Welcome once again to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. I think it’s safe to say that Hollywood is pretty much tapped out of ideas, and certainly have grown accustomed to bringing old franchises back from the grave. Case in point the recent release of The Three Stooges. A comedy that tries to capitalize on the popularity of the three knuckleheads and bring them to a more modern era. I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t say if it’s good or bad (but I am hearing far more positive reviews than expected), but that doesn’t mean that I can’t talk about the Stooges in some capacity. Case in point with their NES outing.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1989
PUBLISHER: Activision
GENRE: Mini-Game Compilation
I really don’t think I heve to go into too much detail about the stooges, do I? They’re literally a part of Americana, and pop culture legends. The comical and chaotic misadventures of Moe, Larry, and Curly (later Shemp, and even later Joe Besser) have been beloved for generations, and they are the grandfathers of slapstick comedy. They’ve been in movies, on television, and even had cartoons (Remember the Robonic Stooges?) clearly a time would come to see a video game.
In 1987, Cinemaware would release a Three Stooges video game on the Commodore Amiga. The game would prove popular enough to see ports on several consoles, including the Apple II, The Commodore 64, and the version we’ll look at, the NES, which would be ported by Activision, and developed by Cinemaware and Beam Software. The game seems to have a lasting appeal on certain consoles, but was the port on the NES appealing, or appauling?
COVER STORY
The cover is okay. It features the Stooges, and is appealing enough to catch the eyes of the consumer. Not personally sure if that’s the picture I would have used, but it’s still decent enough for an NES cover.
STORY
The Three Stooges, (Moe, Larry, and Curly) are taking a stroll when they notice a dilemma. It seems Ma’s Orphanage is unable to pay the rent, and if they can’t get the money by the end of the month, they’ll lose the house to the evil I. Fleecem. The Stooges make a promise to find a way to earn the $10,000 needed to buy back the orphanage, and set out on a comic misadventure.
GAMEPLAY
Before I get into the review, one of the funnier things about the NES port is its opening. You boot up the NES game, and the first thing you see is the Ghostbusters II logo. Since Activision had the license to the Ghostbusters franchise, they threw this in as a bit of joke advertising. Normally I’m against in-game advertising, but this is a stroke of genius, and I love it just like I do the in game advertising for Blades of Steel.
The Three Stooges is a mini-game compilation for 1 to 2 players. You play as the three stooges, as you have to survive 30 days in order to make the money required to save the orphanage. The game is set up similar to a board game, which each day having a certain amount of activities you can do. You select your activity for the day by the use of a moving hand. Pressing A will stop the hand, and whatever it lands on, will be your activity for that day.
The game is broken down into several mini-games and events. Most events will earn you money, or even cost you money. The mini-games are the real meat and potatoes of this game. The better you do at them, the more money you’ll earn. And trust me, you’ll need to be a master of these games in order to stand any hope of getting the first good ending.
Yes, there are multiple endings depending on how well you do in the game. Make under the required ten grand, and you won’t be able to save the orphanage. Make 10 grand, and you save the orphanage, but not have enough to fix the repairs. Make 15 grand, and you’ll save and repair the orphanage. And make at least $25,000 and you will save and repair the orphanage, and win the hands of ma’s daughters in marriage.
But to do that, you’ll have to play through the events and mini-games. The events and games within are as follows:
Mini-Games
Waiters: If there’s one thing the Three Stooges are known for, it’s their famous pie fights. It seems they just can’t hold down a job waiting a fancy banquet without leading into one big food fight. In this game, you have to hit the stuck up wealthy types with pies, while avoiding being hit by them. it’s a fun idea, but the problem is its execution. The problem lies in the fact that you have to control all three stooges at once, by having them duck, and throw. This is annoying considering the limitations of the NES controller. You’ll be fiddling with trying to get the strategy down, and more often than not, you’ll lose before racking up good money.
Doctors: Based on the “Men in Black” short, doctor Howard, doctor Fine, and doctor Howard have to get a patient to the ER as fast as possible. The remaining time will accumulate to how much you earn at the end of the game. You can move the gurney (as well as the stooges trailing behind) by pressing left and right, while increasing or decreasing speed with the Up and Down buttons. You can also collect red crosses for extra money. You have to be careful, because should you hit any other patients, you lose lots of time, which can be a real pain considering you need to be as fast as possible. This one is okay, but can easily be one you make little money on.
Boxer: Based on “Punch Drunks”, when the boys discover that Curly goes into a fit of fists when “Pop Goes the Weasel” plays, they put him in a match with Killer Killduff. But when Larry’s violin breaks, he has to get a radio as fast as possible, before the match ends, and Curly gets clobbered. You control Larry in this side-scrolling level. Pressing up and down will move Larry up or down, while left and right adjust Larry’s speed to fast or slow. A will jump over certain obstacles like dogs or fire hydrants. While this game works fine, the big problem is the fore and background items. Most of the time, you’ll bump into the pole, or pile of crates, even if you were a mere pixel in their line. This becomes this game’s biggest detriment. But if you can manage to survive that, you can earn some decent coin.
Cracker: Based on “Dutiful But Dumb”, Curly has to eat all the crackers in a bowl of soup. However, the pesky clams in the soup are after the crackers first. you control Curly’s spoon with the D-Pad, and grab crackers with the A button. Even if you only manage to collect one cracker, you move on to another bowl. You can keep going for a long time on this if you’re good, but lose all your crackers, and it’s the end of the road. The downside to this one is the controlling of the spoon. This, like the waiters game feels like it was definitely intended for a mouse, or a joystick, where things can maybe control easier. With the D-Pad, it feels a bit stiffer to move, and sometimes if you’re not right on the cracker, you won’t get it, despite the spoon being on it. It’s the game you’ll want to play to get the best money in the game, easily.
Trivia: Exactly what it sounds like. You have to answer trivia questions about the Three Stooges. This one really depends more on your knowledge of Stooge lore to get it correct. Well, knowledge or a cheat sheet with the answers. Either way, you’ll want to get this one once you’re used to the correct answers.
Events Include…
Eye Poke: This event is another mini-game. However, this one won’t earn you money. Instead, it can be a help or hindrance to the moving selector. In this game, you control Moe as you smack, kick, and poke Larry and Curly. The more hits you get, the lower the speed meter on the selector will be by the end. However, keep missing, and the selector will go faster by the end. If you just want some classic Stooge abuse, you have it in this mini-game.
$ Sign: The boys will find a money bag contains anywhere from a hundred to a thousand dollars.
Safe: After a safe falls on Curly’s head (which you don’t see in-game), the boys go claim a reward. But this event can be tricky as it will either earn you money, or cost you it.
There are others, but these are the ones you’ll encounter the most out of them.
Another spot you can land on are the mouse traps, which if landed, will snap at one of your fingers. Your fingers are technically your lives in the game, so if all of them get snapped, it’s game over. So clearly, it’s best to avoid them at all costs.
GRAPHICS
The game looks great. The game takes the best advantage of the limited colors of the NES, and the sprites all look well done. But the most impressive part is the really well done work on representing the real life caricatures of the Stooges in 8-bit. Very well done stuff.
MUSIC & SOUND
The game doesn’t have too much in terms of really catchy original tunes, but does a solid rendition of the Three Stooges theme, along with a decent version of “Pop Goes the Weasel”. But the most impressive, and well done thing is the sound bytes of the Stooges, done as best as possible in 8-bit. And for a game of its time, to have so many sound bites and effects is pretty outstanding.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
The Three Stooges is an okay game, but definitely suffers from too many problems from making it a good game, at least on the NES. The controls on most of the games are very rough, and definitely not made with the intention of an NES controller in mind. Not to mention some hit detection issues in some of the games, and some other very minor issues that keeps this from being perfect. Despite those issues, I had some fun with it, and if you’re willing to get the hang of things, you might too. It’s certainly better than some of the other mini-game comps I’ve reviewed so far (Especially Snoopy’s Silly Sports Spectacular) and definitely can be addicting issues aside. I’d say even if you aren’t too fond of the Stooges, give it a try at least.
RATING: Thumbs in the middle