Saturday Supercade

It took me years to find something on this one! When this cartoon aired on TV,back in 1983 (I was about 9, or something). . . .I was amazed at the fun look it portrayed! The superbly catchy theme song forever stuck itself in my mind! YES, 1984, when it was in full-time swing on Saturday Morning TV, I was 10 years old, now that I recall. 20+ years later I paid some guy in Florida $20.00 for a copy he said he had! I got it in the mail (living in Winston-Salem at the time) and I was thoroughly satisfied with what I received. ORIGINAL COMMERCIALS & all! I miss such cool cartoons as these! They ought to be aired on TV once more!

Saturday supercade was a one hour show based on the best video games at the time. The shows changed each week. Here's what was on it.

DONKEY KONG--mario (from super mario), chases donkey kong around the world.

DONKEY KONG JR--Donkey kong's son is looking for his dad with the help of bones. A biker who is scared all the time.

Q-BERT--Q-bert is a teen who protects his town from a gang of snakes, with the help of a flying disk that the bad guys try to steal.

FROGGER--Frogger is a reporter who teams up with a girl frog, and a turtle who has everything you can think of in his shell.

PITFALL--Pitfall, his niece, and their pet quickclaw go looking for treasures.

SPACE ACE--Super hero space ace got zapped by a youth ray and changes to dexter, a nerdy little kid at the worst times.

KANGAROO--A mother kangaroo and her son stop monkey's from making trouble at the zoo.

I wish they would show this again. I have 2 full episodes on tape and would love to see the rest again.

I apologise for the vague review, as I haven't seen this show in 20 years. I was about 4 then, but I still remember seeing it Saturday mornings. The thing that sticks out the most with this show is, of course, Donkey Kong. I used to laugh real hard at that. Surprised me to see it was voiced by Soupy Sales. Mario also made his television debut in this cartoon, but he didn't stick out as much as Donkey Kong. I remember there were lots of banananas and barrels being thrown around, and there was that pretty blonde girl, which, as it turns out, wasn't Mario's girlfriend, but his niece (perhaps Luigi's daughter?). Donkey Kong Junior didn't have as much of the wackiness, so I don't remember as much of it. The other ones I don't remember too much either. I remember enjoying the Q-bert cartoon. I used to hate the game, because i would always die (Donkey Kong was a bit simpler for a 4 year old to grasp), but the cartoon was funny. Frogger was a bit too advanced for me to grasp at the time, I think he was a writer or something. I'm not sure, but I remember a Pac-Man cartoon being part of this lineup, but didn't see it listed, so it was probably a separate show, that was another one I enjoyed watching a lot. It was very clever and funny. Various other fun video game cartoons included Pitfall and Dungeons and Dragons. I remember wanting being afraid of playing D&D after seeing that cartoon because I actually thought I would be sucked into the game world. Anyway, I'd like to see these cartoons again just to bring back some early child memories, and see what I think about them today. Either way, I remember enjoying these cartoons a lot when I was 4.

Just what were the top video games of 1983 and 1984? Saturday Supercade gave very good insight into that question. I remember being 5 years old, sitting in my grandparents' bedroom on Saturday mornings and watching this treasure from my childhood. I know I only gave it a 7, but let's face it - things that stand out in your mind as a kid, you treasure, right?

Saturday Supercade consisted each week of four cartoons about 15 minutes in length apiece. Each week during the first season, you got one Frogger episode, one of Donkey Kong and one of Donkey Kong Jr., while the fourth one alternated each week. It was Pitfall one week and Q*Bert the next. During the second season, Q*Bert became a weekly segment, and Donkey Kong also remained, while Donkey Kong Jr's, Pitfall Harry's, and Frogger's runs were ended, having been replaced by Space Ace and Kangaroo. I really don't remember much about Frogger or Kangaroo's segments. Most of what I remember of Frogger is what is in the two episodes I am fortunate enough to have. By far, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Space Ace were the most fun for me, but I also really liked Pitfall as well.

I really wish I could score this show higher for the sake of bias, but when it's four cartoons with little depth to them each week (with the exception of maybe Space Ace, since it's Don Bluth after all), 7 is about as high as I can give it. However, you get a very good idea of what video games were the hot commodities at the time! The video game crash was in force during this time, though, so it's interesting that a show about video games was still airing, and was also advertising the games. I only wish there had been a Mr. Do! segment. I like Kangaroo as a game a lot, but the cartoon segment to me was the weakest of the lot, so that's what I would replace with a Mr. Do! segment.

I'm still waiting for another network to revive it. The new generation needs Q*bert. He bounced and stuff, and guys chased him. Man, that is awesome. I think Q*bert could be the answer to world peace, if we'd all just give him a chance..I mean, have you played the Atari game? Do you know what an Atari is? This is fantastic... oh yeah...oh yeah.