Adventures of Tom Sawyer (NES)
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Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an action game developed by WinkySoft and published by Seta Corporation. You take control of the titular character Tom Sawyer. The game starts out with Tom falling asleep in class, and the stages are in his dreams. His goal is to rescue Becky Thatcher from the evil clutches of Crazy Injun Joe.
You must traverse through 6 stages. It may sound simple enough, but there's one problem that makes it almost impossible; you die in one hit. Fortunately, the game offers infinite continues, which will come in handy if you plan on completing this game. However, most of the bosses are pushovers, and despite them taking several hits, have very repetitive and predictable patterns which makes them very easy to defeat. There are also very rare invincibility icons you can get. Also, most enemies will drop either a T icon or a skull icon. Collecting 20 T icons will reward the player with an extra life. However, touching the skulls will remove 10 T icons. If you have less than 10, then you'll have none.
Fortunately, to make the game a little more tolerable, the game has checkpoints, but these are so few and far between, and the fact that you'll lose all your lives from the one-hit deaths almost makes these completely redundant, not to mention the final stage is brutal because no matter how far you get, if you die, you get sent back to the beginning of the stage.
The game also supports two-player solo play, the second player playing as Huckleberry Finn.
Though the game has received mostly lukewarm reviews, some players remember the game fondly.
Contents
Screenshots
Music
The game features 15 tunes, all of which feature a piano-like instrument, some of which accompanied by drums. While there's a lot of music, most of it contains repeated sections, and some of which are very short; take the first stage's music, which loops every 12 seconds. The game never uses the 2A03's triangle channel for neither music or sound effects.
It should be noted that the Japanese version has the stages in a different order, but the track ordering here orders the stages the way they are in the North American release.
It is unknown how the music for the game was made, but judging by the audio code, it appears to be written in hexadecimal notation, similar to that of Music Macro Language. For example:
$26 $07 $1F $07 $22 $07 $1F $07 ($ represents hex numbers)
$26, $1F, $22, and $1F are A-4, B-3, D-4, and B-3 respectively. The $07 bytes after each represent the note's length; in this case, they are a length of 7 frames/units, which means 16th notes at the tempo of approximately 128 BPM. The way the game addresses hexadecimal numbers to notes is interesting; natural notes start out at $0E (A-1), but then sharp/flat notes at 40 to the value, so A#1 is $4E. The second digit of the sharp/flat note's hex value depends on the natural note before it, so for example, D-2 is $12, so D#2 would be $52 (+$40 to the value). The driver will play as low as an A-1 and plays a B-6 as its highest.
Recording
The music was recorded in the Synthesia Mod of NSFPlay.
| # | Title | Composer | Arranger | Length | Listen | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Title Screen | Unknown | Unknown | 0:18 | Download | |
| 02 | Prologue | Unknown | Unknown | 1:08 | Download | |
| 03 | Stage Start 1 | Unknown | Unknown | 0:38 | Download | |
| 04 | Stage Start 2 | Unknown | Unknown | 1:10 | Download | |
| 05 | Stage 1 | Unknown | Unknown | 1:18 | Download | |
| 06 | Stage 2 | Unknown | Unknown | 0:36 | Download | |
| 07 | Stage 3 | Unknown | Unknown | 1:01 | Download | |
| 08 | Stage 4 | Unknown | Unknown | 0:53 | Download | |
| 09 | Stage 5 | Unknown | Unknown | 0:44 | Download | |
| 10 | Stage 6 | Unknown | Unknown | 0:44 | Download | |
| 11 | Invincibility | Unknown | Unknown | 0:58 | Download | |
| 12 | Boss Theme | Unknown | Unknown | 1:18 | Download | |
| 13 | Game Over | Unknown | Unknown | 1:01 | Download | |
| 14 | Ending Part 1 | Unknown | Unknown | 0:27 | Download | |
| 15 | Ending Part 2 | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Unknown | 0:34 | Download |
Credits
- Ripper: Zophar's Domain (NSF), Sonic of 8! (VGZ)
- Recorder: Doommaster1994
- Game Credits:
- Not Credited Composer: Unknown
- Not Credited Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Not Credited Arranger: Unknown
- Not Credited Programmer: Unknown
(No source; Game lacks credits.)
Neither the Japanese or US versions of the game have credits, nor do their instruction manuals. Winky Soft made the NES game Formula One: Built to Win (NES) which credits Masa Konishi, but this game was made before that. Also, Winky Soft developed the MSX title Akanbe Dragon (MSX) which credits a Yukiko and Hiroko. The game's music does have a similar style to this game's soundtrack, but these two composers never seemed to appear credited in any other game, and their real names are unknown. Verification should be made by contacting Winky Soft staff from around 1989.
Game Rip
Ripping NES music is an arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.
Audio Devices
The game uses the Ricoh 2A03 of the NES. The game uses a unique sound driver not found in any other game. The triangle channel is never used for music or sound effects.
Releases
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Links
- Games Released In 1989
- Games Developed By Winky Soft
- Games
- Adventures of Tom Sawyer (NES)
- Games By Unknown
- Games By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Games Without Credits
- Games That Use NSF
- Games That Use VGM
- Games Released In Japan
- Famicom Games
- Games Published By Seta
- Games Released In USA
- Nintendo Entertainment System Games
