Fuzz Power

has gained a reputation as one of the worst NES games of all time [ [http://gamehaus.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/worst-game-ever/ Worst. Game. Ever. « Game Haus ] ] . Fuzz Power itself suffers from serious flaws.

Story

The main character in this game is a hair-covered man named Fuzzy. The story, taken from the game manual, is as follows: "Fuzzy must get to the land of Guru. He's got to avoid the walking brushes, hair dryers, combs and other natural hair disasters, because if he losses ["sic"] all of his hair he's bald and the game is over. [http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/action52.lst] "

Gameplay

Controls

Fuzzy's movements left and right are controlled by the player via the NES controller's directional pad. The A button on the NES controller will cause Fuzzy to attack enemies by rolling into a ball and the B button will make Fuzzy jump. Ultimately, as in most action platform games, the player must navigate Fuzzy through different levels by utilzing his moving, jumping, and attack abilities.

Environment

The levels in Fuzz Power take place outdoors in a natural forest setting and they contain obstacles that must be avoided, like enemies and chasms. The game's levels scroll from left to right and do not contain the ability to reverse course since the levels will not scroll back once the player advances. The player finishes a level when they have gone a pre-determined distance in that level. Upon finishing a level the player is advanced to the next level. The game contains five different enemies: A comb, a brush, a hair dryer, a green bush, and a bomb. Some of these enemies emit projectiles. The player progresses through the game by either destroying a given enemy by attacking them, or simply avoiding contact with the given enemy and its projectiles. If Fuzzy comes into to contact with an enemy, he takes damage and will look different.

Character Transformations

Fuzzy's sprite starts off as a hairy man with a big nose and pair of feet. If Fuzzy comes into contact with an enemy, he loses some of his hair. The first time Fuzzy contacts an enemy he loses about half of his hair and the second time Fuzzy loses all of the hair on his body and appears completely bald and nude. If Fuzzy comes into contact with any enemies in his bald state, the game ends and the player is returned to the beginning of the level. The player knows how much life power Fuzzy has by his displayed sprite. Interestingly, Fuzzy's sprite design of a man with an overly large nose and pair of feet is very similar to the design of the main character in the Action 52 game Mash Man. This practice of reusing elements from game to game was a common feature amongst Active Games' roster; the soundtrack for Fuzz Power was reused in the unreleased game "Action 52#Cheetahmen IICheetahmen II".

Glitches

Fuzz Power has several known glitches:

-The third level has an impassible point. There is a spot in the third level that requires a jump that is higher than Fuzzy can execute. This spot with the jump that cannot be cleared makes the game impossible to finish without a cheating device such as a Game Genie. In any case, the third level was the final level of the game, as subsequently levels had not been properly completed by the design team.

-The player's gray "power meter" is non-functional.

-The game has trouble displaying several sprites at one time, especially if those sprites lie together horizontally. When this happens the result is that some of the sprites flash and become invisible.

References