Ah, game shows. No doubt there are dozens of better ways to spend a lazy 7 PM than vegging out and watching people be kinda stupid on national TV, but there isn’t for the sake of this review. Many American game show staples of the 80’s and 90’s managed to make their way onto the NES – 15 of them, in fact. That’s more titles than most individual sports got on the console!
A general disclaimer for these titles is that they are, for lack of a better term, obsolete. The dated questions, the slow parsing in of answers, and the lack of audiovisual stimulation will leave most modern gamers desperately clawing for their phones or Switches or whatever. This list is strictly to determine which of these games are worth playing within the context of being stacked against other game show games on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Because let’s be real, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who’d want to play decades old 8-bit versions of long forgotten game shows over the latest mobile app or current console iteration of them. I live and breathe retro gaming, but even I’d take the board game versions of some of these over the NES carts.
Finally, there are a few common traits that most of these games share. They are as follows:
- Contestant character designs that are hard to look at
- Slow typing in of answers and a tight time limit to do it in
- Computer players sniping you at the last minute
- No music outside of the title screen
I’ll let you know if these are present in each title. Without further ado, let’s dive in and win ourselves a bevy of faaabulous prizes!
Jeopardy! (1988), Jeopardy! Jr (1989), Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary (1990), Super Jeopardy! (1991)
✅ Contestant character designs that are hard to look at
✅ Slow parsing in of answers and a tight time limit to plug them in
✅ Computer players sniping you at the last minute
✅ Little to no music outside of the title screen
There were four Jeopardy! titles on the NES, and they’re all the exact same game as each other. Sometimes the weird contestant graphics differ, but the gameplay is staunchly unchanged between titles. But that’s okay, because that singular game is pretty fun. Get asked a question, provide an answer. Bank some cash, tackle another question, and hope that the computer players don’t snipe your answers at the last minute.
I reviewed all four of them in greater detail five years ago (!), but to summarize: if you like trivia, this is a decent time that still manages to be surprisingly accessible, despite its age. At 20 minutes or less to finish a full game, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and offers a bit of replayability for any pub quiz hounds or fans of the show who decide to give it a shake.
As mentioned, all four games are the same with minor graphical changes between them. But if you only play one, play Super Jeopardy! That one’s got the best presentation by a mile, and even has some ritzy bit-crushed voice samples to enjoy throughout. Overall, I’m giving the Jeopardy! NES games the honour of the best game show games on the system. If you don’t care about trivia though, you won’t be missing out if you pass on them.
Rating:
Classic Concentration (1990)
✅ Contestant character designs that are hard to look at
✅ Slow parsing in of answers and a tight time limit to plug them in
✅ Computer players sniping you at the last minute
❌ No music outside of the title screen (the music’s pretty good!)
I’d never heard of Classic Concentration before, but it reminded me of the British gameshow Catchphrase, so my wife and I (who came along for the ride on this one) caught on pretty fast. I have to admit that most of the heavy lifting was done by her on this game; she’s killer at riddles and stuff. All I did was push the buttons.
In Classic Concentration, you have to string together a key phrase from clues that come in picture form. You reveal more clues by playing the old memory test card game of Concentration – except instead of normal card suits, those ever elusive faaabulous prizes are on the other side. Make a match and win that prize! 8-bit prizes you never actually see, mind you, but it’s not about that. It’s about the journey, not the incredible dream destination you don’t get to go to. After you make enough matches, you’ll be able to make out a phrase made up of pictures. For example, the one on the game’s cover art spells out Me and My Shadow:
The light puzzle solving is fun, and given how easy it is to flub up on Concentration and hand your opponent a free turn, the computer does a good job of keeping you on your toes without being obnoxious about it. Also worth noting is that this is one of the few games on this list where music plays constantly, and it’s pretty good if I’m being honest. If you like memory games and some very light brain teasing, this is worth the ~10 minute playthrough a single round takes. Check it out!
Rating:
Wheel of Fortune (1988), Junior Edition (1989), Family Edition (1990), Featuring Vanna White (1992)
✅ Contestant character designs that are hard to look at
✅ Slow parsing in of answers and a tight time limit to plug them in
✅ Computer players sniping you at the last minute
✅ No music outside of the title screen
Wheel of Fortune is the game of Hangman, but glitzier. Pick a letter, finish the puzzle, win a faaabulous prize! Similar to Jeopardy!, all four Wheel of Fortune NES games are the exact same as each other. Same developers, y’know. In fact those developers – GameTek – are responsible for a whopping 12 of the 15 games on this list. Seriously. There are a few wrinkles in the standard game of Hangman, obviously, or else this thing wouldn’t have lasted 40-some years on TV. Spinning the wheel and landing on Miss A Turn or Bankrupt can totally screw your game up out of the blue. Is that a good thing? Probably not, but it’s true to the source material and it’ll keep you from falling asleep from boredom while you play. Something else that’ll keep you on your toes is the ridiculously tight time limit in which you input your answers. I’m sure it’s something dedicated players would get used to, but are there any dedicated NES Wheel of Fortune players out there in this day and age? If you are one, email me so we can be friends.
The best choice of the bunch is Wheel of Fortune Featuring Vanna White. It uses the same updated graphics as Super Jeopardy!, and when it comes to games this simple, little things like graphical tweaks can make all the difference in the overall experience. All in all, if you have a hankering to play some 8-bit Hangman for…some reason, you can’t really go wrong with these ones. In fact, you have no other choices.
Rating:
MTV’s Remote Control (1989)
✅ Contestant character designs that are hard to look at
❌ Slow parsing in of answers and a tight time limit to plug them in
✅ Computer players sniping you at the last minute
❌ No music outside of the title screen
MTV’s Remote Control is the most dated game on this list, because it’s all about retro TV trivia. Retro by 1989 standards, mind you. So if you’re not up on your Gilligan’s Island and Brady Bunch knowledge, this can be baffling to navigate. But the questions are multiple choice, so lucky guesses aren’t as unlikely here as they would be in the trivia games that make you type in your answer. Hooray for easy breaks! My favourite thing about Remote Control has to be the graphics. Make no mistake; they’re fugly. But they’re an interesting kind of fugly. The crazy characters and weird colour choices for the stage are SO deliciously of the time I just wanna eat ’em up with a spoon. The world of aesthetics can be a strange and confusing place sometimes.
Unless you’re a retro TV savant, there’s no reason to play this game more than once; a ten-minute run through will show players everything on offer in this little cart. The audience for Remote Control in the 21st century will be minuscule, but it’ll be right up someone’s alley. That someone could be you…but probably not.
Rating:
Fun House (1991)
Fun House on the NES:
- Is based off of a 90’s game show,
- Has next to nothing to do with said game show,
- Is not to be confused with unrelated NES game Krusty’s Fun House,
- Is the only game show game on this list that has no trivia, because it’s an actual game that you play. With controls and shooting and stuff.
I debated even including this game on the list considering the above points, but it is technically a game show game, so whatever!
Fun House kinda looks and plays like Smash TV if Smash TV sucked cheeks. Each level is a maze filled with irritating buffers that push you around, sliding floor tiles that also push you around, projectiles that push you around on contact, and targets. Shooting those targets is the main objective of the game. Sometimes you have to hit the targets in a certain order, and sometimes not, but once you hit them all you get to move onto the next level. Continues are infinite, but you have to start over from the last checkpoint once you’re out of lives, which could be as far back as 10 levels ago. However, there are more than a few hidden warp points scattered around to make your life easier.
In addition to having your character flung around the playing field like a sad little pinball, he controls like he’s the world’s worst ice skater. Even then, you have to believe me when I tell you this game’s controls defy description. Just how unintuitive and irritating they are need to be experienced to be comprehended. They might be for someone, but they’re not for me.
Finally, the last six levels of Fun House are some of the most foul and devoid of joy I’ve ever experienced in any Nintendo game to date; the unruly controls, constant buffering of your character, and terribly tight time limits drove me closer to insanity than I have been driven in some time. I went from thinking Fun House wasn’t bad, if not a bit flawed, to hating every moment of it from how routinely I got smacked around by those final six. The graphics and the music suck, too. I really couldn’t recommend this to anyone and feel good about myself afterwards. Avoid it as if your life depended on it. From the spike in blood pressure I experienced while trying to finally put this fucker to rest, it really might.
Rating:
If you hate the controls, 2/10!
Family Feud (1991)
✅ Contestant character designs that are hard to look at
✅ Slow parsing in of answers and a tight time limit to plug them in
✅ Computer players sniping you at the last minute
✅ No music outside of the title screen
Time to play the Feud! Family Feud on the NES is exactly like the show; you get asked a general question that has multiple answers, like “name something you put in your coffee.” Though a lot of the questions on the modern show have pretty convoluted setups to them now, like “if dogs could talk and get married, what would the wife dog say to the husband dog when he shits on the carpet?” Go figure. On the show they conduct a survey at a mall somewhere to get answers out of 100 people, but they probably just made up the numbers for the Nintendo game. Anyway, it’s up to you to guess the top 5 answers those made up people said. The family with the most points at the end of the game wins.
As a game, it’s…fine? You slowly type in your answers, the aggressive computer player will snipe you every chance they get, yadda yadda. I only played the four rounds necessary to beat the game, but I got a few repeat questions and even a repeating feuding family in that limited time. I didn’t hate it, but it’s wholly unremarkable, even as far as game show NES games go. There are undoubtedly better ways to spend 45 minutes than with Family Feud NES. Wouldn’t hurt to avoid, unless you’re a mega fan of the show.
Rating:
Hollywood Squares (1989)
✅ Contestant character designs that are hard to look at
❌ Slow parsing in of answer and a tight time limit to plug them in
✅ Computer players sniping you at the last minute
✅ No music outside of the title screen
Hollywood Squares is tic-tac-toe with trivia sprinkled in. You pick what square you want to claim for yourself, and the host asks a True or False question. The celebrity sitting in the square you chose will give you their opinion on whether or not the answer is true or false, usually alongside a witty comment. This concept is punched up considerably by the celebrities on the real show, since they’ve got some good jokes in ’em on occasion. It’s one of those shows they bring back every few years with increasingly less relevant and funny celebs with every iteration.
Anyway, get the question right, and the square is yours. Get it wrong, and the square becomes your opponents instead. It’s a risky twist on tic-tac-toe, but at the end of the day, it’s still just tic-tac-toe. Even as far as these old game show games go, this one is low on player input: choose a square and choose true/false and…that’s it. The questions are meaty enough to actually make you stop and think about them for a second, and sometimes the fake celebrities can have some amusing quips to go with them. But if you were standing in Toys ‘R’ Us circa 1989, with the opportunity to take home one brand spankin’ new Nintendo cart, would you want a tic-tac-toe video game over literally anything else? Yeah, not likely.
Hollywood Squares is completely serviceable, but even the current price of $6 for a cartridge feels steep for the paltry amount of gameplay you’ll get out of it. Wouldn’t recommend it.
Rating:
Win, Lose or Draw (1990)
✅ Contestant character designs that are hard to look at
✅ Slow parsing in of answers and a tight time limit to plug them in
❌ Computer players sniping you at the last minute
❌ No music outside of the title screen
Someone draws a picture. Whoever guesses what the picture is supposed to be first wins! If you’ve ever played Pictionary, you already get the gist. As a concept, this is great fun with a few friends. Even more fun if everyone in the room is sloshed. The worse the drawings, the more hilarious it gets. Why not make a Nintendo game around that, eh?
Why not? Because the single player version of WLoD is a sad affair, that’s why. The computer draws the pictures, and it’s your job to guess what they’re supposed to be before time runs out. But the best part of this concept is getting to do the drawing! Seldom few people would tell you they find it more fun to sit on the couch and guess. I realise that there was no way that computer AI would have been advanced enough on the NES in 1990 to accurately guess what you were trying to scribble on the screen. But that begs the question, why make a Win, Lose or Draw video game in the first place?
I’ll answer my own question: there’s a two player option, which is likely the sole reason this game was made. But good luck finding someone who wants to play this tat with you in the 21st century. If another human being is sitting on your couch and has a hankering for some 2 player NES action, are you gonna be cruel enough to make them draw with the Nintendo control pad? I guess you could use this to your advantage if you’re playing with someone you dislike. Make ’em sit through WLoD and they won’t wanna come back to your house for game night. But if you’re not a cruel person, you may as well fish out some scrap paper and play with no controllers involved. Or wheeze on a nearby window and use your finger to draw in the condensation. Or use your imagination. Anything is better.
Win, Lose or Draw is a brain-dead concept for a video game. In fact, it’s a top contender for the most pointless of ALL the NES games. All 678 of them. And in a library that’s home to gems like Color a Dinosaur and Taboo: The Sixth Sense, that’s saying something. This must have been a few poor children’s wasted Christmas/birthday presents, and if you were one of them, you have my sincerest condolences.
You can play Win, Lose or Draw if you really want to – it’s technically competent – but all you’ll be doing is wasting your precious time on this Earth. Make of that what you will.
Rating:
But despite how asinine this sad little cart is, it’s not the worst of the game show offerings on NES. Oh, no. Read on…
Double Dare (1990)
✅ Contestant character designs that are hard to look at
❌ Slow parsing in of answers and a tight time limit to plug them in
❌ Computer players sniping you at the last minute
✅ No music outside of the title screen
I’m not American, so I didn’t grow up with Double Dare. But I get it. Every kid wanted in on these physical challenge shows when they were all the rage. Even though I’ve never seen it, I can tell you that the Nintendo game does nothing to bring that Nickelodeon magic into your living room.
Each round starts by forcing you to play a rancid mini-game. I was strong armed into doing an egg toss and some insufferable bowling thing, which were actually the exact same game with different graphics. They were both unruly and unfun to play. I lost one and won one, and both times felt like it was beyond my control. A fate decided upon by forces we could never hope to understand, perhaps.
So once you suffer through one of those, the trivia round starts. The questions asked are multiple choice, and pretty simple; the kind of stuff a kid would actually know. Well, a 90’s kid at least. Not sure if modern audiences – or anyone for that matter – should have extensive knowledge of the TV show ALF.
The rub here is that if you lost the minigame, the computer players get to answer the questions instead of you. I don’t know if you get a turn after a set amount of questions or if you have to wait until they get an answer wrong, but either way, the actual human player can only stick their thumb up their ass and wait their turn. In a one player game. It’s a boneheaded design choice, and it’s likely to happen to you, given how godawful those minigames are.
So once you slog your way through two bad “challenges” and about 20 simple trivia questions, you get to move onto the final round; a painful obstacle course. For this one, you have to rock the D-pad around rapidly and occasionally jump. Much like the rest of the game, something that should be so simple turns out to be a poorly thought out nuisance that feels borderline impossible to complete. At first I just thought I was bad at it, but after reading some anecdotes from people who grew up with Double Dare, it turns out everyone is bad at it because it sucks. On the one hand, I feel better about myself. On the other, I feel depressed on behalf of everyone who has ever suffered through it.
This last round isn’t even necessary to “beat” the game. I’m sure it was included to remain faithful to the TV show and make things a sliver more exciting for impressionable kids, but something every game on this list has in common is that going for the “big prizes” feels pointless in a way that’s unique to interactive adaptations of game shows. They’re not gonna send a car or a Sega Genesis to my house, so why should I suffer through this ungodly minigame? I will not.
Double Dare is far and away the worst game show game on the NES. In fact, it’s a pretty assy NES game in general. The controls will make you question your sanity, and the questions aren’t exactly brain busting for anyone over the age of 9, either. So it fails as a minigame collection and a trivia game in one fell swoop. I would recommend doing just about anything else besides wasting time with this trash. Avoid, avoid, avoid.
Rating:
Final verdict:
Video game adaptations of game shows on the NES are one heck of a mixed bag. There’s some good, some bad, and plenty of ugly to go around this strange little collection. Trivia buffs will find a lot to enjoy in the Jeopardy! titles, as will gamers who are fond of traditional puzzle solving a la Wheel of Fortune. The rest, your own personal interest in the source material or genre will dictate whether or not you should take or leave…
Except for Double Dare. Help control the shitty game population. Have your Double Dare NES carts spayed or neutered. Speaking of, did you know that there was a The Price is Right game in development for the NES, but it was cancelled? It was being handled by GameTek, the previously mentioned developers behind 90% of this list. However, that includes Double Dare. I think it’s nothing but a good thing we didn’t have to suffer through abysmal minigame renditions of Plinko or that mountain climber one. Bye!
NESJunk 