This is INSERT COIN, our brand new video series dedicated to the storied history of the arcade business. Join Robert Johnson as he looks at the best and worst of arcade coin-ops every Thursday. What is he talking about this week? It's a football game, of course. Find out what game inspired NARC, NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat, Smash TV and NFL Blitz!


NARC, NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat, Smash TV, NFL Blitz ... say hello to your granddaddy and he's here to kick your ass! Super High Impact was Midway's first flirtations with arcade-action sports games. So throw on your Hypercolor shirt, strap on your rollerblades, fill your fanny pack full of quarters, because it's time to throw down!

You think modern game's control schemes are too complicated? Then High Impact gives you one glorious button. You want to pass? Push the button. You want to jump? Push the button. You want to fight the whole team in a bench-clearing brawl? PUSH. THE. BUTTON.

The game's concept came from Ed Boon. You might know him as the father of a little game called, oh, Mortal Kombat. You can even see back then that Ed had a mind for a bit of the ultra-violence. You could even see where some of the concepts for Mortal Kombat came from.

Midway was starting to perfect their technique of putting real actors in the games and they rode that concept into the ground on this one. Everywhere you look you can see a B-movie actor or wannabe pro wrestler or an up-and-coming body builder. And then win or lose, you're rewarded (or punished) with this screen. Uhhhhhh ... are we done now? No seriously, can we end this? Okay, turn it off!!