Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt

The Game

Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt released the year after The Addams Family for the SNES, NES and Game Boy. The NES and Game Boy versions were actually ports of the previous game with Gomez being replaced by Pugsley, whereas the SNES had a brand new game, in a similar style to the first, but based on the animated series and not the movie, so the graphics had an overhaul, with a new vibrant style.

Once again developed and published by Ocean Software, the industry leader in licensed games, there isn't much more to say that hasn't already been said, so let's get into it.

Gameplay

The gameplay remains largely very similar to the first game. You have a series of doors that open into levels, and in those levels you have to find an item in the titular scavenger hunt given to you by Wednesday Addams (this was Wednesday's second era of being the cool character everyone loved, the girl has staying power!) Similar to the first game you can tackle whichever level you like in whatever order you want, which is a nice feature that I'm glad they stuck with. The core mechanics are similar, platform from left to right, jump on enemies, you know the drill.

The one thing this game omitted, which is such a bizarre decision that I just can't get my head around, was a password system. No save, no password, you either one and done this game, or you start again from the start. Now for me, being the save stating scumbag I am, this didn't make any difference to my play through at all. But for people at the time playing it I can imagine they must have been so annoyed. The previous game had passwords, there was absolutely no reason to drop them for this, but they did. It could be a case of the developers being concerned the game could be rented and completed easily in a night or two, so no one would buy their game. This sort of artificial difficulty and attempt to extend the gameplay time was commonplace in the era, so I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

Graphics

The game has had a massive jump in graphics quality, while I did really like the graphics of the first game, this one steps it up so much. With it being based on the animated series they were able to use sprites and backgrounds more fitting of a platformer of the era, similar to Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.

The game was a lot more colourful, the characters were a lot more striking in their design, and because of that they were able to really go outside the box with the level design as well. There's a level completely encompassed by a crystal ball, with Granny Frump staring through from behind as you play, a bathroom level with bubbles floating around, a level in a laboratory with vials and burners. It's a really good looking game, with some really nice clear images of the characters from the series when you talk to them.

Sound and Music

Once again the sound and music in this game are great, it has basically the same people working on it that the previous game did, and they've had a year to hone their skills and give us even better than before. There's a good 35 minutes of music on the soundtrack, and while some of the songs are particularly long and have the same main beat, they are slightly altered throughout so you're not just sitting listening to a 30 second loop for 9 minutes, which is always nice.

The sound effects are similar to the previous game but a bit punchier in places, I'm sure they reused a few like Pugsley's shoes screeching to a halt when you stop him running, but there's plenty new stuff and it's exactly what you want from a platformer. Nothing obnoxious, but some nice fun sound effects.

The People

Like I said before, this is pretty much unchanged from The Addams Family, Jake Wikeley was brought in as an extra background artist, he had previously worked on some Amiga and DOS games like Hook, Lethal Weapon and Jurassic Park, and he went on to work on several Far Cry games up until Far Cry: New Dawn in 2019.

John Palmer was brought in specifically as a sprite artist to help transfer the TV series animation to the console, he had previously worked on the Amiga and Atari ST versions of Batman. That is about it, although Rob Arnold who had some hardware and technical support credits for other games was credited as the EPROM blower, and Allan Shortt, a programmer on the original Mario Bros. Arcade game among other things was simply credited as "Moral Support" whatever that means!

Box art

For a second time they've done exactly what they need to with the front cover, like the previous game was just the movie poster, this is just essentially a promo art piece for the animated series, but it tells you exactly what you're getting, it's a lot brighter and more colourful than the last game, and would definitely catch your eye in the game store.

As for the back, we're once again cursed with a lack of bullet points, a bonus point to whichever game is the first to bring them back! It has the standard 4 screenshots, in a standard placement. They picked good screenshots that show the game off nicely, including the crystal ball level that is one of the best looking. The text is just a basic explanation of the story, and the gameplay.

Overall I give this box a rating of - Accurate. It's another box that gets that rating by default essentially, can't get caught in a lie if you don't promise anything!

The Press

Super Play:

One great thing about it is that it's the same as the Addams Family original, but different. The characters, for instance, are the same (Pugsley, Gomez, etc), but rendered in a different way - as this is based on the cartoon series, they're all brighter, more colourful. The game structure is the same too - you're once again walking around a house, entering different areas which convert into levels. However, this time the graphics are more original, more varied - like the artist has had more fun with them. The parallax scrolling in the backgrounds is a sight to be seen - perhaps the best ever? - and many of the visual effects are simply stunning. The characters are great too - the baddy sprites are all true individuals, with the drowning cats, in particular, really making an impression on the soppier members of the Super Play team. This is one of those games that it's fun just to sit and watch, not only to play.

90/100

Nintendo Magazine System:

Ocean produce another strong game from their favourite constituency, a worthy sequel to Addams Family and it's so polished you can see your face in it.

89/100

GamesMaster:

This has to be one of the best platformers around on the SNES. It really is quite hard and should keep you pulling your hair out for a long while. This is a big improvement over the original Addams' game and is blessed with better graphics and good variety of sound effects. The gameplay is just great. It's a game not to be missed.

88/100

Computer & Video Games:

Yeah, it's all familiar stuff, as is the familiar feeling when exploring its many levels. Ocean have had lots of practise with this sort of game, and Pugsley is their finest licence yet - even the hunt requires an element of thought! It's by no means a classic, but it's entertaining stuff and most certainly worth a look.

87/100

Not a single mention of the lack of a password system in these, which would've been huge for the regular gamer, but obviously not for a magazine that likely gave it a quick once over and moved on!