Nick Arcade was a game show hosted by Phil Moore that aired on the Nickelodeon television network in America from 1992 to 1993 (in the first season, the shows were taped in 1991 and aired in early 1992). The show was the first to regularly intermix live action with animation using a bluescreen. Contestants, in teams of two, would play two initial rounds. In these rounds a cartoon character, called "Mikey", would be navigated over a thematic game-board by the teams. (The themes included things like "The Old West" or "The Jungle".) The game-board was divided into 18 squares, and Mikey would be moved towards a "goal" space on the board. When new squares were landed on, various things would be uncovered, including trivia quizzes, video based puzzles, bonus instant-win prizes, and "Video Challenge" squares. The latter involved one player of the team playing one of five video games in an attempt beat a high score within 30 seconds.
The following home systems were used in the Video Challenge:
- Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
- Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
- Sega Genesis
- TurboGrafx 16
- Neo-Geo
In addition, each round would start with a custom-designed game (which was either a generic crosshair-based shooter, an obstacle-dodging side-scroller, or a Pong knockoff) for points and starting control of the round.
The team with the most points after two rounds would then head into a live-action video game with three rounds. Using a video monitor to see themselves, they would be in front of a blue screen attempting to achieve previously explained goals for each level of the game. A typical scenario would be a jungle setting where the player must climb "palm trees" to obtain bunches of bananas sitting at the top. (Obviously the player was on a soundstage climbing ladders in front of a blue-screen.) The third round of each video game included a face-off with one of three villains that recurred throughout the games run. ("Merlock", a Gandalf-esque evil wizard, "Scorchia," a fireball throwing sorceress, and "Mongo", a spiked-armor wearing troll).
Typical prizes on the game included trips to U.S. Space Camp, bicycles and video games systems.