Current Events > kids in Nick Arcade/Legend of Hidden Temple/Double Dare weren't dumb

(+) Yeah! (+)

the activities were just difficult to perform in first person and it was their first live performance . Adults wouldn't be winning the challenges either.

I wouldn't be surprised if that damn monkey puzzle actually forced you to put the top half on backwards and then spin it around to click into place just to confuse people

Kirk Fogg, the former host of Legends of the Hidden Temple, revealed in an interview that the show only allowed a few kids to win every season because of the budget, so they made the Temple Run basically unwinnable.

I saw some videos (around the time the live-action Legends of the Hidden Temple movie came out), that they explain to the prospective temple run contestants each rooms puzzles and how to solve them.

I always wanted to jump into a pool filled with ice cream like on double dare

How exactly did the green screen games work on Nick Arcade? Like, obviously the kids couldnt see that back in 1994

Ultima_Fury posted...

I saw some videos (around the time the live-action Legends of the Hidden Temple movie came out), that they explain to the prospective temple run contestants each rooms puzzles and how to solve them.

Yes, but you can make getting the medallions needed to win far apart to make it difficult to win in the time allotted.

VGAddict90 posted...

Kirk Fogg, the former host of Legends of the Hidden Temple, revealed in an interview that the show only allowed a few kids to win every season because of the budget, so they made the Temple Run basically unwinnable.

Normally they did it with enough subtlety. Make the medallions too spread out, make the door lock situation require literally a perfect run. But there was one where the guard layout and the doors themselves basically were setup in a way that was "you literally can't win, no matter what".

Another thing I heard was the temple was play tested by adults. Which is why the Shrine was always so difficult for them. Because everything was "high" up to them.

_____Cait posted...

How exactly did the green screen games work on Nick Arcade? Like, obviously the kids couldnt see that back in 1994

They most likely looked at a screen, you see them stare at the camera.

Ultima_Fury posted...

I saw some videos (around the time the live-action Legends of the Hidden Temple movie came out), that they explain to the prospective temple run contestants each rooms puzzles and how to solve them.

There was a live action movie of LotHT?

Ruvan22 posted...

There was a live action movie of LotHT?

Yeah, it was on Nickelodeon.

https://youtu.be/U7eHPW7n7Ko

They were definitely dumb. My two year old stacks blocks every day and doesn't have any problems

They had these kids playing Sonic prototypes. They didn't stand a chance.

lilORANG posted...

They were definitely dumb. My two year old stacks blocks every day and doesn't have any problems

Your two your old can probably read better than you too

Yea the contestants on Guts have no excuses.

mystic_belmont posted...

Yes, but you can make getting the medallions needed to win far apart to make it difficult to win in the time allotted.

By medallions, you mean the temple guard pendants? If you win 2 in the temple games, youre golden. First runner would take out 2 of the guards from play and the 2nd runner taking the last one out of play. Only thing stopping you from winning was the shows artifact being far away and many doors to unlock to get there.

I'm not saying the kids on Nick Arcade were dumb, I'm just saying they played the video games like they'd never seen a video game before in their lives

sabin017 posted...

Yea the contestants on Guts have no excuses.

I feel like Guts was a different animal though. It was more how fit and skilled you were to a degree. The aggrocrag was beatable, it just wasnt easy.

The Temple was, as others have pointed out, designed for people to fail unless they allowed you otherwise.

I remember seeing plenty of people win in Guts but maybe like 1-2 for Temple.

Ultima_Fury posted...

By medallions, you mean the temple guard pendants? If you win 2 in the temple games, youre golden. First runner would take out 2 of the guards from play and the 2nd runner taking the last one out of play. Only thing stopping you from winning was the shows artifact being far away and many doors to unlock to get there.

But didn't that mean winning all three games? Iirc the first two games gave half a pendant and the third gave a full, so you'd have to get all three to have two medallions...

sabin017 posted...

Yea the contestants on Guts have no excuses.

Did you expect everyone to have Ninja Warrior sets at home, especially for the sky track?

Goldice posted...

Normally they did it with enough subtlety. Make the medallions too spread out, make the door lock situation require literally a perfect run. But there was one where the guard layout and the doors themselves basically were setup in a way that was "you literally can't win, no matter what".

Another thing I heard was the temple was play tested by adults. Which is why the Shrine was always so difficult for them. Because everything was "high" up to them.

Which technically is illegal.

WilliamPorygon posted...

I'm not saying the kids on Nick Arcade were dumb, I'm just saying they played the video games like they'd never seen a video game before in their lives

This was the early 90s. Believe it or not, video games and consoles (and arcades) were expensive and not as common.

Ultima_Fury posted...

By medallions, you mean the temple guard pendants? If you win 2 in the temple games, youre golden. First runner would take out 2 of the guards from play and the 2nd runner taking the last one out of play. Only thing stopping you from winning was the shows artifact being far away and many doors to unlock to get there.

Problem is, there is a 3 minute time limit. So depending on long it takes the first runner to get through, could still kill any chance for the second runner to complete the Temple.

WilliamPorygon posted... I'm not saying the kids on Nick Arcade were dumb, I'm just saying they played the video games like they'd never seen a video game before in their lives

The problem was, they had to watch a monitor as they went, and then try to touch specific areas to "collect" the MacGuffins, and the hitboxes tended to be iffy. They could be ducking and still get hit anyway.

Ruvan22 posted...

But didn't that mean winning all three games? Iirc the first two games gave half a pendant and the third gave a full, so you'd have to get all three to have two medallions...

Yeah, you would need to win all 3 temple games for 2 pendants. But the show explains that either a half or full pendant can be found in the temple during the run, sometimes the kids miss it, gets caught without it, and game is over.

TyVulpine posted...

Problem is, there is a 3 minute time limit. So depending on long it takes the first runner to get through, could still kill any chance for the second runner to complete the Temple.

It's good to be paired with a kid who has watched/studied the show before and has no problems with performance anxiety. Sometimes they get to a room and completely freeze, forgetting how to do the room's puzzle, or sometimes getting scared the crap outta them by a guard. Sometimes the camera would pan on the other kid who is waiting to do the run and his/her face looked like "I'm not gonna be going to Space Camp..."

Ultima_Fury posted...

It's good to be paired with a kid who has watched/studied the show before and has no problems with performance anxiety. Sometimes they get to a room and completely freeze, forgetting how to do the room's puzzle, or sometimes getting scared the crap outta them by a guard. Sometimes the camera would pan on the other kid who is waiting to do the run and his/her face looked like "I'm not gonna be going to Space Camp..."

That actually happened once, a Temple Guard scared a kid so bad, the kid literally jumped out of the temple, disqualifying his run. However, he didn't have a full pendant, so would have been "out" either way.

Those kids are so dumb for not figuring out the monkey statue. Everytime!

DKBananaSlamma posted...

Those kids are so dumb for not figuring out the monkey statue. Everytime!

That, and one time, a piece actually fell out of the temple, and rather than stop the clock and return it to the room (which was on the upper floor), they took several attempts to throw it back up, and that pretty much killed their run.

Ruvan22 posted...

But didn't that mean winning all three games? Iirc the first two games gave half a pendant and the third gave a full, so you'd have to get all three to have two medallions...

Each game was a half, the 4th half was inside the temple itself.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Each game was a half, the 4th half was inside the temple itself.

Not true. Half, half, full. If a team won all 3, there wouldn't be a half in the temple.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Each game was a half, the 4th half was inside the temple itself.

No. Even from the Wiki, it says,

The temple games featured the two remaining teams competing in three physical challenges to earn Pendants of Life which the winning team used in the final round. Several different types of temple games were featured, with the episode's legend serving as a theme for each. Most temple games lasted for a maximum of 60 seconds but some were untimed. After each challenge, the winning team received some portion of a protective Pendant of Life. The first two challenges, pitting single members from each team against one another, were worth one half of a pendant, while the final challenge, involving both contestants on both teams, was worth a full pendant. If a temple game ended in a tie, both teams received the pendant value of that game.

sabin017 posted...

Yea the contestants on Guts have no excuses.

Do do do you have it?

The_X_Dawg posted...

Not true. Half, half, full. If a team won all 3, there wouldn't be a half in the temple.

Oh. That's right.

WilliamPorygon posted...

I'm not saying the kids on Nick Arcade were dumb, I'm just saying they played the video games like they'd never seen a video game before in their lives

They were using consoles and playing games that I've never seen before during that time when it airing on Nickelodeon. Come to find out later in my life it was Turbografx-16 and a Neo Geo AES. The kids my age only had a SNES and/or Genesis.

No, some of those kids were legit stupid

The_X_Dawg posted...

Which technically is illegal.

So I looked it up.

technically it wasn't impossible. On paper, it's possible.

However, all 3 guards were unavoidable and were placed in horrible positions. While the team did have all 3 pendants, basically the second was placed 2 rooms from the artifact (thus the second player had to run the entire thing), the third was placed one room from it (finally wasting enough time to kill the run). Further, the team was sent through Tomb of the headless, jesters court and monkey, 3 time wasting rooms (plus the upper path on pit)

The reason it's notable is because the team that did it actually was really good, breezing through a lot of the tough rooms. So the idea is basically if that team couldn't do it, NO team could do it.

Even as a kid, I never thought Hidden Temple was fair. The odds were definitely stacked against those kids.

They should have made the prizes worse and not cheat.

I remember being annoyed that they couldnt collect 50 rings or something in Sonic on Nick Arcade lol

opopopza posted...

Even as a kid, I never thought Hidden Temple was fair. The odds were definitely stacked against those kids.

I just realized LotHT came out before the very first Tomb Raider!! In an alternate universe kids would have been playing TR for years before competing on LotHT

I understand failing the green screen games on Nick Arcade but when it came to the actual videogames. it's like.... why are you on this show?

Beveren_Rabbit posted... I understand failing the green screen games on Nick Arcade but when it came to the actual videogames. it's like.... why are you on this show?

Probably because the kids weren't familiar with the games. If I plopped a game you hadn't played before, would you immediately know how to play it? No? Then don't expect the kids to be wizards at unfamiliar games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ST-4I7EYVA

opopopza posted...

Even as a kid, I never thought Hidden Temple was fair. The odds were definitely stacked against those kids.

If you watch it by season, S1 had several winners, but by S2 and S3 they cut down on winners something fierce. Another thing was these were marathon tapings, they taped up to 6-12 episodes a day. If you were a contestant you could not leave until your episode was over...

Also the consolation prices were lol worthy but so 90s...Nesquick, Animorph books, BK retchtech sneakers...man...

One show i see forgotten a lot by Nick was Wild and Crazy Kids...

I mean the biggest issue with Nick Arcade was that 80% of the show had jack shit to do with arcades or video games. Like after the face-off you have the kids usually thinking forever before deciding to see if anyone will notice if they try to move Mikey completely off the game board, and then answering trivia questions and "solving" "puzzles" about completely arbitrary topics until they stumble onto a video challenge square and wager 1/5 the value of one question on it because they know their partner has never heard of any of the games up there.
As for the bonus round I can understand why the kids generally had trouble with it but watching the first kid repeatedly fail in the same way over and over for a minute and the second kid never even getting their turn didn't exactly make for great television.

hindsight being 20/20 but whenever there was the tree room, you really only had 2 temple guards. Just run past the tree room. The key you needed was never in there, and a temple guard was always in a tree. Just dont stick your hand in and you can never have both players eliminated.

invertedlegdrop posted...

If you watch it by season, S1 had several winners, but by S2 and S3 they cut down on winners something fierce. Another thing was these were marathon tapings, they taped up to 6-12 episodes a day. If you were a contestant you could not leave until your episode was over...

Also, they gave the contestants lots of pizza and soda before taping. LOTS of pizza and soda. At least one kid vomited during their Temple run (wasn't shown)

WilliamPorygon posted...

I mean the biggest issue with Nick Arcade was that 80% of the show had jack shit to do with arcades or video games. Like after the face-off you have the kids usually thinking forever before deciding to see if anyone will notice if they try to move Mikey completely off the game board, and then answering trivia questions and "solving" "puzzles" about completely arbitrary topics until they stumble onto a video challenge square and wager 1/5 the value of one question on it because they know their partner has never heard of any of the games up there.
As for the bonus round I can understand why the kids generally had trouble with it but watching the first kid repeatedly fail in the same way over and over for a minute and the second kid never even getting their turn didn't exactly make for great television.

And 99% of the time, the teams never got close to getting Mikey to the goal (only remember one time them actually doing it).

That's screwed up about deliberately rigging Hidden Temple, at least with GUTS and Wild & Crazy Kids winning was doable. They shouldn't have cheated the kids.

this talk reminds me of the game show dog eat dog

basically each round the players would vote a contestant who then had to do a challange if they lost they went tot he dog pound if they won they could send some one that voted for them to the dog pound then when only 2 remain they do a head to head

after that its a trivia round in either the winner gets 25K (so generoius) or the doug pound splits it 5 ways

i remember one episode this sexist shit threw a tantrum when he lost and just quit after loosing the head to head

another had a woman win 2 games and then the head to head all in a row and then still lost the final trivia round so yes despite being the best player by a mile she got nothing

but the episode that always stuck with me the most

was a woman did 3 games in a row and then had to do the head to head which by then she was EXHAUSTED so naturally lost

and the dude that beat her acted like he was hot shit beating a player who was both physically and mentally exhausted

Nadine, touch the coins!