Panesian Press #2: July 15, 2000

With the rising popularity of the NES and Genesis video game systems, there were several cartoons that were made to promote the buying of these products. Video Power was initally one of these shows to do this (notably they wanted you to buy Acclaim products as seen by what characters they picked to use on the show), but later blossomed into a great game show.

Video Power premired on the syndicated market September 1989 with a format similar to The Super Mario Bros. Super Show: a cartoon and a real-life version of the notable stars. In this case we were treated to The Power Team, a gang of Acclaim characters, who went on daily adventures attempting to save the day and video game tips from the leader of the Power Team, Johnny Arcade, who seemed in reality to be more interested in making of a fool of himself by acting like a badass vs. help us struggling video game freaks.

After the first season to my knowledge, Video Power was desperate to gain some viewers to go into a 180 degree turn on its genre. In order to survive a second season, they did the inevitable: change their show format from cartoon to a game show. They kept the basic elements of the orignal Video Power (Johnny Arcade real-life segments), but focused more on video game playing which was more entertaining and fun to watch. Four kids prepicked before the show challenged each other to the video games of the week where they would have to either go the farthest, collect the most items, or get the most points depending on the type of game in 2:02. After the dust settled, two would move on and the other two would perish, but not without Johnny giving them a video game of HIS choice (oh boy, I won Classic Concetration and a glove to maximize by game playing ability ... sheesh!). The following round consisted of a question and answer round of 5 questions where each question was 10 pts except the last two, which was worth 20 pts and the last being a video game question (the contestants would have to look at a screen and identify what game it was. The second half was the video game playing round, similar in format to the first round, but either with a different game, or with the same game and a different challenge, this time only having 1:01 to play. Following this, a champion of the day was crowned and he/she would get to go through the mall and play Mall Mania. This by far had to be a video game players dream at the time because one got to grab any game he could get his hands on (remember those Toys R Us contests? Same exact thing applies here). The winner got :41 to spend in the mall and had to go down a chute in order to claim his prizes. In the instance that this requirement was not met, he lost everything gained on the mall trip. This was not often the case, but I've seen it happen on more than one ocassion.

On Fridays, the NES fan was treated to seeing the four daily winners from Monday to Thursday square off for the champion of the week. Everything was the same format with that winner proceeding to the Tournament of Champions. Nine weeks and 45 episodes later, would be the day the nine weekly winners challenged each other for a NEO GEO and a $10,000 college scholarship. The format is simple: three champions face each other each day (Mon-Wed) and the go to the final show. But there was a second chance day where the second place people from each show went up against each other (Thu) similarly to the above. These four people would go into Friday's show for all the marbles. The victor would claim the prize and all the glory.

Video Power survived two full seasons and 200 episodes (100 each season) and disappeared for the 1991-92 tv season. My best guess is that the NES and Genesis was starting to become popular and the producers lost interest in the show. By far, this was the only video game console show ever to grace our eyes. They tried to keep the old school alive as best as they can, but fell. When I think ofthe NES, it reminds me of Johnny Arcade and how he tried to become the next Vanilla Ice doing the Video Power rap which I present below with a link to him singing:

Video Power Season 2 Theme

As Sung By Johnny Arcade (Stivi Paskoski)

[echoing] Video Power ... Video Power
My Show is kickin' with maximum height
Say Video Power? Yeah, that's right ... word
I've got the ability to make you win
You want the edge, I'll put you in a power surge
Let 'er rip

Feel the power (power), feel the power
Feel the power of video game power
And feel the power (power), feel the power
Feel the power (of Video Power)
Feel the power (power), power
Feel the power (video power)