Krusty's Fun House

Last updated
Krusty's Fun House
NES Krusty's Fun House.jpg
North American NES box art
Developer(s) Audiogenic
Publisher(s) Acclaim Entertainment [lower-alpha 1] (Console versions)
Virgin Games (Home computer versions)
Designer(s) Fox Williams
Artist(s) Patrick Fox
Composer(s) Nu Romantic Productions
Bigmouth Studios (Console versions)
David Whittaker (sound programming
Dave Lowe (MS-DOS sound programming)
Platform(s) NES, SNES, Game Boy, Master System, Game Gear, Genesis, Amiga, MS-DOS
ReleaseMS-DOS
Game Boy
  • NA: January 1993
Game Gear
  • NA: May 1992
Genesis
  • NA: May 19, 1992 [1]
  • EU: December 1992
NES
  • NA: September 1992
  • EU: 1992
SNES
  • NA: June 1992
  • EU: December 10, 1992
  • JP: January 29, 1993
Master System
Genre(s) Puzzle, Platform
Mode(s) Single-player

Krusty's Fun House is a puzzle video game based on the animated sitcom The Simpsons .

Contents

Gameplay

The player directs small rats to an extermination area through complicated maze-like levels. The player controls Krusty the Clown, who must navigate through his Krusty Brand Fun House. Each level is a puzzle in which a number of rats must be exterminated. Using different objects and obstacles, Krusty must create a path for the rats to follow and guide them towards an extermination device. Other creatures such as snakes, Martians, flying pigs and birds attempt to hinder Krusty's progress by injuring him; he must throw pies in order to defeat them.

In each stage the extermination devices are run by a different character, including Bart, Homer, Corporal Punishment and Sideshow Mel.

Development

Acclaim Entertainment had the rights to The Simpsons brand and starting with the release of The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants releasing several games. Between 1991 and 1993 there were over nine video games based on the series and among them was Krusty's Fun House. [3]

The games developer was Audiogenic, a company who was developing a game for home computers that was very similar to what Krusty's Fun House would become. The original game was Rat Trap developed by Patrick Fox and Scott Williams, featuring a big-headed pink-haired boy who guided rats around a stage towards a machine by placing blocks in certain places to exterminate them and was released in 1991 for the Atari ST and Amiga and Commodore 64 computers. [3]

The sole programmer for Krusty's Super Fun House was Douglas Hare. Hare was working as a freelancer on a potential original game for Audiogenic for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Audiogenic had sold the idea of reformatting Rat Trap as The Simpsons-based game which then led to Acclaim getting Hare to port the game. [3] The games feature nearly the same background as Rat Trap. Douglas said that the game was basically added Simpsons elements, such as posters for Duff Beer in the background and the Rats were designed more to match the style of Simpsons artists Matt Groening. [4] Hare only worked on the Super Nintendo version of the game. [5]

Release

The game was released in 1992 for the Amiga, NES, IBM PC compatibles, Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy, Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis. Acclaim published the console versions and sub-licensed the home computer versions to Virgin. The 16-bit versions on the Super NES and the Mega Drive/Genesis were entitled Krusty's Super Fun House.

There are two revisions of the Super NES and Genesis games. Version 1.1 has completely different music for the second and fourth world.

Reception

Super Play magazine gave the SNES version of Krusty a 79 percent rating and wrote "it's actually pretty good fun to play, although perhaps more of a Younger Player-oriented game than anything else. Not one to set your heart on fire, but a good solid game nevertheless." [10] Computer Gaming World in April 1994 said that the computer version "is an above average arcade/strategy game that is ideal to burn away half an hour or so". [13] In 1995, Total! ranked the game 75th on their Top 100 SNES Games summarizing: "A sort of reverse Lemmings in which you have to kill the little on-screen characters." [14]

Related Research Articles

<i>Super Street Fighter II</i> 1993 video game

Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers is a 1993 competitive fighting game produced by Capcom and originally released as an arcade game. It is the fourth game in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games, following Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting (1992). It refines and balances the existing character roster from the previous versions, and introduces four new characters, including Cammy and Dee Jay. It is the first game on Capcom's CP System II hardware, with more sophisticated graphics and audio over the original CP System hardware used in previous versions of Street Fighter II.

<i>Flashback</i> (1992 video game) 1992 video game

Flashback, released as Flashback: The Quest for Identity in the United States, is a 1992 science fiction cinematic platform game developed by Delphine Software of France and published by U.S. Gold in the United States and Europe, and Sunsoft in Japan.

<i>Last Action Hero</i> (video game) 1994 video game

Last Action Hero is a series of action video games based on the 1993 film of the same name. Versions were released for the NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, and MS-DOS. Versions were also planned for the Sega CD and Master System, but ultimately were not released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audiogenic</span> Video game developer

Audiogenic was the name of two related UK-based businesses involved in video game publishing and development from the late 1970s until 1997. The original business started out as a recording studio and cassette duplication service which moved into video game publishing from the late 1970s onwards.

<i>Bram Stokers Dracula</i> (video game) 1993 video game

Bram Stoker's Dracula is a 1993 video game released for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, Game Boy, Master System, Sega CD, Game Gear, MS-DOS, and Amiga. It is based on the 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula which in turn is based on the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Most versions are platform games. The Sega CD and Amiga releases are beat 'em ups, and the MS-DOS version is a first-person shooter. The Amiga version was released in 1994 for North America and Europe. A CD-ROM version for MS-DOS compatible operating systems was released in 1995.

<i>Jungle Strike</i> 1993 video game

Jungle Strike is a video game developed and published by Electronic Arts in 1993 for the Sega Genesis. The game was later released on several other consoles such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), and an upgraded version was made for DOS computers. The Amiga conversion was the responsibility of Ocean Software while the SNES and PC DOS versions were that of Gremlin Interactive, and the portable console versions were of Black Pearl Software. It is the direct sequel to Desert Strike and is the second installment in the Strike series. The game is a helicopter-based shoot 'em up, mixing action and strategy. The plot concerns two villains intent on destroying Washington, D.C. The player must use the helicopter and occasionally other vehicles to thwart their plans.

<i>James Pond 2</i> 1991 video game

James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod, also known as Super James Pond on Super NES and Game Boy in North America and Super James Pond 2 in Europe, is a 1991 platform video game. It is the second installment in the James Pond series after James Pond: Underwater Agent and was developed by the same British teams as the original. The title music by Richard Joseph is a marimba-heavy rendition of the RoboCop film theme.

<i>Hook</i> (video game) Video game based on the eponymous 1991 film

There have been several video games based on the 1991 film Hook. A side-scrolling platform game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Game Boy was released in the United States in February 1992. Subsequent side-scrolling platform games were released for the Commodore 64 and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), and an arcade beat ‘em up by Irem later in 1992, followed by versions for the Sega CD, Sega Genesis, and Sega's handheld Game Gear console in 1993.

<i>American Gladiators</i> (video game) 1991 video game

American Gladiators is a video game developed by Incredible Technologies and released in 1991 by GameTek for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Ports were published in 1992 for Amiga, Genesis, Super NES, and MS-DOS compatible operating systems. It is based on the 1989 television game show American Gladiators.

<i>Joe & Mac</i> 1991 video game

Joe & Mac, also known as Caveman Ninja and Caveman Ninja: Joe & Mac, is a run and gun platform game released as an arcade video game by Data East in 1991. It was adapted for the Super NES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Amiga, Zeebo, Nintendo Switch, and IBM PC compatibles.

<i>RoboCop 3</i> (video game) 1991 video game

RoboCop 3 is a video game based on the 1993 film of the same name. Amiga, Atari ST and DOS versions were developed by Digital Image Design beginning in September 1990, and published by Ocean Software in December 1991. The Digital Image Design version includes multiple gameplay styles. During 1992 and 1993, other versions consisting of side-scrolling platform gameplay were released for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, NES, Super NES, Game Gear, Master System, and Sega Genesis.

<i>The Lion King</i> (video game) 1994 video game

The Lion King is a platform game based on Disney's 1994 animated film of the same name. The game was developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for the Super NES and Genesis in 1994, and was ported to MS-DOS, Amiga, Game Gear, Master System, and Nintendo Entertainment System. The Amiga, Master System, and NES versions were only released in the PAL region. It is the final licensed NES game worldwide. The game follows Simba's journey from a young cub to the battle with his uncle Scar as an adult.

<i>Alien 3</i> (video game) 1992 video game

Alien 3 is a run and gun game based on the 1992 film of the same name. It was released for the Genesis and Amiga in 1992, then for the Commodore 64, Game Boy, Game Gear, Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Master System.

<i>WWF Super WrestleMania</i> 1992 video game

WWF Super WrestleMania is a multiplatform wrestling video game based on the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), released in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis.

<i>Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story</i> (video game) 1994 video game

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a fighting video game developed and originally published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in Europe for the Sega Genesis in June 1994. It is based on the 1993 film of the same name, which is a semi-fictionalized account of the life of Hong Kong-American actor and martial artist Bruce Lee. Following the events of the movie, players take control of Bruce Lee across several stages that takes places in different time periods of his life and fight against some of his adversaries.

<i>Paperboy 2</i> 1991 video game

Paperboy 2 is an action video game, the sequel to the arcade video game Paperboy. It was released in 1991–1992 for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, MS-DOS, Game Boy, Game Gear, Genesis, Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, and ZX Spectrum. While Paperboy debuted in arcades and was subsequently ported to personal computers and consoles, the sequel was only released for home systems.

<i>Mr. Nutz</i> 1994 video game

Mr. Nutz is a 2D side-scrolling platform game published by Ocean Software. It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in late 1993 in Europe and in North America and Japan in 1994. In 1994, it was released for the Mega Drive as Ocean's first Sega game, and on the Game Boy. It was also released on the Sega Channel in 1995, the Game Boy Color in 1999, and remade for the Game Boy Advance in 2001.

<i>Fun n Games</i> 1993 video game

Fun 'n Games is a compilation video game developed by Leland Interactive Media and released for the Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis platforms in 1993 and 1994. In 1995, an updated, redeveloped version of the game was released on the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and MS-DOS by Williams Entertainment Inc. The North American Super NES version of the game is considered to be one of the more rare games released for the console.

<i>The Lost Vikings</i> 1993 video game

The Lost Vikings is a 1993 puzzle-platform game developed by Silicon & Synapse and published by Interplay. It was initially released for the Super NES, then subsequently released for the Amiga, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS, and Mega Drive/Genesis. The Mega Drive/Genesis version contains five stages not present in any other version of the game, and can also be played by three players simultaneously. Blizzard re-released the game for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. In 2014, the game was added to Battle.net as a free download emulated through DOSBox. In celebration of the company's 30th anniversary, The Lost Vikings was re-released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as part of the Blizzard Arcade Collection in February 2021.

<i>Terminator 2</i> (16-bit video game) 1993 video game

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1993 action game developed by Bits Studios for two 16-bit game consoles: the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was published by Acclaim Entertainment through subsidiary companies: Flying Edge for the Genesis, and LJN for the SNES. It is based on the 1991 film of the same name, and features side-scrolling and driving levels. It received generally negative reviews.

References

  1. "Press release: 1992-05-19: ACCLAIM BEGINS SHIPMENT OF SEGA SOFTWARE". Sega Retro. 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  2. "Prodates" (PDF). Sega Pro . Paragon Publishing. June 1993. p. 20. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Barnes, p. 59.
  4. Barnes, pp. 59–60.
  5. Barnes, p. 60.
  6. "The Latest Videogames Reviewed". EW.com. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  7. Rand, Paul; Anglin, Paul (August 1993). Go! . No. 22. pp. 6–7.{{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. "Krusty's Fun House". N-Force . Vol. 2, no. 1. July 1993. p. 23.
  9. "Krusty's Fun House". Nintendo Magazine System . No. 4. July 1993. pp. 24–25.
  10. 1 2 "Krusty's Super Fun-House (SNES) review". Super Play . November 1992.
  11. "Mega Library". 20 May 1993.
  12. "Nintendo Power Awards" (46). March 1993: 99. Retrieved November 12, 2015.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. Matthews, Robin (April 1994). "Sequel Syndrome Strikes Again". Over There. Computer Gaming World. pp. 124, 126.
  14. "Top 100 SNES Games". Total! (43): 47. July 1995. Retrieved February 26, 2022.

Sources


  1. Released under the Flying Edge brand name on Sega systems.