Sesame Street: Countdown

Name: Sesame Street: Countdown
Year: 1992
Publisher: Hi-Tech Expressions
Developer: Riedel Software Productions
Genre: Educational
Hours Played: 2
Beaten: Yes

Sesame Street: Countdown was the last Sesame Street game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  Like the previous game (and unlike the first two), the game was developed specifically for the NES, and includes digitized speech.

The first thing you'll notice about Sesame Street: Countdown is that there's two modes, Hop and Run.  My feelings about the game vary greatly depending on which mode you pick.  If you pick Run, the game becomes an adequate (if enemy-less) platformer, not unlike Mickey's Safari in Letterland. Each level starts with a wheel of chance, which determines the number you'll be searching for in that level.  You then walk around as the Count, occasionally jumping or climbing on obstacles, looking for the number, groupings of objects that equal the number (e.g. a cluster of four ghosts if your number is 4), and lightning bolts.  Grabbing these things will gain you a point, and grabbing a wrong number or grouping will cost you a life point.  You begin the game with nine life points and only a three point minimum to finish the level, but with each subsequent level you need one more point and have one less hit point.  The game's hit detection is slightly off, but I actually think this was on purpose; you can brush a wrong number without being punished for it.

Where the game falls apart is when you pick Hop.  The idea here is to make the game playable, even for very small children.  It's the same game, with the same levels and the same game of chance at the beginning, but all of the platforming is removed.  Instead, the numbers and item groups are spaced out an even distance from one another, and instead of moving with the D-pad, you use either A or B to hop.  A hops you to the next number or grouping, while B makes you hop straight up, collecting it (or taking a hit).  All of the Sesame Street NES games share this problem to a certain extent, but Countdown by far has it the worst: by trying to simplify the controls, they actually make them more confusing.  While using a D pad feels very intuitive, trying to figure out which button hops you in the right direction does not.  I have trouble picturing a four year old, or an elderly parental figure trying to play with their child, being able to figure this out, and anybody in-between those two ages should be playing with the normal controls anyways.

In the end, I'm torn.  The educational value is certainly there; The Count teaches you how to count at the end of each level, and collecting groupings of objects (instead of just the number) will help your kids learn how to apply counting instead of just memorizing it.  The game was clearly built around Run mode, and as a "baby's first platformer", it works.  Hop mode, however, is a mess, and it's also the default mode (you have to move the cursor to pick "Run"), meaning it's the first, and probably only, mode most people will play.

Graphics & Animation: 2 (Average)
The graphics here are fine.  The Count is instantly recognizable, which of course is the most important thing, The first level takes place on Sesame Street, and the remaining six levels take place in locales ranging from prehistoric times to the moon, and finishing with the Count's castle.  Everything is recognizable, but not much stands out.

Music & Sounds: 4 (Excellent)
The Count talks!  The digitized voice here is very good, and the Count's counting sounds very natural, which is harder to pull off with digitized speech then you'd think (I'm looking at you, Mickey).  The music is fine as well, although I wish they'd included the classic theme song.

Controls & Level Design: 1 (Bad)
Honestly, I wish I could score the two modes as separate games.  Run mode controls pretty well, and being able to brush against an object without activating it, while annoying in most games, is actually a pretty nice touch here, as it means kids can accidentally bump into a wrong answer without getting penalized.  Hop mode, on the other hand, is inexcusably bad.

Story & Presentation: 2 (Average)
Like everything else with this game, I'm really torn on the presentation.  On the one hand, if you collect a lightning bolt, and you're already maxed out, the lightning bolt will fly up towards your status bar, ricochet off the lightning bolt tally box, and then fly exasperatedly away.  That's a really creative touch!  On the other hand, after beating a bonus challenge in the sky, the Count unceremoniously levitates  down the screen to the ground, making the game feel amateurish.

Length & Replayabilitiy: 1 (Bad)
Once again, I'm torn.  The random nature of which number you're looking for does give the game a little replayability, but by the time you finish the game's seven levels, you'll feel like you've seen everything the game has to offer.  If they had just left out Hop mode...

Total: 10 (Average)

Sesame Street: Big Bird's Hide & Speak

Name: Sesame Street: Big Bird's Hide & Speak
Year: 1990
Publisher: Hi-Tech Expressions
Developer: Riedel Software Productions
Genre: Educational
Hours Played: One
Beaten: Yes

Sesame Street: Big Bird's Hide & Speak is the third Sesame Street game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System; it's also the first one to be created specifically for the console, and the first NES game of any kind to feature digitized speech (i.e. the game talks).

When you start up the game, you're greeted by several walls of text (with copyright statements, credits, etc), and then an impressively large graphic of Big Bird skates onto the screen and gives you a choice of six different mini-games.  Oddly, there's no title screen with the game's name (unless you count it being crammed in among the walls of text), and no name or description for any of the games.  I guess they figured their target audience couldn't read anyways?

The format of each game is simple.  Four random Sesame Street characters (the only ones I've seen so far are Ernie, Bert, The Count, Grover, and Elmo) go inside the famous Sesame Street apartment building, and take their places at four different windows.  Big Bird comes out from hiding and issues you a question, and Little Bird is used as a cursor.  You select the appropriate window, and once you've answered four questions correctly, one of the characters comes out of the building and does a little animation to celebrate (Elmo blows a bubble, The Count juggles numbered balls, etc).

The six games comes in three different flavors: two of them are about identifying the correct Sesame Street character, two are about finding the correct letter, and two are about spelling three-letter words. In the first game, the four characters are clearly visible, and you just pick the one Big Bird asks for.  In the second, you see the characters for several seconds, and then the windows close and you have to remember where each one was.  The third and fourth are repeats of the first two except each character has a letter, and Big Bird asks for letters instead of names.  On the fifth game, you have to spell a word using three of the four letters available, and in the sixth you have to spell as many words as you can before a cartoon sun reaches the bottom of the screen.

On the whole, as an educational game, this one works all right.  The overly simple controls and Big Bird verbally speaking instructions makes this game playable even for very small children.  There's not much to be learned from the "find the characters" modes, since you don't even have to guess at their location (as you would in a game like Memory); the real meat of the game seems to be learning your letters and spelling.  It's not the best letter and spelling game I've ever played, but it is the best one I've found so far on the NES.

Graphics & Animation: 3 (Good)
Bird Bird and his friends are all nicely rendered here.  The game doesn't have too many sprites, so the developers wisely put that extra space to use with oversized sprites for all the characters.  The Big Bird that skates onto the title screen is particularly impressive for the NES.

Music & Sounds: 3 (Good)
Big Bird talks!  The digitized speech isn't perfect; I had trouble telling if he was asking me for a "b" r a "v".  Still, for the first talking NES game, it's hard to be too critical; even by 1994 (the end of the NES's life cycle), this was still impressive.

Controls & Level Design: 2 (Average)
If you read my review for Sesame Street: A-B-C, you know how frustrated I was that the game won't accept valid words if it's not the word the game is looking for.  I've played several rounds of Big Bird's Hide & Speak and haven't come across this problem.  The controls here are almost frustratingly simplistic, but that's appropriate for the target audience, and you can quickly jump back to the main menu at any time.

Story & Presentation: 2 (Average)
It's odd how text-free the menu screens are.  Don't be fooled by the screen shots; when you play the game, it's really easy to miss the "title screen" among the other screens of text that flash by.  I am however impressed by their dedication to recreating not only the characters but the sets from Sesame Street; the famous brownstone apartment building is instantly recognizable, as is the made-from-doors fence that surrounds Big Bird's nest.

Length & Replayabilitiy: 1 (Bad)
My only real complain about this game is I would have liked a couple more modes; maybe numbers in addition to letters, or at least a harder version of the find-the-characters game.  The game as it stands is a little on the simplistic side, but it's still heads and shoulders over games like Fisher Price: I Can Remember.

Total: 11 (Average)