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Super Smash T.V.

Williams (arcade), Probe Software (Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, Spectrum), Beam Software (NES, SNES), Probe Software (C64)
1.029 Votes

Smash TV is a 1990 arcade video game created by Eugene Jarvis 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, Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear versions are titled Super Smash TV.

The plot centers on a dystopian television show 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.

The play mechanic is similar to that of Eugene Jarvis' earlier Robotron: 2084, with dual-joystick 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 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, 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.

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 called the Pleasure Dome where players can "collect" hundreds of blue bikini-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. The second phrase came from a fictional TV show within RoboCop.

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  • Category: Super Nintendo
  • Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Magic
  • Developed: Williams (arcade), Probe Software (Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, Spectrum), Beam Software (NES, SNES), Probe Software (C64)
  • Date aired: 1990
  • Scores: 7.31 / 1,515
  • Rating: 8.5 / 161 times
  • Type: snes
  • Play: 514