Classic Arcade Game Show Returns With Online Play
While competition on the classic arcade games of yesterday has seen its fair share of public attention over the past few years, events such as the upcoming Kong-Off in New Jersey will only be another in a long line of head-to-head gameplay.
One such example is Starcade, a game show created during the original 1980s heyday of the video arcade.
Created by JM Production Company, Starcade debuted in 1982 on WTBS and featured gamers of all ages facing off in both question and game play rounds. The original run of the show ended in 1984 and reruns of the show ran on G4tv from 2002 to 2004.
In the show, contestants would face off first in a question round. Whoever got the question right would get to choose from the games selected for that episode to play against their opponent for a timed high score.
From now-historcial classics such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Dig Dug to lesser known titles that exist in the present day as the rarest of collectibles, such as Major Havoc, Mazer Blazer and others, Starcade featured over 130 different arcade game titles of the day across it’s 139 different episodes.
Donkey Kong, the topic of much discussion these days, was also among the many games played on the show beginning with the 1981 pilot episode. In the pilot, ChiPs star Larry Wilcox took on and beat the winning gamer from that episode by 300 points in what was the first look at the now-classic game that put Nintendo on the map.
Now, JMPC is set to introduce myStarcade, a virtual online version of the game show. Using the actual head-to-head matchups and games from the original series, myStarcade will act as both a fun trip down memory lane and a history lesson from the “Golden Age” of the video arcade game.
Players will be able to create profiles and battle for the top ranking on the myStarcade game by competing in other games that appeared in the original show, including the Name the Game Board, where players must quickly identify a screenshot a now-arcade classic.
Virtual prizes given to actual contestants of the original series, including home computers from the era and even a portable record player, can also be won in the online games.
The myStarcade game is currently in testing phase and is set for a launch within the next four to six weeks on the official Starcade website.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt0ObijBvL4[/youtube]
For more information and to watch full episodes of the classic series, visit www.Starcade.tv.
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