The Addams Family is a platform game based on the 1991 film of the same name and developed and published by Ocean Software. It was released for home consoles such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, computer consoles such as the Amiga, and handheld consoles like the Game Boy.
The Mario-style action-adventure game has the player control Gomez Addams. His mission is to rescue other members of the Addams family from the clutches of Abigail Craven, who, alongside The Judge and the family attorney Tully Alford, is trying to seize the Addams' wealth. The player runs, jumps, and ducks throughout the mansion's many inside and outside areas, some hidden, and can freely roam the game as in open-ended titles such as The Legend of Time (1986) and Super Metroid (1994). Levels consist of horror trope enemies like skulls, ghosts, monsters and others, and bosses withhold a member of the Addams Family, making them necessary to defeat. Power-ups, extra lives, and money are also collectable.
Ocean, a leader in the market of video game adaptations of film in the late 1980s, began development of the tie-in for The Addams Family film in April 1991, before studios switched from 20th Century Fox to Paramount Pictures. It was originally planned to be a puzzle video game released only on computer consoles. However, that changed when Ocean was called by the studio to develop a version for the SNES. The final result was that all versions, including the computer version, were platformers with the same storyline, setting and objective. The game was critically well-received for its graphics, sound, and music, but also was widely considered to be just another platform with nothing original or special.
Plot[]
The Addams Family is a side-scrolling action-adventure platform game. The story involves Abigail Craven scheming to obtain The Addams Family's secret wealth. To do this, she brainwashes Uncle Fester, who has just lost his memory, into being an ally, and is also aided by The Judge and the Addams' family attorney, Tully Alford, who takes control of the mansion. Morticia Addams, Pugsley Addams, Wednesday Addams, and Granny go to the house to meet with Tully about the property, only to be kidnapped within it by Abigail. When Gomez Addams gets home, he finds the other family members gone. To save his family, Gomez runs, jumps, and squats his way throughout the large mansion invested with ghosts, mutants, monsters, bats and rabbits, as well as stage hazards like stars, swinging clock pendulums, and fire lakes.
Puzzle-solving is also involved in saving the Addams family members; Wednesday is found in an ice-themed freezing area and it is up to the player to figure out how to thaw her out, and Granny is trapped in a stove that's turned off by a switch the player must find. The Amstrad CPC game has many doors that can only be unlocked by keys hidden throughout the mansion. In most versions, the underground chambers must be activated to save Morticia; Lurch plays a tune in the Music Room that activates it, but only when Wednesday, Pugsley, Granny and Uncle Fester are rescued and meet up in the room. In the NES version, Gomez has to collect $1,000,000 to save Morticia. The Judge is the game's final boss.
The Addams Family is similar to open-ended titles such as The Legend of Time (1986) and Super Metroid (1994), as the player has the freedom to maneuver both the indoor and outdoor areas of the mansion in any order. The core of the game is in the mansion's Hall of Stairs, consisting of the front entrance and six doorways. Rooms these doors lead to include the kitchen, the games room, and the portrait gallery, and each feature around 40–50 screens. A boss, a huge bird, is located in the outside garden. One of the doors near the front is invisible and leads to Pugsley's Den, which has power-ups, money, and five 1-UPs; it also has another secret area within it containing 27 lives. Throughout the mansion, there are bonus areas holding extra lives and money, as well as unnoticeable spots in non-secret areas containing the same. There are also boxes where Thing provides clues, such as how objects in a room work and where to go next.
Similar to Mario games, Gomez kills enemies and bosses by stomping on them, and collects power-ups and coins. Power-ups include a sword, a golf club that can shoot balls in a similar fashion to fire flowers, the fezi-copter hat that makes Gomez fly, and shoes that increases his speed. All of these can be held from door-to-door except for the fezi-copter, which disintegrates by the time Gomez enters a door. The Game Boy version additionally has four collectible potions, left around by Pugsley, that are needed to access certain areas. The Wolfman potion increases his speed, Frankie gives him invincibility that lasts for 10 hits with enemies, Sea Monster enables him to swim underwater, and Drac makes him fly. Also only in the Game Boy release, power-up items are limited in energy, meaning power vials must be collected to keep them in use.
In some versions, Gomez' maximum health is represented by heart containers, starting with two. Up to three additional heart containers, as well extra lives, can be collected. Collecting 25$ fills one of the containers (50$ in the Amiga version), and $100 gives the player a 1-UP. The player also has unlimited continues, although is put back at the Hall of Stairs once all the lives are lost. A password is earned after defeating a boss, which also rewards the player with either one of the Addams family members or a heart container. The NES, Game Boy, and CPC releases uses different representations of health. The NES version has a regular life bar, while the Game Boy and CPC version uses a system with a consistent amount of hearts.
In the CPC version, Gomez has to survive in a screen for 60 seconds after he finds an Addams.