Smash TV is a twin-stick shooter that was originally released in the arcades in 1990. It was later ported to just about everything. Midway developed the arcade game, and Acclaim published the ports. Some of the ports were published by Acclaim’s other publishing labels, such as Flying Edge.
Because of the game’s control scheme, I’m a little worried about this. Arcade games with unique control schemes don’t always translate well to the home console. I’m going to have to keep that in mind while playing this. The NES version is what I’m going to be starting with, and then I’ll get to the other ports on the SNES and Genesis.
This isn’t a game that I played as a kid. None of my friends rented it on any system, and I never played the arcade game. Because I didn’t live near an arcade, this would’ve been the only way I played it.
I think I remember seeing it in a few retro game stores, but I can’t be sure. The way I first heard about it was in the book NBA Jam from Boss Fight Books. That probably sounds a little weird, but the author was detailing the history of Midway, and Smash TV was one of the first games that Mark Trumell worked on for the company. He would later work on NBA Jam.
TLDR: Good graphics and solid gameplay make this an above average game on the NES.
Narrative
This is one of the coolest parts of the game! Smash TV is set in a dystopian television show where one or two contestants shoot waves of attackers in an attempt to gather money and prizes. There is also a very funny story about the game.
Players fight from room to room. Eventually, they come across an end level boss. There is also a sadistic host, who is the final boss in the game. A bonus feature was added to the game after it was released.
The Pleasure Dome wasn’t originally in the game, aside from a few lines of text. According to the book NBA Jam, it was added later after players complained about not being able to get to this fictitious room. This is something that could only happen in the 1980s and early 1990s. Now, people would freak out about this. I’m sure some of the more unhinged or antisocial gamers would send death threats to the company and developers over it.
The story is pretty good. For an arcade game like this, you don’t really need much more. It’s all a game show, so we don’t really need to know more about the players. There is a sequel to this game, which I’m sure will continue this story.
Gameplay
The gameplay is pretty good. I was worried about the controls, but the developers did a good job of making them feel good. There are a lot of power ups in this game, which makes things a lot of fun! I’m not a big fan of one hit deaths, but this is an arcade game, and that is how most of them work.
They gave you the option of using two controllers for this game. I stuck with one controller, but it is nice that they thought of this. Because the game is a twin stick shooter, the developers tried to recreate that with two controllers. It works quite well with one, so I didn’t bother using two.
Because you’re fighting waves of enemies, and your character is as fragile as an egg, you get a lot of different guns to use. These are temporary power ups, which is fine even if I really wanted to keep the spread gun. Aside from the power ups, there are a lot of bonus points to pick up. This is a holdover from the arcade game, and I don’t think that was something you could cut out of it since it is part of the gameplay.
You’re given quite a few lives to get through the game. This was a nice way to get around not being able to pump quarters into the game. Aside from having unlimited continues, which this game doesn’t have, there isn’t a better way of doing things. With a lot of practice, it is possible to get through the game.
Overall, the gameplay is pretty good. If you like this type of shoot’em up, then it is great. I’m not a huge fan of this type of game, but I did have fun with this. Smash TV is a fun and interesting shooter on the NES.
Visuals
There are a few things to talk about when it comes to the graphics. Some of the pixel art looks amazing for the time, the stages look good for what they are, and the sprites are rather uninspired. I can forgive some of it because it is a port of an arcade game.
There is a lot of digitized art in this game. These pop up between levels, when you lose all your lives, and on the title screen. All of them look very good! These pictures are the peak of this game’s graphics.
Each stage has the same basic layout. It’s a room with four doors, and enemies come in through them. The rooms don’t look bad, but they aren’t all that interesting. It can get quite repetitive as you go through the game, and there is only a little change in the gameplay as things get harder as you go.
Enemy and player sprites get the job done. There isn’t anything amazing about them, and they aren’t all that detailed. A lot of the regular enemies are simple palette swaps, which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but they don’t really look great to begin with.
What is notable is that I didn’t notice any slowdown or sprite flickering. Enemies aren’t moving quickly to begin with, but there is a lot of stuff on the screen to begin with. The developers got a lot on the screen, and it all looks decent.
Overall, the graphics are pretty good. The spectacular pixel art isn’t enough to really elevate this game. I think it is a little better than average when it comes to visuals.
Reviews at the Time
The reviews for the NES port are all over the place. The scores from 1991 and 1992 range from 9/10s to 2/10s. It did get more positive reviews than negative, but there are several glaring outliers.
Mean Machines gave the game a 90/100. The reviewer called it a “fantastic” conversion despite taking a graphical and auditory hit. They seemed to like everything about the NES port.
Nintendo Power gave the game a 4/5. This review spent more time talking up the different controllers that you could buy to play the game. At least that is what was captured on MobyGames. I do like that they gave us this information, but why?
EGM didn’t like the game that much, and their panel of reviewers gave it a 21/40. The only thing of note was that “this version doesn’t do it justice,” in reference to the arcade version of the game.
Game Zone Magazine hated the game and gave it a 23/100. The reviewer hated everything about this, didn’t know it was an arcade conversion, and seemed confused about how video games work. At the end of it, they recommended Super Mario 3 or Solstice. It’s been a while since I’ve read something like this, where the reviewer found nothing redeemable about the game.
Going back to look at these older reviews is a nice way to remind myself that these are just opinion pieces. There will always be someone who loves a game, and someone who hates it. Some of these are fun to look at in retrospect, especially when the reviewer goes after a game that they probably didn’t like from the jump.
8/10. The controls are pretty good, and the graphics are great at times. This is a quality shoot’em up for the NES, even if it is inferior to the arcade version.
Conclusion
Smash TV is one of the many games that I wish I had a chance to play in the arcades. If I played the NES game when I was a kid, it would’ve been in the same category as the other arcade ports that I played. I like this game, but it probably isn’t something I would return to. While it is fun, I like Rampage, BurgerTime, and Stinger more.
As far as shoot’em ups go, this is a fun game. Having a bunch of ways to control the game is pretty cool, even if I didn’t take advantage of them here. There isn’t anything technically wrong with this version of the game; it’s just something I would rather play in the arcades.
This is another reminder that Acclaim published a lot of games and had a long working relationship with Midway. Even if this was released under the Williams banner, it was still part of Midway. The Chicago video game industry is a little confusing. Basically, the pinball companies bought each other up and turned into a video game company.
There are a bunch of solid arcade ports on the NES. This is one of them. While it isn’t something I’m normally drawn to, I did have fun with it, and want to try the SNES and Genesis ports of the game.
If you liked this post, check out my other reviews of arcade ports. Such as Paperboy 2 or Rampart.