Video games and TV just do not mix. Aside from a few brave attempts coming out of the UK, I’m yet to see a show about games that doesn’t come off as juvenile, stale and boring as hell.
Wow. Starcade! I once had to listen to a drunk guy hammer on about Starcade for what felt like hours, his boozy, rum-drenched lips assuring me it was “only the best fuckin show I ever seen, man”. Apparently it was some kind of game show, where guys faced off on old arcade games. I’d never seen it myself, but hey, who was I to argue with that kind of passion? Now that I have seen it (the full episodes are up for viewing), I don’t know about calling it the “best” – it’s no La Linea – but I’d certainly call it “pretty great”.
Let’s lead off what will be an epic Sunday with a goldmine of retro-game nostalgia: Starcade. Not the commenter, the TV game show in the early-to-mid 1980s that ran in syndication, and featured contestants battling it out on Ladybug, Sinistar, Mr. Do, Defender, etc. Fifteen of the shows are available at the site, and it also features a rich “games of Starcade” to serve as a nice stroll down that memory lane.
