In the early 90s a video game was released that changed the industry, despite poor sales and bad game play. That game was Night Trap. This is that story.
AI Summary
Night Trap, the infamous full-motion video game from the early 90s, started as a wild concept inspired by an experimental interactive theater play and became an unlikely flashpoint in the government's crusade against violent video games. Josh and Chuck dive into how this clunky, barely playable game about protecting teenage girls from lumbering vampire-like creatures using security cameras actually shaped the entire video game industry by inadvertently sparking the creation of the ESRB rating system. It's a fascinating story of ambition, corporate missteps, and how controversy can accidentally immortalize something that probably should have stayed forgotten.
Movies Discussed
Diff'rent Strokes
"Dana Plato from, from different strokes. Kimberly. Yeah. Kimberly. — Josh identifies Dana Plato as the actress who played Kimberly in Different Strokes and was cast in Night Trap."
— Josh
Dragon's Lair
"They were also inspired by Dragon's Lair. Do you remember that game? — Josh mentions Dragon's Lair as an inspiration for Night Trap, an animated laser disk game."
— Josh
Family Ties
"Maybe they could have repurposed it for growing pains or family ties or something like that. — Chuck suggests Night Trap's cheap sets could have been used for the sitcom Family Ties."
— Chuck
Filhos do Meio – South Side Hip Hop Stories
"He wrote a few episodes of Do South. What was that? It was like a show about a Canadian Mountie, I think. — Josh mentions playwright John Krizanck wrote episodes of this Canadian show about a Mountie."
— Josh
Forrest Gump
"But it was shot by Don Burgess, who was nominated for an Oscar less than a decade after Night Trap for Forrest Gump. — Josh notes that cinematographer Don Burgess, who shot Night Trap, was later nominated for an Oscar for Forrest Gump."
— Josh
Ghostbusters
"They turned out to be in the end, were loping vampires who used what looked like a Ghostbusters Proton pack. — Chuck describes the augurs' weapon in Night Trap as resembling a Ghostbusters Proton pack."
— Chuck
Growing Pains
"The sets look terrible. The doorways, I don't know if you notice, but any doorway, they didn't build the door down to the floor. They built the door down to like a one foot tall stepover. So anytime someone opens the door, they step over this like one foot tall, like wooden set. Maybe they could have repurposed it for growing pains or family ties or something like that. — Chuck jokes that Night Trap's cheap sets could have been repurposed for sitcoms like Growing Pains or Family Ties."
— Chuck
High Score
"I heard about this from watching the Netflix documentary series High Score. — Josh mentions learning about Night Trap from this Netflix documentary series about video game history."
— Josh
Married... with Children
"I think this is overstated. Even for the time, I wouldn't say. I mean, you got married with children was like 10 times more titillating. — Josh compares Night Trap's level of titillation to the TV show Married... with Children, saying the latter was more so."
— Josh
Mortal Kombat
"They went after moral combat. Yeah, which was super violent. It really was. — Chuck confirms that Mortal Kombat was indeed super violent, unlike Night Trap, and faced similar senatorial criticism."
— Chuck
Red Dragon
"I kind of remember that happening, but I certainly was not in a gifted class. It kind of sounds like Ray Fiennes revealing himself to Philip Seymour Hoffman in Red Dragon. — Chuck makes an analogy comparing a creepy scene to a moment in Red Dragon involving Ray Fiennes and Philip Seymour Hoffman."
— Chuck
Sleep No More
"If you've been to sleep no more in New York, you may have the play Tamara to thank because it is a lot like the concept of sleep no more. — Josh discusses how the play Tamara influenced the immersive theater experience Sleep No More in New York."
— Josh
Small Wonder
"Or no, they probably would have said like, this doesn't look good. Right. Maybe small wonder. I think they used it for small wonder. — Josh suggests Night Trap's cheap sets might have been used for or similar to sets from Small Wonder."
— Josh
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
"Have you ever seen that documentary, I think it's King of Kong? Oh, sure. That is one of the best documentaries ever made. — Chuck praises King of Kong as one of the best documentaries ever made about arcade gaming."
— Chuck
The Running Man
"With a collar of the kind that Arnold Schwarzenegger was wearing at the beginning of Running Man. — Josh compares the augurs' neck collar device to the one worn by Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Running Man."
— Josh
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