Famicom Dojo – Strong Bad’s Not-So-Secret 8-bit Origins

In the 1990s and 2000s, Homestar Runner was a Flash animation phenomenon which came up with other Flash-based media like Newgrounds, there at the creation of The Old Memes. The breakout character proved to be Strong Bad, a lucha libre wrestler (who also wears boxing gloves for some reason?) who answers emails in his Strong Bad Email segment, which would frequently go quickly off the rails into memorable new adventures. But just how did Strong Bad come to be?

Vinnk (with an unwitting Sean in tow) takes us on a journey back to the days of the NES and Famicom, and two games which directly and indirectly inspired the course that Homestar Runner would take: Tag Team Wrestling by Technos, famous for its Kunio-kun series including River City Ransom, and Pro Wrestling by Nintendo R&D3.

We here at Famicom Dojo would be remiss if we didn’t mention how much the humor and style of Homestar Runner influenced this very show. In retrospect, a lot about the Sbemail format applies to our Denshimail videos as well — ostensibly answering actual viewer mail, but go completely off in another direction in doing so. The fact that Strong Bad was influenced by video games from the same era as our primary focus was one of those things we just assumed everyone knew. Well, now we can cross over again in a more direct capacity!

Thanks of course to Mike and Matt Chapman for creating such wonderful and enduring characters and cartoons. The world is a brighter place because of you and all your cohorts!

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SeanOrange is a retro game fan from the US. Vinnk is a retro import fan who took things one step further and moved to Japan. Together they make Famicom Dojo: a web series dedicated exploring the Japanese history of video games and consoles from the other side of the Pacific.