Adventures of Tom Sawyer
System: NES
Release Date: August 1989
Developer: Winkysoft
Publisher: SETA
Genre: Action
Mark Twain created an American classic when he penned the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but how does the transition to the video game world fare? You take the role of Tom as he is on a mission to save the love of his life Becky Thatcher. She’s been taken by the dastardly Injun Joe and it’s up to you to traverse 6 levels of action to save her from a terrible fate.
Most levels are side scrolling affairs. Tom is equipped with an unlimited supply of rocks that he throws in an arc at enemies. These enemies, when defeated, drop an icon. T icons are something you want to collect, because 20 of them turn into an extra life. You want to avoid skulls, as they subtract 10 from your T icon collection. Slingshots can also be collected and are a short-lived upgrade that increases range of rocks and makes them a horizontal shot. These are sometimes useful and other times not so much. There’s also the super rare heart, which is Tom’s version of the star man.
Level two is an exception. Here you board a raft and are tasked with making your way to the end of the level, avoiding obstacles and killing enemies. Watch out for the flying Mississippi River penguins… Tom can jump, which is necessary to get over obstacles, but the raft moves independently and you can set yourself up to miss. This was a difficult level to get through until I had the dumb thing memorized. Between level 2 and level 5, I spent an hour of my hour and forty five minutes playing this game.
Most levels feature a mid boss that are simple. At the end of each level is a boss. I don’t think they are tough enough to give the average player much trouble. You need to find their weak point and unload rocks until they die. The most disappointing of the bosses was the final battle with Injun Joe. He was incredibly easy and I didn’t need more than one chance to beat him. The stage leading up to him was another story… You save Becky and wake up in class, no worse for wear.
Graphics: 1.5
Graphics are hit and miss. Some things like backgrounds in stage 4 and enemies in general look pretty good, but there are also really plain tile sets, too.
Sound: 1.5
Each stage has its own loop. None of them are particularly great, but they aren’t offensive, either.
Gameplay: 2.0
Tom doesn’t control poorly. He also isn’t capable of a lot.
Difficulty: 3.0
You have unlimited continues to get through the six stages. The game is mostly easy, but as I said, stages 2 and 5 gave me problems for quite some time.
Fun Factor: 1.5
I had an alright time. It was more fun than I expected it to be, I suppose that’s all I can ask for.
Overall Grade: 1.9
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer earns a C. From a developer and publisher I hadn’t heard of, this came out better than expected. Don’t expect Twain level quality and you may find enjoyment.