Maniac Mansion is a very curious release for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. This title was originally released on various formats of PC in the late 80s, and it’s one of those point and click adventure games that fit the mouse and keyboard controls so well. What business did it have on a home console with just a standard controller then? After a misfire with a remake for the Famicom Jaleco and Lucasarts hit the drawing board again to scale back the game to fit the 8-bit hardware in North America. While never the most popular game the NES version is actually the one you hear about more often than the others. Today we’re going to take a look at it with this review!
I knew I was in for a treat right away when Maniac Mansion started throwing B-movie clichés my way. It’s surprisingly clever with its references and horror elements. The game begins with a cutscene (believe it or not that word was first coined specifically for Maniac Mansion) showing a meteor striking Earth twenty years ago near a mansion. Fast forward to the modern times (or what passed for that at the time of release). The Edison family, who live in the aforementioned estate, have gone a little crazy since the event. Dr. Fred Edison has been collecting human brains for his experiments. You play as a spunky youth named Dave Miller whose girlfriend has been kidnapped for this such purpose. It’s up to him, and two other friends to break into the mansion and rescue her.
Let me start off by saying that I love everything this game has going for it from a story and style point of view. The B-movie tropes are well placed, and the setting is fun and has amazing atmosphere. Maniac Mansion has a lot going for it right out of the gates. There just weren’t a lot of games that were as self aware as this one back then, and despite the graphics and interface it feels very much ahead of its time. I particularly liked the fact that, at several points in the game, the action pauses and you’re shown story events taking place elsewhere. It really goes to great lengths to give Maniac Mansion a cinematic feel that’s missing from so many other titles from this time.
The most interesting part of the game however is in how open ended it is. Let’s start with the fact that you can choose which two characters are going to help out Dave on his quest. The cast includes a nerd named Bernard, Syd who is an aspiring musician, Razor the resident punk rock chick, Wendy who is a talented writer, surfer dude Jeff, and a photographer named Michael. I only mentioned details about them because their abilities directly effect the way in which you progress through the game. They each have (except for Dave) one ability that will get them through at least one puzzle. Each time you mix characters the way forward changes slightly because you’ll have specific puzzles you can and cannot tackle. Despite this you’ll always be able to complete the game and get one of the five different endings.
It’s a neat idea if you ask me. Not only does it make each playthrough dynamic but it adds tremendously to the replay value. Now for the lingering question… how does it play? Maniac Mansion is a side view 2D game in which your characters mostly move left/right. You don’t have direct control over them and instead rely on a cursor and set of twelve different commands on the bottom of the screen. These include such exciting tasks as push, pull, give, open, close, etc. These are used to interact with the environment as well as items in different ways. It’s tedious when you have to open a door, and then change the command to ‘go to’ in order to enter it. Things like that become cumbersome fast, but Maniac Mansion remains fun despite it.
The most interesting of your commands however is ‘new kid.’ This lets you switch between your three characters, and it can be used pretty much any point in the game as long as you’re in control. You’ll need to use more than one kid in order to progress at specific points in the adventure, but it’s advantageous to do so outside of these moments as well. Some of the aforementioned specialties (particularly Bernard’s) can be used multiple times as you play, and sometimes requires some experimentation to figure out. I’m absolutely in love with how many different ways you can play Maniac Mansion. The replay value is through the rough, and there’s always a way to get to the end.
What’s interesting is that within the mansion you’ll encounter the Edison family members as well as their two pet tentacles. Yes, I said it. They’re tentacles. It’s hilarious. Anyway, these antagonists are found in various rooms. The first time I ran into them I thought it was game over. Thankfully that’s not the case, and the character in question is instead locked in the basement dungeon. At this point they’re basically useless until they’re rescued (unless you have the key of course). This is a fun feature of the game, but as you play it becomes a bit cumbersome. Constantly being moved away from your goal can be frustrating. At least you’re not sent to the beginning of the game. You can even escape from them provided you’re fast to click the character to run to the next room.
Maniac Mansion is easily one of the best looking games on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The characters are more realistic than in most other titles for the platform in regards to their proportions. All of them have unique designs so you’ll never forget who you’re in control of. The backgrounds have a lot of details as well. You can easily tell what room you’re in. There are a bunch of neat effects too such as the ketchup (which we’re initially led to think is blood) spilling out of the refrigerator. The soundtrack is also amazing. Each character has their own theme, and these are all well composed and fit the generic motif of said person. In particular I absolutely loved Dave’s theme. It’s just so bouncy, fun, and memorable. The rest are good, but nothing comes close.
What we have here is one of the most unique NES titles by a country mile. The point and click genre is widely underrepresented on the platform. Even by PC standards this one is a clear step above what else was being offered at the time. I went in expecting something entirely different. I was pleasantly surprised to find one of the best and most memorable 8-bit titles of all time. I’ve since tried the PC version, but if you have the option, I’d recommend going with the NES edition all the way.
