Bargain Bin Gaming- Episode 25: Smash TV

SMASH_TVA few years before Mark Turmell went on to co-create such classics as “NBA Jam” and “Mortal Kombat,” the then little-known game developer teamed up with “Robotron 2084” and “Defender” creator Eugene Jarvis and made what would be and still is one of the most difficult arcade shooters of all time. The game was “Smash TV” and, now that it’s on the X-Box 360 Live Arcade with various enhancements like achievements and online leaderboards, it’s better than ever.

While it is still essentially the same game as it was almost 20 years ago, with the addition of achievements, leaderboards and online co-op play, “Smash TV”’s classic arcade gameplay is available at home for the first time. While the game was ported to every system available at the time, the technology forced developers to alter the game so it would be playable on the systems it was being ported to. For instance, anyone who had the version of the game on the NES had to use the directional pad on the second controller in order to shoot. Other versions of the game suffered much worse of a fate, as they weren’t very similar to the arcade original at all.

Now the game has been left intact, in all its arcade glory and can be purchased by itself, rather than on the mediocre Midway Arcade Treasures compilation that was released on the PlayStation 2 a few years ago, right now be the best time to pick it up. And at only 400 Microsoft points, it’s worth every single penny and will provide hours of classic, bloody shooting action.

For those who have never experienced the anarchy that is “Smash TV,” it is the top-down shooter that inspired later games such as “Loaded,” “Total Carnage” and even “Geometry Wars,” and takes place on a reality-TV show were contestants kill various waves of enemies for prizes. Sort of like a closed door “Contra,” the game swarms the player with tons of on-screen enemies to kill and forces you to kill every enemy before you can advance to the next room.

Think the movie “Running Man,” with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but only fun.

This description, however, barely does the game any justice, as the power-ups picked up throughout the game range from grenade launchers and rocket launchers to smart bombs and provide the gamer with a means to destroy what sometimes seems like endless hordes of enemies. While the standard enemies can prove to be difficult, the end boss battles are equally as tough and could cost you dozens of lives if you don’t play smart. This kind of challenge was praised in its day and is even more refreshing in today’s gaming world.

Simply put, games like this aren’t made anymore. Any serious shooter fan or retro-gamer that hasn’t played “Smash TV” in the arcade or on the 360 Live Arcade is performing an unforgivable injustice to themselves.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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