Retronauts Micro Gets a 5.0 in Fun Factor with Our Look at GamePro TV
This week, USgamer's classic gaming podcast explores the first shaky steps of the games press into the medium of television.
This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.
It's time once again for we Retronauts to dive bravely into the world of early '90s video game-related programming, which has become kind of a trend for our little podcast lately.
The subject of this week's show? GamePro TV, an incredibly short-lived television adaptation of the then-popular magazine which ran for a single syndicated season in 1991. And as far as television shows go, it's incredibly lost to time: For all of my searching, I couldn't even find a simple list of episodes and their respective air dates. Despite it's natural '90s hokiness, though, it's kind of mystifying why GamePro TV didn't linger on for more than its mere 14 episodes. As we explain on this episode, if you were a kid in desperate need to see just what other video games looked like, GamePro TV largely put them front and center—unlike Nick Arcade.
Ultimately, though, GamePro TV existed as a sort of evolutionary dead end for video game-related programming—at least in the US. It would be a little more than a decade before the cable station G4 emerged to fill the void, but they went for a much flashier approach than this early '90s dog and pony show starring J.D. Roth. These days, there's more than enough YouTubers, Twitch streamers, and podcasts (hello) to choke the internet with talk and footage of video games, but the goofy little time capsule known as GamePro TV reveals just how rare it once was to see the phenomenon of video games echoed in other media—for the right reasons.
Joining us on this one are the core members of the Laser Time Podcast Network—Chris Antista, Henry Gilbert, and Dave Rudden—who generously loaned me the use of their bedroom studio for the sake of recording this episode. And our cover art comes courtesy of Nick Daniel. As always, you can keep up with the latest Retronauts news via our Twitter and Facebook accounts, and check out some of our video content over on our YouTube page. And, in case you forgot, Retronauts is fully funded by our Patreon campaign, so if you can afford to donate even a dollar a month, please consider it! Every little bit really helps our cause.
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