The Three Stooges: Crazy retro gaming

\r\n\r\nSo who hasn\’t heard of The Three Stooges? You know, Larry, Curly and Moe? No? Doesn\’t ring a bell? Well, if you have no inkling who the three are, then you probably don\’t belong to the generation that watched the original black and white series or their voluminous re-runs.\r\n\r\nI watched a few seasons on the boobtube when I was younger, even the ones with Shemp in it. Yep, before Curly, Shemp was the one taking the beating from Moe, and sometimes Larry. Hmmm, before I go on to the gist of the story, let\’s take a closer look at The Three Stooges. Who were they and what did they have to do with television and video games?\r\n\r\n

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid-20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. They were commonly known by their first names: \”Larry, Moe, and Curly,\” and \”Moe, Larry, and Shemp,\” among other lineups.\r\n\r\nThe act originally featured Moe Howard (played by Harry Moses Horwitz), brother Shemp Howard (played by Samuel Horwitz), and longtime friend Larry Fine (played by Louis Feinberg). Shemp was later replaced by brother Curly Howard (Jerome Lester Horwitz) in 1933. When Curly suffered a stroke in 1946, Shemp rejoined the act.\r\n\r\nThe Stooges\’ hallmark was physical slapstick comedy (yes, the ones where you see guys hitting one another) punctuated by quickly delivered one liners within outrageous storylines.

\r\n\r\nSo you see, they were more than ripe for the picking for video game developers wanting a shot at bagging part of the legacy left by The Three Stooges.\r\n\r\nCinemaware and Activision won the rights and released in 1987 a video game entitled, well, The Three Stooges, for the Amiga. Later, the game was ported to different systems, including the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Gameboy Advance. I played the game on the PC, a version released much later.\r\n\r\nThe game involves Moe, Larry and Curly playing mini arcade games derived from classic Stooges films. The goal is to raise enough money, $5,000 to be exact, to save an old widow\’s orphanage. The Three Stooges, according to many industry experts, was quite advanced for its time, featuring sampled speech (yes, the characters talk using the voices of the actors), and multiple endings.\r\n\r\nTo raise the dough, The Three Stooges need to play through several mini-games such as throwing pies at rich restaurant customers, competing in a cracker-eating competition, and pitting Curly against a giant of a man in a boxing match.\r\n\r\nI tried playing the game in a licensed online version … and found out that I suck at the mini-games I used to ace. Sad.