The Megadrive version of Ocean Software‘s The Addams Family is excellent – definitely on-par with the SNES version; arguably even better because it has a nice little intro animation that the SNES version doesn’t have.
Tag Archives: Simon Butler
The Addams Family, Amiga
The Amiga version of Ocean‘s classic platform game, The Addams Family, was created by an internal team at Ocean Software in Manchester in 1992, working on multiple ports simultaneously, and trying their best to make great games under pressure.
The Addams Family, Game Boy
Holy moley… I don’t know what happened with the Game Boy version of The Addams Family, but somebody, somewhere dropped the ball with it. The game was developed by Ocean Software (like most of The Addams Family games), and first released in 1991, but unlike most of the other versions of this game: it looks terrible and plays even worse…
It’s A Knockout, ZX Spectrum
It’s A Knockout, also known as “Jeux sans frontières“, was a TV show where teams of contestants battled it out over various physical challenges, in order to win the most points.
The idea for the show came from French President Charles de Gaulle, whose wish was that French and German youth would meet in a series of games to reinforce the friendship between the two countries. The domestic BBC English language version of the show was called “It’s A Knockout“.
The TV show grew during the 1970s and became popular throughout Europe, with various countries getting their own local and national versions, and the winners going through to a European final where individual countries would take each other on. These finals were usually much bigger-budget, with elaborate costumes and challenges, than in the early rounds, and they were broadcast throughout Europe on a regular basis for at least a couple of decades. It’s A Knockout was a phenomenon back in the late 70s and 80s. It’s since been replaced by similar shows like Tekashi’s Castle.
The Addams Family: Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt, Super Nintendo
The Addams Family: Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt is a Super Nintendo platform game, based on the animated series by Hanna-Barbera (which in turn is based on the TV series, The Addams Family), developed and published by Ocean Software in 1992.
Continue reading The Addams Family: Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt, Super Nintendo
The Addams Family, Atari ST
Based in the 1991 film from Paramount Pictures, The Addams Family is a cute and colourful platform game, developed and published by Ocean Software. The Atari ST version, featured here, was first released in 1992.
Worms, Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar version of Team 17‘s Worms was developed by Ocean Software and first published by Telegames in 1998. It was the final Atari-licensed title to be released for the Jaguar. This port is based on the PlayStation version of Worms, which is a good thing because the PS1 version is arguably the best version of the game ever made.
Leaderboard, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum conversion of the classic Commodore 64 game, Leaderboard, was coded by Roy Gibson and Ian Weatherburn, with graphics by Simon Butler, and was published by US Gold in 1987.
While it is playable enough it’s fair to say that it is probably the most bare-bones and basic conversion of this great golf game out there.
Hunchback: The Adventure, ZX Spectrum
Rather than produce another platform game, Ocean Software chose to make a graphical adventure for their third Hunchback game. Which was an unusual choice.
Hunchback: The Adventure again features Quasimodo trying to rescue Esmeralda, this time from the evil Cardinal of Notre Dame. It’s a three-part game, requiring the same number of loads. In part one Quasimodo must escape from Notre Dame itself, and from the Cardinal’s many guards who are trying to stop him. In part two he must make his way under the city of Paris until he reaches the Cardinal’s mansion. And finally, in part three, he must challenge the Cardinal and escape with Esmeralda in tow.
Gift From The Gods, ZX Spectrum
Gift From The Gods is a mythology-based maze game – with impressively-animated, large figures – that was only ever released for the ZX Spectrum. Its origins lie in the infamous cancelled Imagine Software game, Bandersnatch.
