Smash TV GENESIS

Smash TV is Williams Electronics’ 1990 arcade twin-stick shooter, designed by Eugene Jarvis as a spiritual successor to his earlier Robotron: 2084, with this Genesis conversion — titled Super Smash TV — following in 1992, developed by Williams alongside Probe Software. Set as a violent game-show broadcast, you fight through arena after arena of enemies for cash and prizes, controlling movement and independent shooting direction simultaneously.

That dual-stick control scheme, translated to the Genesis pad’s more limited inputs, carries over the arcade original’s frantic, every-direction-at-once combat that defined Jarvis’s earlier twin-stick shooters. Its satirical, over-the-top game-show violence and constant enemy swarms made it one of the more distinctive arcade conversions on the console, prioritizing chaotic action over the more measured pacing typical of home shooters.