodes. I'm making more in the way of subscriber-specific content, but I'm also doing a lot more on the free tier, things that will get people to just go over and see what my work's all about because I understand that most people don't know who I am. So if you hear me saying, you know, support me on Patreon, part with your hard-earned money, you might want to see a little sample of what I'm doing. You can also buy me a coffee. I think those you can do as little as a dollar. So I can use that to go buy a couple of sticks of gum. It doesn't cost anything to share my content though. I appreciate that as much as anything. Those of you that see my work on social media, whether it's Instagram and my Instagram stories, or threads, or blue sky, or TikTok, or my Facebook fan page, and share it with others and get others to come into the fold. I've always got new things I'm working on or trying to get put up either on YouTube or blogs. Speaking of a combination of both, check out the Webcam Weekly Wrap-Up Podcast. That's a video version of the Initial Impressions 2.0 blog. I speak about my week that was, which is usually filled with random foolishness. I'm sure everyone's life has it, but I'm the only one that seems to chronicle it and share it so you all can laugh. If you're interested in any of my nine books, visit my website, ChristopherSetterlin.com. Created, updated by my oldest friend, Barry. Be on the lookout probably early in the spring when I launch the InMyFootstepsPodcast.com. I bought the domain name probably the beginning of last year with the idea of creating a catch-all homepage with all the archives of the episodes, all the links to everything I've ever shared on any episode, probably some type of merch because my newer logo is very retro 80s look. It looks better on a t-shirt or a bumper sticker. but I am not a web designer. So that's why it's taking me a lot longer to create it because I want it to be launched and be good instead of half launched, like going into a mall where only five of the stores are open and all the rest of those cages over empty storefronts. But you won't have to wait until spring for the next episode of the podcast. It's one week away and it's the perfect length for you to Put on headphones and go for a walk outside. Bundle up if it's cold, but get that vitamin D. We're all getting deficient in it as it's in the teens and 20s here on Cape Cod. I don't want to be outside much, but I try to force myself at least to shoot the sunset or something. So until next time, folks, remember. In this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path and enjoy every moment you can on this journey we call life because you never know what tomorrow brings. This has been the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund, but you already knew that. And I'll talk to you all again soon.

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Christopher Setterlund

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