Smash T.V. (Arcade)

Smash T.V.
Developer: Williams Electronics Publisher: Williams Electronics Platform: Arcade (Williams Y Unit) Released in US: April 1990 This game has hidden developer credits. This game has debugging material. This game has revisional differences.

Smash T.V.:
Big Money
Big Secrets
I Love It!

Hidden Screens

A series of hidden screens can be accessed through the following steps.

Revision 3.0 only

1. Press 1P Move Down+Left + 2P Fire Up+Right.
2. Then, quickly hold 1P Move Down + 2P Fire Up until the screen changes.

Revisions 4.0 and up

1. Press 1P Move Up + 2P Fire Up + 2P Start.
2. Then, quickly hold 2P Fire Down + 1P Move Right until the screen changes.

To simplify the newer code (the 3.00 code is simple enough as it is) to 1P Move Right + 2P Fire Down, put these codes in the given MAME cheat xml:

Revision 4.00: smashtv4.xml <cheat desc="Simplified Secret Code"> <script state="run"> <action>user1.md@00D5BE8=FFFFDFF7</action> </script> </cheat>	Revision 5.00: smashtv5.xml <cheat desc="Simplified Secret Code"> <script state="run"> <action>user1.md@00D5E1C=FFFFDFF7</action> </script> </cheat>
Revision 6.00: smashtv6.xml <cheat desc="Simplified Secret Code"> <script state="run"> <action>user1.md@00D5D6C=FFFFDFF7</action> </script> </cheat>	Revision 8.00: smashtv.xml <cheat desc="Simplified Secret Code"> <script state="run"> <action>user1.md@00D5E62=FFFFDFF7</action> </script> </cheat>

Use 1P Start / 2P Start to advance through the following screens.

Revision 3.01	Revision 5.00+

The first screen is a simple set of game credits with a cycling rainbow palette.

• This screen is different in Revision 3.01 (The credits border should use the cycling rainbow palette, but it seems to be bugged) and displays the game's codename, "ROBO". Appropriate, since this is a spiritual successor to Robotron: 2084.
• This screen is completely absent in Revision 4.00.
• It came back in Revision 5.00, though the five men credited no longer use their full names.

The second screen displays three audits (two in earlier versions) that don't appear on the main game audits screen, plus five audits related to total play time.

Errors	No Errors

If the game has encountered any errors since booting up, register information will be displayed on the third page. Otherwise, the screen on the right is displayed.

Pressing either Start button will send the player back to the title.

Hidden Credits

The following set of credits and an early name for the game can be found in the main CPU at 0xFFEBC2B0:

CARNAGE - COPYRIGHT 1990 WILLIAMS ELECTRONIC GAMES INC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  
-EPJ -GNP -TRA -LED -RCA -MT  -JEH -JRN -ML  -GWS -LIN 
-AL  -BLS -ML  -TJE -DTW -RMG -WBD -JB  -JRH -DP  -JP

It's worth noting that the early name was carried over to the game's spiritual sequel, Total Carnage.

Revision Differences

"Secret Warp" Crash Handler

In Revision 5.00, an error handler in the form of a "secret warp" was added to the game to mask some hard-to-locate bugs. A special flag is set in CMOS when a game is started, and cleared when it ends via normal means; if the game crashes or hangs for more than a few seconds, a watchdog timer resets the hardware, and the boot code checks this flag. If it is set, the game skips the usual hardware tests, checks a few variables (such as the player scores) to make sure they're valid, and jumps to the "secret warp" screen (the "#3" is a red herring; there are no other warps). In a one player game, the player will receive 13 of each prize; in a two player game, Player 1 will receive 26 of each prize, while Player 2 will receive 39 of each prize. After the prizes are tallied, the game progresses to the next level.

(Source: Digital Press)

Outer Pleasure Dome

In Revision 8.00, an extra room—the Outer Pleasure Dome Area—was added below Key Room #2. This area can only be entered if the player(s) collects 10 Keys throughout the game.

This is a simple bonus area with a rather blinding rainbow color palette. Ten waves of Showgirls will spawn, with each individual showgirl fetching the player 1250 points. After that, a small wave of enemies will spawn, then the player(s) can leave.

After displaying the above text, the player(s) will be taken to the final boss.

Room Text Differences

Several room texts changed in Revision 8.00. Most were changed to give tips on unlocking the new Outer Pleasure Dome area.

Old Text	New Text
COLLECT POWERUPS!	COLLECT 10 KEYS!
COLLECT KEYS!	COLLECT POWERUPS!
MEET MY TWIN	COLLECT 10 KEYS!
FILM AT 11	TOTAL CARNAGE 7/91
YOU MAY ENTER KEY ROOM #1!	YOU ALMOST HAVE ENOUGH KEYS!
YOU MAY ENTER KEY ROOM #2!	YOU HAVE ENOUGH KEYS!

Credits

• All revisions before Revision 6.00 have this large block of text in the credits:

However, you have not reached the highest level of competition. To become a Grand Champion you must explore all areas of the Smash TV studio! If you use the keys to explore all of the secret rooms, you will find the Smash TV Pleasure Dome. Once there, several of our lovely showgirls will promote you to the rank of Grand Champion! You must now begin your quest to become Smash TV Grand Champion!

The design team didn't really know if players would be able to reach the end at all, but when they did, and those players started asking about an area that didn't actually exist, the developers added the Outer Pleasure Dome in Revision 8.00. The text was removed in Revision 6.00 to stop people from asking about it in the interim.

• Revision 4.00 added Larry Demar, Greg Freres, Jim Nichols, Tim Elliott, and Rob Ashworth to the credits.
• Revision 4.00 also corrected "Ray Czacka" to "Ray Czajka".
• Revision 5.00 corrected the spelling of Tim Elliott's last name. It had previously been spelled "Elliot", with one 't'.