Nick Arcade (also stylized Nickelodeon Arcade) is an American children's game show created by James Bethea and Karim Miteff and hosted by Phil Moore, with Andrea Lively announcing, that aired on Nickelodeon from January 4 to November 6, 1992. It aired originally during weekend afternoons, with reruns airing until September 28, 1997. In the first season, the shows were taped in December 1991 and aired in early 1992. It was taped at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida. In Nick Arcade, two teams of contestants played two initial trivia rounds, with the winning team advancing to the "Video Zone" to play against the virtual "Video Game Wizard" of the day.
The show's format combined video game trivia with contestant-interactive virtual reality. The virtual reality games were designed by Bethea and Miteff for Bethea/Miteff Productions and programmed by Curt Toumainian for Saddleback/Live Studios and Dean Friedman (for InVideo Systems). The show was the first in America to regularly intermix live action with animation using a bluescreen.
Gameplay
Two teams of contestants played two initial rounds, with the winning team advancing to play against the "Video Game Wizard" of the day.
Face-off Each round would start with one player from each team playing a video game for thirty seconds. The games here were designed specifically for the show and are listed below.
Game Synopsis Meteoroids Space shooter where players moved crosshairs trying to zap the most flying targets, which included asteroids and ships. The player with the higher score won. Laser Surgeon Same shooter-type game as Meteoroids, but with an inside-the-body theme. Brainstorm Players tried to defend a brain's neurons from an electrical impulse that ricocheted side-to-side; comparable to a sped-up Pong. The team whose side took the fewest hits won. Battle of the Bands Same dodge-game as Brainstorm, but with an on-stage concert theme using speakers and a sound wave bouncing from side to side. Star Defenders Same dodge-game as Brainstorm, but with players protecting their spaceships from a comet. Post-Haste A side-scroller race-type game where players controlled a mailman trying to dodge obstacles; inspired by Paperboy. The winner was the player whose mailman moved the farthest. Appeared in Season 2 only. Jet Jocks Same side-scrolling game as Post-Haste, but with players controlling jet skiers avoiding obstacles along a river. Appeared in Season 2 only. Crater Rangers Same side-scrolling game as Post-Haste, but players controlled ATVs, avoiding obstacles on the moon. Appeared in Season 2 only.
These custom Face-Off games were developed by Bethea/Miteff Productions in conjunction with Saddleback/Live Studios and Psygnosis.
The winner of the face-off won 25 (first round) or 50 points (second round) for their team. If the face-off ended in a tie, a toss-up question was asked. The team also earned control of the game's cartoon mascot, "Mikey, the Video Adventurer".
Main rounds In the main rounds, Mikey would be navigated over a thematic game-board by the teams. One team was Red, with the other Yellow (the latter, which was traditionally Blue in most Nickelodeon team-vs.-team game shows, was likely changed due to the Video Zone's blue chroma key setup). The game-board was divided into 18 squares, and Mikey was moved around the board in one of four basic directions (up, down, left, or right) toward a "Goal" space on the board. When new squares were landed on, various events would be uncovered, including trivia quizzes, video-based puzzles, bonus instant-win prizes, automatic point-adding squares, enemies and "Video Challenges." The latter involved one player of the team playing one of five video games in an attempt to beat a certain score or accomplish a certain objective within 30 seconds. Regardless of the outcome, both teams kept any prizes won during the first two rounds of the game.
More often than not, the round would end before Mikey reached the goal space, due to time constraints. In such cases, Mikey was moved directly to the goal, and a question was asked; the first team to buzz in with the correct answer received the "Goal" points. After the round ends, the contents of the remaining squares were revealed. Round 2 was played the same way, but with point values doubled.
Mikey's World Mikey's World had 11 different areas of exploration. These areas included:
Location Synopsis Pirate's Cove An old-fashioned port area including a skull-shaped island. The sub-areas include Skull Island, Sunken Ship and Pirate's Pier. Cape Cosmos A space center that transported Mikey into outer space, where his adventures began for the players. Sub-areas include Space Station Alpha, Planet X and Deep Space. Camelittle A medieval-themed area where knights, princesses and dragons roamed and fantasy came alive. Sub-areas include Enchanted Forest and Dungeon of Doom. Specific Ocean An underwater exploration area where the denizens of the deep abound. Sub-areas include Aqua City, Sunken Ship, Atlantis and the Beach. Forgotten Desert An Egyptian-style area that harbored mystery and intrigue. Sub-areas include Stinky Sphinx and Lost Pyramid. Slurpy Gulch A traditional lawless Wild West town with a southwestern feel. Sub-areas include Baby Grand Canyon, El Dorado and Hidden Gold Mine. Volcano Jungle A rainforest jungle with a live volcano and a village nearby. Sub-areas include Mount Blowafuse and Jungle Village. Creepyville A haunted mansion near a spooky swamp. Sub-areas include Haunted House and Murky Swamp. Mikey's Neighborhood A normal suburban neighborhood, home to Mikey as well as a bully nicknamed "Game Over." Sub-areas include Hang Outs and Mikey's Block. WeGot'Em Mall A shopping center near Mikey's neighborhood. Sub-areas include Atrium and Plaza. Time Portal A vortex that Mikey traveled through, visiting his neighborhood both in the past and the future. Sub-areas include Past and Future
Moving Mikey There were eight different types of spaces Mikey could land on:
The Four Ps ("Points, Puzzles, Pop Quizzes, and Prizes"): Points - The team that moved Mikey was automatically awarded points (25 in Round 1, 50 in Round 2) and kept control. Video Puzzle - Different puzzles were played. The team that solved the puzzle received points (25 in Round 1, 50 in Round 2) and control of Mikey. Examples of video puzzles included identifying the artist in a music video with a scrambled picture and recalling a series of images flashed rapidly on the screen. Pop Quiz - A question was asked that related to the area Mikey was traveling. The teams could buzz-in during the middle of the question. If a team answered correctly, they earned points (25 in Round 1, 50 in Round 2) and control of Mikey. (In early episodes, the team in control of Mikey would choose one of four categories.) If both teams missed a question, another Pop Quiz question would be asked until one team answers correctly. Prize - The team that moved Mikey won a prize and kept control. Any prize the team received was theirs to keep, regardless of the game's outcome. Video Challenge - One of the contestants from a team chose one of five video games on stage to play (each of which could be played only once during an episode). The goal was to meet or beat the "Wizard's Challenge" (renamed "Expert's Challenge" in Season 2), which was usually to either get the same exact certain score or higher than the certain score within 30 seconds for the game chosen. The other team member had three seconds (although it usually was not enforced) to write, using a Magna-Doodle, how much of their score they would gamble that the partner could complete the challenge. If the player was able to meet or beat the challenge, the wager was added to their score, and the team kept control of Mikey. If not, they lost the wager, and the other team gained control. Teams could wager any amount from zero to their current score or the value of one question in that round, whichever was greater. In the event the other team member wagered more points than their current score, the wager was rounded down to their current score, only if the challenge was won. Each game could be played only once during an episode, and when it was chosen, the marquee light was turned off (though the game continued to run in attract mode). Only games with constantly visible on-screen score displays were used. Short descriptions of each game were read after being selected starting in season 2. At least one Video Challenge was played in each episode, with as many as four Video Challenges played in an episode. Consoles used for this part of the show were the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, TurboGrafx-16 and Neo Geo. Enemy - An animated enemy, which changed with the setting of the game board and "attacked" Mikey. Landing on an enemy square forfeited control to the opposing team. Examples include the town bully named Game Over in "Mikey's Neighborhood", and a genie named Djinni (the same pronunciation as "G-E-N-I-E") in "The Forgotten Desert". Time Bomb - In the rare occurrence that Mikey moved to a space that had already been landed on, a "Time Bomb" would occur. The team controlling Mikey had to correctly "pong-spell", alternating letters back and forth between team members, a word in 10 seconds. If a team correctly pong-spelled a word, they kept control. If not, the other team would gain control. Regardless of the outcome, the points stayed the same. Goal - The Goal worked in one of two ways: If the team that moved Mikey moved him to the Goal, they alone were asked a question based on a category their opponents chose from a list of four categories (three in season 2). A correct answer earned the team double the points the regular questions were worth (50 points in Round 1, 100 points in Round 2) and the Goal for that round. If they answered incorrectly or took too much time, the opponents got half the points (25 in Round 1, and 50 in Round 2) available and the Goal by default. If time ran out before Mikey reached the goal, a sudden death Pop Quiz question was asked for double the points the regular questions were worth (50 points in Round 1, 100 points in Round 2).
The team with the most points at the end of two rounds won the game. If the game ended in a tie, a 100-point tiebreaker question was asked. The winning team advanced to the Video Zone. The losing team received consolation prizes as well as any other prizes acquired during the game.
The Video Zone The Video Zone was a live-action video game with three levels. Using a video monitor to see themselves, the contestants would be backstage, climbing ladders, throwing "snowballs", and using a boat in front of a bluescreen attempting to achieve previously explained goals (which was always to obtain three objects) for each level of the game.
As in a traditional video game, players could be "damaged" by hazards and enemy characters. If they lost all of their power (five units, as shown by an on-screen gauge), the screen would fade to grey, and they would have to start the stage over and repeat its objectives until successful (in season 1, six episodes had a message that read "Try again. Press START to continue."). In addition, each level contained a 'power-up' that appeared periodically that, when touched, gave the player an added advantage in that level—destroying all onscreen enemies, freezing enemies for 5 seconds (rendering them harmless), restoring the team's power meter to maximum, etc.