Maniac Mansion
System: NES
Release Date: September 1990
Developer: Lucasfilm Games, Realtime Associates
Publisher: Jaleco
Genre: Adventure
It’s a proper adventure where you need to save the girl from evil psychos in Maniac Mansion! Dave’s girlfriend Sandy has gone missing and all signs point to the big house on the hill. Inside is a family of deranged recluses that are doing the bidding of an evil, slimy space meteor. Gather two of your friends to help you put an end to their machinations and rescue Sandy before her brains are sucked out.
Dave has six friends to choose his companions from. Each of them have a special skill that can be used to get past the purple tentacle. Except Jeff. You can’t beat the game with Jeff. Or with Dave for that matter. They’re just extra bodies for puzzles. Bernard is a whiz with fixing electronics. Razor and Syd are both talented musicians. Wendy is an excellent writer. Michael is a great photographer. These talents all go in to specific ways that the characters solve the game. Many of them involve mailing something out to the wonderfully named Mark Eteer.
The mansion is split up into many different rooms populated with items of interest. You can interact with things through one of many verbs on the bottom portion of the screen. These are all very straight forward, with only certain verbs working with certain objects. The interface is all point and click, so you control the arrow with the d-pad and click with the A Button. You can quickly cycle among get, use, and open with the Select Button, which is welcome if you’re trying to be quick.
The story interjects with cutscenes after so much time has passed. These play out the same each time, and can be skipped with the B Button. There are only a limited number of things that can be done in the mansion, meaning it’s hard to get stuck, though there are a couple ways to end your game prematurely. First, don’t waste all your dimes. Secondly, don’t do something awful with the hamster. C, if you find a hidden keypad, don’t enter all zeroes. Avoid nuclear meltdowns at all cost. And for the love of god, don’t press the red button.
The antagonist characters are zany and enjoyable. Dr. Fred has been brainwashed to follow the meteor’s commands. Nurse Edna is angry, pining over her husband and his absence in the basement. Weird Ed is suspicious of the meteor and may be willing to change sides. The green tentacle is just an angst ridden teenager. And the purple tentacle is there only to do the bidding of his master. There are a few different endings available and I played through several times to see most of them. They revolve around how you get rid of the Meteor and there was one way I still hadn’t done, but I played enough Maniac Mansion for one day.
Graphics: 3.5
I like how detailed everything is. You can see everything you need to as long as you keep your eyes peeled.
Sound: 3.0
Each character has their own theme, as well as the bad guys. They’re well composed, but they seem overpoweringly loud. Luckily, you can turn off the CD Player in your inventory if they get too annoying.
Gameplay: 2.5
Point and click interface with a controller. Not the most comfortable way to do things, but hey, it could have been a lot worse.
Difficulty: 3.0
I didn’t think there were any moon logic puzzles present. You may have to use trial and error on occasion, but it makes sense in the end.
Fun Factor: 3.5
I had to have enjoyed myself enough to keep playing over and over again to see the other endings and experience the other characters.
Overall Rating: 3.1
Maniac Mansion earns a B. Point and click adventures may not be a strong fit on the NES, but this one certainly is. Not the best way to experience the game, but it is not bad.