Smash T.V.

Smash T.V. for NES is a 1991 fixed-screen action shooter developed by Beam Software and published by Acclaim. It adapts Williams Electronics' 1990 arcade game, a dystopian game-show satire designed by Eugene Jarvis and programmed by Mark Turmell. Set in the then-future year 1999, the NES version casts one or two contestants in a televised survival contest where the attraction is as simple as it is grim: stay alive in a studio full of attackers while chasing cash and household prizes.

Each room is a self-contained arena viewed from above. Enemies pour in from openings around the edges, and the player must clear the screen before choosing an exit to the next challenge. Moving through the interconnected rooms gradually reveals a level map and leads toward a boss encounter. The essential rhythm is rapid aiming, constant repositioning, and making split-second decisions about when it is safe to collect a reward rather than continue firing.

The contests are populated by cyborgs, mutants, machines, and larger threats, while pickups can temporarily change the contestants' firepower. Money, wrapped prizes, keys, and power-ups turn each arena into a risk-and-reward scramble; the game show’s unseen audience and announcer frame the carnage as entertainment. The premise deliberately recalls the media satire around late-1980s dystopian action films, but its identity comes from the contrast between violent arenas and the absurd promise of televisions, kitchen appliances, and other prizes.

Smash T.V. began as a successor in spirit to Jarvis's Robotron: 2084, whose separation of movement and shooting had made it a landmark arcade control scheme. The arcade cabinet used two joysticks, one to move and one to aim. On the NES, a standard controller handles movement and firing with the available buttons, while the conversion also supports a two-controller arrangement that lets a solo player use directional pads for separate movement and shooting control. A NES Satellite or Four Score allows that dual-control idea to be used while retaining simultaneous two-player play.

Cooperative play gives the NES game another layer of survival strategy. Two contestants can cover different directions, thin an incoming wave together, and compete indirectly for the largest share of the money and prizes collected. The port does not simply use the later Super Smash T.V. title associated with the 16-bit console editions; this cartridge is the distinct NES release. Its compact controller solution and busy single-screen battles make it an early-1990s home interpretation of a coin-op built around overwhelming waves and independent aiming.

The original Smash T.V. arcade release earned an AMOA award for most innovative game in 1990, and its premise continued in Williams' later Total Carnage. For the NES library, Smash T.V. stands as a notable arcade conversion because it attempts to preserve the source game's signature control concept rather than reducing it to a conventional run-and-gun shooter. Players who learn its room layouts, prioritize dangerous arrivals, and make full use of the firing options can push deeper into the program's escalating televised challenge.