#36: Super Smash TV

Released In: 1991
Developer: Beam Software
Under License From: Williams Electronics
Publisher: Acclaim

      Do you like toasters? Do you like VCRs? Do you like giant piles of cash? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then why not compete on Smash TV, America's hottest new game show? As a contestant, you'll have the chance to grab millions of dollars in cash and prizes in the giant Smash TV soundstage labyrinth. There's just one small catch: the labyrinth is filled with explosive mines, exploding men, tanks, near-endless swarms of angry gladiators, and giant bosses.

Syd Lexia: The Super Nintendo version of Smash TV easily had the best controller configuration. In the original arcade version, you had two analog sticks, one for shooting and one for walking. I've never been a big fan of analog sticks, because they're not precise, so I always found the prospect of using two at once less than exciting. This problem was fixed in the SNES version, where you used the directional pad for walking and the Y,X,B,A buttons for shooting. It was a lot more intuitive, and a lot more accurate. And don't even get me started on Genesis and NES controller setups, those were FUCKING AWFUL.

You know, I'm not really sure what's so "super" about Super Smash TV, being as the game is a pretty faithful port of the arcade game. Ironically enough, it's actually MORE faithful to the original than the ports which simply bear the Smash TV name. However, I suspect the "super" is a reference to the game's hidden Turbo Mode, wherein the speed of the game is doubled, thus rendering the already frustrating game ten times harder.

Valdronius: Big Money! Big Prizes! I loooove it! OK, I know I'm probably not the only person who's going to say that when writing about this game, but I have to say it anyway. This game is just pure insanity. Enemies run at you by the dozens, and it's kill or be killed, all in the hopes of winning toasters and VCRs. The game is far more fun with the dual analog sticks the arcade version utilized, but the SNES version is still a blast. Oh, and it pretty goes without saying that you have to play this game with two players. I'll buy that for a dollar!

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