The 1992 Amstrad CPC version of Ocean‘s ubiquitous The Addams Family is probably the ugliest out of all the versions. The chunky pixels and small play window certainly don’t make for much to look at.
The Addams Family, Amstrad CPC
The Addams Family, NES/Famicom
Developed and published by Ocean Software for the NES in 1992, The Addams Family is a cute and spooky platform game based on the 1991 Paramount film of the same name, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.
The NES version follows much of the standard Ocean template for most of the game and it very much has its own look and visual style, and a few unique features of its own.
The Addams Family, Sega Master System
The Sega Master System version of The Addams Family is very good. It features an interesting player character in Gomez, in this one wearing a blue suit, who can jump and climb through a complex set of levels in order to rescue his other family members.
All the while holding his hand, distinctively, in his jacket pocket…
Pengo, Game Gear
Sega‘s classic ice-pushing arcade maze game, Pengo, is well-represented on the Game Gear, with this jolly conversion by Coreland Technology (the original developer of Pengo arcade). It was first released in 1990 in Japan, and 1991 in Europe. It doesn’t look like it had a North American release.
Ranarama, Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad version of Steve Turner‘s Ranarama is every bit as good as the Spectrum original, although it is probably fair to say that it isn’t quite as colourful. It still looks good, though. And – even more importantly – it plays just as good, if not better, than the original.
Zaxxon’s Motherbase 2000, Sega 32X
Zaxxon’s Motherbase 2000 was an attempt by Sega to update one of its most famous IPs onto the Sega 32X (a hardware add-on for the Megadrive/Genesis). In the process I think Sega forgot one of the main reasons Zaxxon was rated so highly…
Ms. Pac-Man, Game Gear
Developed by Namco Hometek, Inc. and published by Namco in 1993, the Game Gear version of Ms. Pac-Man is arguably the best handheld version of the classic arcade game. Maybe even the best home version entirely.
Ms. Pac-Man, Game Boy
The Game Boy conversion of the classic Ms. Pac-Man was developed by Namco Hometek, Inc. and published by Namco in 1993.
Batty, Amstrad CPC
Batty, Commodore 64
First published by Hit-Pak (the ‘budget’ label of Elite Systems) in 1988, the C64 version of the classic bat-and-ball action game, Batty, is more or less the same as the ZX Spectrum original, but with chunkier graphics. And, like the original, it is an excellent Breakout/Arkanoid clone.
