Viz is a British adult comic magazine founded in 1979 by Chris Donald. It parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with extensive profanity, toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and generally sexual or violent storylines. It also sends up tabloid newspapers, with mockeries of articles and letters pages. It features parody competitions and advertisements for overpriced 'limited edition' tat, as well as obsessions with half-forgotten kitsch celebrities from the 1960s to the 1980s, such as Shakin' Stevens and Rodney Bewes. Occasionally, it satirises current affairs and politicians, but it has no particular political standpoint.
The Krypton Factor is a British game show produced by Granada Television for broadcast on ITV. The show originally ran from 7 September 1977 to 20 November 1995, and was hosted by Gordon Burns and usually broadcast on the ITV network on Mondays at 7.00pm.
Wacky Races is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for CBS on Saturday mornings. The series features 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies throughout North America, with all of the drivers hoping to win the title of the "World's Wackiest Racer". The show was inspired by the 1965 comedy film The Great Race.
The Beezer Annual was the final name of the book that had been published every year since 1957, to tie in with the children's comic The Beezer. Forty-six were made over the years. Since they were traditionally published in the autumn and in time for Christmas, since 1965 they had the date of the following year on the cover. Before then no date was given.
Buster Brown is a comic-strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault. Adopted as the mascot of the Brown Shoe Company in 1904, Buster Brown, along with Mary Jane, and with his dog Tige, became well known to the American public in the early-20th century. The character's name was used to describe a popular style of suit for young boys, the Buster Brown suit, that reflected his outfit.
Bully Beef and Chips was a British comic strip, created by Jimmy Hughes. It first appeared in 1967 in the British comics magazine The Dandy.
B.C.'s Quest for Tires is an horizontally scrolling video game designed by Rick Banks and Michael Bate and published by Sierra On-Line in 1983. Versions were released for the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and Apple II. Based on the comic strip B.C. by Johnny Hart, BC's Quest for Tires is similar to Irem's Moon Patrol from the previous year. The title is a play on the title of the contemporaneous film Quest for Fire. A sequel, Grog's Revenge, was released in 1984.
The Adventures of Bayou Billy is an action game released by Konami for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in 1989 and in the PAL region in 1991. It is a revised version of the 1988 Family Computer game Mad City (マッド・シティ), which has been modified with many graphical changes and an increase in the game's difficulty level. The game employs three play styles that were popular at the time: beat 'em up, light gun shooting and racing.
Sunset Riders is a side-scrolling run and gun video game developed and released by Konami as an arcade video game in 1991. It is set in the American Old West, where the player takes control of a bounty hunter who is seeking the rewards offered for various criminals.
Crash Team Racing is a 1999 kart racing video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It is the fourth installment in the Crash Bandicoot series. The game's story focuses on the efforts of Crash Bandicoot, Doctor Neo Cortex, and other ragtag team of characters in the Crash Bandicoot series, who must race against the egomaniacal Nitros Oxide to save the Earth from destruction. In the game, players can take control of one of fifteen Crash Bandicoot series characters, though only eight are available at first. During the races, offensive and speed boosting power-ups can be used to gain an advantage.
Dick Tracy appeared in a number of video games released as tie-ins for the motion picture:
Fun House is an American children's television game show that aired from September 5, 1988, to April 13, 1991. The first two seasons aired in daily syndication, with the Fox network picking it up and renaming it Fox's Fun House for its third and final season.
Billy the Fish is a long-running cartoon strip in the British comic Viz that first appeared in 1983. Created by artist Chris Donald and writer Simon Thorp, Billy the Fish is, like many Viz strips, a lampoon of British comics – in Billy the Fish's case, that of football-themed strips such as Roy of the Rovers. The cartoon was adapted into an animated film by Channel 4 in 1990.
Metro-Cross is a platform game released in arcades by Namco in 1985. It was ported to the Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Family Computer, and ZX Spectrum.
Buster Gonad is a cartoon character in the British comic Viz. The strip involves the surreal adventures of "the boy with unfeasibly large testicles". During a storm, Buster's gonads were zapped by cosmic rays which enlarged them to an enormous size, so that he needs a wheelbarrow to carry them around. As a result, they are impossible to conceal and are therefore out on open display for everyone to see and marvel at.
Back to the Future Part III is a video game based on the film of the same name. The game is different from LJN's Back to the Future Part II & III video game released for the NES. The game was released in 1991 for the Genesis, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Master System, and the ZX Spectrum. Each version of the game is more or less identical and all are loosely based on the popular film of the same name. The game was developed by Probe Software and published by Image Works and Arena Entertainment.
Ivor Lott and Tony Broke was a British strip which originally appeared in the comic book Cor!! on 6 June 1970, before moving to Buster when the two comics merged in June 1974. The comic strip lasted until the final issue of Buster on 3 January 2000. The comic was originally drawn by Reg Parlett and later continued by artists such as Jim Crocker and Sid Burgon.
Slalom, originally released as VS. Slalom, is a skiing sports video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo in 1986 for the Nintendo VS. System in arcades. It was then released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in March 1987 and in Europe later that year. The player races in a series of downhill slalom skiing runs while navigating past flags and obstacles before time expires. It was developed by Tim and Chris Stamper and its music was composed by David Wise.
Shrek Smash n' Crash Racing is a kart racing video game released in November 2006. The game is based on the Shrek franchise. Players have the option of playing one of twelve Shrek characters, using racing and combat skills to defeat other racers. It was released for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and Game Boy Advance systems. Shrek Smash n' Crash Racing was the final game based on a DreamWorks Animation film to be released on the GameCube.
Shonen Jump, officially stylized SHONEN JUMP and abbreviated SJ, was a shōnen manga anthology published in North America by Viz Media. It debuted in November 2002 with the first issue having a January 2003 cover date. Based on Shueisha's popular Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shonen Jump is retooled for English readers and the American audience, including changing it from a weekly publication to a monthly one. It features serialized chapters from four manga series, and articles on Japanese language and culture, as well as manga, anime, video games, and figurines. Prior to the magazine's launch, Viz launched an extensive marketing campaign to promote it and help it succeed where previous manga anthologies published in North America had failed. Shueisha purchased an equity interest in Viz to help fund the venture, and Cartoon Network, Suncoast, and Diamond Distributors became promotional partners in the magazine.
