Nick Yearly Recap 1992: Arcades, Sketches, and Guts

Nickelodeon Yearly Recap 1992: Arcades, Sketches, and Guts

Nick Arcade

In the early 90s, Phil Moore hosted a video game themed show for Nickelodeon. Back then, video games were still seen a fad to certain group of people and they were barely escaping their arcade era (which the early years of gaming were arcade themed). Not too long after this show came out, video games went to the third dimension. But I am going off topic, we’re supposed to be covering a game show on Nick, not the history of gaming. Every episode has two teams of young contestants getting tested with two questions before the winning team get advanced to the gaming section of the show. Mikey’s World revolves on a boy named Mikey and you control as him in different situations, but you have to be on the lookout for any bad guys. Then towards the end of every episode, we are treated to a hybrid segment called The Video Zone where the winning contestant are teleported inside a video game and have 30 seconds to reach the goal. The winning prizes are what you typically see in other Nick game shows. Well, as a video game lover, I can say I love this game show and it's one of the best game shows Nick has ever produced. Phil Moore is a fantastic host and he's super passionate about the job. Casual viewers will just see this as a normal game show, but game lovers will see Nick Arcade as a one of a kind game show. You still have your usual quizzes, but once the question section is over, we are treated to a simulation of a game (one made for the show and one that is actually an arcade game). The arcade sequences are great, but I especially love the one towards the end of every episode where the winning team are teleported inside a game. It's just so cool to watch. There isn't much else to say about this show other than the fact you'll be recognizing a few games like a beta version of the 2nd Sonic game, where Nick star Melissa Joan Hart infamously failed at game for not being an experienced gamer. Though otherwise, younger gamers won't really know much of them, but it doesn't matter as long as you read gaming history articles. So yeah, this has been one of the first things I watched through Paramount+ when I joined and it's worth the hype. Some people want this show back on the air, but honestly, Nick has enough reboots as it is and I don't think arcades are relevant anymore unless you go to places that have them. But even if it were to happen, I'll be down to it. Maybe with newer technology it will make it cooler.

(10/10)

Roundhouse

Before All That and after the days of You Can’t Do That on TV reruns, there was another sketch show called Roundhouse that was part of the original SNICK lineup. It was pretty much identical to YCDTOTV, but modernized for the 90s and there’s a musical twist as well as an emphasis on pop culture references. The titular roundhouse provides the main setting for the show and it's where all the fun stuff happens, from telling jokes to singing and dancing. I got to be honest with you, I wasn't expecting much with a show like this. When I sat down and binged the first season, I asked myself, will this be worth watching since it's a product of its time? And when I did, I got mixed results. On the bright side, the pop culture references, while dated, kind of worked as they feel a bit less dated than the ones told in YCDTOTV (even though I preferred that show and its jokes more). And I could tell, the actors had a great time performing their lines. But on the other hand, when the jokes fail, they really failed and really show you how 90s it could be at times. But if I have to give out the biggest problem with the show is that it's a semi-musical. Am I supposed to be watching a musical or a sketch comedy? What  purposes do these songs serve other than to fill up the time? Most of them don't make sense to me and they sound as old-fashioned as they can be. I mean, when you look at the other sketch comedies, they did have some musical aspect, but they weren't the main focus, they were usually used at the end of an episode. These numbers feel like a chore to sit through and sometimes I just feel like I want to watch the show for the laughs and nothing else. I don't know why but that's just me. It's not the worst thing ever of its kind. Welcome Freshmen (which was a sketch comedy during its first two seasons) was more nihilistic than Roundhouse and at least I could enjoy some aspect more here, even if the flaws hold it back. For being one of SNICK's first shows, it's so forgettable and even I've forgotten much of the show and when I wrote this review, I was trying my best to remember what I saw. Overall, while not a bad show, it's not something I want to watch the entire run and I personally like YCDTOTV, All That, and especially The Amanda Show more. It says a lot when we haven't heard from the cast members of this show compared to the others (then again, Welcome Freshmen's cast are even more obscure than this show's cast) other than the fact one of them died at a young age.

(6/10)

Wild Side Show

(Skipping because I couldn’t find full episodes)

Nickelodeon GUTS

This is about the Nick game show, if the title makes it clear, not that new pop album that came out this year. After previously hosting a game show for Nickelodeon (Get the Picture), Mike O’Malley would become the host of GUTS. Moira Quick serves as the referee, reporting on the status of the contestants. Three young contestants compete against each other in four different athletic events. Instead of pop quizzes, this show has an athletic spin to it, and just like Marc Summers with What Would You Do being a departure from that format in Double Dare, the same thing apply to O’Malley (except that it’s more about sports rather than comedy). Except this time, O’Malley ended up being on a slightly better game show than the previous where as Summers’ second game show wasn’t as good as Double Dare. Both O'Malley and Moira did a great job as host and referee, and while I am not much of a sports myself, this is one of the few times I'm willing to watch something athletic. There isn’t much else to discuss about the show although it is one of the few game shows to pop up in a Nicktoon many years later with Sanjay and Craig. The writers took a rather interesting direction with it. All in all, for the Gen Z folks, I definitely recommend giving GUTS a watch if you want to experience how 90s it was.

(8/10)