The Story of Digital Pictures & The Sega CD's Full Motion Video Games | Wrestling With Gaming 

"Night Trap will never appear on a Nintendo System." *4/20/2018 comes around...* Night Trap is announced for the Switch.

If you like this video enough to share it please consider sharing it on Reddit. It's probably the best way to help my channel grow!I apologize for the 2nd notification but due to RU-vid demonetizing the original video I released I had to publish this version which has already gone through manual review. The only difference between this video and the original I published are 3 words. So there's no need to re-watch if you already watched the first one... that is unless you really want to :-)The GameShark video is still coming, I promise! Due to some potential new contacts for the GameShark video I had to delay editing it but it will be the next video.

I absolutely LOVED my Sega CD when I bought it back in 1994, I saved up for a whole year to buy it and stayed up all night every night for like 3 months straight when I bought it. SewerShark, Night Trap, Ground Zero Texas, Lethal Enforcers, Sonic CD etc, there were so many awesome games that were so cheesy and campy but as a kid you didnt care, all I remember was being blown away that you could see actual real video on a game console! Honestly its probably the console I remember most fondly...well besides my old PC of course lol

The new release of Night Trap gets rated T, the original was M and they tried to ban it. The times sure have changed.

This was a great look at such an interesting time in video game history. :) My father was the lead programmer for Sewer Shark, and also developed the video codec used for most of DP's games. I vividly remember watching him doing endless code/decode sessions with the original tapes to squeeze out the best possible video quality from the Sega CD's limited hardware. I am just full of little trivia facts from the NEMO and Sega CD. :) Fun fact: In Sewer Shark, there are basically two halves of the game. While you're in the first two call signs, Dogmeat and Ratbreath, your movement through the sewers is relatively slow. After Falco supposedly crashes in Sector 19 and Commissioner Stenchler acknowledges her disappearance, Ghost takes you back to the garage and puts some extra stuff on the ship. When he gives you the Exterminator callsign and you launch again, the ship moves a lot faster through the pipes. In the NEMO version, Catfish would continue to give you verbal directions in this second half of the game - junctions were called out 5 at a time instead of 3. The "Crazy-Lookin' Thing" that guides you through Sector 19 was originally meant to show up much later when Catfish essentially disappears. But on the Sega CD, Catfish's callouts (and pretty much all of Ghost's verbal feedback) had to be cut because the video codec had to work harder with the increased movement speed and motion blur. So the Crazy-Lookin' Thing showed up at the start of that section instead, which was much easier to animate.

Looking back these games were horrendous but but back in the day, Double Switch, Ground Zero Texas, Dracula Unleashed & Corpse Killer were what seriously got me into gaming. After these I was hooked and was no longer a reactionary buyer who found out about products when they came out but was reading shouting them, preordering them, constantly talking about them and made me a day one buyer of new games and the newest systems. I was officially hooked and have been a active video game player ever since. And despite how bad they were, I have the best memories. The Sega Cd kicked my but into gear but the Saturn & PsOne changed my life.

This is exactly the kind of content I come to RU-vid for. Brilliant video, sorry to hear about the demonetization hassle.

17:45 Howard Lincoln, "Night Trap will never appear on a Nintendo system." cut to 2018, Night Trap now on Nintendo Switch.

Howard: It doesn't fit our guidelines *Few years later* Nintendo: Mortal Kombat 11 is arriving to Nintendo Switch

I was a tester at SEGA testing Night Trap, Sewer Shark, and all of the Make My Videos games. Back then it was pretty horrible, now I have great memories especially with the early 90s music of Kriss Kross, Marky Mark, and INXS. Good times.

I love Night Trap, it's so bad you can't help but love it. I have wanted to play it ever since I first heard about it years ago and I'm so glad that it's now available on more accessible consoles, I actually played it a second time after I finished it for the first time. It may not be the best game in the world, but it's become a personal favorite of mine.

I remember getting a JVC Xeye as a kid and it came with Prize Fighter and Sewer Shark bundled in, at the time I thought they were the most amazing games ever, Then Origin launched Wing Commander 3 on PC and blew my mind all over again because it looked so much better, of course as a kid I didn’t realize than the Sega FMV games were so limited due to Sega hardware. But I have fond memories of many FMV games as a kid because they became so prevalent for a short period. Although hands down the best game that system introduces me to was Popful Mail

I love FMV games and I love hearing about FMV games even more. Great episode. Let's hope for a definite resurgence in FMV style games! :)

Amazing work man! If I didn't know you and just saw this playing on a tv in a video rental store, I would believe this was part of a Nexflix Exclusive series. The real question everyone wants to know is, did you watch that movie and how was it?

GREAT GREAT!!!!!!!! IM 39 &... i randomly today searched SILPHEED GROUND Zero TEXAS & prize fighter Games i had when i was a kid, when i noticed the Full Motion theme in both, & your video was on the side suggested. THIS VIDEO TOOK ME BACK. As Bad as they may seem now, I ENJOYED THOSE GAMES AS A KID. This Video Is Thorough As Possible. THANKU GREAT JOB.

I love your videos just discovered you and im currently binge watching most of it THANK YOU high quality gaming documentarys are my new addictions

You have a voice that would keep anybody watching regardless of the subject your documenting, I'm a long time gamer and enjoy everything and anything about video games whether old or new, but I especially love documentaries regarding retro games and your voice just kept my eyes glued to my phone screen, your tone of voice has this enjoyable likeness that makes it so easy to understand the subject at hand, your soothing tone fills my brain with a warm nostalgia feeling that is hard to get from other documentary narrators/host's. Amazing work man!

This should have more views. I come back and watch this once a month. It's so nostalgic.

21:16 That Jungle Book game is the Best FMV of all time IMO, but then I've played it since I was a young child. It really is a good one though.

I’ll never forget getting a Sega CD and playing Sewer Shark and Ground Zero Texas. I truly thought we had reached the pinnacle of gaming.

The whole situation is perfectly described by Zito looking at kids playing Super Mario Bros. and his takeaway being that the graphics weren't flashy enough. This one anecdote is a microcosm of everything that eventually soured gamers and the industry on FVM.

Is it just me but does Zito sound a lot like Kermit the frog?

Wow, some real nostalgic hit when I saw that CVG cover. Made me dig out my old video game magazines only to remember I got rid of them when I moved house a while ago. Sad times.

The thumbnail in a Game Grumps video brought me.

That's amazing! If they ever re-release an updated version of Sewer Shark, I'll happily buy it on day-one!

I remember wanting a sega CD SOooo Bad at the time... Watching the gameplay now, I didn't miss much. YET, I have a strong nostalgia for it... At least they tried something new.

Magnificent work as always, you are making some of the best gaming documentaries on RU-vid.

I actually liked fmvs games it was different

This is pro, man. Great job. As a Sega CD owner, remembering Working Designs (Lunar, Popful Mail, Vay) and DP (Sewer Shark, Night Trap) very fondly as a kid, this was a treat. Although Zito sounds like Kermit. lol

Glad to see you've got a new video man, always look forward to these learning experiences

I love your videos! I play the audio while I’m driving and it makes the commute actually educational and entertaining!

These were always my favorite Sega cd games! I’m a huge retro FMV fan. I recall reading an article from Tom Zito that mentioned them shooting all of the video in “high def” back in the day and how disappointed he was to see what Sega’s compression algorithm did to their video and sound. I’ve always hoped newer versions of these games would release in 1080p.

I know I'm late to the game on this video but I just wanted to say thank you for putting together this great tribute to Zito and FMV games. Just fantastic!

Thank you for making this. I really like how this video and the one on Virtuality are done so professionally without the cancerous hype that most youtube gaming channels are infected with. Great work!

Great video as always man! These games blew my mind as a kid and I thought live action FMVs were going to be the future! Very good work and information. Keep up the good work!!

Also I love that Nighttrap is on the switch now...

Funny thing is, I know one of the developers behind the footage (and later who converted it to the SegaCD, 3DO, etc). These were originally designed for a revolutionary game console called the ISIX Nemo, which ran off of VHS tape, using a unique frame buffering system to split the footage up. I played the prototype, and *boom* mind blown.

Thanks for capturing this very interesting slice of history.

This channel should have more subscribers. The videos are great.

Fun fact: The SFX from Sewer Shark were done by John Dykstra's Apogee Studio.

Great job on these videos. Entertaining and definitive!

I have managed to watch all the videos you have on this channel over the course of this weekend. Thank you for your hard work, the video lengths leave me wanting more so I consider you are doing a good job. Please excuse my ramblings but I walk with wrestling with gaming.

Great work once again, you can never go wrong with any of your videos

Another great work that I'm using for my video game history lessons. Thanks a lot!

It is funny now that Night Trap is on a Nintendo System after what Lincoln said.

This is a another great episode - thanks for putting it together, WWG!

Keep up the good work! Your my new G4TV . Its like getting new episodes of Icons all over again! Kudos.

This was really interesting! Those FMV games are something that were always in the background when I was a kid but I really didn't know much about. Always appreciate the amount of research and polish you put into these mini-documentaries

Interesting that Sony was getting into purchasing the games, because when I was a QA contractor at SOA in 1991, I spotted one of the cubicles 20 feet away watching one of the game tapes, and immediately recognized the footage playing from it. I think it was a fighter game, because up until that point, in 1989, all I saw/played were Sewer Shark, Night Trap, and a "make your own music video" demo that would go on to be used for Kid and Play's Make Your Own Video title.

RU-vid is amazing... It gives people like you a platform to shoot a hot load of knowledge right into my eye-holes.

Very interesting video about a weird time in gaming. Keep up the good work!

I’d love to play these games and with the technology we have now, it could look and play really well!

I still have the "Making of" VHS tape. Corpse Killer looked nice in the '90s.

The Government tried to steer people away from Night Trap, but instead it made more people buy the game. I LOVE IT! 😂

Fmv games and the Sega CD 💿 is a match may in heaven at the time. 😀👍🎮

I'm always baffled, when in all of your videos, I see dislikes, and I can't for the life of me think of why. You don't go out of your way to offend, you tell the story, sometimes you give your opinion, but it's usually not something that's heavy-handed, I love your videos, in fact I love your videos, like I love that Telecaster in in this video.

Hit another one out of the park! Great job homie!

Excellent video, super interesting! I loved the Power Rangers FMV game for Sega CD

Am amezed that despites the color limitations of the sega cd, digital pictures did not refused to port their vhs night trap game to the sega cd ,just in order to make their dream became true. Also wow, i did not know that you could stream analogue video as an background to collecovision games if desired, but suppose that atari 2600 adaptor does just that.

I loved these FMV games. Dracula Unleashed was basically the cheesiest Dracula movie ever made once you made it through the game. Your reward for beating Corpse Killer was to end up out on a yacht with Julie, who had been giving you advice while dressed in Khaki's but was now wearing a rather skimpy bikini. The actress was Bridget Butler and she went on to a long and distinguished acting career......well maybe not. Another cool part of Corpse Killer was Vincent Schiavelli playing the Big Bad. I guess he quit his day job at Ridgemont High. And Robert Costanzo's role in Sewer Shark had to be the highlight of his career. They don't make games like they used to.

I wish FMV made a comeback. The technology today would make them look awesome. Imagine seeing FMV cutscenes of Solid Snake or FMV Otacon portraits.

Absolutely phenomenal and in-depth review of an extremely intriguing period of video game history. Well done!!

Impressively comprehensive! So glad I stumbled across your channel a little while back. :)

Fascinating history that I did not know!

Imagine a loading screen with the noises of a VHS tape rewinding.

Your narration voice and editing have improved so much. Gaming historian's gonna need to catch up haha

Came from GameGrumps! Loved the video.

I continue to be impressed by your content. Excellent work.

If the timing had just been slightly different I suspect their fortunes would have been a lot better. If they'd landed the license to create a Power Rangers game, they could have reused the footage from the show, and ordered any extra scenes they needed for dialogue from the US studio, this would have dramatically lowered the cost of development while still being popular with fans of the series because it would have featured the same actors and allowed them to do all the cool stuff from their favourite TV show. The visuals would have been better than anything on the market at the time and current gen hardware could have rendered the zords pretty well, maybe not for a 3D fighting game, but certainly giant robot battles as a sprite based 2D fighter would still have been good. I think a cross-genre title with FMV elements tying it all together would have worked well, with fighting stages, on-rails shooter stages, as well as maybe adventure stages to move the plot forward. Throw in some golden axe or streets of rage style side scroller / fighting stages utilising FMV backgrounds and captured digital character models of the Power Rangers out of costume while exploring, then when they run into enemies they can transform into their costumed counterparts to fight which could either have been more video captured sprites or generated models given that they all wore fairly basically designed, brightly coloured costumes. It should have tied together well, been cheap to produce and have been both a critical and financial success. A single massive success would have given them the working capital as well as interest and investment to develop more aspirational projects and the gravitas to be able to license some big name IPs, things like ghostbusters, which would have worked great by drawing translucent ghosts and proton streams, over the top of FMV. Or how about a star wars title maybe with first person perspective lightsabre battles?

i'll watch it again bro, you deserve the views good sir

Love, Love, Love this episode! I totally miss this brief but wide eyed period in gaming.

I played the shit out of Sewer Shark, Double Switch, Dracula Unleashed. At the time, the Sega CD just seemed so advanced compared to the 16 bit stuff we had

I was wondering why I haven't seen your content lately, it's because RU-vid has been hiding your uploads from my subscriptions feed. Glad I found this in a different feed. Great work as always dude.

Thank you for reminding me Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch existed.

So well researched and executed. I am really impressed with the production quality of your videos. Thank you

Excellent video. Made me miss my childhood just a bit. **sniff** :( Loved the Sega CD and had/played a bunch of their games and would insta-buy them again for PC/Steam if Zito or anyone would get the rights and re-release them.

scene of the crime was great i want more games like that !

This was so good. Wrestling With Gaming is the best gaming show on RU-vid! Hail to the king baby.

Love the time and hard work put into these videos. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Great job man.

I love this channel so much!! All of your videos are amazing and so well done

Great stuff as always! Keep the videos coming!

Sewer shark was one of my favorites!

Thank you so much for another stellar video. To me you are by far one of the best creators on RU-vid.

call it nostalgia...call it whatever. I have mad love for their games

Mate , what a brilliant video !!

These videos are so good I'm surprised to you only have 36k subscribers.

I have a soft spot in my heart for these types of games. I still play my SegaCD Time Girl, Road Avenger, Night Trap, etc. It's a nice change of pace from regular games. I also liked some of the cameos by washed up actors and wonder "hmmmmmm, what are you doing now?". 😁

Ground Zero Texas was the best sega cd game in my opinion. Maybe it's because of the nostalgia, but I still boot it up and play to this day.

I didn't watch this video... But I just had to stop by the comment that when I was scrolling through my feed and I saw this in the Sega icon... I heard the "Segggga" sound bite in my mind😋

18:08 Night Trap Anniversary Edition is available for sale for the Nintendo Switch.

I owned a demo CD that had the Maximum Surge demo on it. Real shame we never got that one.

I loved Sega CD and it's FMV games. As a kid I always wondered why game graphics were so bad and would dream of the day they looked real. FMV games brought us much closer to this way earlier than the hardware ever could at the time.

You do an awesome job of these man

I played mortal kombat as a kid.... I am permanently warped.

I'm sure the success of Her Story helped the resurgence of the FMV genre.

Ha! Night Trap is available on the Switch Virtual Console. Howard Lincoln lied to Congress!

The Messiah has returned with another gift in the form of a masterpiece of a video..thank you sir for your hard work

That's a perfect liner near the end "video may have killed the radio star, but polygons killed video in the end."

Don’t know how I haven’t seen your channel sooner. Love it!! Subbed!!

They need to bring back "Sewer Shark" to current consoles and Steam.