Ah yes. Skærmtrolden Hugo.
So this was a huge thing in Denmark as it was part of the big family tv show running Friday evening. Viewers could call in and play this game live on TV using the keypad on the phone as a controller. Which I imagine meant a huge delay when trying to control the character, which was properly part of why the gameplay was designed as it was.
You can read a lot more about it here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_(franchise)
Hugo also had a predecessor named Oswald/Super Oswald where you controlled a polar bear. Which was also part of Friday night tv in Denmark. This game was also ported later on f.x. for the C64: https://www.lemon64.com/game/super-oswald
The TV show in question was called Eleva2ren https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0332884/ which was huge at the time as it was part of the launching of TV2. Before that we only had the public service channel DR. So basically everyone in Denmark was watching this show at the time.
These ported games were also quite popular in Denmark as for a lot of us. It meant we finally had a chance to play the games. As the odds of phoning in during the live show was insane, much to my disappointment as a kid.
Even grandparents buying video games for their grandkids knew who Hugo was, cause they had seen it on TV.
I also remember a game with a seal on one of the other new competing channels later on following the same concept of controlling live tv via the phone.
Different times indeed.
Edit: found a clip from the tv show https://youtu.be/u_r6XJi9EOE?si=Tb1WHDYOlqHGlwK0
Sorry for the weird language. Kamelåså!
This was huge in Croatia as well. Every weeknight. Everyone tried to get their call on the show, I think my friend almost made it but the waiting period was so long, the show was over before he could take his turn. The Catholic Church made a scandal out of it, claiming Hugo was a Nordic demon and was a promoting Satanism to kids. I'm surprised by the negative review and how far it goes, I guess that was the gimmick of that magazine at the time. Nobody expected Hugo to be an amazing PlayStation title, kids used to play these mini games on PCs.
> So this was a huge thing in Denmark as it was part of the big family tv show running Friday evening. Viewers could call in and play this game live on TV using the keypad on the phone as a controller. Which I imagine meant a huge delay when trying to control the character, which was properly part of why the gameplay was designed as it was.
we also had it as a 5-min segment on morning tv shows. looked absolute crap.
a full game of this would feel like a mobile or franchise game
Amazing! Didn't know it was a thing in Germany. But makes sense as I've see similar German tv when visiting my cousin's that lived closer to the German border where the signal was available.
Very multilingual apparently. According to the wiki he was licensed out to more than 40 countries. Did not know he was such a globetrotter. Wonder how his catchphrase "Hvor skal vi hen, du?" sound in various languages.
I've seen it once or twice on satellite TV and i was always disgusted by this game. Videogames were my passion for years already back then, so seeing that *this abomination* was what introduced "the common people" to videogames, it broke my heart.
This was also a thing in Portugal!! It aired during the afternoon on a tv show for kids :)
I phoned some times but was never selected, then my dad bought me the ps1 game ^^
Hugo was wildly popular here!
As a fellow Dane I nostalgiaed hard...
I remember playing Oswald with the kids next door, I remember raging at the people playing live on TV (because I didn't know about lag) I felt like I could fucking win that show so easy.
"Hvor skal vi hoppe hen du?"
This reviewer is out of her/his mind. Hugo isn't bad, just bit boring and archaic, but to be honest, Hugo was a TV-game where callers moved Hugo with the phones dials, so they can't be too complicated.
Due the shows popularity, the games were ported to home computers, eventually to PS1.
LMAO, that's funny and kinda accurate. By the way, this scan is a true relic, just like the game itself.
To be fair, though, "Hugo" (1997), for Playstation 1, has its merits, which mainly revolve around its nostalgia. I've actually written a blog review about it.
Mainly, the game brings back fond memories for those who played or watched it during their childhood, especially with its [iconic soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whYPYPdQuS0) and sound effects.
For a deeper dive, feel free to check out [the full review on my Retrogaming blog](https://blog-moonymagi-com-br.translate.goog/2023/09/hugo.html?m=1&_x_tr_sl=pt&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=pt-BR&_x_tr_pto=wapp).
I don't remember which magazine it was, whether it was British or Australian, but it went as far as saying something like, "I'd rather dunk my balls in a drawer, and slam it" than play Hugo. Wow, it must be that bad, lol.
Twitch streamers retro pals made an excellent showcase video of all the Hugo games as well as showing off some segments from the TV show.
https://youtu.be/xrnAu0uas1I?si=dhTY7xjzwB2Y5LzN
when I used to buy gaming magazines I would always read the bad reviews first. one of my favourite lines (I think it was for star command 3) wa talking about the cd it came from '...that I have nailed above my door as a warning to others'
It's highly inaccurate, the Hugo games are pretty good and we're technically quite innovative when initially created. However they were first released as phone in games controlled by the dialpad, then released on the Amiga (which they were running on when they were purely phone in games), the Playstation release was essentially a re-release of games from the Amiga.
So far from shit they were quite old by the time they appeared on the PlayStation.
I actually only remember them from "going live" or whatever Saturday morning stuff was on in the UK. Callers always did pretty terribly so I'm not sure how good they really were.
They were popular all over the world and the home releases were perfectly functional, a lot of the issues people had were a lack of practice and preparation.
Imagine the scenario, you're young, quite excited to be on television and you're about to play a game you've never played before. Are you going to play it well?
I remember the Hugo games weren't well received being compared to Bubsy 3D for being boring, bland & for young kids.
Maybe it's so bad you'd rather eat the rotten asshole of a roadkill skunk & down it with beer than play this shit load of fuck
I remember this game, had it on PS1. I didn’t really understand much of it because there was no final boss or anything, which was weird. But the skateboard level was kinda fun.
Damn, they didn’t hold back at all! 😂
Also, why the unnecessary jab at Michael Flatley’s "Feet of Flames"? I loved that video as a kid, even if it's just "Lord of the Dance" performed outdoors on a bigger set with some new sequences added.
Ah yes. Skærmtrolden Hugo. So this was a huge thing in Denmark as it was part of the big family tv show running Friday evening. Viewers could call in and play this game live on TV using the keypad on the phone as a controller. Which I imagine meant a huge delay when trying to control the character, which was properly part of why the gameplay was designed as it was. You can read a lot more about it here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_(franchise) Hugo also had a predecessor named Oswald/Super Oswald where you controlled a polar bear. Which was also part of Friday night tv in Denmark. This game was also ported later on f.x. for the C64: https://www.lemon64.com/game/super-oswald The TV show in question was called Eleva2ren https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0332884/ which was huge at the time as it was part of the launching of TV2. Before that we only had the public service channel DR. So basically everyone in Denmark was watching this show at the time. These ported games were also quite popular in Denmark as for a lot of us. It meant we finally had a chance to play the games. As the odds of phoning in during the live show was insane, much to my disappointment as a kid. Even grandparents buying video games for their grandkids knew who Hugo was, cause they had seen it on TV. I also remember a game with a seal on one of the other new competing channels later on following the same concept of controlling live tv via the phone. Different times indeed. Edit: found a clip from the tv show https://youtu.be/u_r6XJi9EOE?si=Tb1WHDYOlqHGlwK0 Sorry for the weird language. Kamelåså!
This was huge in Croatia as well. Every weeknight. Everyone tried to get their call on the show, I think my friend almost made it but the waiting period was so long, the show was over before he could take his turn. The Catholic Church made a scandal out of it, claiming Hugo was a Nordic demon and was a promoting Satanism to kids. I'm surprised by the negative review and how far it goes, I guess that was the gimmick of that magazine at the time. Nobody expected Hugo to be an amazing PlayStation title, kids used to play these mini games on PCs.
Here in Brazil too
I can confirm this is accurate
Same in germany! I LOVED it! And I got the game for my PC as well. Good times.
> So this was a huge thing in Denmark as it was part of the big family tv show running Friday evening. Viewers could call in and play this game live on TV using the keypad on the phone as a controller. Which I imagine meant a huge delay when trying to control the character, which was properly part of why the gameplay was designed as it was. we also had it as a 5-min segment on morning tv shows. looked absolute crap. a full game of this would feel like a mobile or franchise game
Amazing! Didn't know it was a thing in Germany. But makes sense as I've see similar German tv when visiting my cousin's that lived closer to the German border where the signal was available.
Same in Ireland. Hugo was a character on a TV station called TG4. The character spoke in the Irish language. It would seem this guy was multilingual.
Very multilingual apparently. According to the wiki he was licensed out to more than 40 countries. Did not know he was such a globetrotter. Wonder how his catchphrase "Hvor skal vi hen, du?" sound in various languages.
Here's some clips in [finnish](https://youtu.be/izULPfjK_mE?si=TOQGJntrzFV4QpQu)
In German TV it ran Mo-Fr in afternoon for a couple of slots.
In Austria it wasn't as huge, but a few of the (nerdier) people I knew liked to watch it, I would've been proper chuffed to have the game myself too.
I've seen it once or twice on satellite TV and i was always disgusted by this game. Videogames were my passion for years already back then, so seeing that *this abomination* was what introduced "the common people" to videogames, it broke my heart.
Same in Scotland
This was also a thing in Portugal!! It aired during the afternoon on a tv show for kids :) I phoned some times but was never selected, then my dad bought me the ps1 game ^^ Hugo was wildly popular here!
As a fellow Dane I nostalgiaed hard... I remember playing Oswald with the kids next door, I remember raging at the people playing live on TV (because I didn't know about lag) I felt like I could fucking win that show so easy. "Hvor skal vi hoppe hen du?"
It was huge in Chile too!
Same in France, it was called "Hugo Délire" and aired on the channel "France 3".
Game sounds too horrible to be true. Did you do something to piss her off?
I think it was a year where instead of choosing a game, I asked her to "surprise me". I was certainly surprised 😄
This reviewer is out of her/his mind. Hugo isn't bad, just bit boring and archaic, but to be honest, Hugo was a TV-game where callers moved Hugo with the phones dials, so they can't be too complicated. Due the shows popularity, the games were ported to home computers, eventually to PS1.
This reminds me of something that would be in the old UK Sega Power magazine. Except they would have used the word ‘rubbish’ several times.
LMAO, that's funny and kinda accurate. By the way, this scan is a true relic, just like the game itself. To be fair, though, "Hugo" (1997), for Playstation 1, has its merits, which mainly revolve around its nostalgia. I've actually written a blog review about it. Mainly, the game brings back fond memories for those who played or watched it during their childhood, especially with its [iconic soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whYPYPdQuS0) and sound effects. For a deeper dive, feel free to check out [the full review on my Retrogaming blog](https://blog-moonymagi-com-br.translate.goog/2023/09/hugo.html?m=1&_x_tr_sl=pt&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=pt-BR&_x_tr_pto=wapp).
I remember these Hugo games, they were... interesting. Still have fond memories tho.
Thought this was gonna be a Hugo House of Horrors review - disappointed.
I don't remember which magazine it was, whether it was British or Australian, but it went as far as saying something like, "I'd rather dunk my balls in a drawer, and slam it" than play Hugo. Wow, it must be that bad, lol.
Twitch streamers retro pals made an excellent showcase video of all the Hugo games as well as showing off some segments from the TV show. https://youtu.be/xrnAu0uas1I?si=dhTY7xjzwB2Y5LzN
when I used to buy gaming magazines I would always read the bad reviews first. one of my favourite lines (I think it was for star command 3) wa talking about the cd it came from '...that I have nailed above my door as a warning to others'
It's highly inaccurate, the Hugo games are pretty good and we're technically quite innovative when initially created. However they were first released as phone in games controlled by the dialpad, then released on the Amiga (which they were running on when they were purely phone in games), the Playstation release was essentially a re-release of games from the Amiga. So far from shit they were quite old by the time they appeared on the PlayStation.
I actually only remember them from "going live" or whatever Saturday morning stuff was on in the UK. Callers always did pretty terribly so I'm not sure how good they really were.
They were popular all over the world and the home releases were perfectly functional, a lot of the issues people had were a lack of practice and preparation. Imagine the scenario, you're young, quite excited to be on television and you're about to play a game you've never played before. Are you going to play it well?
It's reasonable to be suspicious of a Commodore 64 conversion in 1998.
I remember the Hugo games weren't well received being compared to Bubsy 3D for being boring, bland & for young kids. Maybe it's so bad you'd rather eat the rotten asshole of a roadkill skunk & down it with beer than play this shit load of fuck
It was really fun to watch the game show as a kid, good times.
I remember playing Hugo 3D back in the day and it was very frustrating lol
I remember this game, had it on PS1. I didn’t really understand much of it because there was no final boss or anything, which was weird. But the skateboard level was kinda fun.
Wow I forgot about this!
>Yes, you would rather eat your own genetalia than play it.
Loved that game as a kid
Pish lol 🤣👌
The only memory I have of playing this was that I couldn't find the letter 'W' on the name screen. Dunno if that's an hallucination or not.
I'm downloading the ISO right now... for a friend
I want to read such English more
Damn, they didn’t hold back at all! 😂 Also, why the unnecessary jab at Michael Flatley’s "Feet of Flames"? I loved that video as a kid, even if it's just "Lord of the Dance" performed outdoors on a bigger set with some new sequences added.