Smash TV

The game takes place in a dystopian television game show in the then-future year of 1999. One or two contestants shoot waves of attackers while collecting money, prizes, and temporary power-ups. After an arena has been cleared of adversaries, the contestants choose an exit, each leading to another room. One room contains an end-of-level boss. With two players, the game is cooperative, but at the end of the level the player who collected the most cash and prizes receives an extra reward. The arcade game has a high difficulty and leans on being able to pay to continue. A bonus feature was added after release allowing players to collect keys throughout the levels to reach the "Pleasure Dome". The themes were borrowed from the dystopian films RoboCop and The Running Man, both from 1987. The player competes on what the attract mode calls "the most violent game show of all time", in the not-too-distant future of 1999. The goal is to survive while earning both cash and prizes such as VCRs and toasters. A sadistic host oversees the show and also takes part as the final boss. Verbal interjections from the host punctuate gameplay: including "Total carnage! I love it!", "Big money! Big prizes! 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 last phrase is from a fictional TV show within the film RoboCop. ==Gameplay==

The core gameplay is similar to that of Eugene Jarvis' earlier Robotron: 2084, with twin-joystick controls and a series of single-screen arenas. While most of the enemies in Robotron are visible at the start of a fight, in Smash TV they enter the arena in waves. In each arena, players shoot hordes of enemies that enter via passages on the four edges while collecting temporary power-ups and weapons, piles of money, and gift-wrapped prizes. When all enemies have been killed, one or more exits appear, leading to additional arenas. After completing the first arena in a level, a map shows the overall arrangement of the level and the location of the end-of-level boss. Players cannot backtrack to previously completed areas. 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 the other prizes in the game. ==Development==

Mark Turmell recounted: "When Hasbro pulled the plug on an interactive movie project I was working on, I went to Williams to design coin-op games. I moved to Chicago, hired John Tobias, and together we did our first coin-op, Smash T.V." The announcer 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, many 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, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Gear, Master System, and Sega Genesis. Ocean Software published ports for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, and Amiga. 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. 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 awarded the ZX version 97%, making it a Crash Smash. In 2004, Smash TV was inducted into GameSpots list of the greatest games of all time. In 1995, Total! rated Super Smash TV 51st on its "Top 100 SNES Games" list. In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the game 84th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time" list. ==Legacy==

The 1992 Williams arcade game Total Carnage 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 released for the PlayStation in 1999. It is included in the Midway Arcade Treasures collection, which is available for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation 2 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. Smash TV was made available for download through Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service on the Xbox 360 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. ==Notes==