Selects: Night Trap: The Video Game Failure that Changed the Industry | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hey everybody, it's me Josh and for this. week's select, I've chosen our 2021. episode on Night Trap the video game. One of those overlooked pieces of pop. culture history about one of those. unfortunate pieces of technology that. emerged during a sea change which made. it utterly out ofd the moment it was. born. It's a great story about a not at. all great video game, and I hope you. enjoy it. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a.

production of iHeart. Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there. There's Jerry. over there being silly. And this is. stuff you should know. video obscure lost video. game episode. How did you hear about. this? This is your request. Yeah. So, Night Trap is the game that we're.

talking about. And I heard about this. from watching the Netflix documentary. series High Score. Did you Netflix and. chill while you were watching that, jerk? Uh, no. I Netflix by myself and. chilled because Emily wasn't watching. this. That's a different thing. Yeah, that's a different thing. Okay. Um, this. was uh a documentary series on Netflix. I think six parts that covered the. history of video games. Yeah, I can. recommend it in one way in that it was a.

very light kind of fun watch, but it is. by no means comprehensive and a little. goofy at times and how they handled some. stuff uh on on Night Trap specifically. or like the whole series. I got you. But. but it was fine. And it's it's you know, if you're in the if from a certain. generation and in the mood for like five. plus hours of a bit of a nostalgia kick. Mhm. You could do worse things, but it's. not great. Have you ever seen that. documentary? I think it's King of Kong. Oh, sure. Oh, man. That is one of the. best documentaries ever made. I haven't.

seen it in years. I got to see it again. It's great. I think our old buddy Josh. Beerman might have written the original. story that that was uh based on. Oh, I'm. not surprised. He had something to do. with that. But Night Trap um I learned. about because in episode five they. covered uh when video games started. becoming violent. So Mortal Kombat. obviously factored in heavily in that. episode. Yeah. And then this game called. Night Trap. There's another game I do. want to cover on a shorty by the way. One of the first LGBQ games uh ever that.

was really interesting and had a cool. story. What the heck is it called? I. can't remember now. Um I saw this a. couple of months ago, so it's been a. while. Oh, what was it? Can't remember, but it was it's great and that'll make. for a good shorty. Okay. But a really. cool story behind it. But this is Night. Trap, which figured in as the game that. kind of brought about along with Mortal. Kombat, but was really central in. forming what ended up being the uh the. ratings board for video games. I mean, that's that's almost like understating.

it. Like this one game Yeah. paired with. Mortal Kombat basically led directly to. the creation of that. Yeah. So, that's. really why it's notable. The other thing. that made it notable, and we'll get into. all this, was that it was a a live. action, as in they shot, you know, a. little movie, right? And that you. controlled. Yeah. That you sort of. controlled kind of you could. conceivably, theoretically, hypothetically, control because it. wasn't a great game, but it lives in.

infamy because of every because it's a. really cool story. I think in the end, it is a pretty cool story. Um, and the. whole thing starts actually with a play. um from the I think it was written in. 1981 by a playwright named um John Oh, what's his last name? Krank. Okay. I. want to say I want or Kranch. You don't think so? I don't know. Maybe. Well, regardless, he uh he wrote a few. episodes of Due South. What was that? It.

was like a show about a Canadian Mounty, I think. Oh, all right. Yeah, he wrote. this and it was 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. As. far as I know, this was the one that. like broke that ground, I think. So, and. the ground they broke it, it's about the. painter uh Tamara de Limp Limpa, who. I've never heard of. She was a a Polish. painter who lived in Italy in the.

roaring 20s. Okay. when um the fascists. were starting to take power and she took. no guff from him. No guff. Hedenistic um. amazing art deco painter, an art deco. portraitist basically. Interesting. Um. her work's really interesting. I didn't. know anything about her. I'd never heard. of her until this too, but I looked her. up. She seemed pretty cool. But this is. a play about her where it is set on a. multifloor building. There are scenes. taking place at the same uh same time in. multiple rooms. And as an audience. member, you can move from one room to.

the other, missing out on some stuff, seeing some stuff, interacting. I mean, it's sleep no more. Yeah, they I don't. know if they just totally ripped it off. or if they said, "Hey, it's been, you. know, 30 years. Who's going to remember. Tamara, right?" I think it was like they. broke that ground. And once you break. that ground, you're going to have people. following your wake. You know, there's. probably been other stuff that did this, but Sleep No More, I think, just got so. much attention in New York for its run. I think it might still be going or maybe. coming back after the pandemic. I would.

like to see that. I would love to see. Tamara, too. But, um, it this it was it. ran in New York, but it's it started at. a Toronto. uh art festival, I think. Oh, interesting. And then the some some. producers set it up in LA and that's. where it had its longest run from about. the mid 80s to the 90s. Um, they had. this this just kept going and going and. going. I was reading an LA Times article. on it, but um the the reason that it. factors into this is because it's. basically the basis for this game night.

trap where there are different things. going on in different rooms and you kind. of cycle toggle between the different. rooms through security cameras in these. rooms, right, to see what's going on. And while you're doing that, you're. missing stuff that's happening in other. rooms in this game. And if you miss too. much stuff, you lose. If you catch. enough stuff and you do everything right. and press all the correct buttons, uh, you win. But that's that's basically how.

it applies. It's like this this o almost. an homage to this play in video game. form, but it's full motion video, meaning it's like a film or TV show that. you vaguely control or put better, you. interact with. Yeah. Yeah. And the idea. of the game, and we'll get a little bit. more into the development of it in a. minute, but it is basically like a a. party happening at this house. Mhm. Um, young like co-ed types, like sorority. girls maybe. Yeah. Uh, it's it's very.

sort of titillating and that was one of. the big deals a little bit. I think this. stated even for the time, I wouldn't. say. I mean, you got married with. children was like 10 times more. titillating than this. This is very. tame, I think. Well, the, you know, obviously part of the controversy comes. from uh assaults on women in the game, understandably, but again, we'll get to. that. It is even tame compared to a lot. of the stuff, right, that was out at the. time. Um, but what's going on in the.

game is they are these um pseudo. vampires called augers that are the bad. people in this game. And Jim Riley who. who conceived of this game when he had. the idea of I think he was watching. security camera a security camera screen. with all these different rooms and it. hit him like what a great idea and then. he saw this play and he said we can. actually do something like this like. what if a user and a game player could. go into any of these views that they.

want and if they're missing something. they're missing something. and it might. be important, but they're in control of. the game, right? Um, and I mean that's. or the story rather, right? U, but. again, I think you really pointed out. something important that that was the. concept. In the actuality, they kind of. missed the mark a little bit. Yes. Um, so with the game, the the um it was. originally designed as part of a. platform called Control Vision. Yeah. I.

think internally it was called Nemo. NMO. and it was being created by a company. called Axelon and Axelon was actually a. Nolan such an 80s like video game. company name but it was a Nolan Bushnull. company after Atari he founded Axelon. among others. I think he created five. companies at the same time in parallel. using this this incubator. Yeah. um that. he had created and um the developers at. Axelon started creating uh a full motion.

video this VHS-based we should point. out. Yes. On VHS and to get from one. place to another uh rather than this was. the breakthrough thing. This was the. thing that made this work and they they. did get it to work. Yeah. But using VHS. tapes, you could toggle between stuff in. virtually real time. Yeah. Without the. the VHS player having to rewind or fast. forward, which would have really just. kind of put the kaibos on the whole. thing. uh but instead because of the.

interlacing that uh that video um uses, they could actually choose what field to. show at what time and basically switch. between them, which was I mean it looks. archaic, but it's a remarkable. technology at the time to be able to do. that, right? Yeah. It's still. mind-blowing. Like I'm I'm like I. vaguely understand how this actually. works. But the fact that they actually. got this to work and it had a proof of. concept going enough that Hasbro was.

like sold. Uh that was a big deal. Yeah. And this was 85. One of their designers. was the legendary Tom Crane who designed. Pitfall, one of my favorite alltime. games on the Atari. That's a good one. But it was a good team. And they went. apparently to these camera performances. They were also inspired by Dragons. Layer. Do you remember that game? I do. I was never into it, but I remember. watching it and just It looked cool. I. mean, it was an animation game where it. was fully animated and used laser disc. to uh project this animated footage. So,

it looked awesome, but it was just it. wasn't that great. The gameplay wasn't. great. No, but it it followed a story. There was a story that was happening and. then every once in a while there's. something you had to do to move the. story along, right, as part of the game. And if you didn't do it right, the. dragon like turned you into to ash or. something like that, right? Yeah. But. you're not actually controlling the. player, which was the big difference in. these games from the regular game. You're you're creating a sequence like. you're you're doing this and then. sitting back and then hopefully the the.

thing you're hoping to happen happens. Now, the thing that differentiates that. from Night Trap is that there was no. coherent story. while you were off doing. something that you were supposed to be. doing to win the game. Yeah. The story. kept going on over here. So, you can't. follow a story line that way. No. Which. is a big deal. That was a big. differentiator between it and Dragons. Layer. All right. Well, let's take a. little break here. That's a good setup, I think. And we'll come back and get. more into Night Trap right after.

this. All. right. So, I mentioned the Auggers. Uh, we need to explain a little bit about. this game and what it was supposed to be. and what it ended up being because in. the Netflix documentary, Jim Riley.

basically is like, well, the first thing. they created a de a demo called Scene of. the Crime. Yes. Yes. And it was a. detective uh game and uh Hasbro liked it. like I said and but they had a big. problem because he the original idea. that Jim had was to have ninjas and he's. like it'd be great. These ninjas come. in, they got throwing stars, they got. weapons and they're doing all this stuff. and you can control it and it's it it's. super cool. And Hasbro was like wait a.

minute we can't have what we call. reproducible violence. So, anything that. a kid like kids love throwing stars and. we can't show ninjas throwing throwing. stars into people cuz a kid will go and. do that. You can't have a a knife cuz a. kid can go get a knife out of a drawer. It's got to be something that a kid. cannot reproduce. So, so they said, "Okay, well, how about what if the. ninjas turn out to be, and I'm sorry, I. know ninja is the plural of ninja. Sorry, everyone. What if they turn out. to be vampires, right?" And Hasbro said,

"I kind of like where you're going with. this, but kids can still like bite. people on the neck." What? I think it. came the other way, though. I think that. was a note from Hasbro. Oh, was it? I'm. pretty sure they were like, "What if. they were vampires?" Okay. And Jim Riley. was like, "Okay, I guess I can do that.". Okay. Biting people's necks. And then. Hasbro was like, "Can't do that cuz kids. can bite necks, too." So, what they. found, and this is a great metaphor for. the the Night Trap overall, yeah, what.

the ninja originally or what they turned. out to be in the end were loping. vampires who used what looked like a. Ghostbusters proton pack sort of. Yeah. With a collar of the kind that that. Arnold Schwarzenegger was wearing at the. beginning of Running Man. Yeah. Like a. clamp sort of. Yes. On the end. And that. that is what they use to draw the blood. from the uh the hapless teens who you. were in charge of protecting as Night.

Trap. Yeah. So what Hasbro did was they. noted it to death and neutered it to. death because they said he he even was. like, "All right, I can do vampires. They can run around and hurt people.". And they said, "No, no, no. They can't. even run around. It's too scary if. they're fast." Yeah. So they came up. with augers who in the game they are. described as vampires who had been half. bled and left to die. So they are not. quite vampires but they aren't human. either. And that makes them lopey and.

lumbery right instead of being able to. move fast. And if you see them they look. like they're wearing garbage bags. They're lumbering around. They're. drawing the blood using uh a trow car is. what the name of that thing was. Oh is. it okay? because it was definitely its. own thing. It was its own thing. And. it's funny in the documentary Jim Riley. was like in the end he said this troar. which you know it didn't show it. explicitly. It showed the clamp going. around the neck and this little drill. inside of a shaft start right and then.

sort of moving and then blood being. drawn. But it doesn't show like going in. the neck or anything. No. But he said. what they ended up with, he said to me. was something far creepier than a. vampire biting someone's neck. Sure. But. they were like, "It's not reproducible. though, so it's fine." And it's also, it's weird that Hasbro was so fixated on. not including reproducible violence. because apparently they saw um Night. Trap as a way to interest adults, right? Because they had apparently found out.

during focus group testing of uh Scene. of the Crime, I believe, that the. parents who were in the room or were. part of the focus group were saying. like, "I I really kind of like this. It's like a TV show, but I get to. control it. Cuz it looked like something. that they understood, right? And so. Hasbro was like, "Oh, okay. This has. been like a kids thing up to this point. Maybe we can finally crack into the. adult market with this stuff." So it's. weird that they that they kidified it to. death if they were trying to use it to.

to capture adults. But maybe they were. like, "It has to go both ways in case. adults don't like it." Well, I think in. the documentary they make the point that. Hasbro was I think the adults were. looming out there as a possibility, but. they were like adults will never play. video games. So, what they really wanted. until they grow up and then continue to. play video games. What they really were. after was a teenage market, which didn't. fully exist at this point. Oh, gotcha. Uh like an old like 16 and 17 year old. boys, which is why they put sority girls.

in like a nighty at a slumber party, right? was in all in an effort to sort. of titilate, you know, people like me, right? And it worked like a charm. I had. never heard of it back then because you. just you would play Night Trap in. Netflix and chill by yourself. So, uh, they actually had to shoot this. like a movie, you know, they shot it in. Culver City on a sound stage. And uh. what they would do back then for and you. there were more full motion games of the.

time and you would try and cast one. recognizable face among this cast to. sort of they called it the anchor to. like all right well this has got so and. so in it and who did they cast for night. trap Dana Plato from from Different. Strokes Kimberly. Yeah Kimberly who. passed away very tragically man I was. reading about her life. She had a hard. sad life man. Very tragic story. Yeah it. is. It's very sad. And they actually. went back and ruled her death a suicide. later. Did you know that? I don't know. if I knew that. Yeah. She died by.

suicide ultimately cuz she overdosed. drugs or Yeah. Soma I believe which is. like a a a generic lure tab. Interesting. Which I I'm I think you. really have to try like I don't think. that's an accidental thing which is. probably why they did that. But it was. at a family reunion in Oklahoma. Wow. which I'm like, God, man, that's that's. just a sad ending. And her son actually. died by suicide as well later on. Oh, I. think I knew that like not super long.

ago, right? Yeah. Like Yeah. In the. 2010s. Yeah. Oh, man. Very sad. But. yeah, Dana Plato was cast uh as that. anchor. She played Kelly, who was an a. secret agent who would had infiltrated. the house. She was undercover. Yeah, she's undercover. and she would talk. right to camera and say things like, "You've got to get to the other room. because the augers are after whoever. Mary help." Yeah. Go help her. Um Yeah. And we should say also, so the the uh. the group of crime fighters that she was. a part of was called SCAT. Yeah. The.

special control attack team. Uh Scat. Uh, and then I don't know if we also. said so the people who own the house had. invited this group of teens that. included undercover Dana Plato Kelly who. I which I saw admittedly on Wikipedia. This is this is a great example of Night. Trap being Night Trap. In the in the. credits at the end, Kelly's name is. spelled with a Y on the end. In the.

players uh the users hand guide. It's an. I. It's an I. Yeah. That's that's night trap for you right. there. But the the family that invited. the kids the these teenage girls out to. for a weekend at their house are. actually themselves vampires with teeth. and everything. They're not augers. They're actually vampires. They don't. attack people. No, they brought them. there for the augers. Right. Right. Right. To source their blood, I guess. Yeah. There is a pretty funny scene in. it when uh Did you watch any of it? I. watched the whole thing. I watched the I.

think Grumpy Gamers did like a. playthrough. Yeah, they have a full. thing. I watch their their stuff too and. yeah, I've watched a lot of Night Trap. stuff. The best part is when uh they're. explaining in the game what the augers. are and the woman says, you know, it's a. vampire who's been blah blah blah. And. one of the scat guys is in the. background and he goes, you've got to be. jing me. It's like see that. Oh, it was. great. It was like, was this game made. in 1989 or 1973? It was really confusing like what era it.

was. So you said it was shot on a sound. stage in in Culver City. Yeah. And it. took like 30 days almost. Um they had to. shoot a ton of stuff. Yes. Because it. was like a 250 page script which is. incredibly long. Wow. Uh Ed, who helped. us out with this one, he points out that. a 2hour movie might have 120 page. script. It's about a minute per page is. is the rule of thumb. This is 250 pages. for a video game that was not very good. Yeah. That didn't have a lot of.

dialogue, but there were a lot of. different outcomes that could happen in. one just one particular scene. Sure. So, if you shot a scene, you had to shoot it. multiple times to get what you wanted. And then you had to shoot those multiple. times, multiple times for each outcome. Yeah. And and we should say that the uh. the violence in the game uh like we said. is suggestive for the augers. You don't. really see anything. The only real. violence is when the augers are. dispatched of but it is very much a wy. coyote bugs bunny sort of thing. Yeah.

It's the definition of cartoonish. violence. Yeah. Like they will be a. Murphy bed will flip them out of a. window or they'll just whoa like fall. through a trap door. The stairs very. like one of the things if they're coming. down the stairs you can trap them by. collapsing the stairs fly down. That's a. cartoon. When they fall into the trap. like smoke machine pours smoke out of. it. It's impossible. Yeah. That they. weren't going for cartoonish violence. There's no way of course that the. producers and director Yeah. were were.

trying to be like scary in any way, shape, or form. But it was shot by Don. Burgess, who was nominated for an Oscar. less than a decade after uh Night Trap. for Forest Gump. So, they had a real. team. It wasn't just, you know, they. didn't, you know, say, "All right, let's. go out in the valley and use some uh. like a a porn uh crew." Sure. And just. do this thing. Like they had a real. crew. No. And apparently Hasbro spent, depending on who you ask, at least a.

million dollars on this. Yeah. They. said5 in the documentary. So they they. put some money into it. And it is not. apparent on the screen. It the sets look. terrible. M the uh the doorways. I don't. know if you noticed, but any doorway, they didn't build the door down to the. floor. They built the door down to like. a a one foot tall stepover. I didn't. So, anytime someone opens the door, they. step over this like one foot tall like. wooden set. That's awesome. I mean, the. set is it's basically like they could.

have repurposed it for growing pains or. family ties or something like that. Or. no, they probably would have said like. this doesn't look good enough, right? Maybe small wonder. I think they used it. for Small Wonder. How about that? Uh. there is no nudity. Uh we should point. out, but it. again was never going to be. kid-friendly, but also when you when you. we'll get to the court stuff when you. hear how it's described by these. senators, it's so over the top. It's so. over the top. Yeah. Should we take a. break? You don't want to take a break, do you?

No. I'm excited and I'm ready to keep. going, but let's take a break. All. right. Well, uh, I guess we should take. a break by. saying that Hasbro dumped the game. This. is a nice cliffhanger. Oh, okay. Hasbro. dumped the game. Wait, wait. Well, Hasbro dumped the game or not, Chuck. Okay, we'll find out right after this. [Music].

Okay, Chuck, it's cliffhanger answer. time. Hasbro dumped the game. Oh my. gosh. Because a it wasn't that great, but the big reason was because CDROM. technology started up and they were. like, "We've got VHS technology and we. suck a million five into this turkey. Like, let's just dump it." And that. should have been the end of it. Not just.

Night Trap, but the whole control vision. thing that that night the whole platform. that Night Trap was just going to be a. game on. Totally gone. CDROM killed it. Hasbro said, "Forget it." The thing is, the people who worked on designing this. game said, "No, no, no, no. Hasbro's. being shortsighted here. It's too good. This game in particular, maybe Control. Vision is dead. Granted, the VHS thing, we're going to just forget about that. But this game is too groundbreaking to. just let die." So, they actually went to.

Hasbro and said, "How much will you sell. us the footage, the code, the whole. shebang for Night Trap for?" And the. designers actually bought the game from. Hasbro and took it and founded their own. company, Digital Pictures. Do you know. how much they sold it for by No, I. couldn't find it. I couldn't find it. either. Um, I would guess peanuts. basically, right? They probably were. like, "I don't ever want to hear the. words night or trap together again to. get it out of here." Um but these these. designers, developers, directors, writers, everybody got together, formed. digital pictures and bought it and.

started developing Night Track, ironically for CDROM, which is the the very um the very type. of uh media. Yeah. That killed it in the first place. Yeah. By by Jim's telling on the. documentary, I don't know if they were. already going CDROM or if it was. initiated by Sega, but he got a call. he. said out of the blue from Sega who had. their gaming system at the time, Sega. Genesis and then Sega CD was an add-on.

system featuring this new CDROM. technology. And he said they got a call, they said, "Hey, you want to develop. this for CDROM?" And uh he probably got. a good laugh out about about that and. the irony and then said, "Sure, because. Night Trap must live." Yes. This guy is. dedicated to Night Trap living. If. there's one thing that he wants to keep. alive in in the world, it is Night Trap. That's right. So, um, they started. developing it for CDROM. Uh, it was a.

step up for sure from what I can tell. Like the the graphics worked a lot. better. Um, the problem is is this was. 1992. 1992 was when it was finally released as. a CDROM game. Yeah. They had shot all. this footage in the late 80s, but it. looked like the late '7s. There was a. big difference between say 1988 and 1992. style-wise. It was apparent, visually. apparent and immediately apparent to. anybody say of video game playing age. Yeah, agreed. That was a big strike.

against Night Trap to begin with, but. probably the biggest strike of all was. that it wasn't a highly playable game. It was not a good game and it probably. would have just kind of faded away like. it it sold I guess enough that it. qualified as like a not a ter not a. disaster. Uh they at least did more than. break even. But it probably would have. just fallen into the dust bin of history. had it not been for um Senator Joe. Lieberman of Connecticut and Senator.

Herb Cole of Wisconsin, a couple of. Democrats who created this crusade about. violent video games. in I think 1993. Yeah. And so this uh very much mirrored. if you listen to our Satanic Panic. episodes and the PMRC and music. labeling, NPAA, NPAA, like this was all. a time when everyone was saying, "Hey, listen, we need to start at least. labeling this stuff so parents know what. their kids are doing." And um just watch.

a little bit. You know, there's all. kinds. It was in the Netflix. documentary, but there's all sorts of. stuff on YouTube about these hearings. where they're talking about the. disgusting trash and the filth and the. hyper violence, and it's like it's. really not that violent. So, so here's. the thing. They were they went after. Mortal Kombat. Yeah. Which was super. violent. It really was. Yeah. And they. went after Night Trap, which was again. cartoonish. Mhm. Not a drop of blood. spills from a person's body. Right. Um. but it had ladies in lingerie. one. Yes.

Okay. I'm not defending any kind of. violence against women. I'm not. defending objectifying women. But Night Trap was unfairly railroaded. Oh, yeah. Because for some reason, I. think probably because it was. um it was film. It was people like the. people were controlling people. That was. the difference because there was there. were a hundred exploitation movies and.

horror movies by this point. Sure. 200. Yeah. 300 that were a thousand times. worse than this. Yeah. But the fact that. you were controlling yet they never said. and they make a a big point about this. in the documentary like you weren't. doing the violence. Like the whole point. of the game was to stop the augers. That's Yes. Like you weren't the person. doing the auguring. Preventing the. violence. Yeah. I guess that's why they. called them augers because it was kind. of like an augur. The tool was Yeah, that's what I guess. Crowbar. Tobar.

What was it called? Crowbar. Crowar. Yeah. Crowbar. But yeah. And they never. I mean he Jim Riley was like they. clearly never even played the game. Yeah. No, they were talking about um the. cover of the thing was lurid. They. didn't like the cover of the box. Yeah. They Yeah, they definitely hadn't played. the game. It was just impossible from. what they were saying happens in the. game. Uh, and the big one was like you. were saying that it it it um it let. players carry out sexual violence. against women and No, you do the.

opposite of that. Right. There's. violence that is carried out by the. augers if you don't do it right. If you. if you're not good at the game, if you. lose. Yes. Exactly. But even then, like. even in the most disturbing scene, which. was the one with the lady and the and. the nighty looking in the mirror, the. augers come in behind her and it's for. sure creepy looking at first. But you. know, then they get out the the crow. car. Oh, I can't even remember crow car. And she's like, "Ah, ah." And it's like. the worst bee movie. And then they just. sort of drag her over the threshold of.

one of those doors. I would say gently. escorted. Yeah. Through the door. Like. you don't see any of the violence even. No, it's all just suggested, right? Yes. But again, Night Trap got lumped in with. Mortal Kombat. And um because of this, because it was very clear that the. writing was on the wall, the media has a. really great track record of saying, "Oh. god, if we don't come up with a rating. system oursel, right, Congress is going. to impose it on us." And so they came up. with the uh ESRB, the Entertainment.

Software Rating Board. That's right. It. was a industry created self-imposed. rating system that was brought about in. large part because of Night Trap. Right. So Sega pulls the game eventually. It. became really popular because of these. senatorial hearings, which is what. always happens. Yes, that's exactly. right. It was starting to fade away. It. would have been lost to history and then. the senators came in and were like, "Go. buy that game." Kids wanted to play it.

But Sega did eventually pull it. Uh, Digital Pictures re-released it as their. own distributor and uh, rated it M for. mature and that should have that should. have also been the end of it, right? Yeah, it should have just kind of went. away especially after Sega pulled it. because it got pulled from KB Toys and. Toys R Us because the kids but like. you're saying it was still around and. then when Sega pulled it was like you. couldn't find it anyway, right? That.

should have been the end. And then in. 2014, Tom Riley, uh, Jim Riley, Jim, uh, Jim. Riley started a Kickstarter and said, "We're going to resurrect Night Trap. All we need is. $330,000. People are going to go crazy. for this. It's a following." Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be the greatest. Kickstarter in the history of. Kickstarters. And it was not the. greatest Kickstarter ever. It was uh one. a really really bad Kickstarter that had. a lot of criticism, skepticism, and.

ultimately only garnered I think about. $40,000 when they were after 330. And. that was in 2014. Yeah. So that. obviously was the end of Night Trap, right? That was not the end of Night. Trap, the bad game that refused to die. Yeah. Uh, in 2016, there was a video on. YouTube that showed someone playing. Night Trap on their telephone on their. smartphone. And so, I don't know if it. was Jim Riley or one of the original. devs saw it and was like, "What is going. on? You can't play Night Trap on a.

smartphone." Yeah. Cuz it was never. developed that that technology unless. that smartphone is playing a CD that I. don't know about in the background. and. they got in touch with a person uh his. name was Tyler Hogle and he was a mobile. game programmer who followed was a fan. of the original as like an occult fan. way. That's a deep cut at that time. That was super deep cut. And then. basically said I'm going to uh get a. playable version hacked together for. smartphones and did it like. semi-successfully. Yeah. Um, so he he.

basically created this just on his own. and then once the video surfaced Yeah. and the the original developers, Jim. Riley and some of the others got in. touch with him, um, they said, "Here, man. Here's here's we lost the code. years ago. No one has any idea where it. is, but we do have original 35. millimeter footage, which is. timestamped, which is really critical. because you have to wait as we'll we'll. talk about how to play it in a second. The timing is everything between the.

video and the players controls. Um, so. with the timestamps, Tyler Hogel was. able to basically create a new modern. 25th anniversary edition. Um, that just. is actually kind of a as far as Night. Trap goes, is the best Night Trap that. there could possibly be. Yeah, that was. the 2017 25th edition rated T for teens. this time. Still preposterous, which is. funny. Uh, and apparently the um, you. know, you said he lost the code, but he.

was like that that's really easy. Like. I've got all this footage that's. timestamped. Yeah. He's like, I can code. this thing in my sleep. Basically, he. basically did. So, there is a 25th. edition um of uh, Night Trap, which. apparently Nintendo has a version of Oh, interesting. Which is kind of funny. because at the time of those Senate. hearings in 1993 94, Nintendo famously. said they would never allow Night Trap. on their platform and they did. Yeah. And Nintendo is still sort of known as. the more family-friendly unit. Yeah. Uh.

I think they even had a bloodless Mortal. Kombat if I'm not mistaken. Or maybe it. was a setting. I remember that. Oh, I. think yes. That rings a bell. Did you. see the new Mortal Kombat movie? Did you. have any I have seen zero Mortal Kombat. movies? Uh, the new one just came out on. HBO Max. Is it good? It's pretty good. I. mean, did you play the game? Yeah. Do. you have nostalgia for the game? Sure. Yeah, you should watch it. Okay. It's. good enough. It looks good and there's. great fights and then some nice Easter. eggs and Okay. It's like the Mortal. Kombat movie that should have been.

because they made one previously that. wasn't that great. Yeah. From the 90s. Yeah. But this one looks It's pretty. cool. Okay. Okay. I'll check. You rip. out spines and hearts and I I'll look at. I'll go check it out. And the way they. do the blood, it looks just like the. game. Is it rated T14? It's rated R. Okay. Because it's a. movie. Uh but we mentioned that that it. wasn't that great of a game because of. the game play. Um one of the biggest. problems was that you've got all these. stories going on in these different.

windows, but you can only kind of. control one at a time. So when you're. controlling one scene, other stuff is. going on. And we mentioned that makes it. impossible to follow the actual story. That's a big problem. So it suffers. there. Yeah. But there's also this thing. where you have a red light, a green. light, and a yellow light. And when. these lights turn on, if it's the right. color light is when you engage the trap. button, right? And that's when the augur. will flip out the window. But it has to. be timed right. Yeah. Uh, and apparently.

while you're in these other rooms, if. you want to follow the story for a. couple of minutes, they will change the. codes, the color codes, right? So, if. you're in another room, they'll be like, "The code is now green." Yes. And you. don't know that because you're not. watching it. So, you go back and you. think the code is red, right? And so, you're losing the game. Yeah. Because. you have to have the right security code. activated to activate the traps because. this is the Martins family security. cameras. The Martin family, the vampires. are the ones who created the traps. You.

just hacked into it thanks to your pals. at Scat who you're basically freelancing. for. But when they change those codes, it's doesn't show on screen, right? The. character tells another character to go. down to the basement and change the code. in a different screen that you may not. be watching. Yeah. In a different room. that you can't hear or see or anything. like that because you're in the living. room and this conversation's happening. in the kitchen. that is not a thing where it's like oh. that's a cool little. little part of the game that is a.

maddening yes it's a bug right um so. that that that's a big part that's a big. problem with it as well and then also um. you don't have to get a perfect you. don't have to play a perfect game to win. but if if any of the augers get any of. the characters yes you lose if too many. augers start to accumulate you lose and. you get yelled at by the leader of scat. It's kind of funny. He gets really mad. at you for for screwing up. Um, but to. win it's you're basically memorizing.

where to go win. And it happens. especially toward the end really quick. So like you'll, you know, set off a trap. in one room and you have to go remember. what room you're supposed to go to to. get the trap set for the next augur. Um, and it's not really fun. It gets really. intense toward the end, but not. necessarily fun. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, hats off to the Grabster cuz he actually. played this thing and tried to play it, right? Uh, which was more than I was. willing to do, but I did watch the the. walkthroughs. Did you see the Night Trap.

video or the lip sync video? I did not. There's actually a theme song Night. Trap. Oh, right. Look out behind you or. something like that. That one of the. characters does a air guitar tennis. racket lip sync to Wow. dancing while the other characters have. to watch and pretend like they're not. mortified with embarrassment at seeing. this. It's It's really something. Oh. man, I kept waiting in the documentary. for a big reveal that like George. Clooney was one of the augers or. something, but Dana Plato was about as,

you know, Yeah. A-list as it got at the. time, which was probably Calist at the. time. Yeah. Yeah. Uh you got anything. else? I got nothing else. Night Trap. Go. seek it out. Night Trap, look out behind. you. That's right. Uh, if you want to. know more about Night Trip, you don't. even have to play it. You can just go on. YouTube and watch basically the movie. Uh, and even then, it's still generally. incoherent. Um, but since I said it's. still generally incoherent, it's time. for listener. mail. I'm going to call this.

speedreading. trauma. Uh, hey guys. I should start. with the obligatory long time, first. time. Finally, reason to email and here. I am. So, hello. I didn't think that a. short stuff on speedreading of all. things would trigger my first email. But. here we go. Halfway through the show, I. was flooded with a vivid memory of. speedreading in my elementary school. gifted class. Speaking of other scams, uh this was in the early 90s, my teacher. would drag a transparency with a printed. passage. Oh, I kind of remember this. Across an overhead projector at. increasing speeds, and after each pass,

we would take a comprehension. test. Uh I had no idea that this was a. scam. I just thought it was a standard. part of the curriculum that I wasn't. very good at and I felt terrible about. it. A then again in my Louisiana public. school curriculum curriculum, we also. had to get a hunting license and shoot. clay pigeons as part of Louisiana. history in middle school. I grew up. shooting clay pigeons. Really for. school? No. Okay. I would like to try. that. Is it cool? Ski shooting? Yeah, that's another way to put it. Looks like. fun. Mhm. Just stand behind. That's the.

rule, right? Yeah, basically. Uh anyway, thanks so much for the entertainment and. education edutainment. Especially this. past year, I've often had you in my ear. while I work from home to feel a little. less solitary. That is from Kate Ellis. Jensen in Boulder, Colorado. Thanks a. lot, Kate. That was a good email. Very. sorry to set off the trauma, but I'm. glad that it's passed. I'm presuming it. passed. Yeah, I kind of remember that. happening, but I certainly was not in a. gifted class. It doesn't sound like a a. very fun procedure. It kind of sounds.

like Ray Fines revealing himself to. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Red Dragon. Oh, spoiler. Do you see? Yeah, you know. what I'm talking about. Sure. We talked. about that recently. Yeah, the. wheelchair and fire scene was very. visceral, hilarious. Um, but also really. funny if you stop and think about it. Sure. That movie just danced on the line. and sometimes it went over. Agreed. Uh, well, if you want to know more about Red. Dragon Oh, wait. I already said that. stuff. If you want to get in touch with. us like Kate did, then you can email us.

like Kate did uh at stuffpodcast@. iheartradio.com. [Music]. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iMheart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].