Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle
1982 · Platform · ColecoVision
Overview
Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (1982) is Coleco's ColecoVision platformer, in which a Smurf walks and jumps from the village to Gargamel's castle to free Smurfette.
Deep Dive
Gargamel has kidnapped Smurfette, and the player guides a Smurf from the Smurf village through a forest and a cave to the wizard's castle. Each side-scrolling screen holds obstacles to jump — fences, stalagmites and ledges — and a mistimed jump means instant death. An energy bar slowly runs down throughout, and higher difficulty settings add crows, bats and spiders. The background music includes 'Simple Gifts' and the opening of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony.
Developer Story
Based on the Smurfs television series, the game was released for the ColecoVision in September 1982, a month after the console's launch, with an Atari 2600 version following in April 1983.
Did You Know?
- Moving back and forth between two particular forest screens awards hundreds of thousands of points — one of several Easter eggs in the ColecoVision version.
- It won Best Video Game Audiovisual Effects at the 4th Arkie Awards, and Video magazine judged its audiovisuals the best in the ColecoVision line.
Sources & further reading
- Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle — Wikipedia
