WELCO METOT HENEX TLEVEL - Jeopardy!

Publisher: Sony Imagesoft Developer: Absolute Entertainment Year: 1994

What do I say about this one?

This...is...Jeopardy!

Actually, you won't hear that famous phrase uttered in the Sega CD incarnation of this long-running television game show. I assume that means Sony wasn't able to secure the rights to use Johnny Gilbert's voice.

Quiz show adaptations were about as prevalent as movie licensed games back in the day, though in the case of quiz show games you normally saw thematic re-releases or yearly updates. The main reason being that the relatively small amount of memory found in your standard cartridge game meant a relatively small database of questions to answer. And let's face it: when you know all the answers there's absolutely no reason to play your quiz game ever again.

This was a big problem on the NES. It was a bit less of a problem on the 16-bit consoles, though it was still an issue.

Enter the CD-ROM format. Suddenly the available memory increases exponentially. And that was one of the main selling points for quiz show adaptations on the Sega CD.

The other main selling point was the inclusion of full-motion video. Rather than static, digital representations of the famous sets of long-running quiz shows, the CD-ROM format allowed for full-motion video. Now Alex “The Canadian Dick Clark” Trebek could welcome you to Jeopardy personally, as well as cheer you on when you got a right answer or cheer you up when you got one wrong.

The standard problems with the Sega CD's video quality apply here. But more importantly, the video here applies only to Alex and the group of generic contestant avatars you get to choose from. And until they actually have something to do or say, they are static. There's a creepy vibe when they suddenly leap into action, scratching their chins as they think really hard, or clapping when they get a right answer, only to snap suddenly back to their idle state when the video loop is over.

Jeopardy on the Sega CD still suffers from the other major pitfall of quiz show games on consoles: inputting long-form answers using a control pad and on-screen keyboard is a complete pain in the ass.

That's all I've got to say about quiz show games. Not sure what I'm gonna do when we get to Wheel of Fortune.