Two words:
American Gladiators.
If you know not of what I speak, please depart this blog hastily, for the next words will be a tribute to the single best game show ever invented.
The year was 1989, a young boy sat in front of his television set for what was sure to be a life altering broadcast. Late on the evening of September 16 this juvenile boy watched in awe as seemingly normal men a women challenged the gods.
As a boy this author was quite impressionable, and the American Gladiators left a large impression. The real beauty of the show wasn't the gladiators them-self's. No, the true genius was that any "John Doe" could take on these beast of man-kind in games of speed and skill. There were certain events where the gladiator's overpowering strength gave them a distinct advantage, but most of the events attempted to level the playing field enough so that the challenger's weight disadvantage was minimized.
Take the ever popular hamster ball game dubbed Atlusphere for instance. Overbearing strength was a non factor in this game. What truly affected a challenger's individual success was speed; something that most gladiator's lacked. Even the mono a mono bouts of Joust, while seemingly all about power, was more about finesse. Many a gladiator where toppled with quick dodging and jabbing routines. Their rippling muscles where a force to be reckoned with if blows connected, but if not, gladiators could fast become off balance due to over swinging. Perhaps the best example of the speed over power games was Assault. Assault pitted a challenger against a platform risen, tennis ball gun firing gladiator. The contestants goal was to hit a target above the gladiator with a projectile weapon. The challenger would scamper from cover to cover, ever advancing toward better and more accurate weapons until he or she hit their target, or was pegged by a tennis ball. Speed and accuracy where kings of this game.
Sure there were the events that stacked the odds for the gladiators. Events like Breakthrough & Conquer which combined football and greco roman wrestling were undoubtedly there to show you how powerful the men and women gladiators where. But for every strength heavy event like Powerball there was a finesse game like Hang Tough. The way this balance was stricken truly made the home viewer feel like even they could step in to this game. The balance allowed growing children to dream of defeating Laser and Tower.
This early ninety's phenomenon leaked out into the video game world as well. There were NES and SNES games released with the likenesses of the Gladiatorian events. Both games where lackluster in exection, but still contained the events that made the show a success.
January 6th, 2008 will usher in a new era of American Gladiators. Along with the new hosts Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali come new events such as Hit & Run and Earthquake. This revival of the best game show to ever grace television has enthused me with cautious optimism. Perhaps if the show is a rousing success a new video game could come to fruition. Imagine if you will a HD version of Joust and Atlusphere. Just thinking about it brings a smile to my face.
Hopefully the new cast can recapture a moment in time that seamed all but lost.
Fin!