anyone remember the show, "Johnny Arcade"?

Question

it was a show that came on during the late 80's and early 90's. the show was about video games and contestants in the audience would play video games and answer questions. then at the end of the show. the team with the most points got to run through a maze and collect all the video games and prizes they wanted.

Answer 1

It was actually called "Video Power" and the name of the host was Johnny Arcade. I found the following online:

Video Power was a TV show devoted to NES games that went through several incarnations. The first one I saw, more correctly called The Power Team, was primarily a cartoon show starring characters from Acclaim games (Kuros, Kwirk, the Bigfoot monster truck, some basketball player dude). At the end of the show, a "hip" teenaged guy who called himself Johnny Arcade (his real name was Stivi Pastoski) would dispense a couple of tips for NES games.
The cartoon wasn't very good, of course, so around 1991, the show underwent a major change - into a game show format. The game-show version was co-hosted by Johnny Arcade and a guy named Terry Lee Torok (who also produced the show; he's the one introducing Johnny in the sound clip below).


The format of the show
Every episode had a similar format: Johnny and Terry would be introduced and after some puttering around, the "Put Johnny on the Spot" section would begin. Terry would go into the audience of mostly young kids and have four of them ask game-related questions to Johnny. (In truth, these kids were picked long before the start of taping, as you might expect.)
They were all absolutely insane questions (What is the name of Dr. Light's computer in Mega Man 3?) but Johnny would always get them right, although no doubt his teleprompter was helping him out on occasion. However, sometimes (usually once a week) Johnny would get a question wrong and give some completely off-the-wall answer. Of course, Johnny probably never knew what he was talking about anyway, so again, it was determined long before whether Johnny would get a question wrong. If he did, the audience would start chanting "STUMP, STUMP, STUMP" and the kid who "stumped" Johnny would get a prize from the Prize Round area (see below).

After that, the four kids who asked questions would run up to the stage and play some NES game. The games used in the show ran the gamut of NES titles from the early 90s; they even used Bases Loaded 3 once, with winners being selected based on how many (if any) runs were scored in the time given and, barring that, how many balls vs. strikes were called against the player. For Little Nemo: The Dream Master, scoring was based on how many keys were picked up and, if that resulted in a tie, how "far" players got in the level. The players had two minutes and one second to play.

The two highest-scoring players from that would then be given "Power Vests" and a "Power Helmet" to wear (both of which were completely covered with Velcro), and Johnny would ask the players some NES questions. There were three 10-point questions (one of which is always "What game is this music from"), one 20-point question, and one question with a game as the prize. After that, both players played the game again for one minute and one second, and the winner of that got 50 points. The points are totalled and the player with the most is the day's winner. If there's a tie, the player who did best in the first game-playing round is the winner.

The player with the highest point total would get to run through the Prize round. Now, this section takes place in an odd-looking, stylized set with the walls completely covered with NES games. The object for the player was to grab as many NES games as humanly possible and stick them onto his Velcro vest, and go through a tube-slide on the side of the set before time runs out (around 43 seconds). Above this, there is always a "secret game" somewhere in the Prize round. The player would be told where it is, and if he got it, he would get an extra prize (usually rollerblades or something). Although there was a time-limit, Terry Lee Torok was notoriously generous towards people who finished late. Only once did someone not finish, and even then, it was only because the player just froze in place when time ran out.

Once the prize round ends, the player's parents would come out and hug their game-festooned boy, Torok would go through all the games the kid picked up (occasionally giving hilarious pronunciations to game titles) and the credits would roll. The winners of each of the first four days would play on the Friday show, and the winner of that show would get some large prize (a NeoGeo, a college scholarship from Tiger Electronics, and so on).

Answer 2

the crystal maze?

Answer 3

yea it was really funny. i wish i could be on it because it seemed really easy to win stuff

Answer 4

i do