LogFAQs > #969957729

#54: It's Only Pretendo
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/7/5/AAAG8cAAD9Yz.jpg

Show: Muppet Babies
Original airdate: December 2, 1989

"Don't let these adorable little critters fool ya, Piggy! They're worth 200 points a piece!"

The original Muppet Babies was one of my favorite shows when I was young. So much fun, all within the confines of a nursery using the power of make-believe to transform mundane toys and games into epic adventures. The video game based episode, It's Only Pretendo, gave this treatment to the video games of the day, mostly NES with some Atari, Master System, and TurboGrafx titles thrown in. Some of the references are obvious (Piggy and Gonzo play "The Legend Of Imelda", a clear sendup of The Legend Of Zelda), others are obscure (the Fantasy Zone footage thrown in at random times, for example), but this was easily my favorite episode of the show, actually somewhat respecting the games it parodied while showing that the games can be a fun and healthy part of play and can help to open up the imagination (back in the days when NES and Atari games were dominant and you had to fill in the blanks somewhat). The Muppet Babies 2018 reboot actually touched on video games as well, but wasn't nearly as affectionate as this super fun, super cute episode. It's still a lot of fun to go back with more knowledge of games and try to spot all the references, even if the games are now incredibly dated.