| Smash TV began as a Williams arcade game; VideoGames & Computer Entertainment's September 1991 issue says Williams released it the year before and that it quickly became a hit, and Nintendo Power called it a Bally/Williams pay-per-play arcade hit. The NES manual dates the game ©1990 Williams Electronics Games. | printed p. 43 (PDF p. 41), Smash TV reviewprinted p. 43 (PDF p. 41), Smash TV review | Magazine |
| The manual sets the game in 1999, when television game shows offer contestants their lives as the prize. Alone or in a pair, armed contestants are sent into a closed arena. Nintendo Power and VideoGames & Computer Entertainment give the same year. | printed p. 43 (PDF p. 41), Smash TV review | Manual |
| Brent Walker's review describes four areas in the NES version, each a set of rooms joined by doorways. A map at the start of each area shows how they connect, where the bonus rooms are, and where the boss is. Cash, prizes, extra lives, and weapons appear at random for a limited time; after the boss, the contestant collects bonus points for the cash and prizes before the next area. | printed pp. 43-44 (PDF pp. 41-42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42) | Magazine |
| VideoGames & Computer Entertainment's September 1991 review gives the NES cartridge's price as $47.95. | printed p. 43 (PDF p. 41), review header | Magazine |
| Brent Walker wrote that Smash TV combines the play of Robotron with a violent game-show theme like that of the film The Running Man, for one player or two at once. | printed p. 43 (PDF p. 41)printed p. 43 (PDF p. 41)printed p. 43 (PDF p. 41) | Magazine |
| Brent Walker's review in VideoGames & Computer Entertainment rated the NES version 7 for sound and music, 8 for graphics, 8 for playability, and 8 overall, out of 10. | printed p. 43 (PDF p. 41), ratings barprinted p. 44 (PDF p. 42), signature | Magazine |
| Brent Walker wrote that the NES version captures the essence of Smash TV, with the play that made the arcade game a success, and that Acclaim had done better than he'd have thought possible with a hard translation. The game has plenty of challenge and no continues. The host's lines sound scratchy, which he put down to memory limits, and a few of the arcade's weapons are missing; flicker, which he had worried about, is mostly avoided. | printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42) | Magazine |
| Walker wrote that players of the coin-op would want to know how its two eight-way joysticks fit on one NES pad. He found the one-controller scheme took getting used to and could be deadly under pressure, and the two-controller scheme much easier; he remarked that here was a game that played better with the pad than with bigger controllers. | printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42)printed p. 44 (PDF p. 42) | Magazine |