Fun House (1990)

Platforms: Nintendo Entertainment System
Genres: Shooter

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More games like this

How it feels

Hurl tomatoes at targets in a wacky top-down game that plays like a child-friendly Running Man with arcade energy.

quirkycomedictop-downcasualactionlighthearted

About

The general gameplay concept is that each level is like a child's version of The Running Man with a basic top-down view. Players must throw tomatoes skillfully at a series of easy-to-hit targets. Some elements of the game are indirectly taken from the classic arcade game Pole Position (except that the player does not have the option to play as a Formula One vehicle). In order to make it to the next level, the player must make it from the starting line to the finish within the time limit with a young child on inline skates. Otherwise, the player loses a chance and the player must start the stage over again. The host of the televised game show, J. D. Roth, congratulates players for winning a stage while taunting the player with late 1980s/early 1990s sarcasm when he loses a "chance." Icy floors and slime colored ramps offer an additional challenge to the player. There are 72 rooms in the entire Fun House; with targets that are either numbered or given a generic target graphic. Each room has a name that usually gives a clue about how the room's design is implemented. Although the player is given three chances to successfully navigate the entire Fun House, collecting 25 silver coins acts as a 1-up. Warp zones will allow players to access the more difficult levels of the Fun House at an earlier time; thus allowing gamers who are pressed for time a chance to beat the game with a higher level of risk.

More games like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.