Scandalous Games

Scandalous Games is a video game history podcast that takes a closer look at video game related controversies. Every episode, historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story about a scandalous event from gaming's past to his friends who offer commentary on moral panics, ill-advised advertising campaigns, unusual figures, and any and all topics related to video game scandals and how they shaped the medium. New episodes drop on the first and third Tuesdays of every month! Check out more info, including show notes and sources, at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

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Scandalous Games

Episode 26: Pokémon Fan Projects, Part Four: Pokémon Uranium and Pokémon Prism

June 06, 2023 • Scandalous Games • Episode 26

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Elford Stephens, and Andy Hunter. In part four of our look at Pokémon fan projects, we finally get into the controversy around Pokémon fan games and ROM hacks by looking at probably the two most famous/infamous unauthorized Pokémon games: Pokémon Uranium and Pokémon Prism, focusing on their development and their relationship to Pokémon fandom.

Topics discussed include: 2016 was a great year so long as you're a Pokémon fan and don't read the news; Pokémon GO was kind of a big deal, despite being built on a bad game called Ingress; and why won't Nintendo let us play the early generation Pokémon games?

For more on the Niantec lawsuit over Pokémon GO, see: James Bareham, "Niantic is tweaking Pokémon Go to settle a lawsuit with angry homeowners," The Verge, February 15, 2019, https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/15/18226604/niantic-pokemon-go-lawsuit-changes-settlement-private-property-pokestop-gym.

Theme Music: Occam's Sikhwee by Sikh Knowledge (Free Music Archive: https://bit.ly/33G4sLO), used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US (https://bit.ly/33JXogQ)

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.