The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends brings the wonderfully strange humor of the classic cartoon to the NES in a side-scrolling platform adventure. Released in December 1992 and developed by Radical Entertainment for THQ, the game follows Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle the Moose on a trip from Frostbite Falls to England. Bullwinkle has discovered that he is the lost Earl of Moosechester and is supposed to inherit a fortune, but Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale are determined to get there first.

One of the game's main ideas is that Rocky and Bullwinkle have very different abilities. You can switch between them during the adventure depending on what the situation requires. Bullwinkle is the stronger character and can charge enemies with his antlers, while Rocky can fly and reach areas that his larger friend cannot. Both characters can jump and throw bombs, giving you a few different ways to deal with enemies.

The NES adventure is divided into five episodes, taking the duo through locations such as the countryside, a futuristic city, a train, a desert, and a mansion. Boris and Natasha frequently get in the way, adding a familiar cartoon-style source of trouble to the journey.

The game is definitely aimed more at fans of the original cartoon than players looking for a technically polished platformer. The pacing can feel slow, and the controls and presentation are fairly basic compared with some of the stronger platform games on the NES. Still, the ability to switch between Rocky and Bullwinkle gives the game a little more personality than a typical licensed platformer.

For fans of the series, the biggest appeal is simply seeing these characters brought into an interactive adventure. It may not be one of the NES's most polished games, but its unusual characters, cartoon humor, and two-character gameplay make it an interesting piece of 1990s licensed gaming.