The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer (NES 1989)

 The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer (NES 1989)

The first time I discovered this game would have been in the early 1990s, when my dad was married to a woman who collected NES games, at the time she helped me to build my Nintendo collection as well.  Sadly that original collection that I had as a kid I had gotten rid of over the years, which was something that I always regretted.  As an adult I have been working to rebuild my old NES collection, and one of the games that I knew I had to hunt down and re-add to my collection was The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer.  This game starts off with Tom Sawyer sleeping in class at school, and then we go into his dream where he must save Becky from Injun Joe.   The game takes the player through six levels, fighting a boss at the end of every level, until finally Tom gets to Injun Joe who is riding upon the back of a sea monster, and the player must beat him to save Becky.  In the two player mode, player two gets to play as Huck Finn. 

The game is loosely based on the 1876 novel of the same name by Mark Twain, and yes, the game like the book it is inspired by uses a racial slur when naming the villain of the game, and I know that there are some out there who feel that those classic Mark Twain novels should be "cancelled" or at least edited, and I do not care to participate in that conversation, so I guess just beware of that when deciding if this is a game that you want to play.   As a young child I spent a lot of time on the Mississippi River, and learning about steamboats, and of course loved Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and reading about their adventures, so when my ex-step mom gave me this game I was super excited about it. 

The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer was developed by Winkysoft, and published by SETA (Not to be confused with the game of the same name published by Square Soft).  The game was released for The Nintendo Entertainment System, The Famicom in Japan.   There are differences however from the Famicom and the NES versions of the game, mainly in the order of the levels.  There are six levels in the game in the US the first level is the steamboat (which is level 5 in Japan), the second level sees the player rafting down the Mississippi River (this is the first level in the Japanese version), the third level has the player traversing from left to right through a forest stage, the fourth level is a haunted house, the fifth level is traveling through the clouds (in Japan this would be the steam ship), and the sixth and final level is Injun Joe's Cave.    Most of the levels are side scrolling, with some platforming elements.  The player is armed with rocks, which shoot in a arc, and they can occasionally find a slingshot which is a temporary power up.  When you defeat an enemy you will either get a T or a skull, and occasionally you will get a heart.  Collect 20 Ts and you get an extra life, get a skull you lose 5 Ts, get a heart and you become temporarily invincible.  

Like I said the stages are mostly side scrolling with some platformers, however the rafting level is a top down auto scrolling level, similar to Dino Rikki.   You shoot your rocks in a forward direction, and progress up the screen, with the ability to left or right, with a limited forward and backwards movement, within the confines of the river banks, and within the confines of the auto scroll.  You can also jump, which you will have to do to get over some obstacles.   So the game has some variety to it which is nice, to break up what would otherwise be just another side scrolling platformer game.   

I have heard some people complain about the graphics of the game, especially in the colour pallet, however, I rather like the graphics in the game.  The characters are well defined and you can tell actually see some detail in your character sprite, and it is easy to tell what all of the enemies and obstacles in the game are.  The colour pallet is simple, but it works for the game.   The game is challenging but it isn't unfair, and for the most part the controls are pretty decent and responsive.   The game is fun, and I have always enjoyed playing it.   That being said I have never beat this game, not because the game is impossible, but more due to my own abilities, I do think that if I wanted to bad enough I could beat this game.   I like that the game gives the player unlimited continues, but there is no save option, so you have to beat the game in one go, you have unlimited tries, but once you turn off the game you have to start all over again (this is why I have never beat it, because I have just never spent enough time to get through it).   I do find that for the most part the actual levels are challenging, but then you get to the boss battle and the boss battles tend to be less challenging than the level that preceded it, almost like the boss is giving you a break.  One major exception is the boss at the end of the haunted house, that one is a true challenge.

If you haven't played this game, I recommend checking it out, it has always ranked among my favourite games on the NES, though I know that it isn't for everyone, I definitely recommend checking it out.   There is enough variety to keep it interesting, and it is challenging but fair, and not too hard that a beginner couldn't enjoy the game.   A lot of the challenges in the game can be overcome by learning the game's patterns.   I think overall this was one of the great but underrated titles on the NES.  It has always been a game that I loved, and I hope that you can get a chance to play it as well.