Fuzz Power

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Screenshot of the first level of Fuzz Power

Fuzz Power is a side-scrolling action platform video game and was one of 52 games contained on the Action 52 video game cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Action 52 was released in 1991^[1] by Active Enterprises and sold for $199.99^[2]. Though Action 52 was initially touted by its creators for having 52 games on one cartridge, it was riddled with problems like programming errors and bugs, poor play controls, low-quality graphics and music, unfinished levels, and a host of other issues. Due to these issues Action 52 has gained a reputation as one of the worst NES games of all time^[3]. Fuzz Power, as a result, suffers from serious flaws. Fuzz Power is listed as game number 31 on Action 52. The music on Fuzz Power is also used on the game Cheetahmen II

1 Story
2 Gameplay
3 Glitches
4 References

[edit] Story

Fuzzy's initial state

Fuzzy's second, less fuzzy state

Fuzzy's final bald and nude state

The main character in this game is a hair-covered man named Fuzzy. The story, as 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.^[4]"

[edit] Gameplay

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 like a game genie.

-While playing the game the player will notice what appears to be a gray power meter of some sort that resembles life meters in other Action 52 games. Since the meter is unchanging and serves no purpose, it is believed to be a glitch or oversight in the programming.

-While playing the game the player will often notice that the game has trouble displaying several sprites at one time, especially if those sprites lie together horizontally. When this happens the result is for some of the sprites to flash and become invisible possibly making it difficult to see Fuzzy, the enemies, and projectiles.

-Ultimately, the third level of Fuzz Power cannot be finished since it contains a chasm that is too long to jump over. Thus, the game cannot be played past this point in the third level unless a method of cheating is used (such as a game genie). It is speculated that this chasm was programmed this way on purpose to prevent the player from reaching any higher levels, since those levels were not finished in time for the game release.