Fester's Quest (also known as Uncle Fester's Quest) is a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System based on the 1960s television series The Addams Family. It was released in 1989 in North America and 1990 in Europe.[1]
| Fester's Quest | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Sunsoft |
| Publisher(s) | Sunsoft |
| Composer(s) | Naoki Kodaka |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayChoice-10 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Run and gun / Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Story
One night, a UFO beams up all the residents of the city where The Addams Family lives; this is except for the members of the family, whom Grandmama, the only one to predict invasion, cast a protective spell on their home beforehand. As the father of the family, Gomez Addams, must continue to guard the home from invaders, it is up to Uncle Fester to use his gun and save the townspeople from the aliens.[2]
Gameplay
Fester Quest is a shoot 'em up game[3] that takes place in three overhead areas (the streets, the sewers, and the UFO platform) and seven house where the hallways are from a 3D perspective.[4]
Along the way, Fester encounters other members of the Addams Family: Thing, Wednesday, Gomez, Morticia, Grandmama, and Pugsley, all of whom help him by giving him different weapons and items. Use of one particular item, the Noose, will summon Lurch to destroy all enemies on the screen. The game uses Blaster Master's overhead shooter engine.
Fester must travel through the city sewers to reach areas that are otherwise inaccessible due to aboveground obstacles. He may enter certain buildings, which transform the game from its standard overhead view into a 3D mode of play akin to a dungeon crawl. Five of these buildings each house an enormous Alien Boss character, which upon defeat will supply Fester with a puzzle piece and a picture of the alien's UFO, and refill all of his items. After defeating a boss, Fester will leave the building and be unable to backtrack through it to previously visited areas. Once all five bosses are defeated, Fester must board the UFO and defeat one last boss in order to stave off the invasion.
The North American release has a bug that makes Fester's bullets collide with walls and objects, making it more difficult to hit enemies compared to the European release.
Reception
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| AllGame |   [5] |
| Computer and Video Games | 56%[6] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 5/10[3] |
| Joystick | 70%[7] |
| Nintendo Life |   [8] |
| NMS | 57%[9] |
| Nintendo Power | 4.45/5[a] |
| Player One | 70%[11] |
| Super Gamer | 34%[12] |
| VideoGame | [13] |
The French magazine Player One stated that Fester's Quest was great for fans of the franchise, although did suffer from short game length, "motley" visuals, and occasional slowdown.[11] Paul Glancey of CVG, on the other hand, dismissed the game for its "flickery and unimpressive" visuals, lack of humor, and "unrewarding," mindless shooting gameplay consisting of constantly-responding enemies.[6] Critics from Electronic Gaming Monthly felt that while the game had alright graphics and "awesome" and "very good" music, its difficulty was "unbalanced" as it consisted of too-little real action and variety, very-easy mini-quests, and "next to impossible" bosses.[3]
GamesRadar ranked it as the 73rd worst game ever made. The staff criticized its excessive difficulty and lack of comicality.[14] IGN ranked Fester's Quest 45th on its Top 100 NES Games list.[15] Fester's Quest has sold one million copies.[16]
Notes
References
Citations
- ^ "Fester's Quest Release data". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
- ^ Instruction manual 1989, p. 2.
- ^ a b c Steve; Ed; Donn; Jim (July 1989). "Fester's Quest". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Vol. 1, no. 2. p. 11.
- ^ Instruction manual 1989, pp. 3, 9.
- ^ Alan Weiss, Brett. "Fester's Quest". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- ^ a b Glancey, Paul (November 1990). "Fester's Quest".
- ^ J.M Destroy (September 1990). "Fester's Quest". Joystick (in French). No. 8. p. 111.
- ^ Griffin, Bryan (October 29, 2010). "Fester's Quest Review (NES)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- ^ Merrett, Steve; Radion Automatic (December 1992). "Fester's Quest". Nintendo Magazine System. No. 3. p. 117.
- ^ "Fester's Quest". Nintendo Power. No. 6. May 1989. pp. 48–49.
- ^ a b Murdock, Matt (October 1990). "Fester's Quest". Player One (in French). No. 2. p. 59.
- ^ "A-Z of Games". Super Gamer. No. 4. July 1994. p. 109.
- ^ "Fester's Quest". VideoGame (in Latin). Vol. 1, no. 6. August 1991. pp. 24–25.
- ^ "The 50 worst games of all time". GamesRadar. 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
- ^ Moriarty, Colin. "45. Fester's Quest". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ Fenris, Kid (30 November 2014). "Interview: Fester's Quest". Kid Fenris. Archived from the original on 28 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
Bibliography
- Fester's Quest instruction manual. Sunsoft Corporation of America. 1989. pp. 1–13.