Someone reminded me that I hadn't provided the link I claimed I would to this site here yet, so I might as well get around to doing it. Honestly, I hadn't remembered that this show existed at all until I ran across the website.
For those of you that recall the early days of G4 (back when it was much more gadget and games friendly and less Cops and Cheaters centric), you may recall the old game show Starcade. If you don't, then here's a quick primer: kids played video games and won prizes. Seriously, it makes its own gravy.
I know what you're thinking: how is this show different from the kids game show Nick Arcade? For one, Starcade does not suck. The two problems I always had with Nick Arcade were that the "quiz" portion of the game ran on for far too long and almost never ended without time running out. The true novelty of the show - getting to play video games - became uninteresting once you realized that these kids had seemingly never touched the games that they thmeselves were choosing. If someone gives you a goal like 800 points in level 1 (and it was always level 1!) in 30 seconds, you should be able to figure out the basics of the game enough to pull it off.
Starcade seemed to find kids that had at least stepped foot in an arcade, and even claimed to give them time to practice the games prior to the episode. Don't get me wrong; some of the kids are pretty crappy at the games. But the worst appearance on Starcade dwarfs the best appearance of any Nick Arcade kid.
So check out the website here, which lets you watch old episodes of the series among other things.
2 comments:
Yeah, I was there at the store on Sunday when Bruce showed me those episodes. I remember when they originally ran on TBS in the Eighties and how cool the games where then. Of what I saw, the show with the parent/kid team up was hilarious. Just what the Hell is a suburban mom doing playing Tron? Really? Still, the father/son team of Vic, the father and KHAN(!), the son was awsome. No doubt about what happened when they lost and returned home.
Aslo, the episode with the dude that was a Kiss impersonator? I had that same shirt. I swear to to Baby Jeebus.
Geoff Edwards,however was as cheesy then and will always be cheesy. Thus endeth the lesson.
I've only strolled through a few eps, but the Dragon's Lair one was very interesting. Having found two pretty decent players, it literally came down to who got lucky enough to get the high scoring screens the most.
Also, I had forgotten how cool that game's animation was (Bluth!), and how much Dirk squeaked like a frightened schoolgirl.
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