Nickelodeon 'TOTAL PANIC' show looks at Genesis, TG16 games

[airraid]

from 1989 to 1990, Nickelodeon had this 3 hour variety show on Sunday mornings called Total Panic.


They had these live action 'virtual' video-games like 'Eat A Bug'
(think PS2's eye toy on a huge screen) and Power Pad Pyramid that IIRC used the NES power pads.

anyway Total Panic was, to me, an awesome variety show that included videogame previews and reviews, including the well-established NES, as well as the TurboGrafx-16 and Genesis which were both new in the United States at the time


I had a tape with a small amount of footage still there (most of it was gone) but the best of what remains on that tape are amusing previews of
Sega Genesis Forgotten Worlds, and, NEC TurboGrafx-16 R-Type.


I've uploaded the Forgotten Worlds and R-Type segments to Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3z3K5y5iB0
(patience with youtube, they seem to be having a slow day)

it seems that i couldn't get it to play through FireFox, but with
Internet Explorer it plays fine, yay!

there is not a whole lot, and the tape cuts off when they actually get down to 'review' R-Type, but not before a look at 4 of its levels! it may seem retarded now, but back in 1989, this was awe-inspiring stuff, concidering most of us were used to Atari and NES.


for more info on Nickelodeon's TOTAL PANIC, see this post on Retrojunk
http://www.retrojunk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9285


when Total Panic was canceled by spring 1990, and after the re-runs ended, that was the end of my watching Nickelodeon. Nick crossed over into their era of 'complete crap', IMO, during the 1990s.

[drewbrim]

Watching that makes me remember how friggin hard R-Type was for me back then. Maybe I should throw that in the old TG and see if I still have trouble with it.

[InsaneDavid]

Total Panic and Make The Grade, best shows Nick ever ran. What's funny is you'll find tons of classic Nick sites but next to nothing on Total Panic (and Out of Control for that matter). :/

[Anthony1]

That was some cool ish right there. Much props. Takes me back to the good ole days.

[airraid]

Total Panic and Make The Grade, best shows Nick ever ran. What's funny is you'll find tons of classic Nick sites but next to nothing on Total Panic (and Out of Control for that matter). :/

Total Panic was definitally my fav Nickelodeon show ever. And you're absolutely right, most classic Nick websites have almost NOTHING on Total Panic. be sure to check the 2nd link in my original post. I gathered pretty much as much info on it as I could find--combined with what I remember.

I only regret that I did not preserve more footage that I had on VHS.

[Sothy]

The announcer makes me sick but whoever was actually playing R-type is pretty damn good at it.

[MegaDrive20XX]

I don't even remember this show. Due to the fact I was moving to a new city that year in 90' and we didn't have cable until Fall of 91'

Except I reconize Greg Lee (One of the host) He was the voice of the Mayor Robert 'Bob' White on the classic cartoon "Doug" series and then returned as the voice of Principal "Bob" White when it was re-newed on ABC. Which imho, I didn't care for, the Nick version was better.

[Tan]

nice to see some old footage of r-type and it's impact when it was new, i remember playing it at radio shack when they had the kiosks.

btw they do work perfectly with firefox 8-)

[InsaneDavid]

Except I reconize Greg Lee (One of the host) He was the voice of the Mayor Robert 'Bob' White on the classic cartoon "Doug" series and then returned as the voice of Principal "Bob" White when it was re-newed on ABC. Which imho, I didn't care for, the Nick version was better.

Really? That's what you remember Greg Lee from? Hmmm.. I've always thought his most well known role was host of the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego gameshow on PBS for years and years. Heck, it's still what Lynne Thigpen was most remembered for, her years as The Chief on the gameshow and many of the more modern PC games. Not to say that she wasn't a superb actress outside of those things up until her death recently.

[airraid]

yeah I had heard that Greg Lee did the voice overs for
'Doug' -never saw that show though. he also did
1991's "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?"

here's Greg Lee's work:

http://imdb.com/name/nm0497339/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9ImdyZW cgbGVlInxmdD0xfG14PTIwfGxtPTUwMHxjbz0xfGh0bWw9MXxu bT0x;fc=2;ft=20;fm=1

glad to know the vids DO work in FireFox. for me, sometimes they'll play in FF, sometimes they won't.

anyway, I've also added a very short ~21 second clip of
Total Panic (Greg Lee again) talking about Genesis
Ghouls 'N Ghosts. I doubt he's actually the one playing it though. his humor is, well it's late 80s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSXmtzAmZ1k

It's very very very low quality. sound kicks in after 7-8 seconds. nothing much at all. you're seeing what is left of it from the tape, between (unfortunate) record-overs years later. (damn!)

[DeputyMoniker]

[b]it may seem retarded now, but back in 1989, this was awe-inspiring stuff, concidering most of us were used to Atari and NES.


Nothing retarded about it. Every new generation is the "cool" one.

[lordnikon]

R-Type was obviously popular at the time in part because of its graphics. It blew away everything else available on consoles at the time. The TG-16 release of R-Type was near arcade perfect, and up until the PS1 release of R-Types, it was still the best available home version of the game.

But, there was more too it than just the graphics. R-Type was an innovative genre changing game, and this had just as much to do with its popularity as its graphics. R-Type was unlike any shooter ever seen at that time. The game had so many innovations and new features that ended up being used in practically every shooter to come after R-Type.