Endless Thread - Announcing 'Hidden Levels': how the videogame world has changed the world beyond videogames

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

Have you ever jumped on something as you're moving through the real world, and heard that Mario bouncy sound in your head? Or maybe seen someone acting like an NPC when they're a real person? Maybe you know that the first real "in-app" purchase was actually a weapons store in an arcade game version of Double Dragon 3. Wherever you go in the real world, you can find signs of the influence of videogames. But you have to know where to look. That's why Endless Thread and 99% Invisible are launching a new limited series together called Hidden Levels. Today Roman Mars and Ben Brock Johnson kick off the series with a little preview of what's coming.

Hey guys, it's Ben Brock Johnson, and today I want to tell you about a special mini-series. We are going to be running on the endless thread feed for the next several weeks. It is a collaborative series we're making with the podcast 99% Invisible. And to help me introduce it is the host of 99PI. Roman Mars. Hey, Roman. Hey, Ben. So, Roman, for our listeners who don't know, what is 99% invisible? 99% Invisible is about design, it's about architecture.

It's about all the thought that goes into things that most people don't even bother thinking about. So, Ben, you've been on our show before. Yeah, that's right. We work together on an episode about the history is Falbar, the home of the global seed vault in Norway. You've also featured an episode from Endless Thread about the Punisher Skull and how that imagery is used by white supremacists. Yes, which continues to be relevant today. So I feel like our shows have always been Sympatico. And last year, you came to us with a really cool idea for a collaboration all about video games. Yeah, I'm so excited about this. I was really fun to work on with y'all. Roman, do you know what you call two people collaborating to beat a video game together? No. Is this like a riddle or is this like a

real thing? It's a real question. It's called the couch co-op. Oh, okay. Okay. So we're sitting next to each other on the couch like trying to defeat a level. Got it. That's right, man. You got the soda. I got the snacks. We're ready to go. Now, I am not a hardcore gamer. I mainly like play solitaire on my phone or the New York Times puzzles each day. How about you? I play several hours a week, I will admit. I'm in the Hell Divers 2 zone right now playing that game a lot. But one of the things I love about this idea that you brought to us is that this show, Hidden Levels, is all about how video games and video game design have changed the world beyond video games. So it doesn't matter what kind of a gamer you are. These stories are meant for everybody. That's exactly right. I really believe that video games have this

really interesting and outsized impact on everything we do. And if you play video games, you see it everywhere. And if you don't, you might be interested to find out how these things affect us. So, Roman, I have an example for you of how video games have impacted the world. I'm going to open up Replay Magazine from 1991. Okay. This is a window on the world of coin-operated entertainment. And I found in this magazine an advertisement for Double Dragon 3. The advertisement says, Billy and Jimmy are back.

They're back. The two main guys of Double Dragon wear matching outfits and fight their way through the inner city. One of the things that advertises in Double Dragon 3 here in this magazine is Special Weapons Stores. Now, Double Dragon as a coin-operated arcade game

actually had a store that you could go into. and put in extra quarters to buy a baseball bat or a whip or whatever you might need to bash your way through the game. What I'm picking up here is that in-app purchases, a thing that I do really regularly, even though I don't play a lot of Double Dragon 3 anymore, those happened because of video games.

Basically, yeah. The stories that I'm excited for us to tell our listeners is how video game design and video game development have really led to these real-world things, even if you don't love it, even if you don't love making an in-app purchases. You should know in part where this stuff comes from. Okay, that's great. I'm very excited to reveal this. We are calling our series Roman Hidden Levels. So in our series, we've got episodes

about the many ways video games shape our world. We've got an episode on one of the most iconic sounds in gaming history. Boom shakalaka. We will discuss how games reshape the natural environment. I was so familiar with that feeling of like walking through the woods that it kind of just translated into my experiences in game. We'll talk about the origins and evolution of the most popular game controller ever. There's a kind of direct manipulation quality to it. And we got one final boss episode at the end

that we think you're going to love. It's a challenger. I mean, you know, king to be king to end up challenger. Sega was the challenger, right? Sega was never the king. Sega was just coming up to the king and asking for a fight.

In True Couch Co-op Spirit, this show hits both the 99% Invisible Feed and the Endless Thread feed starting tomorrow. The first episode of Hidden Levels is Tuesday, October 7th, and we'll be rolling out new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. And we're going to have two SideQuest episodes that are rolling out just for the Endless Thread subscribers. Hidden Levels. We hope you enjoy it. Roman, are you ready player one? I am ready. Are you ready player two? Let's go. I'm hit and start.