Video Challenger
Video Challenger (ビデオチャレンジャー) was an interactive television toy created by Select Merchandise and distributed in Japan in 1987 by Takara. Toy-Television interaction was supposed to be the next big thing in toy marketing and Mattel had a similar TV-Toy in North America at the same time called Captain Power.
The toy consisted of a light gun called the Challenge Blaster (チャレンジブラスター) that responded to signals from the television playing a VHS tape. The more the player fired at appropriate targets on the screen, the more points the Challenge Blaster would rack up. The more times the sensor on the toy got "hit," the more points the gun would lose. Since the "game" was only a VHS tape, the missions played out the same way all the time.
The toy was cross-marketed into the anime The Headmasters in which children could fire at the Decepticons in the title sequence (starting in episode #15) and score points in selected episodes. Daniel himself carries a Challenge Blaster in the anime and is sometimes seen playing the game.
Video Challenger was sold in Canada by Irwin Toy and in the United Kingdom by Bandai.
Fiction
The Headmasters cartoon
Daniel Witwicky played a game with a Challenge Blaster gun; the game consisted of shooting the Decepticon Headmasters. After his apparently impressive play, Wheelie deflated Daniel's pride by pointing out that Highbrow programmed the game so that any shot would hit a target. Challenging Daniel's aim, Wheelie held out a ball as a target. Daniel shot and the ball fell... because Wheelie's arm became numb from Daniel's bad aim.
Later, when Daniel was held hostage by Curl, the boy bit the kidnapper's arm and shot the Challenge Blaster at Curl and his comrades, distracting them and allowing Fortress to use Battleship Maximus]]'s defense systems to freeze the threat. Find MegaZarak's Weak Spot!!
Software
- Space Challenge
- Cobra Command
- Road Blaster
- Godzilla Challenge 1 & 2
- Sky Wars
- After Burner
- Turtle Challenge (UK)
Unreleased
These games were planned, but it isn't clear if they were ever released anywhere in the world or not.
