The Game Show Forum > The Big Board

More classic Nickelodeon game shows on Paramount+

<< < (4/8) > >>

Loogaroo:

--- Quote from: JasonA1 on March 25, 2021, 07:06:19 PM ---Co-sign. I was saying as much in some IM discussions after the episodes dropped. I'd only add that the Nick Arcade bonus round was WAY too tough for what it was -- the amount of things on screen that could hurt you was more apt for an expert level contestant, and could have been dialed back by half until kids got better. But at least I walked away as a viewer thinking "I'd love to be on this show" (and by extension, try the Video Zone) as opposed to the feeling I had watching Fun House or Legends of, "boy, I hope I can convince my partner to let me run the bonus first."
--- End quote ---

When the Nick Arcade pilot dropped last year, I noticed that the bonus round in that version was two minutes rather than just one. If a player had that extra time the game would have been easier by a pretty significant amount.

TLEberle:

--- Quote from: Loogaroo on March 31, 2021, 09:05:33 PM ---
--- Quote from: JasonA1 on March 25, 2021, 07:06:19 PM ---Co-sign. I was saying as much in some IM discussions after the episodes dropped. I'd only add that the Nick Arcade bonus round was WAY too tough for what it was -- the amount of things on screen that could hurt you was more apt for an expert level contestant, and could have been dialed back by half until kids got better. But at least I walked away as a viewer thinking "I'd love to be on this show" (and by extension, try the Video Zone) as opposed to the feeling I had watching Fun House or Legends of, "boy, I hope I can convince my partner to let me run the bonus first."
--- End quote ---

When the Nick Arcade pilot dropped last year, I noticed that the bonus round in that version was two minutes rather than just one. If a player had that extra time the game would have been easier by a pretty significant amount.

--- End quote ---
I want to include both responses here:

Finders Keepers had not only ninety seconds for the end game but six prizes. Double Dare had eight. I forget if Arcade started the trend of three tiered prizes but if they're going to make it an actual video game give the kids ninety seconds to work with. The other thing is that I would either change it to where the kids play a game of Catch it and Keep it where prizes and cash amounts come flying in and the winners must dodge enemies that will stun them momentariy

-or-

Make it Supermarket Sweep. Play an abbreviated front game where correct answers win time for both teams in the Video Zone, and the winning team plays the Starcade end game.

As I age I think moore of Phil and less of a quarter-baked amalgam where nothing is really fleshed out and it all feels like random events resolving.

JasonA1:
Now that Tim mentions the pilot, I recall footage of pre-air rehearsals on Facebook or YouTube where the bonus was being played for 90 seconds. I think that's the sweet spot, and as Travis points out, increases focus on the big expensive cool new thing you engineered for this show.

Having watched some of the episodes again on Paramount+, I'm sure they cut the bonus down to 60 seconds for time reasons. But with fresh eyes, I think there was a better way to manage that time, and I'd be looking to prune things from the front game to get those 30 seconds back for the end. Perhaps cut the second face-off game and let the team that's ahead or behind control Mikey first in round 2.

I also think the Video Challenge was OK, but not worth doing more than once a half, so I'd be working to only see one of those per round (unless kids take a REALLY circuitous path to the Goal). The points, prizes and enemies took far less time to resolve. You'd still get all your flashy variety for the kids watching, while being able to put more focus on the even flashier Video Zone.

-Jason

MSTieScott:

--- Quote from: JasonA1 on April 07, 2021, 08:00:51 PM ---But with fresh eyes, I think there was a better way to manage that time, and I'd be looking to prune things from the front game to get those 30 seconds back for the end. Perhaps cut the second face-off game and let the team that's ahead or behind control Mikey first in round 2.

I also think the Video Challenge was OK, but not worth doing more than once a half, so I'd be working to only see one of those per round (unless kids take a REALLY circuitous path to the Goal).

--- End quote ---

I disagree. When I was a kid watching this show, the only things I cared about were the video games (toss-ups and video challenges) and the Video Zone. The video puzzles and the super-dry pop quizzes -- the latter of which showed up way too frequently -- were the boring things I had to sit through to get to the parts of the show I wanted to see.

I just scanned several episodes online -- while most had three video challenges, some only had two. It doesn't feel right for a show called Nick Arcade to spend the majority of a round with the contestants buzzing in to answer questions.

While I agree that the Video Zone would have been better as a 90-second round, doing so wouldn't require stealing only an additional 30 seconds from the front game. You'd also have to factor in the time Phil would spend describing a fourth level (because three in 90 would be won too frequently) and a fourth prize plug. And then there's the inequality of one teammate playing an extra level. There's also the fact that season one only had eight non-boss levels, so repetition would happen more frequently (and I'm guessing there wasn't enough space backstage for a fourth set anyway).

If it were up to me and adding 30 seconds to the Video Zone were feasible? I'd ditch the goal space entirely. Let the teams move Mikey around at their whim and play a Mario-esque "time is running out" sound to let teams know the round will be ending soon. When time is up, ask a final "boss" question for points. With no goal space to play for, it's less obvious that the front game rounds are short and not much progress on the board was made.

And severely truncate the contestant interviews. Those were always a slog.

JasonA1:
I think you raise a lot of good points. A fun aside; the first episodes I clicked on were an early one from season 1, and a random show from season 2. During the season 1 show, my wife butted in with, "This is barely television!" (That means, if I ever watch one of the earliest-taped Double Dare shows with her, she's just going to rip the remote out of my hand and turn off the TV.) In the middle of the season 2 show, however, with Phil in full sing-along-with-the-music-mode, she gave Phil props for what he brought to the show, and how much more coherent it felt.

That's a long way of agreeing with what I've heard from a number of people going back to watch these, including members here: Nick Arcade was a fun idea and fun to watch, but suffering in execution.

Believe it or not, I was more frustrated with the Video Challenge as a kid than I am now. My observations in first run -- in no particular order, and surely influenced by the episodes I had seen: I've never heard of these games. Why do they always wager more points than they have? Why don't they know how to play this?

The first complaint can't be remedied, because they made whatever deals they could for real games. But the rest could have been fixed if they had more time to work with the kids. A Video Challenge at its worst felt like me renting a game from Blockbuster that didn't come with a manual. So I'm left to wonder: did the kids not play them at all? Or did they only get their hands on them for a short time?

Years later, I can't help comparing this portion with Starcade. Arcade games probably lent themselves better to brief timed challenges over many of the titles on Nick. At the time, my brother and I were rapidly building our SNES library, while our friends down the street had a Genesis. I felt smack dab in the target group for the show, and yet, I wasn't bowled over by a Video Challenge. There was something missing to bridge the gap (for viewers and contestants) when the game was unfamiliar, or fairly complex for a 30-second session.

Also, I was, and still am, a fan of Get the Picture, so the video puzzles were welcome events. But I agree the Pop Quiz was not working, particularly in season 1.

I feel the same lack of practice goes for the Video Zone too. It was rewarding to see a kid trying to dodge the obstacles, even if they didn't succeed. It was the opposite of fun when a kid walked across an entire level like it was a still painting and got hit by all 9 enemies in his path. Given how many variants on Pong we saw in the face-offs, I imagine they were in an overall crunch of time and budget, but I feel like there was a way to make it better by adjusting the power bars, amount of enemies on screen, speed of the game, etc.

-Jason

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page