Christopher Setterlund, In My Footsteps : super mario

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

In My Footsteps Podcast Episode 211: Super Mario Bros Turns 40, The Debut of ESPN, Defunct Supermarket Chains(9-10-2025)

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When sports got its own network. When the most famous video game character burst onto the scene. Supermarket chains that faded into history.

Episode 211 of the podcast bridges the gap between Labor Day and the beginning of fall with a heavy dose of Gen X nostalgia.

The show starts in the olden days of the 1970s. Back then, sports were limited to local news broadcasts and a select few games on major networks. Then, in 1979, a revolution began. The letters ESPN have become synonymous with excellence in sports broadcasting, but it had to start somewhere. We take a deep dive into the beginning of the first 24-hour sports channel.

40 years ago this week a plumber changed the world of gaming forever. We go back and look at the debut of Super Mario Bros. for the NES. In the decades since his humble beginnings, Mario has become the most popular and profitable gaming franchise ever. It is a trip down memory lane just with lots more coins, mushrooms, and koopas.

In a new Top 5 we will take a trip around some defunct supermarket chains. Did you ever get your groceries at any of these?

There is, as always, a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule looking at the first self-service supermarket, Piggly Wiggly.

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Helpful Links from this Episode

Listen to Episode 210 here

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

In My Footsteps Podcast Episode 136: Friday Nights At the Video Store; The 17 Original Nintendo Games; Product Advertising Villains; Debut of COPS(3-13-2024)

Memories of when a trip to the video store was a must on a Friday night. What were the original games released with the Nintendo Entertainment System? How about the bad guys of advertising?
Episode 136 is chock full of all of that and more!
It begins with a time when renting movies was as much fun as watching them. In the days before streaming and on-demand features if someone wanted to see a movie they could either pick up TV Guide and hope it was on a channel they had access to, or they could get to the nearest video rental store and hope that there was a copy in stock. We will go way Back In the Day through everything that made renting videos in the 1980s and 1990s fun, and sometimes not fun.
When the NES was first released in 1985, a certain number of games could be played on the console. Surprisingly Super Mario Bros was not one of them. We go back to those early days of Nintendo to review the 17 original games that were available. How many did you play?
The vast majority of advertising mascots are positive spokespeople for their products. However, there have also been some villains whose job it was to try to stop us from getting access to said products. This week's Top 5 will focus on the advertising villains. Who would win in a battle of these baddies?
There is also a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule centered around the debut and legacy of the COPS television show.
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Helpful Links from this Episode

Listen to Episode 135 here

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Wednesday, September 10, 2025

In My Footsteps Podcast Episode 211: Super Mario Bros Turns 40, The Debut of ESPN, Defunct Supermarket Chains(9-10-2025)

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

In My Footsteps Podcast Episode 136: Friday Nights At the Video Store; The 17 Original Nintendo Games; Product Advertising Villains; Debut of COPS(3-13-2024)