"MTV Remote Control: The Nintendo Game"

In 1989, Hi Tech Expressions released the Nintendo version of "Remote Control." The scoring system is a duplicate of the show (I should certainly hope so!), but the visuals and sound left much to be desired. Let me start with the set. The basement they protray looks like a bad LDS experience. The plethora of MTV logos behind our host (which looks more like Rick Moranis than Ken Ober) constantly fades into different colors which could cause seizures. The Big Zenith doesn't look all that bad, though. The other visuals here are equally as bad. Some of the contestants look rather goofy when smiling or frowning, but their neutral poses aren't bad. The Snack Break here is pretty lame, though. Large white chunks of I don't know what (probably supposed to be popcorn) bounce around on the table while our contestants supposedly pick them out of the air with their mouths to eat them. Their arms remain at their sides. Off the Air is even worse, though. Instead of their chair being pulled back through the wall, lightning cascades down from the celiing and sets them on fire, or as my cousin once said "sizzles them." After you win (and you will -- I'll get to that later), your character's head is put over the MTV logo. What a lame grand prize. The riff to the theme plays in the background... FOR THE ENTIRE GAME. I like the theme as much as the next guy, but it gets redundant FAST. The other sound effects aren't bad at all, especially the pretty faithful recreation of the Off the Air siren, but the theme playing throughout the game kills everything. Gameplay, wise, as I stated the scoring system is a carbon copy of the show. The questions, though, are pathetically easy if you're an 80s buff. Added to that the absolute denseness of the computer opponents equates to easy victories; you basically have to try to lose the game. My average score is about 325 and I've never seen a computer get into tripple digits. The amount of questions is decent, I suppose. As with any game show video game, questions and puzzles will start to repeat themselves eventually. Compared to the other game show video games of the era, "Remote Control" is in the lower etchellon. Actually, any game show recreation done by Hi Tech Expressions is garbage. The GameTek games are far superior. Unfortunately for Hi Tech, "Remote Control" is easily their best game show effort. "Win Lose or Draw" gets boring after the title screen and "Fun House" isn't faithful to the show one iota. If you want to see video clips from this abombination, simply click the folling links. Title screen, contestant selection, and a question. Snack Break and another question. Just for laughs, another Snack Break and question. Off the Air & Think Real Fast. Here's what happens if you lose. Not sure why they even made this screen, though. This section really should be about all of the home versions -- there was also a board game and a computer version -- but I don't have either of them. Kris Lane's page has information on the board game, but I can't find a page with good information on the computer version. If you find one, feel free to E-Mail me.