NESessities of Life – Fester’s Quest

Genre
Action/Adventure

Dominant Algorythm
Get Gun/Lose Gun

Gameplay
The Addams Family started
When Uncle Fester farted
They all became retarded
The Addams Family

We can assume that this rich mythology was the reason Sunsoft and Nintendo felt compelled to give Uncle Fester his own game on the NES. And, what exactly did Sunsoft fart out?

From an overhead view, you control Uncle Fester as he roams the neighborhood, office buildings, and sewers trying to save the neighborhood from an alien invasion. Why all this responsibility is placed on Fester’s shoulder is unclear. Especially when you consider that Gomez is known to be exceedingly gymnastic and a master of the epee.

But, you’re not alone. Occasionally your family will throw you a bone.

Want some TNT? Pugsly’s ready for you.

In addition to these power-ups, the neighborhood is littered with money, keys, light-bulbs, and guns.

Sweetness
Games that take place in an placid neighborhood are always enjoyable. There’s just something pleasant about helping the community.

Weakness
With only two health blocks to your name, you can expect to see this a lot:

A blow softened by an excellent font.

Also, while the blue gun blocks power your weapon up, the red blocks bring it down. Sometimes, those red gun blocks mean you have to stand and wait to get through a narrow passage.

Invaluable Life Lessons Which I Still Apply To This Day

1. There are always new corners of your neighborhood ripe for exploration.
2. Have faith in your family, they will turn up to help you in your darkest hour
3. Keys open doors. Lights illuminate the dark. TNT kills aliens.

But Is It Still Fun?

Yes, but not for long. This can fill up a good 30 minutes once a year and fill it well. But, not a penny more.

Relevance Satellite to the Paradigm Shift From my Youth
I had been infatuated with Angelica Houston since she undulated so gracefully at the thought of turning a boy into a rat.

Shortly there-after, she confirmed everything my ten-year-old self suspected to be erotic when she assumed the role of Morticia in The Addams Family. We had collections of Charles Addams’ comics in our house and I read them regularly, so I knew what a lovely creature Morticia was meant to be and eagerly anticipated her big-screen realization.

The woman delivered in spades.

Morticia only makes a brief appearance in this game to give you a whip. However, that was more than enough for me. Even my tween self could enjoy the idea of spending time alone with Angelica Houston in a giant mansion with naught but a whip and the smell of old oak.

Fan Art (click to enlarge)
To hell with the fans. Let’s look at some Charles Addams comics that AREN’T about The Addams Family. The brilliance of Addams’ comics isn’t just the gags (which are always fresh and surprising), it’s how little of his frames are dedicated to the gag, leaving over 75% of the image to atmosphere.

The joke is simple here: The criminals are dumb, someone catches them on it (a concept that sustained 4 Home Alone movies). But, there are a mountain of ingredients on top of the joke that give this comic lasting impact. The stormy sky, the endless rolling hills broken only by two dead trees, the car stopped making sure its safe (cluing us in to the fact that most traffic around this area isn’t local), the stray cat, the destitute poverty of the person interrupting the murder (whose laundry consists of one wife-beater and a single sock), the fact that the victim doesn’t appear to be a mafia type but a banker… It all adds up to something greater than the sum of the parts. Charles Addams didn’t make comics, he made paintings with punchlines.

Let’s continue the tour.

Again, the joke occupies less than 20% of the frame. The rest is dedicated to communicating destitution and misery. Not only is her product worthless, but she has chosen the worst spot possible to sell it – outside the city walls, where only one set of foot-prints breaks up her day. Yet, she stands unmoving, her bare feet slowly getting buried in snow.

Sometimes, the gag occupies less that 10% of the frame. In such cases, it is your responsibility to find it.

Usually, his gags are indicative of a world that is horrifically incorrect. Sometimes, it’s the communities that are incorrect.

Sometimes, it’s the individual members.

Sometimes, it’s business.

Sometimes, it’s crime.

And, sometimes, it’s something else.

Something darker and haunted.

Jesse Koester is a film producer working in Tokyo. His work can be seen at www.iceblockfilms.com. Jesse also uses the over-head shooting engine originally developed for Blaster Master.