"Starcade"...one of the only game shows I can remember that had challenges based on a contestant's skill, and not luck or knowledge of semi-useless trivia. Today, it would be like some multi-game version of "Madden Nation" with a bunch of oppressive attention whores posturing and shit-talking in front of the camera for weeks on end.

"Here's hoping all your troubles get zapped!" I quoted that from memory. Did I get it verbatim?

P.S. "Sinistar" on XBLA, for the one millionth time!

I tried watching a little, but then i died inside.

yes! now i can finally watch people play angler dangler.

btw, that was not sarcasm

SEGA, Sega lives. It will never die.

Love those pants...

In the Uk there were Saturday morning kid's shows in which people would play different versions of that pow game, including having to give instructions to the guy shooting...

"left a bit, left a bit, right a bit, up a bit, FIRE!"

It was shite.

@Malvolio the Magician: The Sega we all know and love is long dead. Sammy took care of that when they killed studios and consolidated others. They managed to kill every ounce of creativity the company had and they either fired or shelved the best developers they had or chased them out altogether.

I'm too young for that (21), but in my day (the early 90s) we had Nick Arcade, and I actually believed that they had the ability to transport you inside of a video game. I had no idea what blue screens were at the time, so I thought it was so awesome.

Cool, neat find. reminds me of a more streamlined Nick arcade.

Awesome

and @Jekht: you have no soul

I miss those days.

We didn't have TV-Powww, but here in NY we did have WPIX's version of it during the weekday after-school cartoons - where it was the same idea, but instead the kid on the phone would shout "PIX" when they wanted to shoot - and of course, the shot would follow a few seconds later.

Inevitably, it would just become some kid shouting "pixpixpixpixpixpix" for about a minute or two.

AWESOME. I caught a few episodes of this back when G4 wasn't totally awful...I was only about 3-4 years old when they originally aired so my memory of them in "real time" is pretty flimsy.

My favorite Starcade episodes were the ones where the grand prize was a vaguely described "robot."

there were a few Hugo based games on TV when I was growing up, you had to say directions to move as well as actions (like 'jump')

LEFTLEFTLEFTLEFTUPUPUPSHOOTSHOOTDOWNDOWN

I used to watch this all the time, I think it played a lot on G4. I'd usually watch it to see what crappy prizes they'd give away, like a huge jukebox that they said was 'portable', or computerized chess.

That show always made me feel uncomfortable, but I could never look away. Did the host ever kill himself from shame?

@MoeB: Nice to see Kotaku has a local fashionista.

a couple months ago when i was in my digital audio design class for our review for the final we actually played starcade X3. The way we did it was we had a question off the final, then we had a video game question. we didnt play games after everything single question.

I got to play double dragon and despite the emuator controls being messed up from what the instructor told me i still managed to get the high score X3. it was the most fun i've ever had with a final review X3

This reminds me of some arcade style game show that Nickelodeon had on the air for a couple of years. I can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but the contestants would face off against each other in a few different games, and then the winner would play a game trying to reach a certain score.

Anyone remember that show?

@Tyber_Zann: The prizes are the best part of Starcade. :D Considering you can find many of them nowadays for $1.50 at a garage sale, watching everyone get hyped over them is pure comedy gold.

@kosbee:

yeah..the show was called (shockingly) Nick Arcade. I remember they played so shittily at all times and I kept wanting to be on the show to beat their faces in.

@kosbee: There was always 'Legends of the Hidden Temple' but yeah... I think you're remembering 'Nick Arcade'

That was really awkward to watch. They had the five-minute long introductions, and obviously the host was more interested in what the fathers did for a living than the actual games.

And those horrible, Javier-Bardem-from-No-Country haircuts! Ahhhh! NOT THE EIGHTIES! ANYTHING BUT THAT!

@Pikadrew: haha - Yeah. I didn't even have a Genesis, but I'd watch them play Sonic and I remember thinking that these kids were awful at the games.

AHHHH Post the GTAIV review, it's 10am CrecenteTime! i'm antsy in the pantsy

@3inst3in: Agreed, where is the review?

Damn, that kid got ripped on episode 127

Everyones review is up except yours,what gives?

@Lou3000: LOL yeah I keep refreshing Kotaku in anticipation!

@3inst3in: Haha, you're not alone...

Ladybug is the best Pac-Manesque game next to Ms. Pac-Man. I play that every chance I get.

@Lou3000: They're teasing us. MOCKING us. Laughing maniacally while they sit and wait for us to -

Wait, where was I? Oh right.

I'm sure it's coming soon. :)

@Pikadrew:

I was watching that on Nick GAS with a couple friends once. The kids would actually die or get stuck on Greenhill zone 1. Garbage.

@3inst3in: haha I'm waiting as well :)

does anyone here remember Video & Arcade? (aired on YTV in the 90s)..

I used to watch this show on G4tv a few years back when they were new and still about videogames, it was one of the only shows I liked on the network. The others were Icons, G4tv.com, and Arena.

Ah, I remember Nick Arcade. Never heard of all these other ones, but what I remember from Nick Arcade is that they had a game board where the team who answered the question right (or maybe they alternated?) got to move a little character (Mikey, I think his name was). The space he went to would reveal to be an arcade challenge or other surprises. It was in my youth that I saw this, so all the games were mostly recognizable. Most of the ones on this Starcade show, I don't even recognize.

Also, the Starcade host's feigned excitement is pretty funny.

Anyone remember the game show "Video Power"? When you won you went on a video game run to grab as much as you could. I used to dream of going on this corny show when I was a kid. Good times.

+ Watch video

@thinkfreemind: Thats the show!

I could never remember that damn one.

I used to want to be on it like made.

@Agm: Oh wow. No after watching that I don't want to be on it anymore. hehe. But I'm sure I would have still loved it back then.

LOL the only episode of starcade i remember was the special show all about Dragon Lair episode. Some white kid with a uber big afro was trying to win a Dragon's Lair machine and lost horribly. Hahaha good times.

PIX! PIX! PIX!

@thinkfreemind: wow, that had to be one of the cheesiest things i've seen... ever. thank you

"Are your parents big winners?"
"...No?"
"AWWW! come on!"

Gamesradar have a great little feature on the gaming shows of old (there is a significant British bias however - but all the better to introduce everyone to Gamesmaster and Dominik Diamond). Great little read. I find it strange that they wrote this article, then Kotaku goes and mentions it... Hmmmm... ;-)
[www.gamesradar.com]
Yikes, that's my second Gamesradar link today - I feel quite dirty...

@Swizzler121: You think that's cheesy? Check out the show intro.

+ Watch video

Ohh man, Starcade! G4 used to even show reruns before they went downhill. If only I could have been on it. Seriously, those kids sucked at Time Pilot.

@thinkfreemind: Awesome. All day I'll be singing this.
Viiideeeeoooo Pooowweeer... Video Power!
Word to ya motha.

I watched this show a bunch when I was just a wee lad.

I just watched a couple of eps a little earlier. Pretty fun (I watched a few eps back in the early 80s, so I knew what I was getting into). Great seeing those old arcade units (and they actually have a few arcade units for sale in their store!). It was a little cheesy, but tolerable (hey, I actually watched KISS Meets The Phantom of the Park in the late 70s, so if I could survive that, I can survive ANYthing ^_^). I'd recommend it just for showing a roomful of classic arcade units to lil' relatives so they could see how it used to be (weeeell, sans the cigarette burns on the control deck and the line of quarters on the marquee...).

I'm old enough to remember this turd. It's just as cheesy as I remember it if not more. At that time video games were so big. TV excutives were scrambling to get anything video game related on TV. Hey we know! A gameshow! Everyone loves gameshows! hehe.

You younger folk are probably wondering why can adults be on the show. Well at the time Video Games weren't thought of as just for kids. It was a phenomenon sweeping the world, like a crazy new dance, like a fad. Everyone was doin it. It wasn't really till NES that Video Games started being perceived as something just for kids.

@thinkfreemind:

Yep with Johnny Arcade. God was he annoying, even at the time. His voice got under my skin. They used to show a Bigfoot cartoon to coincide with it if I recall correctly.