Nickelodeon 'TOTAL PANIC' (89) looks @ TG16 R-TYPE + Gen FW

AirRaidX · Post by **AirRaidX** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:14 pm

from 1989 to 1990,
Nickelodeon had this 3 hour show on Sunday mornings called Total Panic.

They had these live action 'virtual' video-games like 'Eat A Bug'
(think PS2's eye toy on a huge screen) and Power Pad Pyramid that IIRC used the NES power pads. this technology was later used in Nickelodeon's more popular show, Nick Arcade.

anyway Total Panic was, to me, an awesome variety show that included videogame previews and reviews, including TurboGrafx-16 and Genesis which were both new at the time in the U.S.

I had a tape with a small amount of footage still there (most of it was gone) but the best of what remains on that tape are amusing previews of Sega Genesis Forgotten Worlds and, NEC TurboGrafx-16 R-Type.

I've uploaded the Forgotten Worlds and R-Type segments to Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3z3K5y5iB0
(patience with youtube, they seem to be having a slow day)

it seems that i couldn't get it to play through FireFox, but with
Internet Explorer it plays fine, yay!

there is not a whole lot, and the tape cuts off when they actually get down to 'review' R-Type, but not before a look at 4 of its levels.

for more info on Nickelodeon's TOTAL PANIC, see this post on Retrojunk
http://www.retrojunk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9285

when Total Panic was canceled by spring 1990, and after the re-runs ended, that was the end of my watching Nickelodeon.
not even Nick Arcade could get me back. Nick crossed over into their era of 'complete crap', IMO, during the 1990s. I never really watched much of Nick Arcade-- since I felt Total Panic's preview-review segments were alot better

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:54 pm

Speaking of Nick Arcade, I actually caught part of an episode of that on their GaS channel (the one they show all their old gameshows on, buried somewhere in the depths of digital cable) that had Thunder Force III as one of the video challenges. Unsurprisingly, the player got game over before the 30 seconds was up... I pretty much stopped watching Nick once YCDTOTV disappeared, but they actually have a couple of decent cartoons these days (Fairly Oddparents, and occasionally Jimmy Neutron) while Cartoon Network has completely gone down the tubes.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:56 pm

[quote="Vexorg"]***the stuff vexorg said***quote]
perhaps you can answer a burning question i have about Nick Arcade. Thunderforce III was on defaults right? was the player on a time limit, or, if he weren't a moron, could he just sit there and complete it?

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:13 pm

I remember Nick Arcade, particularly their version of Speaker Pong. Neat stuff.

But the Nintendo Power Hour kicked tons more butt back in the day.

As for what Nick's showing nowadays, it's not too bad...although the only thing I really tend to watch on it is Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:32 pm

captain ahar wrote:
Vexorg wrote:***the stuff vexorg said***
perhaps you can answer a burning question i have about Nick Arcade. Thunderforce III was on defaults right? was the player on a time limit, or, if he weren't a moron, could he just sit there and complete it?

There was a 30 second time limit. What they did was to give you a score to beat within that 30 seconds (in this case, it was 8,000 points) and the player's teammate would choose a number of points to wager on being able to beat the score. I'm pretty sure the game was on defaults, and I think it was on the Serien level.

AirRaidX · Post by **AirRaidX** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:11 pm

I thought Nick Arcade was lame. the host was annoying. the only thing mildly interesting was getting to see some Neo-Geo games, for a FEW SECONDS.

the older Total Panic show, although not entirely about videogames, actually had more videogame coverage than Nick Arcade since Total Panic was 3 HOURS long. they provided previews/reviews of Genesis Truxton and Amiga's Battle Squadron. more than what Nick Arcade ever did, IIRC

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:00 pm

I used to watch Gamepro tv all the time. Take that! I never like Nick Arcade. Try to sneek up on me will ya'? Take that!

AirRaidX · Post by **AirRaidX** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:46 pm

circuitface wrote:I used to watch Gamepro tv all the time. Take that! I never like Nick Arcade. Try to sneek up on me will ya'? Take that!

I liked GamePro TV! I liked it when (JD Roth?) said 'SHWATWORLD!'
in a high-pitched voice (maybe you don't remember that)

AirRaidX · Post by **AirRaidX** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:50 am

Vexorg wrote:Speaking of Nick Arcade, I actually caught part of an episode of that on their GaS channel (the one they show all their old gameshows on, buried somewhere in the depths of digital cable) that had Thunder Force III as one of the video challenges. Unsurprisingly, the player got game over before the 30 seconds was up... I pretty much stopped watching Nick once YCDTOTV disappeared, but they actually have a couple of decent cartoons these days (Fairly Oddparents, and occasionally Jimmy Neutron) while Cartoon Network has completely gone down the tubes.

somewhere in my memory, I think I do remember someone on Nick Arcade playing Thunder Force III.

I played that game night and day. I would've done well on that show.