The Addams Family

The Addams Family is a licensed platformer created by Ocean for the SNES, Amiga, and Atari ST in 1992. It was ported to the Sega Genesis in 1993. Ocean also created similar versions of the game for 8-bit platforms, including the Commodore 64, Game Boy, ZX Spectrum, and Sega Master System.

In the game, inspired by the movie of the same name released in 1991, you are Gomez, and you have to save the rest of the family: Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday, Granny, and Uncle Fester. There is no shooting; this is a pure platformer with a mechanic inspired, in part, by Super Mario. You have to kill enemies with a jump on their heads. However, the gameplay is nonlinear and can also be described as "Metroidvania." Gomez can explore the house freely without needing to follow a specific order. There are also plenty of secret passages and side levels. A door that leads to the room may lead to another place the next time you open it, which makes the task of visiting this vast mansion very hard.

Overall, Ocean did an excellent job with this game: the controls are responsive, the animations and scrolling are smooth, the soundtrack is perfect. The graphics are also superb (although they are better on Genesis/SNES than on Amiga, as the Amiga version lacks the background).

All the reviews of the magazines were highly favorable and for a reason: this is one of the best movie-inspired platformers ever created. Whether you are a fan of the Addams family or not, this is a game you have to try.