Krusty's Super Funhouse
Developer:
- Audiogenic
Publisher:
- Acclaim Entertainment (Consoles)
- Virgin Games (Home computers)
Designers:
- Fox Williams
- Patrick Fox
- Nu Romantic Productions
- Bigmouth Studios (Console version)
- David Whittaker (Sound programming)
- Dave Lowe (DOS version sound programming)
Platforms:
- NES
- Super NES
- Game Boy
- Master System
- Game Gear
- Genesis
- Amiga
- DOS
Release dates:
- NA - 1992
- PAL - 1992
Genre:
- Puzzle
Mode:
- Single-player
Box Synopsis
HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII KIDS!
Some peaky rats have infested my lovely fun house and I need your help to get rid of them!
Those rats aren't too bright. They just walk around climbing anything that's smaller than they are. If they reach a wall or barrier that is taller than them, the rats will just turn around and go the other way. . .
Use the blocks and items that you find to get the rats to the nifty little traps operated by Bart, Homer and my faithful helpers Sideshow Mel and Corporal Punishment.
Those rats aren't too bright. They just walk around climbing anything that's smaller than they are. If they reach a wall or barrier that is taller than them, the rats will just turn around and go the other way. . .
Use the blocks and items that you find to get the rats to the nifty little traps operated by Bart, Homer and my faithful helpers Sideshow Mel and Corporal Punishment.
Good Luck. . . !
🎮🎮🎮
Gameplay
Krusty's Super Fun House is a puzzle platformer style game that challenges the player to solve each rooms puzzle so they can progress. Each room has a unique layout which will always have one or more rat entry points and a path to the trap operated by either Bart, Homer, Sideshow Mel or Corporal Punishment.
The player takes control of Krusty and can choose the order of which rooms they want to solve. Once inside a room you must discover it's puzzle elements and solve them by using the blocks and items you may find within. There is a no time limit on screen, however if you take too long some puzzles become harder to solve and are better to restart costing yourself a life.
There are other hazards in rooms that knock Krusty around if hit and consume precious time. Krusty has no life display on screen but you can a few hits before collapsing to the ground and losing a life along with all room progress. Lives and health items can be gathered by searching for secret stashes within the rooms. When you stand still if Krusty will frown when low on health.
Once a room is cleared of rats and return to the entry door, Krusty will signal you with a verbal call. If he doesn't call out 'Hey Hey' then there may be rats left in the room somewhere so the search continues.
Once you clear enough rooms and secure them with padlocks the section is cleared and you can progress into the Fun house which changes the difficulty of the rooms and other elements of the game.
When the player successfully clears all 60 rat infested rooms inside Krusty's Super Fun House then they win the game.
The player takes control of Krusty and can choose the order of which rooms they want to solve. Once inside a room you must discover it's puzzle elements and solve them by using the blocks and items you may find within. There is a no time limit on screen, however if you take too long some puzzles become harder to solve and are better to restart costing yourself a life.
There are other hazards in rooms that knock Krusty around if hit and consume precious time. Krusty has no life display on screen but you can a few hits before collapsing to the ground and losing a life along with all room progress. Lives and health items can be gathered by searching for secret stashes within the rooms. When you stand still if Krusty will frown when low on health.
Once a room is cleared of rats and return to the entry door, Krusty will signal you with a verbal call. If he doesn't call out 'Hey Hey' then there may be rats left in the room somewhere so the search continues.
Once you clear enough rooms and secure them with padlocks the section is cleared and you can progress into the Fun house which changes the difficulty of the rooms and other elements of the game.
When the player successfully clears all 60 rat infested rooms inside Krusty's Super Fun House then they win the game.
🎮🎮🎮
Controls
Directional left and right - movement
Direction pad down - pickup or drop block
Directional pad up - enter room
L - Turn background music off
Y - Throw equipped projectile/kick open boxes
X - N/A
B - Jump
A - N/A
Select - Restart current room and lose 1 life
Start - Pause until any controller input is received
🎮🎮🎮
Introduction
Gameplay Sample
Shanwow's Review
Story and Gameplay: 2 point
Krusty's Super Fun house is a 1992 rerelease of a game called 'Rat-Trap' for the Commodore Amiga. It is a platformer/puzzle hybrid game and it is played by solving puzzles and exterminating the rat infestation. The player takes control of Krusty and must clear 60 rooms which are broken down into 5 unique areas. The player is allowed to completed 1 area at a time in any room order they decide. Once the area is cleared then the next area is open for processing and once the player closes the golden room in area 5 they have rid the funhouse of rats and finished the storyline.
The story is told by a very boring and text heavy screen when you first power on the game. It is written in a way to say that the player is helping Krusty and he has requested you help clear the rats. Once the screen changes Krusty appears on screen for a moment, throws a classic one liner out and that is it for pretty much every story element for the rest of the game. There are progress rewards given out to the player for completing areas but they a static screens that have no real significance which leaves the story stale until you reach the end.
To get to the end of the game you must learn and adapt to the madness of the funhouse and it's very well designed puzzles. There are 5 playable areas that each have a unique them twist, which introduces new mechanics and design elements. Starting in the fun house you will be shown the basics of rat trapping and extermination. As you go deeper into the game you will not only find creepier settings but will need to learn how make diagonal stairs, trap rats in jars and use fans to blow rats to the trapper who waits to squash, burn, blow up or eat the vermin.
Unfortunately as a player I found myself dragging my feet around as I attempted to finish this huge task. Some rooms are shorter than others but that is all based on how you as a player processes each space but it all adds up to easily over 5 hours of gameplay on your first play through. Sadly if you do put the hours into the game there is not really much reward as the ending is as lame as the intro sequence and it is a let down.
The story is told by a very boring and text heavy screen when you first power on the game. It is written in a way to say that the player is helping Krusty and he has requested you help clear the rats. Once the screen changes Krusty appears on screen for a moment, throws a classic one liner out and that is it for pretty much every story element for the rest of the game. There are progress rewards given out to the player for completing areas but they a static screens that have no real significance which leaves the story stale until you reach the end.
To get to the end of the game you must learn and adapt to the madness of the funhouse and it's very well designed puzzles. There are 5 playable areas that each have a unique them twist, which introduces new mechanics and design elements. Starting in the fun house you will be shown the basics of rat trapping and extermination. As you go deeper into the game you will not only find creepier settings but will need to learn how make diagonal stairs, trap rats in jars and use fans to blow rats to the trapper who waits to squash, burn, blow up or eat the vermin.
Unfortunately as a player I found myself dragging my feet around as I attempted to finish this huge task. Some rooms are shorter than others but that is all based on how you as a player processes each space but it all adds up to easily over 5 hours of gameplay on your first play through. Sadly if you do put the hours into the game there is not really much reward as the ending is as lame as the intro sequence and it is a let down.
Controls and Features: 1 points
Due to Krusty's Super Fun house being released on multiple platforms the developers keep the control layout very simple. It relies mainly on the player being familiar with two main action buttons and the d-pad. The buttons input is fine but I did have some issues with the d-pad and it's sensitivity. Since you are required to press down to pick up a block, if you accidently press down accidently you will drop your block.
Krusty is also allowed to carry one special block only which could be used for its original purpose or something else. Being able to only carry one really does restrict the speed of everything as you are often required to bring blocks from one end of the room to the other for the solution.
There is only one mode for this game but it does feature Krusty and other great Simpsons characters and references. Each room has a trap operator and that person will help you for the entire area. The traps are fun to watch as they dispose of the rat vermin.
Acclaim must of spent a lot of money on acquiring the rights to using the Simpsons properties because it seems they couldn't afford to add anything else to the game to help it become more than an average puzzle game with no real depth to the gameplay.
Design and Difficulty: 2 point
The Super Nintendo console has a few Simpson's inspired games and Krusty's Super Fun House is one of the better ones. The redesign using elements inspired by the show helped add more appeal to this puzzling title.
Krusty looks great on screen when playing and his colour scheme make him very identifiable. He is a bit messy around the edges for a player sprite but he makes up for all his extra little on screen animations. The emotions on Krusty's face changed based on how many hits you have taken and act as a health bar. Krusty could of done with more speech because all you get is a repeat 'hey hey' throughout.
The playable areas are well designed and link nicely together by the use of unlockable doors and corridors. Each area has a unique theme which includes background, music, room mechanics and trap controller. As you move through the areas you will experience a fun house, factory, carnival, haunted house and garden feel. Keeping it fresh each area also introduces new special blocks to rat puzzle.
It's hard to put a difficulty rating on this title because there isn't many ways to lose lives apart from choosing to reset a room. Each room has it's own challenges but with some time and patience can be solved. Most puzzles are a test of problem solving skills but sometimes require a few quick moves to complete.
The hardest thing about this game is having enough time to finish a whole area in one session. Some of the rooms have really interesting solutions that aren't always obvious or they are just plain hard. This made some areas for myself stretch on over an hour because of the large amount of rooms and the hardness. The passwords are only given out once you finish a whole area, so you need to advance an area in one sitting or your wasting your time it feels.
Krusty looks great on screen when playing and his colour scheme make him very identifiable. He is a bit messy around the edges for a player sprite but he makes up for all his extra little on screen animations. The emotions on Krusty's face changed based on how many hits you have taken and act as a health bar. Krusty could of done with more speech because all you get is a repeat 'hey hey' throughout.
The playable areas are well designed and link nicely together by the use of unlockable doors and corridors. Each area has a unique theme which includes background, music, room mechanics and trap controller. As you move through the areas you will experience a fun house, factory, carnival, haunted house and garden feel. Keeping it fresh each area also introduces new special blocks to rat puzzle.
It's hard to put a difficulty rating on this title because there isn't many ways to lose lives apart from choosing to reset a room. Each room has it's own challenges but with some time and patience can be solved. Most puzzles are a test of problem solving skills but sometimes require a few quick moves to complete.
The hardest thing about this game is having enough time to finish a whole area in one session. Some of the rooms have really interesting solutions that aren't always obvious or they are just plain hard. This made some areas for myself stretch on over an hour because of the large amount of rooms and the hardness. The passwords are only given out once you finish a whole area, so you need to advance an area in one sitting or your wasting your time it feels.
Fun and Summary: 👎
I started of having fun playing this game but once I put a few hours some of the rooms seemed intentionally designed for frustrating fetch and place missions. Being able to only carry on item really slows the game down and forces repetitiveness onto the player and zaps away some of the fun.
The sensitivity of the down button really annoyed me when playing this. I was constantly dropping blocks by accident which would cost me precious time for some of the solutions. They could of remapped the button for a simple fix since this console has more buttons.
Overall I had a good experience playing this game but feel if it had no Simpson's elements it would not of been. Unfortunately there is no real story ending for finishing this game, so if you are patient enough to finish the 60 room gauntlet you get to read some more text as Krusty drives off to scam another network.
The sensitivity of the down button really annoyed me when playing this. I was constantly dropping blocks by accident which would cost me precious time for some of the solutions. They could of remapped the button for a simple fix since this console has more buttons.
Overall I had a good experience playing this game but feel if it had no Simpson's elements it would not of been. Unfortunately there is no real story ending for finishing this game, so if you are patient enough to finish the 60 room gauntlet you get to read some more text as Krusty drives off to scam another network.
- No continues
- No passwords
- Ending not rewarding
RetroRating: 5 / 10
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