Jeopardy! (video game)

"Jeopardy!" has become one of the most popular game shows to have a video game adaption for, next to "Wheel of Fortune". There have been several different versions, listed below.

NES version

A version for the Nintendo Entertainment System first appeared in 1987. The game supports up to three players, but does not support the NES Four Score accessory.

Three modes of difficulty are available: Easy, Normal, and Hard, with the amount of time allotted to give the correct question decreasing as the difficulty increases. Because of the time period in which the game was released, the "answers" deal mostly with events of the 1980s, and categories deal mostly with issues in the United States.

The game was developed by Rare. A Junior edition with more pop culture questions and children as selectable characters was released in 1989. A 25th Anniversary Edition appeared in 1990 with newer questions. This would be the last version made by Rare.

A version for "Super Jeopardy!" was released in 1991. It was a "talking" cartridge, where speech samples would be heard periodically. This game played more like the preliminary rounds of the special with four contestants instead of three.

NES/Genesis version

Versions for the Super NES and the Sega Genesis appeared in 1991. They were developed by two different companies: Park Place Productions for the Genesis version and Imagineering Productions for the SNES version.

Two additional versions were also released: A Sports Edition in 1993, and a Deluxe Edition in 1994.

CD-i version

A version was released for the Philips CD-i in 1995, and featured Charlie O'Donnell as announcer instead of Johnny Gilbert.

ega CD version

Sony Imagesoft released a version with full motion video and new questions in 1995.

Nintendo 64 version

A version was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. This would be the last version made by Gametek as they filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy that year. The Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune licenses would go to Atari (then known as Hasbro Interactive)

ony PlayStation version

Hasbro Interactive released two editions for the PlayStation in 1999 and 2000. In both editions, announcer Johnny Gilbert reads the clues instead of Alex Trebek. The second edition also features a behind-the-scenes look at the show, and a sample question exam.

ony PlayStation 2 version

The PlayStation 2 edition of Jeopardy! was released in 2003 (However, the game carries a 2004 Copyright). It's the same as the "Jeopardy! 2003" for the PC (see below).

ony PlayStation 3 version

An updated version of the game was released for PlayStation 3 through the PlayStation Network on September 11, 2008. New features include online multiplayer games over PSN and the capability for new answer sets to be downloaded.

Handheld variants

Five different versions were released for the Game Boy, The original in 1990, The Super, Platinum and Sports editions in 1993, and the Teen Tournament edition in 1996. None of them feature the likeness of Alex Trebek and can only be played with two players.

The Original and Sports edition was ported to the Game Gear, and features more vibrant graphics and a better likeness of Alex Trebek, but still retained only being able to play with two players.

A version also appeared on Tiger Electronics's game.com.

PC version

There are many different versions made for the PC. The earliest came from Sharedata, with two editions, a Sports edition, Junior edition and 25th Anniversary edition. Versions of these were also released for the Apple II and Commodore 64. Eventually Sharedata was acquired by Gametek, and started making the PC games.

There were simultaneous releases of the PC games along with the console counterparts, with PC editions of the original, Deluxe, Super, and Sports editions.

Sony Imagesoft released their PC version along with the Sega CD version in 1995. Sports and TV question packs were also released by Sony Imagesoft's Graphix Zone division.

When Gametek folded in 1998, Atari started making the PC editions of "Jeopardy!" Three editions were made, and are similar to the PlayStation/PlayStation 2 editions.

References