In which a red-hot video game company crashes and burns, with a little help from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The decline of Atari paved the way for a gaming renaissance— think Donkey Kong, Mario and eventually Pikachu. But as Japan took the upper-hand in the console business and taught a generation of American kids how to play, some Americans grew paranoid about a resurgent foreign power beating us at our own game.

TRANSCRIPT: HERE

CREDITS:

Writer and Host: Alex Pappademas

Showrunner: Colin McNulty

Producers: Taylor Jones and Sabrina Fang, with help from Tyler Hill.

Production Assistant: Stella Hartmann

Fact Checker: Savannah Wright

Composer/Sound Designer/Mix Engineer: Alex MacInnis

Theme Music by: Dan Leone 

Executive Producer for Western Sound: Ben Adair

Editor: Jamie York

Executive Producers for Higher Ground: Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, Mukta Mohan, and Janae Marable. 

Editorial Assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin

Executive Producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara and Corinne Gilliard.

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