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The Addams Family (16-bit, Game Boy)

As it was common to most video games based on franchises in the early Nineties, the Addams Family video game is a platformer with loads of stuff to pick up and hundreds of enemies to jump on. It was developed by Ocean, the software house responsible of several other film-to-game adaptations of pretty low quality. In this case however, the result is a decent Euro-style platformer, which is at least playable if unoriginal and really difficult.

The Addams Family (8-bit)

The 8-bit console version of the game, still developed by Ocean and distributed by Flying Edge, is different from the one for the 16-bit consoles and computers in that it’s less based on platforming challenges and more of a Metroidvania. Gomez still needs to find the other family members but this time they are not being kidnapped and there’s no bosses: they are scattered around the mansion and, after you get some items for them, will in turn give Gomez the keys to unlock the various areas that are not accessible from the start. You even need to find the key to open the mansion’s front door! The final goal of the game is still to rescue Morticia, who is still being locked in the Addams’ vault. The way to do so is to find everyone and collect all the loot (such as money bags, gold bars, diamonds etc.) in order to reach the sum of a million dollars, to open the vault’s door and fight the underwhelming final bosses (Tully Alford with his wife).

Lethal Weapon

Ocean Software will always be remembered as a developer/publish with a dubious reputation, and it’s a reputation that is well earned. The software house’s output in the mid 80s to its liquidation in the late 90s was mainly licensed games of various quality, and it always seemed to many (with the exception of LJN) that no license was safe from the hands of the Manchester-based software house. And in 1992, on the eve of the release of the third film in the franchise, Lethal Weapon was no exception. It’s strange that a video game adaptation of the highly successful and beloved franchise had not been attempted until this point, but Ocean had sought to remedy that by snapping up the rights to produce a number of video games based on it. Unfortunately, none of them are very good.

Dark Ages

It should be said before anything else: Dark Ages isn’t really a very good game. However, it IS a huge leap in technology for Apogee, in both the visual and sound departments, and for that, it’s worth taking a look at. It’s also the game that solidified the structure for most of Apogee’s platformers, although there would be a lot of improvement and tweaking as time went on.

Pharaoh’s Tomb Arctic Adventure

Another game by Micro/FX and George Broussard (who somehow managed to spell his last name wrong on the title screen), this game is a much more ambitious piece of work than his earlier games. No longer pumping out yet another quiz game, this would be a full arcade adventure, complete with actual graphics, as simple as they may be. While it looks primitive, if not downright ugly in comparison to Apogee’s later work, it was this that would give the company the jumpstart to release better things down the line.

Prehistorik

For some reason, in the early Nineties several games with cavemen heroes were made: Joe & Mac, Bonk’s Adventure, Chuck Rock, The Humans… French developer Titus Software was part of this curious trend with their artistically misspelled Prehistorik, another platformer starring a club-wielding primitive man.

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