Alfred Chicken

Alfred Chicken

European Amiga cover art
Developer(s) Twilight
Hookstone Productions
Publisher(s) Mindscape Group, Sunsoft
Designer(s) Jason McGann
Composer(s) David Whittaker
Platform(s) Amiga, Amiga CD32, NES, Game Boy, Super NES
Release
  • NA: February 1994
Genre(s) Platform game
Mode(s) Single-player

Alfred Chicken is a series of platform games, originally created by Twilight.

The original game was released in the United Kingdom in 1993 for the Game Boy, Amiga, Amiga CD32 and Nintendo Entertainment System. A second game, Super Alfred Chicken, was released for the Super NES in February 1994 (along with the US release of the Game Boy and NES games). A Europe-only remake of the original game, Alfred's Adventure, followed in 2000 for the Game Boy Color.[1]

The final (as of July 2015) game was released for the PlayStation in 2002, developed by King Monkey Games, simply called Alfred Chicken. The game's title is a play on the term chicken alfredo.

Gameplay

The player takes the role of a chicken named Alfred who must find his way through bizarre levels full of balloons, telephones, cheese and other strange elements. While he is on the ground, Alfred can walk, jump, and peck balloons and ground switches. While he is in the air he can dive bomb enemies or springs. Dive bombing enemies will destroy them. Dive bombing springs will bounce Alfred much higher so he can reach platforms well above his normal jumping ability. If he does not hit an enemy or a spring, Alfred will get stuck in the ground for a short time.

To complete a level, Alfred must find and peck all the balloons. The last balloon will take him to a boss fight. If Alfred dies, he starts as an egg located at the last balloon pecked.

Alfred can receive a few powerups during the game. For one power up, he must answer a telephone in secret areas to make Mr Pekles (a giant flower) give him a pot of jam. The jam gives Alfred the ability to shoot a bomb (about the size of Alfred himself) which bounces around the screen collecting things and hurting enemies. Another power up is a worm that spins around Alfred destroying enemies that it touches. You must find a can of worms to get this power up.

Versions

The Game Boy game was the original version. Two revisions exist; the monochrome original, and a Super Game Boy version with a level select feature; the latter was developed by Hookstone and released by Sunsoft in Japan. The NES edition of the game is essentially a watered-down port of the Game Boy version. It features only 5 levels, which were originally in the Game Boy game. The Amiga version is the same as the Game Boy game, and is identical except for its colour graphics and increased screen resolution.

Dubbed "Super Alfred Chicken", the SNES game can be considered a sequel rather than a direct port of the other versions. It boasts brand-new levels and reuses the sprites of the Amiga version. There are a total of twenty one levels in all, and is the lengthiest game in this series.

PlayStation game

The game for the original PlayStation was released only in the PAL region. It features 2.5D action and is a brand-new game rather than a port. It was developed by Mobius Entertainment and released by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in 2002.

Marketing

Karl Fitzhugh, the Product Manager of the Amiga version of the Alfred Chicken video game, ran as the Alfred Chicken Party candidate in the 1993 by-election in the Christchurch, Dorset constituency. The exercise was done to promote the original game's release. Fitzhugh finished second last with 18 votes, two votes ahead of the Rainbow Party candidate.[2]

The marketing attempt was partially successful. The Alfred Chicken Party was cited, along with other "frivolous or 'commercial' candidates" as a reason to increase the number of signatures required for an individual to be nominated as a political candidate at election.[3]

There was also a toll free number set up after the US release, which could be called to hear Alfred himself give a promotional speech about the game.

Reception

Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the Super NES version a 6.6 out of 10, calling it "a slow-moving game requiring more strategy than being able to run, jump and grab items! It takes a while to get into the swing of it, though."[4] They gave the NES version a 5 out of 10, explaining that it retains the large levels and good controls of the Super NES version, but that the drastically lower quality graphics and sounds make the game less enjoyable.[5] Reviewing the NES version, GamePro praised the challenging gameplay, the "cartoony" graphics, the "bouncy, loopy audio", and the "crisp controls", and determined the game to be a must-have for NES fans in light of how few games were being released for the system at that point.[6] On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the Game Boy version of the game a 22 out of 40.[7] In Nintendo Power, the NES version was scored a three out of five. While they did like the big sizes of each level and occasionally comical graphics, they ultimately found it to be just another typical platformer.[8]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.gamefaqs.com/gbc/579069-alfreds-adventure
  2. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1983-1997
  3. ↑ Parliament.uk - Memorandum by the Director of Campaigns and Elections of the Liberal Democrats
  4. ↑ "Review Crew: Alfred Chicken". Electronic Gaming Monthly (54). EGM Media, LLC. January 1994. p. 42.
  5. ↑ "Review Crew: Alfred Chicken". Electronic Gaming Monthly (56). EGM Media, LLC. March 1994. p. 42.
  6. ↑ "ProReview: Alfred Chicken". GamePro (58). IDG. May 1994. p. 80.
  7. ↑ NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: アルフレッドチキン. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.345. Pg.32. 28 July 1995.
  8. ↑ Nintendo Power. February 1994. Volume 57. pp. 106–107.
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