Sesame Street ABC (NES)

Sesame Street ABC

Platform: NES Year: 1989 Developer: Rare Co., Ltd., Zippo Games Ltd.

Sesame Street ABC is a educational title for Ages 3 to 6 featuring Sesame Street characters and it was includes a compilation of 2 previously released games, Letter Go-Round and Ernie's Big Splash. The game was developed by Zippo Games, with production assisted by English-based developer Rare, and it was published by Hi-Tech Expressions, with it being released in 1988.

While most NES games at the time were being handled in Japan, Sesame Street ABC was developed by famed English developer Rare. This was one of the first educational titles to be released on the NES, as well as the distinction of being the second title to be published by Hi-Tech Expressions.

Screenshots

This page needs more screenshots.

The title screen.

Music

Since the game was an early NES release, the music leaves a lot to be desired. It is nice to see that the show's theme song by Joe Raposo made it into the game.

The music was all done by David Wise of Donkey Kong Country fame. To write the music, Wise had to tediously enter the music in 6502 assembly machine code using hexadecimal numbers. He used Chris Stamper's sound driver.

The track names and orderings are taken from the game's NSFE.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Length	Listen	Download
01	Select Theme (The Sesame Street Theme)	David Wise	3:04		Download
02	Ernie's Big Splash	David Wise	1:25		Download
03	Bert Tile	David Wise	0:02		Download
04	Grover Tile	David Wise	0:04		Download
05	Cookie Monster Tile	David Wise	0:02		Download
06	Oscar Tile	David Wise	0:02		Download
07	Boat Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
08	Wave Splash Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
09	Life Preserver Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
10	Float Tile	David Wise	0:02		Download
11	Diving Board Tile	David Wise	0:11		Download
12	Bubble Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
13	Bottle / Foam Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
14	Crocodile Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
15	Dolphin Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
16	Whale Tile	David Wise	0:02		Download
17	Thunder Cloud Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
18	Curved Pipe Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
19	Straight Pipe Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
20	Washing Machine Tile	David Wise	0:02		Download
21	Correct / Ernie Tile	David Wise	0:03		Download
22	Go-Round: Incorrect	David Wise	0:03		Download
23	Go Round: Win Game	David Wise	1:07		Download
24	Unknown Jingle 1	David Wise	0:03		Download
25	Unknown Jingle 2	David Wise	0:03		Download

Credits

• Ripper:
• Recorder: Duc4Wikmedia
• Game Credits:
  • Uncredited Composer: David Wise
  • Uncredited Sound Driver: Chris Stamper
  • Uncredited Sound Effects: Stephen Patrick
  • Uncredited Sesame Street Theme: Joe Raposo

(Source: Verification from composer, Double Dare NES credits; game lacks credits.)

As per usual with most of Rare's NES titles, this game does not contain staff credits, as Rare wanted to prevent their staff from being hired by other companies. We have contacted David Wise, who has verified composing the music to this game. Wise also confirmed Chris Stamper to have programmed the game's sound driver. We have verification from the Pickford brothers that Zippo Games worked on the game.

Also, Double Dare shares many of the same sound effects with the Sesame Street games. Double Dare, one of Rare's only 5 NES games to have credits, gives credit to Stephen Patrick for sound effects specifically.

Game Rip

Format	Download

Ripping NSF music is an arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.

Audio Devices

The game uses the RP2A03 for music and sound effects. It uses Chris Stamper's sound driver.

Releases

USA Title: Sesame Street ABC Platform: NES Released: 1989-07-?? Publisher: Hi-Tech Expressions