16/365, Mega Drive: The Addams Family

This is day sixteen of my attempt to write something, anything, every day for 365 days in a row.

Last night I watched a trailer for the new Addams Family film set for release later this year. Even though it's being done in 3D animation I am still excited for another addition to what is one of my favourite fantasy worlds.

Watching the trailer reminded me of the game The Addams Family that I used to play on my Saga Mega Drive back in the late 90s. I have fond memories of playing the game for hours on end but never actually completing it.

Intrigued to see if it is as good as I remember it being I sourced a copy of the ROM and a Mega Drive emulator and after figuring out how to map my xbox controller to the emulator I began to play.

It scored quite low in reviews at time of launch back in 1992 with Mega advising readers to “watch a tree grow or something instead”1 but I still find it an enjoyable game to play. It's child friendly enough that I could have my two year old sat with me joining in by telling me where to make the man go next.

The game itself doesn't have a save function, instead relying upon an often used mechanism of the time: passwords. These could be unlocked as you progressed and upon starting a new game used to unlock achievements so you could start “where you left off” sans points. With modern emulators the games entire state can be easily saved so maybe now I have a chance at actually completing the game.


Only time will tell.

🌻

References

  1. Mega review, issue 14, page 36, November 1993