My Played Video Games Review: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an action-adventure video game made for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1989 by SETA (small Japanese computer game company, not Sega). The game was based upon the 1876 book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

I got to play this game during the early 1990s. A friend got it as a hand-me-down from his sister who raised a family in the U.S.

The Story

Play as Tom Sawyer (or Huckleberry Finn as player 2). You are daydreaming in school, and since you are a naughty rascal as either of these boys, you day dream of wild adventure and saving your girlfiend, Becky, from the crazy outlaw Injun Joe.

The Graphics and Sound

The game has simple graphics but they are brightly colored. It kind of looks that the graphics were made for children. The little monsters you encounter have less detail and even less animation in them. The end level big bosses are the only ones with the best graphics in the game.

The game lacks in the decent music department. The music is kind of repetitive. I think the designers could have done a better job but they were lazy. The music sets the mood for you to be a naughty, playful kid again.

The Gameplay

This is where The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer improves a little bit. The controls are a little bit loose. Just one hit will kill your character, however, the controls are easy to use and easy to master. You got only two buttons. One for jumping and the other one for throwing rocks.

Each level is a kiddie fantasy dreamscape and you will not get too frustrated, despite the one-hit-kill by enemy gameplay. The game has only six levels, so the challenge is only minimal and you will not have the incentive to go beat the game again.

My Verdict

The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer is fine If you like to play platform games on the NES. If you do not care if it is mildly mediocre, you would probably enjoy this game, even for a little bit.

For me it was not as bad as it looked. It is basically a simple little game that you could enjoy with the kids for sure when being played in 2 player mode.

Have an extra controller by then for the NES or emulators on the PC. Enjoy it with kids.

Let's keep on gaming in the free world!