Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle (1982, Coleco)
Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle is a pretty notorious game. At least, this is what I surmise by the fact that there are so many reviews and demonstrations posted on YouTube. It has been said that this game is awful and frustrating yet easy to beat… if only you can avoid those tall tufts of killer grass. On the surface, this game does indeed look easy. It’s a simple side-scroller where you just keep walking and jumping until you get to Smurfette in Gargamel’s castle.
And yes, while the game may be in “high resolution”, this commercial is not:
SMURF’EM ALL !!!
I could’ve sworn Angry Video Game Nerd reviewed this at one point but I couldn’t find it, so if you want a better idea of what the game is about, simply watch this demonstration:
To be honest, I’ve never played a single Smurf video game in my life which is surprising because I was a huge Smurf fan. I watched the Smurfs cartoon (even the lame Grandpa Smurf/Baby Smurf era), ate the Smurf cookies, Smurf cereals & Smurf marshmallows, had a Smurf plush toy, Smurf sleeping bag and Smurf Colorforms yet I never got my hands on a smurfin’ Smurf video game!
Looking back, that’s not my fault. The Smurfs just didn’t know what the kids liked. Sure, they were on Atari and ColecoVision in the early ’80s but they didn’t make an appearance on the NES until 1994! Who was playing NES in 1994 and publicly admitting it? By that point, I wouldn’t have wanted to play a Smurf video game even if I knew it existed. Had they cashed-in during the glory days of the NES, I assure you I would have played the game.
Surprisingly, Smurf games were slowly but surely being released up until 2001 when Smurf Racing debuted for the PlayStation. Oops, looks like they jumped the gun on the kart racing craze. How cool does a kart racing Smurf game sound though? I love Mario Kart knockoffs. I think even a platformer would work quite well on Wii. All the developers would have to do is take direction from any of the recent Mario games (Paper, New and Galaxy series) or something like Klonoa. Almost as exciting as a new Smurf kart game is the idea of home brewed Commodore 64 games like Castle Smurfenstein and G.I. Joe II: The Smurf Massacre. Those games sound like they need an update as well.
Tags: 1980s, 1982, Atari, Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Commercial, Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle, Smurfs, The Smurfs, Video Games
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