Nick Arcade | |
---|---|
Created by |
James Bethea Karim Miteff |
Presented by | Phil Moore |
Narrated by | Andrea Lively |
Theme music composer | Dan Vitco Mark Schultz |
Composer(s) | Dan Vitco Mark Schultz Dean Friedman James Bethea |
Country of origin | Mexico, titled "Zona De Juegos" (1995–2007) |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 84 (+3 pilots) (+1 unofficial unaired pilot) |
Production | |
Location(s) | Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company(s) | Bethea-Miteff Productions, Inc. |
Release | |
Original network | Nickelodeon |
Original release | January 4 | – November 6, 1992
Nick Arcade (also stylized Nickelodeon Arcade) is an American children's game show created by James Bethea and Karim Miteff and hosted by Phil Moore, with Andrea Lively announcing, that aired on Nickelodeon in 1992 (in the first season, the shows were taped in December 1991 and aired in early 1992), airing originally during weekend afternoons, with reruns airing until September 28, 1997. It was taped at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. In Nick Arcade, two teams of contestants played two initial trivia rounds, with the winner advancing to the "Video Zone" to play against the virtual "Video Game Wizard" of the day.
The show's format combined video game trivia with contestant-interactive virtual reality. The virtual reality games were designed by Bethea and Miteff for Bethea/Miteff Productions and programmed by Curt Toumainian for Saddleback/Live Studios and Dean Friedman (for InVideo Systems). The show was the first in America to regularly intermix live action with animation using a bluescreen. (Knightmare was the first show worldwide.) (The InVideo game, "Eat-a-Bug!", which aired in Bethea/Miteff-produced segments during 1989 on Nickelodeon's Total Panic, was one of the world's first regularly televised virtual reality games.)
The program's theme music and game music was composed by Dan Vitco & Mark Schultz, and produced by Schultz. Additional music for the games was composed and produced by Dean Friedman. Mikey's "walk" melody was composed by James Bethea, who also sketched the original designs for the characters of "Mikey"and several game "enemies". The Game Wizards were designed by comic book, concept art, and illustrator Rafael Kayanan.
All of the custom games and contestant scoring used on Nick Arcade were implemented on Amiga computers.