Fun House
System: NES
Release Date: January 1991
Developer: Realtime Associates
Publisher: Hi-Tec Expressions
Genre: Puzzle
JD Roth guides you through the Fun House! I probably watched this show occasionally as a kid, but I have no recollection of it. A quick jaunt to YouTube shows me that it was a Double Dare type show. Here, you need to rollerblade your way through 72 rooms full of obstacles hitting targets to unlock the key to the next room. I just saw a picture with JD Roth, AC Slater, Carlton Banks, and Urkel from an early 90s NBA All-Star game a week or so ago, so it was coincidence that this came along.
Pressing the A button has you move forward, while pressing left and right rotates you. The B Button throws tomatoes, which you need to do in order to hit the targets. Most levels require a specific sequence of numbered targets to be hit. This is why I call this a puzzle game, because you need to learn the proper patterns to reveal the key.
There are obstacles to make your life more difficult, of course. Purple ramps covered in goo make it really difficult to move in the direction opposite of the flow. Other purple icy grounds increase your momentum and make it difficult to stop or aim yourself properly when you want to. There are enemies present which if you run into will spin you our for a moment, but others shoot projectiles at you that subtract time off your clock!
The levels are all designed and then named to give you an idea of what to expect. Some targets are plain and can be shot at any time, but others are numbered from 1 to 9 and must be shot in order. Finding where the targets are and figuring out the correct path to hit them all in the time limit is the name of the game. Sometimes you need to collect Sneakers which make you move a lot faster, but can be unruly to control.
It took me a couple hours to get to the final level and those were difficult with the time limit. There are no passwords to save your progress, but I was able to find a couple warp cubes, one of which skipped all of level 7 and most of level 8. There are also coins you can find in levels. If you collect 25, you get an extra turn. A small amount of time is added when you hit targets, more time if you grab small clocks, and a lot of time if you collect big clocks. You’ll need them to get to the end of some levels.
Graphics: 1.5
Everything looks fine, but it’s hard to do anything nice with the viewpoint.
Sound: 1.0
One song accompanies you through the levels, which I got tired of very quickly.
Gameplay: 1.5
Look, it doesn’t play badly, but it’s super repetitive. There’s really very little variety.
Difficulty: 3.0
The learning curve ramps up over time and if you run out of turns, you are sent back to the beginning of the 6 room level.
Fun Factor: 1.5
I thought it was going to be a quick game. I was wrong, but it took until the last few levels before I got bored with it.
Overall Rating: 1.7
Fun House earns a C-. This is an alright game, and I appreciate the level designs, but it’s not something I’d go out of my way to play.