Smash TV

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Smash TV
Promotional arcade flyer
Developer(s) Williams
Publisher(s) Williams
Designer(s) Eugene Jarvis, Mark Turmell (co-designers)
Jon Hey (sound effects)
Platform(s) Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Gear, Master System, Mega Drive, NES, SNES, Xbox Live Arcade, ZX Spectrum
Release date 1990, 1991, 1992
Genre(s) Run and gun/Multi-directional shooter
Mode(s) Up to 2 players, playing simultaneously
Input methods Joystick
Cabinet Upright
Arcade system Williams Y Unit
Sound M6809 @ 2 MHz
Yamaha YM2151 @ 3.57958 MHz
HC55516
2 x DAC.
Display Raster resolution 410×256(Vertical) Many Colors

Smash TV is a 1990 arcade game created by Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell for Williams. Home versions were developed for various platforms and most were published by Acclaim Entertainment.

Contents

[edit] Description

The game format was very similar to that of Eugene Jarvis' earlier Robotron: 2084, with dual-joystick controls and series of single screen areas. The theme of the game involved players competing in a violent gameshow, set in the then-future of 1999.

The game featured verbal interjections from the gameshow host including:

  • "Let's Go!"
  • "Bingo!"
  • "Good Luck...you'll need it!"
  • "I'd buy that for a dollar!"
  • "Big Money! Big Prizes! I love it!"
  • "Dude!"
  • "No Way!"
  • "Total Carnage! I love it!"

The last quote gave itself to the title of the 1991 follow-up, Total Carnage, which, while not a direct sequel, featured similar gameplay.

The announcer in the game was voiced by sound designer Paul Heitsch. The script was created by the game's sole composer and sound designer Jon Hey. The voice of General Ahkboob in the sequel Total Carnage was that of Ed Boon, coding creator of Mortal Kombat. In the SMASH TV flyer image [right] the hands at the console are Ed Boon's (left) and Jon Hey's (right).

This game is known for its graphic nature and for its later versions, where players could enter the Pleasure Dome if they collected 10 keys.

[edit] Smash TV in pop culture

On the 2005 game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, there is a side-mission called 'Slash TV', which parodies this, where the player's character is surrounded by enemies, and is awarded cash for eliminating waves of them. The camera angle changes from the game's traditional third-person "over the shoulder" view to a slightly angled overhead view so it looks like the original.

According to his Konquest Mode profile on Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the character Johnny Cage once took part in a celebrity version of SMASH T.V., defeated Mutoid Man with his Forceball attack and gave his prize winnings to charity.

The line "I'd buy that for a dollar" is sampled in the Mr Bungle song The Girls of Porn.

The quote "Big money! Big prizes! I love it!" is sampled in the track 'Afterclap' by 13 & God, the collaborative project of The Notwist and Themselves .

[edit] Ports

Smash TV was ported to consoles, including the NES, SNES (as Super Smash TV), the Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive (as Super Smash TV) and Sega Master System. On some home systems such as the NES, players had the option to use the directional pad on the second controller to control the direction the character would shoot on-screen. Using this option for both players required a multitap. The dual control aspect of the game worked particularly well on the SNES, as its four main buttons, A, B, X and Y, where laid out like a D-pad, enabling the player to shoot in one direction while running in another

Home computer versions were produced by Ocean for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, all released in early 1992. The Amiga version scored 895 out of a possible 1000 in a UK magazine review.[1] The Spectrum magazine CRASH awarded that version 97%, a rating which proved controversial as the game was very different from the arcade; the programmers believed a game more closely resembling the coin-op would be impossible on such a system.[citation needed] The Amstrad and Commodore 64 versions are similar to this and again, very different and much more basic when compared to the Williams original.

It was part of Arcade Party Pak which was released for the Playstation in 1999.

It was also part of the Midway Arcade Treasures collection, which was released for the PC, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2003.

Smash TV has also been made available for download through Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service on the Xbox 360 and is the first version of the game to officially allow two players to play the game online. It costs 400 Microsoft Points to purchase on the Xbox 360.

In an interview made available by Midway Arcade Treasures, Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell both agreed that a Smash TV 2 game had been thought about.

[edit] References

  • ^  Douglas, Jim (December 1991). Smash TV (review of Amiga version). ACE (UK magazine published by EMAP), p. 80–85.

[edit] External links