Current Events > Wait, Fester's Quest came out before the Addams Family movie?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I thought it was just a half-assed tie-in.

"We need a video game tie-in for the movie."
"Uncle Fester was the most popular character. Just put him in the game and have him fight aliens."

But, no. It came out two years before the movie. So that means it's an adaptation of the TV show or just the Addams Family franchise in general. Why did they need a tie-in to a 23 year old sitcom? And who thought Fester fighting aliens would make for a good game? Did they get the license to Addams Family and think that aliens were the best subject matter for the game? Or did they have a game in process and slap the Addams Family license on it?

Also, I just realized that more time has elapsed between the Addams Family movie and now than between the original series and the movie. <_<

I assume that with the popularity of the NES that any license holder just wanted to throw anything on it similar to the Wii.

I mean isnt there a Gunsmoke NES game too?
---

AlecSkorpio posted...

I assume that with the popularity of the NES that any license holder just wanted to throw anything on it similar to the Wii.

I mean isnt there a Gunsmoke NES game too?

In high school there was this radio station that played Old Time Radio o Sunday nights. Gunsmoke was an absolute killer.

I mean I know it would eventually be a tv show but Gunsmoke, Dragnet, and Johnny Dollar were my jams
---

I'm sure Addams Family (and definitely Gunsmoke) reruns were played a lot around the time so those were some easy properties to use.

Skye Reynolds posted...

Also, I just realized that more time has elapsed between the Addams Family movie and now than between the original series and the movie. <_<

Damn...
---

While the name is probably meant to capitalize on the popularity of Gunsmoke, the NES game is actually called Gun.Smoke. You're not playing as Marshal Matt Dillon, but rather as a lone gunman named Billy Bob.

dont see this as any stranger than the gilligan's island game.
---

The Gilligan's Island game made an attempt to capture the spirit of the show. It was broken up into individual episodes, it had bad humor, and it utilized the cast. Oh, and Gilligan constantly thwarted their attempts to escape the island with his naive incompetence and dumb luck.

Fester's Quest is just a game where you're a dude fighting aliens and that dude just happens to be Uncle Fester from the Addams Family. His in-game sprite looks like Penguin from Batman Returns and the action is all played completely straight.

https://www.retrojunk.com/article/show/5336/in-defense-of-festers-quest

random article so who knows how accurate it is but:

So, let's start with the obvious question - Why do a video game based on the Addams Family at this specific time? When the game came out in 1989, the TV show had been off the air for 23 years. And the big budget Addams Family movie starring Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston and Christopher Lloyd wouldn't be out for another 2 years in 1991. It seems like such a random license for a video game, and many have speculated that it was originally intended to be an original title, but at some point, it had the Addams Family license slapped on. This is a good guess, but according to the game's lead producer and creator, Richard Robbins, the story behind the game is much simpler.

According to Robbins in an interview he gave back in 2014, he was inspired to make the game based on a dream he had one night where he was playing a video game called "Uncle Fester's Playhouse". He gave no details as to what exactly the game was like in his dream, but it apparently was enough to spark the inspiration within him to make a video game about the Addams, and specifically about Fester. After deciding to make the game, he got in touch with the widow of Charles Addams (the original creator of the characters), and tried to convince her to sell the rights to him. It took many long distance calls, as she was living in Paris at the time, but after much coaxing, she gave her blessing to do the game.
---

Thank you so much.

It's weird because some of the items -- vice grips for relief and a noose to summon Lurch -- only make sense if you've seen the show. But at the same time, the game doesn't really utilize the license. Now it makes sense. The American producer wanted to make a game based off of the Adams Family, but the Japanese studio didn't get the humor and just made a spiritual successor to Blaster Master.

Anytime there's an odd creative decision, there's usually an interesting behind-the-scenes story to go along with it.

Fucking shit, I'm glad to be done with this game. It probably ate up 15 hours of my weekend.



Even with the explanation behind it, I still can't believe there's a game where you play as Uncle Fester battling a whip-toting triceratops. (His name is Xybar if anyone cares.) I feel accomplished to have beaten a notoriously difficult game in two days, but man did that just eat my weekend alive.

The images of the Addams Family members when you get items in Fester's Quest are from the 60s show.

---

The Admiral posted...

The images of the Addams Family members when you get items in Fester's Quest are from the 60s show.

I made this topic before playing the game. They really capture the likeness of Ted Cassidy as Lurch.

I owned this game as a kid and personally really like Fester's Quest. The game difficulty at bosses is reduced a bit once you learn that any "family acquired" item is fully replenished after you defeat a boss, meaning you should be spamming potions, invisible potions, TNT, and missiles very liberally.

Still, it's hard to deny the game's many flaws. I wrote about them almost 10 years ago on the Fester's Quest board:

1. Gun design is horrendous given that it cannot pass through walls. This makes it impossible to hit enemies at times when going through tight passages. Also, the abundance of "circular" fire weapons that often miss enemies is annoying too. The game basically requires you to grind to level 8 at the beginning to get a decent weapon.

2. This game almost necessitates a turbo controller. Again, speaks to bad gun design.

3. When you die, you go back to the beginning. This just adds to annoyance more than challenge. You should be able to start at the point after the last boss you beat. You should also be able to back track after beating bosses (without having to do) in case you want to reclaim items.

4. The gun and whip downgrades. What the hell is the point of these? Nothing is more annoying that having the level 8 gun in the sewers and accidentally picking up the downgrade, making your weapon now useless. Same thing with the whip -- since the whip also picks up items, it's way too easy to accidentally pick up a downgrade while you're slashing enemies. Again, these add nothing but annoyance. I'd be fine if the the upgrades were less common if it meant no downgrades.

5. Poorly designed enemy re-spawn. This game really penalizes you for not moving forward constantly. Way too easy to get overwhelmed by enemies when you're just standing around or backtracking, and this is often the case when you have a weak gun or cannot shoot enemies.

---

Oh my gosh... the gun downgrades.

Once you pick up the whip, you'd better not pick up a gun downgrade. The game becomes incredibly stingy with them. You will encounter 20 downgrades for every upgrade that comes along. If you get downgraded two or three times, you're better off to hit the reset button. I tried grinding for an HOUR AND A HALF and my gun sank from a level 8 to a level 3 before I shut the game off and started over.

This last time, I played very cautiously and managed to make it to the final ship with a level 8 gun. I did catch a downgrade aboard the ship, but level 7 was still effective against the bouncing eyeballs and the eye guns. I just called on Lurch every time one of those mini-boss characters showed up. The final boss I just blasted with missiles.