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Video Game TV Shows of Yesteryear

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Was talking with @welsh_gamer while on CoD earlier and we ended up talking bout old TV shows somehow and eventually ended up talking bout old games related TV shows.

 

What shows do you remember watching from your youth?

 

One that I always remember is The Super Mario Challenge Show that aired on The Childrens Channel. It was a games competition show based solely around Mario Games :D

 

I loved this show as a kid and still remember the name, or rather nickname of one of the contestants to this day....and I'm almost certain he was also the final winner of the show too, his nickname was Iceman. :D

 

Tried looking on Youtube to find some footage only managed to find this one video which is some guy doing a "retrospective" on the show....can't seem to find anything else like a proper ep.

 

 

 

Another show I used to watch was Games World on Sky One.

This was also a competiton style show but had a bit more structure to it.

Unless I'm remembering it wrong (correct me if I'm wrong) I think it was a daily show on Sky One and from Monday to Thrusday they had a contestants playing against each other, at the end of the week the person of that week with the most points came back on the friday show to face the "Videators"....think crazy "Gladiators" type characters who were meant to be the "best of the best". The player would then bet point in various games against these Videators and at the end of the show would be ranked on the shows overall leaderboard.... I think that is how it worked.

 

Two main things I remember of this show was the Season 1 intro with Chun-Li and the train and the Videator "Big Boy Barry"

 

This is the only vid I can find with the Chun-Li intro from the first season....

 

Can't seem to find a video with Big Boy Barry in it though :(

 

But here's a pic

bigboybarry.jpg

 

 

Apparently he now works as PR manager for Mad Catz.

 

 

There was also a segment I think in a later season where Diane Youdale ("Jet" from the original Gladiators) played the "Games Mistress" who gave hints/tips on games.... again can't seem to find a vid of this part :(

 

Here is a pic of her as Jet from Gladiators anyway :love:

Diane+Youdale.jpg

 

And as The Games Mistress

 

diane-youdale-games-mistress-1-600x480.jpg

 

 

I could go through a ton of other shows I remember and vaguely remember but I'll leave some for others to post.

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My favourite when I was a young teenager was Bad Influence, with Andy Crane and Violet Berlin. There was nothing "alternative" about it, which I actually found quite charming.

 

During the GameCube days I liked When Games Attack! A very funny programme presented by Dominic Diamond.

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The only one I can remember when I was really young and was semi decent was Cybernet. It was on ITV at like 3am in the morning so we would record it on VHS:grin: There was no proper presenters just a voice over guy so the emphasis was on game footage, almost like an early day Gametrailers.

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It was all about BITS for me!

 

 

Alongside gaming magazines, enjoyed it back in the day [before the internet blew up] for gaming news, previews and videos.

Edited by Retro_Link

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Who here remembers Knightmare on ITV? I loved that show growing up. It wasn't a show about video games but a show within a VR video game of sorts.

 

 

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@Grazza, Ahhhh yes Bad Influence, just Youtubed it and remember it now! :D

 

The only one I can remember when I was really young and was semi decent was Cybernet. It was on ITV at like 3am in the morning so we would record it on VHS:grin: There was no proper presenters just a voice over guy so the emphasis was on game footage, almost like an early day Gametrailers.
OMG yes I'd forgotten about that! Used to do the exact same thing!... except because it wasn't all that long, sometimes it would slightly change time or something and you'd record random midnight TV! :p

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Who here remembers Knightmare on ITV? I loved that show growing up. It wasn't a show about video games but a show within a VR video game of sorts.

 

 

 

Knightmare was absolutely brilliant!!! I couldn't wait for Fridays when I was younger so I could watch Treguard, Pickle, Lord Fear & co as teenagers tried (& often failed) to negotiate the virtual dungeon. Even looking back on it now, there were so many bits about the show to enjoy. Despite the puzzles and challenges often having set solutions, the unpredictability of the players meant that the viewers (& the actors in the game) didn't know what they were going to do. "Oooohh nasty!!!" :grin:

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I have no idea about most of these shows, but I remember one where contestants had to play Sonic&Knuckles (among other games) for a set amount of time, and in the end, the one with most rings won. It had a screen with an evil bald guy that spoke once in a while.

I have no idea what it was called, or even if it was Portugal-exclusive.

 

And then there was Hugo. Kids would call and play on their phones (like, the 2 button was to jump, 4 was left, etc.). In order to qualify, you had to write a creative rhyme or poem (because Hugo himself spoke in rhymes, too). That Danish Troll was quite the sensation in the late 90s, around here.

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Who remembers Game Network that was a channel on Sky back in the early 2000s? They just had a load of amateurish adverts which repeated all day, European presenters and I think it ended up, quite bizarrely, turning into Babestation in the evenings in its later years before disappearing altogether.

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I have no idea about most of these shows, but I remember one where contestants had to play Sonic&Knuckles (among other games) for a set amount of time, and in the end, the one with most rings won. It had a screen with an evil bald guy that spoke once in a while.

I have no idea what it was called, or even if it was Portugal-exclusive.

 

And then there was Hugo. Kids would call and play on their phones (like, the 2 button was to jump, 4 was left, etc.). In order to qualify, you had to write a creative rhyme or poem (because Hugo himself spoke in rhymes, too). That Danish Troll was quite the sensation in the late 90s, around here.

 

It's so funny, while reading the first part of your post I was thinking of Hugo! :D We naturally had the same concept here in Denmark, and it actually ran for many years in different incarnations. I'd watch it every morning. :)

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I have no idea about most of these shows, but I remember one where contestants had to play Sonic&Knuckles (among other games) for a set amount of time, and in the end, the one with most rings won. It had a screen with an evil bald guy that spoke once in a while.

I have no idea what it was called, or even if it was Portugal-exclusive.

That must have been Gamesmaster with Patrick Moore?

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Amazing memories. Watched them all!

Before the Internet...

 

I used to like Movies, Games and Videos on ITV. I remember seeing DKC2 on it. Seeing games in motion was quite rare unless you'd got a VHS on a magazine (N64 magazine for example), so seeing DKC2 in motion was AMAZING.

 

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^ Yes that was a great one too! :D

 

 

Thumb Bandits as another one, with one of the girls from Bits, and Ian Lee...

 

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It's so funny, while reading the first part of your post I was thinking of Hugo! :D We naturally had the same concept here in Denmark, and it actually ran for many years in different incarnations. I'd watch it every morning. :)

 

Ditto, here (except it was afternoons). They later introduced animals like a beaver, a skunk, a toucan and a chimpazee into the games/shows, right?

 

That must have been Gamesmaster with Patrick Moore?

 

*Checks youtube video*

 

Yeah, looks like what I remember, except it was the Portuguese version.

Edited by Jonnas

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Great memories, cheers guys!

 

Bad Influence's Twelve Days of Chistmas always stuck with me:

 

 

AND A CARTRIDGE IN A TEEEEEE VEEEEEEEEE :love:

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Ditto, here (except it was afternoons). They later introduced animals like a beaver, a skunk, a toucan and a chimpazee into the games/shows, right?

 

Well, the first games only had Hugo, his wife and kids plus the evil witch, typically in woodland areas with some mountains thrown in. Then later they introduced a tropical jungle island where the witch teamed up with a crocodile and Hugo teamed up with a toucan and a chimpanzee. There almost certainly have been other animals involved along the way as well. The Hugo games have branched out a lot over the years, and I've never got a complete overview of the series.

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