Sunday, May 31, 2026

Flopcast 734: Monkey Muscle

In the early 80s, video games were so popular that they inspired a weird pack of Saturday morning cartoons. The Pac-Man cartoon was first, and was soon followed by Saturday Supercade, Dragon's Lair, and Pole Position. Saturday Supercade featured short segments based on several games: Donkey Kong (both original and Junior), Frogger, Kangaroo, Pitfall, Q*Bert, and Space Ace. And this week we're joined by Eclectic Lee, a longtime friend of the Flopcast, for a Top 4 ½ List of characters from these goofy shows. Along the way, we'll discuss the voice actors, the games themselves, and the mystery of Quickclaw, Pitfall Harry's eyepatch-wearing pet lion. Maybe Frogger can help us, since according to his cartoon, he isn't just a frog who gets squished by trucks. He's also an investigative journalist. (Did we mention that these shows are weird?)

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Show Notes

Catch up with Eclectic Lee on Bluesky and/or check out his voluminous writings on "Pac-Man Fever"!

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Top 4 ½ Saturday Morning Video Game Characters

Stanley the Bugman was the protagonist of the forgotten Donkey Kong 3 game, making a single appearance in the Donkey Kong segment on Saturday Supercade.

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Pitfall Harry was the odd man out in the arcade-inspired lineup. He originated from the titular Atari 2600 game, for which Young Kevin earned a patch thanks to an old fashioned technology called "film". (This has nothing to do with the lion's eyepatch, so dont ask.)

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Donkey Kongs Jr. and Sr. occupy two slots on Lee's list, but they're broken up by Pepper, the name given to Ms. Pac-Man on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon!