View Full Version : Old Videogame Gameshows, one of whose name I've forgot
F-Zero 478
08-18-2005, 10:33 PM
I recently got digital cable, which includes a channel called Nickelodeon GAS (Games and Sports). It shows old Nickelodeon gameshows, including Nick Arcade, a show I remember from way back when. It's a pretty stupid show, since they usually only wind up playing two games for 30 seconds each, for a grand total of 1 minute of actual videogame play in the 30 minute show. Plus the challenges they have to beat from the games are always very easy, and yet the contestants still often fail. But I remember I used to like to watch it because sometimes they would play Neo Geo games like Magician Lord and I never had a Neo Geo. There was no arcade around were I lived either, so the show was my only chance to see Neo Geo games in action.
Seeing all this again the other day reminded me of a similar show that I used to watch early in the morning, probably around 6 AM, before I went off to school. If I remember correctly, it was better than Nick Arcade, but I can't remember it's name or what network it was on (it wasn't Nickelodeon). I remember they often played The Immortal for the NES. I think they also played Paperboy frequently. And I remember the grand prize was often a Neo Geo system, which I always thought was a rip-off of a grand prize, since the games for the cartridge based Neo Geo were so expensive.
Anyway, does anyone know this show's name? I have no idea, and haven't been able to find out by browsing around the internet. I guess it was a pretty obscure show.
boatofcar
08-18-2005, 10:54 PM
Was it Starcade? That's the only other video game game show I can think of.
http://www.retroblast.com/photos/misc/starcade/stage.jpg
slownerveaction
08-18-2005, 10:57 PM
It's definitely not Starcade, if they were playing NES games and giving away Neo Geo systems. Starcade is pre-crash, circa '83.
Trevor Belmont
08-19-2005, 12:15 AM
It could very well be a show called Video Power. The end of the show had contestants running through a gauntlet of NES games. They had to grab as many as they could and the ones they had with them when they crossed the finish line were the ones they kept. If I remember correctly, if they managed to stay on the whole week, they won the grand prize ... the Neo Geo.
www.atarihq.com/tsr/special/vpower.html
F-Zero 478
08-19-2005, 12:39 AM
Yes, Video Power, that must be it. I had forgotten about the NES game grab, but now that you mention it I remember that part. And I read the article you linked to, and that definitely sounds like what I was thinking of.
Thanks.
Lord Contaminous
08-19-2005, 02:05 AM
I always wanted to be on that show.
Cheesy organ music
Velcro Vests
The Power Mall
Silly ass Johnny Arcade
evildead2099
08-19-2005, 06:18 AM
It could very well be a show called Video Power.
Video Power was scarry, as I remember it. I mean, wasn't that a show which Acclaim used to hype its own games (through the use of a talking tomato person x_x )?
Lord Contaminous
08-19-2005, 08:58 AM
That was "Power Team' which came on before Video Power
studvicious
08-19-2005, 01:54 PM
I loved watching Video Power every morning before school, it was awesome. I would've given anything to go through the course at the end of the show. Just seeing those kids come out with all of those games made me drool. :eek 2:
GameSlaveGaz
08-19-2005, 08:26 PM
How come I never saw this show? It sounds a million times cooler than Nick Arcade (which when I was younger LOVED and wanted to be on so badly, but now watching reruns I realize how LAME it is)
They need game shows like that today, where you could win both current gen and retro games. That would ROCK!!!
F-Zero 478
08-19-2005, 08:41 PM
In case anyone is interested, I did some searching and found a few more web pages about the show Video Power. Here they are:
http://www.progressiveboink.com/archive/videopower.html
http://home.cwru.edu/~dwj/vp.html
http://www.jumptheshark.com/v/videopower.htm
The first link is by far the best, but the second is full of links to other sites, some of which work, some of which don't. The third link is to a few people's opinions of the show. Internet Movie Database has an entry for the show too. Guess I'll stick the link to that here too.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165600/
Speaking of IMDB, on the entry for Nick Arcade, one of the user comments says that a beta version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was played on that show and never seen anywhere else. I've been staying up til 3 am (central time) to watch the show on GaS to see if that's true, but they haven't played Sonic 2 yet.
I'll stick a link to IMDB's Nick Arcade entry below, but I had to register (which is free) in order to read the user comments, so I don't know if a link to the comment page itself would work. But it's a comment by Luke007 under the "Games Played" thread.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300828/
boatofcar
08-19-2005, 09:22 PM
That first link is awesome. Wouldn't it be cool to see a compendium of all the old arcade shows? Starcade, Video Power, Nick Arcade....man that would be great.
F-Zero 478
08-20-2005, 12:19 AM
Wouldn't it be cool to see a compendium of all the old arcade shows? Starcade, Video Power, Nick Arcade....man that would be great.
Nick Arcade comes on Nickelodeon GaS at 3 am (Central), an appropriate time slot considering that many of us who like lame shows despite, or rather because of, their lameness, are insomniacs (though I'm not actually an insomniac; I can sleep, I just HATE doing it). So I thought that G4 could show Video Power early in the morning instead of infomercials for products that have nothing to do with videogames and that no one who watches G4 would ever want. They could show other old videogame shows too. Sort of like Nick at Nite, but for videogames.
I think I'll write them an e-mail. I'm sure they'll read it and give it their utmost attention.
So I thought that G4 could show Video Power early in the morning instead of infomercials for products that have nothing to do with videogames and that no one who watches G4 would ever want. They could show other old videogame shows too. Sort of like Nick at Nite, but for videogames.
They probably make more money running informercials. That's why they run them. To make money...
I think I'll write them an e-mail. I'm sure they'll read it and give it their utmost attention.
But they probably won't...
alec006
08-20-2005, 01:27 PM
Dint they play Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Beta on that Nick Gas Show in 1992?
WiseSalesman
08-20-2005, 01:33 PM
Johnny Arcade was one dumb motherfucker. I remember the kids could ask him questions, and if he couldn't answer they got a free prize. Sure, I'm sure he threw a few intentionally, but he had some REALLY dumb moments. I specifically remember being a little kid watching this show, must have been early, early elementary school, and some kid asked "What is a cyborg?" and he failed to answer. Here I am, a gradeschooler and I'm raising my fists in the air, yelling "You imbecile! How do you not know that?"
Yeah....good times.
DragonMaster Sam
08-20-2005, 01:46 PM
I'm not sure if any of you remember this show, but it was on NBC or Fox around 11 am in the early 90's. Can't remember what it was called, but I do know that the final round involved the screen being flipped upside down and two guys were playing SNES games.
rayearthknight
08-20-2005, 02:01 PM
That was "Power Team' which came on before Video Power\|
The power team consisted of:
Kwirk (from "Kwirk's Kraze")
Bigfoot (from "Bigfoot")
Max Force (Midway/Williams' NARC)
Kuros (Wizards and Warriors)
They fought against the crime lord "Mr. Big" (again, NARC). My opinion on the show was quite low, I preferred Captain N: The Game Master. However, I think the version that was originally published in two subdequent issues of Nintendo Power were much better...anyone got those issues or a website to the original story?
Push Upstairs
08-20-2005, 03:12 PM
Here I am, a gradeschooler and I'm raising my fists in the air, yelling "You imbecile! How do you not know that?"
LOL
That image just made me laugh.
I probably would have said the same thing had i witnessed his "vast" knowledge.
F-Zero 478
08-21-2005, 01:31 AM
Dint they play Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Beta on that Nick Gas Show in 1992?
Don't know, I haven't seen it on yet. But I vaguely remember that when I bought Sonic 2 back in the day, I think I had seen it played somewhere before. It could've been on Nick Arcade.
I'm not sure if it's one of the game shows talked about already on this thread (and I don't remember the name at all), but I remember this one game show only from one detail...
I believe it was the last thing that you did as a contestant who made it to the final round. You were actually in the game. There was a backdrop of a fictional game, and they had to do things like jump from here to there, and avoid certain things, and maybe even grab an item or two on the way... it's vague, but does anyone know if this is one of the shows being discussed?
GarrettCRW
08-21-2005, 03:53 AM
I believe it was the last thing that you did as a contestant who made it to the final round. You were actually in the game. There was a backdrop of a fictional game, and they had to do things like jump from here to there, and avoid certain things, and maybe even grab an item or two on the way... it's vague, but does anyone know if this is one of the shows being discussed?
That was Nick Arcade's very bad (and very cheap) end game.
-hellvin-
08-21-2005, 04:44 AM
I'm not sure if it's one of the game shows talked about already on this thread (and I don't remember the name at all), but I remember this one game show only from one detail...
I believe it was the last thing that you did as a contestant who made it to the final round. You were actually in the game. There was a backdrop of a fictional game, and they had to do things like jump from here to there, and avoid certain things, and maybe even grab an item or two on the way... it's vague, but does anyone know if this is one of the shows being discussed?
Hmm, I had always wondered what that show was. Glad to finally know it was Nick Arcade. Wouldn't mind seeing a rerun of it to compare it so many years later, lol. I remember they ALWAYS played King of the Monsters....every freaking time it was King of the Monsters and the contestants always failed. It was cool seeing arcade games like that on tv at the time. I always hated that stupid "mist filled" little mystery game at the end.
Psyleid
08-21-2005, 07:41 AM
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
After reading about all the goofy shit he used to do (like rhyming the last word he said with a name) and his name ... Johnny Arcade! then you saying...
That Johnny Arcade was one dumb motherfucker.
...I actually threw my head back and laughed for a few minutes because of that :P
hades
08-21-2005, 10:06 AM
When I was in around 5th grade I used to watch video power every morning too. I had a pretty good collection of NES Boxes at the time (60+) and I used to throw them around my house and run around like I was doing the final run.
God I'm embarassed to admit that, but it feels better now that it's off my chest.
Push Upstairs
08-21-2005, 04:03 PM
This reminds me of that episode of "Nick Arcade" i saw where the "nerdy" kid totally dominated the entire game.
He had skill in the games, he knew answers...shit he even whooped ass in the shitty last game untill his inept parter screwed things up.
I rooted for that guy because the guy on the other team looked like he was stoned & he had a smug look on his face.
By the final round the "nerd" had (because his partner didnt or couldnt answer) 500+ points while the other team had like 75.
Even on crappy Nick gameshows...nerds rule. 8-)