It’s *SPOOKY SEASON* and we’ve got this for you! 😀
Which version of The Addams Family does the above screenshot belong to? See the answer at the bottom of this article…
The Addams Family games are seen as being among the best British-made platformers of all time. Twelve games, all with one aim: to do justice to the subject matter…
The majority of these games are based on the 1991 film of the same name by Paramount Pictures and were developed internally at Ocean Software, by multiple teams, overseen by Gary Bracey, Jon Woods and David Ward, the directors of Ocean. Development began after the license was secured, early in 1991.
It was a huge development project for Ocean but the company had been nurturing its own internal development team for a number of years previously, so they brought it all together for The Addams Family.
One team worked on the Amiga, Super Nintendo and Atari ST versions simultaneously. Another team worked on the Megadrive, Game Gear, and Master System versions simultaneously. Another on Amstrad, C64 and Spectrum versions simultaneously. Other teams and individuals worked on: the NES version, and the TurboGrafx-CD version.
I can only imagine what the atmosphere was like at Ocean during the making of these games, but I can guess that it was pretty electric. Some top British development talent worked on these titles, and it shows.
What resulted was a series of twelve excellent platform games, each with a cute, cartoon visual style, and unique idiosyncrasies. And a very British way of platforming.
I don’t know how many copies the series has sold in total, but it’d be interesting to have an educated guess at a figure. I’ll look into this and see if I can come up with some numbers. If you can help: please get in touch.
But in the meantime, here’s a full list of Addams Family games on this website:
Amiga (1992, Ocean Software)
Amstrad CPC (1992, Ocean Software)
Atari ST (1992, Ocean Software)
Arcade (1991, Ocean Software, Nintendo)
Commodore 64 (1992, Ocean Software)
Game Boy (1992, Ocean Software)
Game Gear (1992, Ocean Software, Flying Edge/Acclaim)
Megadrive/Genesis (1993, Ocean Software, Flying Edge/Acclaim)
NES/Famicom (1992, Ocean Software)
Sega Master System (1993, Ocean Software)
Super Nintendo (1992, Ocean Software)
TurboGrafx-CD (1991, ICOM Simulations/NEC Technologies)
ZX Spectrum (1992, Ocean Software)
Other related Addams Family games:
Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt, Super Nintendo
Addams Family Values, Super Nintendo
(Both 1993, Ocean Software)
Which is your favourite and why? Let me know in the comments below.
Enjoy the grabs and have a safe and happy spooky season!
The King of Grabs
Answer: it’s the Sega Megadrive/Genesis version of course! 😉
PS. If I’ve missed any, please let me know and I’ll look into it.
PPS. Here’s a bonus feature for those who’ve read this far…
More: The Addams Family (video game) on Wikipedia
More: The Addams Family (1991 film) on IMDb
More: The Addams Family (1991 film) on Wikipedia
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The Addams Family Games Ranked
and commented on by The King of Grabs.
Best at the top. Worst at the bottom.
1. Super Nintendo (1992)
“The SNES is made for games like this. For me, just edges it with great use of colour and a nice balanced game speed.”
2. Amiga (1992)
“Precise controls and great graphics make it a close second.”
3. Megadrive/Genesis (1992)
“And a close third; might be higher but for “slippiness”.
4. Atari ST (1992)
“Close to the Amiga version, but arguably not quite as slick.”
5. NES/Famicom (1992)
“Excellent art and animation style; solid gameplay. An enjoyable game.”
6. Sega Master System (1992)
“A cheeky little platformer about a man with his hand in his pocket.”
7. Game Gear (1992)
“A really good port of the Master System version. Very playable.”
8. Commodore 64 (1992)
“The best of the 8-bit home computers by virtue of some very responsive controls.”
9. ZX Spectrum (1992)
“A good little game, but the controls are not quite as responsive, and the frame rate not quite as high as the C64 version.”
10. Game Boy (1993)
“The controls are responsive but the art style is poor.”
11. Amstrad CPC (1992)
“Sluggish movement ruins the Amstrad version for me.”
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