Video Power

In 1990, I was a contestant on the Gameshow version of "Video Power." It was a cheese masterpiece. I beat some kids at Tecmo Bowl and Bases Loaded (NES classics) to win a trip around this maze o' $9.99 clearance sale video games that I could stick to a velcro suit I wore (which was made of crap velcro that didn't stick well at all.) The contestants were between 10 and 13 years old, with preference given to girls (who sadly were often cannon fodder for boys with carpal-tunnel from constant video gaming.) The show had three rounds. In the first round, 4 kids would play a game for 1:41 to determine which two could get the farthest in a game (not all playing on the same NES.) Those two would then compete in a question round for points and then play a final video game (another 90 seconds or so) for like 30 more points (enough to make the question round basically worthless.) The bonus round had the velcro suit. 30 seconds to attach video games to yourself and slide down some lame slide. Finding a special video game warranted a special prize (often a crappy remote control car.) The producers were dumb as dirt as there were often 5 or ten or the special game in the unsearched maze, making it a joke to win. Daily winners went on to a weekly game for a prize of a Sega Genesis or so (back in the day, that was a cool thing to win.) I got thrashed in the weekly game, partially because I think I was the shitty Hawaii team in the Bases Loaded final, as opposed to the other kid who got to play as LA.

Watching the tape of myself later, I realized how retchid this show really was. The cartoon version (which came both before and after the gameshow's run) was way better than watching some acne-warriors try to stick games to themselves. In the end, I enjoyed being on it and at least I wasn't on "Steampipe Alley" (all you New Yorkers know what I'm talking about.)

"Video Power," in the late season, featured Johnny Arcade, who appeared in segments to teach kids game tips for the 8-bit NES and Genesis systems. The show included a kid's gameshow where 3 contestants would answer video game trivia (what is the game has this background music? Who is the main character of Master Blaster? etc). The winning contestant wore a velcro suit and was given one minute to run through a maze and stick Nintendo cartridges to the suit, which they would keep if they made it to the finish line. After Video Power came the cartoon "The Power Team," featuring the video game characters Querk, Kuros, Bigfoot, Arch Rival punks, and the N.A.R.C druglord. This show is practically impossible to find on tape today.

I woke up with Johnny Arcade everyday for as long as this show was on the air. At first, half the show was a cartoon with video game characters as the heros and villains, while the other half of the show was Johnny giving video game tips, and previewing new games. Later, it turned in to a game show that Johnny Arcade hosted, with kids playing against each other, where the winner got to run through an obstacle course thing, picking up video games while they went (as somebody mentioned before, the games were all crap, except for the few times when the gave away Neo Geos). Now, while this version of the show wasn't as good, it did leave us with one of the funniest tv moments ever. After a kid lost a round, the announcer for the show announced his consolation prize, a Game Boy game. Just as the announcer was finishing, the kid whined, "But I don't even have a Game Boy." Johnny looked directly in to the camera, smiled a smile of extreme embarrassment, and got the kid off camera as fast as he possibly could. Thank You.

I remember waking up at 6:30 every morning in my Bronx apartment, waiting to go to my hell that I called school, St. Clare's, and watching this show. Just about every guy in my class knew this show and watched it. The original season was great with the cartoon, but the game show was absolutely awesome. I mean who wouldnt want to run around there and get all those games? Ive been trying to get this show for the longest time, but have gotten nothing.

Although everyone up here has pretty much summed up the show, I will do my best to offer my own unique story. At the time, I was 10 or 11. I will say that the first season of the show was pretty cool. However, things would have been even better if they stayed on the video game tips and previews instead of cutting to the corny Power Team Cartoon. When I saw the first episode of the second season, I was in shock. Not only did they cut out most of the previews and tips from the first season, they converted the set into a circus. But it was a circus that I wanted to be a part of. Back then, I would have given anything to be on that show. I knew that I could whoop every one of those kids and stump Johnny Arcade. So many times the questions would be wrong in the quiz round. I remember a time when it was the music question and the music was clearly from the NES game Snake's Revenge and the answer they had for it was Top Gun. Any one who is a true video game afficianado, (and I'm not talking about the Playstation generation) would recognize that. Another thing that further fueled my need to be a contestant was the fact that the winner would always get to go through that maze of games and grab whatever the heck they wanted. Finally, perhaps the biggest reason I wanted to go on the show was because I wanted to win the prize of all prizes, a Neo Geo Gold System. But of course that wouldn't happen because almost 500 miles of America separated me from New York City and there would be no way that my parents would take me up there to be on a stupid kids show. Now that I look back on it and I have a Neo Geo (CD) system of my own (after waiting 9 years), I would still jump at the chance to be on that show even going on 22 years old.