''Smash TV'' is a 1990

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arca ...

created by

Eugene Jarvis Eugene Peyton Jarvis is an American game designer and video game programmer, known for producing pinball machines for Atari and video games for Williams Electronics. Most notable among his works are the seminal arcade video games '' Defender'' ...

and Mark Turmell for Williams Electronics Games. It is a dual-stick shooter (one for moving and the other for firing) in the same vein as 1982's '' Robotron: 2084'' (co-created by Jarvis). The

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

, and

Game Gear The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990, in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and during 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily competed with Nintendo's Game Boy, ...

versions are titled ''Super Smash TV''. The plot centers on a dystopian

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

during the then-future year of 1999, where one or two contestants must shoot their way to fame and fortune; the show is taped in front of a live studio audience with broadcast via satellite worldwide. The goal of the game show is to kill or be killed, and once all of the challengers in each arena have been massacred, the contestant(s) will proceed to survive the next gauntlet.

Gameplay

250px, left, Arcade screenshot The play mechanic is similar to that of Eugene Jarvis' earlier '' Robotron: 2084'', with dual-

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

controls and series of single-screen arenas. While most of the enemies in ''Robotron'' are visible at the start of a level, in ''Smash TV'' they are generated in waves as a level progresses. Power-ups, some of which give the player a new weapon, are picked up by running over them. The themes were borrowed from violent and dystopian sci-fi blockbuster films from 1987 such as ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferre ...

'' and '' The Running Man''. The plot involves a wealthy celebrity named Master of Ceremonies (or MC for short) who is hosting and competing in his violent

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

, in the not-too-distant future of 1999. MC has the playable contestant(s) moving from one high-tech gauntlet to the next, each player has to shoot hordes of enemies who enter via passages on each side of the screen while also collecting weapons, power-up items, and gift-wrapped prizes. The final room in each level is a protracted fight with a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

. At the end of the game is a showdown with the show's host where players are granted their life and freedom. Among the game's items are keys. If enough are collected, players can access a

bonus level A bonus stage (also known as a bonus level, bonus round, or special stage) is a special level within a video game designed to reward the player or players, and typically allows the player to collect extra points or power-ups. Bonus stage either ...

called the Pleasure Dome where players can "collect" hundreds of blue

bikini A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features two triangles of fabric on top that cover the breasts, and two triangles of fabric on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but exposing the navel, and the back coveri ...

-clad blonde and buxom "babes" akin to other prizes in the game. The game features verbal interjections from the game show host such as "Total carnage! I love it!" and "I'd buy that for a dollar!". The first of these became the title of the 1992 follow-up, ''

Total Carnage ''Total Carnage'' is a multidirectional shooter arcade video game originally developed and published by Midway in North America in January 1992. Set in the fictional country of Kookistan during 1999, players assume the role of Captain Carnage a ...

''. The second phrase came from a fictional TV show within ''RoboCop''.

Development

Mark Turmell recounted, "When

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

pulled the plug on an

interactive movie Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

project I was working on, I went to Williams to design coin-op games. I moved to Chicago, hired

John Tobias John Tobias (born August 24, 1969) is an American comic book artist, graphic designer, video game designer and writer. Tobias is best known for creating the ''Mortal Kombat'' series along with Ed Boon, to whom he pitched the game concept. Tobia ...

, and together we did our first coin-op, Smash T.V." The

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...

in the game is voiced by sound designer Paul Heitsch. The script was created by the game's composer and sound designer Jon Hey. Originally the arcade game shipped without the Pleasure Dome bonus level implemented, although there was text mentioning it in the game. The design team had not been sure that players would actually get to the end of the game. However, players did finish the game and after arcade operators informed Williams of player complaints of being unable to finish it, the company sent out a new revision that included the Pleasure Dome level.

Ports

''Smash TV'' was ported to the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

, and

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

consoles.

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

published ports for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

, and

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

, all released in early 1992. On some home systems such as the NES, players have the option to use the directional pad on the second controller to control the direction the character will shoot on-screen. Using this option for both players requires a

multitap :''Multi-tap also refers to a text-entry system for mobile phones.'' A multitap is a video game console peripheral that increases the number of controller ports available to the player, allowing additional controllers to be used in play, similar t ...

. The dual control aspect of the game works particularly well on the SNES, as its four main buttons, A, B, X and Y, are laid out like a D-pad, enabling the player to shoot in one direction while running in another.

Reception

The arcade game was generally well-received. The Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) gave it the "most innovative game" award in 1990. The home conversions of ''Smash TV'' received positive to mixed reviews. The Amiga version scored 895 out of a possible 1,000 in a UK magazine review, and the Spectrum magazine ''

CRASH Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

'' awarded the ZX version 97%, making it a Crash Smash.

Accolades

In 1997 ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'' listed ''Smash TV'' as the 6th best arcade game of all time. In 2004, ''Smash TV'' was inducted into

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

's list of the greatest games of all time. In 1995,

Total! ''Total!'' was a video game magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future plc. It was published monthly for 58 issues, beginning in December 1991 (cover-dated January 1992), with the last issue bearing the cover-date October 1996. A "1993 A ...

rated Super Smash TV 51st on its Top 100 SNES Games stating: "Love it or hate it this is a superb conversion from the coin-op. One of the most frantic blasters ever. In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the game 84th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time."

Legacy

The 1992 Williams arcade game ''

'' shares many elements with ''Smash TV'' and was also programmed by Turmell, but is not a sequel.

Re-releases

''Smash TV'' is part of ''

Arcade Party Pak ''Arcade Party Pak'' is a PlayStation compilation of six Atari and Midway games: '' 720°'', '' Klax'', '' Rampage'', ''Smash TV'', '' Super Sprint'', and '' Toobin. It was the first compilation game for the system. All games are presented in ...

'' released for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

in 1999. It is included in the ''

Midway Arcade Treasures ''Midway Arcade Treasures'' is a video-game compilation of 24 arcade games, emulated from the original PCBs. The overall release was developed by Digital Eclipse and issued by Midway Games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Microsoft ...

'' collection, which is available for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Nintendo GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

and

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

and was released in 2003. These versions give the player the option to save high scores. ''Smash TV'' is also part of the 2012 compilation ''

Midway Arcade Origins ''Midway Arcade Origins'' is an arcade compilation released on November 6, 2012, in North America and in Australia. It is the successor to the ''Midway Arcade Treasures'' series, and includes a selection of games that were included in those compila ...

''. ''Smash TV'' was made available for download through

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...

service on the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

and was the first version of the game to officially allow two players to play the game online. It was delisted from the service in February 2010 after the dissolution of

Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (series), Rampage'' ...

References

External links

Racketboy.com's ''Smash TV'' Podcast featuring interviews with Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell''Smash TV''
at Arcade History * *
Smash TV
at Coinop.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Smash Tv 1990 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games Cooperative video games Game Gear games Head-to-head arcade video games Twin-stick shooters Nintendo Entertainment System games Sega Genesis games Master System games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games developed in the United States Williams video games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games ZX Spectrum games Original Xbox Live Arcade games Video games about death games Video games scored by Jonathan Hey Video games set in 1999 Fiction about death games Ocean Software games