The Only Gilligan’s Island Video Game Adaptation Was A Mess

By the late ’80s, “Gilligan’s Island” had turn into a popular culture fixture. Although Sherwood Schwartz’s sitcom solely lasted for 3 seasons and 98 episodes from 1964 to 1967, it was closely syndicated all through the ’70s and ’80s, guaranteeing new generations grew to become conversant in Gilligan and his fellow castaways. Not solely that, the present produced two animated spin-offs with “The New Adventures of Gilligan” (1974-75) and “Gilligan’s Planet” (1982-83). What’s extra, the unique forged returned for 3 live-action TV motion pictures: “Rescue From Gilligan’s Island” (1978), “The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island” (1979), and “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island” (1981). So, by the tip of the Eighties, the “Gilligan’s” universe was most actually etched into the general public’s collective consciousness.

However you can additionally argue that it was waning in reputation. The final live-action TV film, “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island” — which almost featured a different team entirely — was not a giant scores success and due to this fact marked the tip of the TV movies primarily based on the sitcom. In the meantime “Gilligan’s Planet” did not final multiple season. So, whereas “Gilligan’s Island” had turn into well-established, it additionally wasn’t precisely on the top of its reputation by the tip of the ’80s, which is just a part of the explanation why Bandai’s 1990 NES recreation “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” is such a thriller.

There’s been loads of video video games primarily based on in style TV IP. Anybody who grew up in PS2/Xbox age will certainly bear in mind “The Simpsons: Hit & Run,” and lots of a ’90s child spent hours on the “Mighty Morphin Energy Rangers” recreation. Heck, there was even a “Determined Housewives” online game adaptation. However “Gilligan’s Island?” Fortunately, the Bandai recreation really turned out to be a masterpiece, revered by gamers throughout the globe as one of many Nintendo Leisure System’s most interesting choices. Simply kidding, it was unhealthy.

“Gilligan’s Island” was a show that embraced nonsense and by no means as soon as apologized for it. The sitcom knew it was a ridiculous and campy consolation watch and by no means actually tried to be a lot else. Bob Denver’s bumbling first mate was simply one among a number of charming characters who made up the castaways of the S.S. Minnow — named as such for a hilarious reason — making for a present that, whereas it by no means made a lot sense, was primarily lovable nonsense. However none of that actually screams “online game adaptation,” which did not cease Bandai from churning out a NES recreation in 1990. Lamentably, “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” was horrible.

There’s even one thing off concerning the title. Usually, “The Adventures of” would precede a personality’s title; “The Adventures of TinTin,” “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (itself inexplicably remodeled right into a lackluster online game again in 1989). Whereas “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” is just not technically incorrect grammar, it type of suggests that you just’re getting some compendium of all of the adventures to happen on the titular isle, when actually you are embarking by yourself single journey. That may sound nit-picky, however the title is simply the primary signal of bother and hints at what’s to return when you fireplace up this ill-conceived journey recreation.

The subsequent signal of bother? Bandai’s 8-bit tackle CBS’s traditional sitcom had you play as The Skipper, performed by Alan Hale Jr. within the authentic present. That is proper, within the “Gilligan’s Island” online game you do not play as Gilligan. As an alternative, the primary mate follows you round when you discover the island throughout 4 ranges — a recreation mechanic that evidently proved extremely irritating for anybody who really performed the sport. As a GameFaqs evaluate from 2006 famous, the AI that guided Gilligan via the degrees was terrible, and but preserving the hapless lad by your facet was “integral to the sport,” as leaving him behind brought on the time restrict to rapidly plummet. There was additionally a “random glitch the place Gilligan will really dart off in the wrong way after which entice himself within the fringe of the display” — and these had been simply among the points with “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island.”

“Gilligan’s Island” has been on the middle of a number of perplexing cultural developments because it first aired, such because the time the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song sparked a weird lawsuit. However the resolution to market a online game adaptation to the youngsters of 1990, who had been busy sinking hours into “Mega Man” and “Zelda” looks like one of many strangest moments in “Gilligan’s Island” historical past. Simply two years after “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island,” we had been all busy unleashing ferocious fatalities on our enemies in “Mortal Kombat,” so why had been Bandai satisfied that we might all be tempted to wander an 8-bit model of an island from a campy 60s sitcom?

Suppose if it had been an honest journey/technique recreation that simply occurred to make use of the “Gilligan’s Island” branding, it could be a distinct story. However by all accounts, the sport was about as unhealthy as any NES recreation has ever been. It opens with a chiptunes model of “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle” — the famous sitcom theme co-written by Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle. However even then, there’s one thing off, with the NES’ digital synth chip struggling to recreate the precise notes of the unique tune. Issues solely received worse from there. Except for the truth that you did not get to play as Gilligan in “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” and the truth that the in-game AI was atrocious, there have been a number of different issues with Bandai’s recreation. More often than not, gamers merely walked forwards and backwards between different castaways, which included all of the beloved characters from the unique present (Mary Ann, the Professor, Mr. and Mrs. Howell) however inexplicably omitted Ginger, performed by Tina Louise on the unique sitcom. 

In response to GameFaqs, these expeditions between characters concerned interactions with “hyperactive monkeys, ferocious wild boars, and swarthy headhunters” who had been practically unimaginable to hit and due to this fact value avoiding fully. This solely left island exploration — hardly essentially the most thrilling online game expertise, particularly when so many different facets of the sport did not work.

GameFaqs’ retrospective of “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” summed up the sport as a “three-hour bore,” however even that is not fairly as unhealthy as Wired‘s estimation of it as a “three-hour torture.” The journal reviewed the sport again in 2009, solely to surmise that it “performs like a grad scholar’s achingly postmodern grasp’s thesis by which he explores what occurs to gamers when they’re pressured to play a recreation with nothing in it. Besides Bandai really bought this to precise kids for $50.”

Whereas GameFaqs at the least acknowledges that there are some first rate facets to the sport, total “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” was a fairly abject misfire that continues to be considerably of a thriller as we speak. Why was it made? What child with an NES was asking their dad and mom for the “Gilligan’s Island” recreation — absolutely a real-world analog for “Lee Carvallo’s Placing Problem” from “The Simpsons.” Did Bandai actually suppose Gilligan and his stranded crew would enchantment to youngsters who might have been enjoying “Tremendous Marios Bros. 3” or “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Recreation,” each of which additionally debuted in 1990? Questions abound.

To this date, “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” is the one online game adaptation of Sherwood Schwartz’s beloved sitcom ever made, and, all issues thought-about, that is in all probability for one of the best. 

By the late ’80s, “Gilligan’s Island” had turn into a popular culture fixture. Although Sherwood Schwartz’s sitcom solely lasted for 3 seasons and 98 episodes from 1964 to 1967, it was closely syndicated all through the ’70s and ’80s, guaranteeing new generations grew to become conversant in Gilligan and his fellow castaways. Not solely that, the present produced two animated spin-offs with “The New Adventures of Gilligan” (1974-75) and “Gilligan’s Planet” (1982-83). What’s extra, the unique forged returned for 3 live-action TV motion pictures: “Rescue From Gilligan’s Island” (1978), “The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island” (1979), and “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island” (1981). So, by the tip of the Eighties, the “Gilligan’s” universe was most actually etched into the general public’s collective consciousness.

However you can additionally argue that it was waning in reputation. The final live-action TV film, “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island” — which almost featured a different team entirely — was not a giant scores success and due to this fact marked the tip of the TV movies primarily based on the sitcom. In the meantime “Gilligan’s Planet” did not final multiple season. So, whereas “Gilligan’s Island” had turn into well-established, it additionally wasn’t precisely on the top of its reputation by the tip of the ’80s, which is just a part of the explanation why Bandai’s 1990 NES recreation “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” is such a thriller.

There’s been loads of video video games primarily based on in style TV IP. Anybody who grew up in PS2/Xbox age will certainly bear in mind “The Simpsons: Hit & Run,” and lots of a ’90s child spent hours on the “Mighty Morphin Energy Rangers” recreation. Heck, there was even a “Determined Housewives” online game adaptation. However “Gilligan’s Island?” Fortunately, the Bandai recreation really turned out to be a masterpiece, revered by gamers throughout the globe as one of many Nintendo Leisure System’s most interesting choices. Simply kidding, it was unhealthy.

“Gilligan’s Island” was a show that embraced nonsense and by no means as soon as apologized for it. The sitcom knew it was a ridiculous and campy consolation watch and by no means actually tried to be a lot else. Bob Denver’s bumbling first mate was simply one among a number of charming characters who made up the castaways of the S.S. Minnow — named as such for a hilarious reason — making for a present that, whereas it by no means made a lot sense, was primarily lovable nonsense. However none of that actually screams “online game adaptation,” which did not cease Bandai from churning out a NES recreation in 1990. Lamentably, “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” was horrible.

There’s even one thing off concerning the title. Usually, “The Adventures of” would precede a personality’s title; “The Adventures of TinTin,” “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (itself inexplicably remodeled right into a lackluster online game again in 1989). Whereas “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” is just not technically incorrect grammar, it type of suggests that you just’re getting some compendium of all of the adventures to happen on the titular isle, when actually you are embarking by yourself single journey. That may sound nit-picky, however the title is simply the primary signal of bother and hints at what’s to return when you fireplace up this ill-conceived journey recreation.

The subsequent signal of bother? Bandai’s 8-bit tackle CBS’s traditional sitcom had you play as The Skipper, performed by Alan Hale Jr. within the authentic present. That is proper, within the “Gilligan’s Island” online game you do not play as Gilligan. As an alternative, the primary mate follows you round when you discover the island throughout 4 ranges — a recreation mechanic that evidently proved extremely irritating for anybody who really performed the sport. As a GameFaqs evaluate from 2006 famous, the AI that guided Gilligan via the degrees was terrible, and but preserving the hapless lad by your facet was “integral to the sport,” as leaving him behind brought on the time restrict to rapidly plummet. There was additionally a “random glitch the place Gilligan will really dart off in the wrong way after which entice himself within the fringe of the display” — and these had been simply among the points with “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island.”

“Gilligan’s Island” has been on the middle of a number of perplexing cultural developments because it first aired, such because the time the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song sparked a weird lawsuit. However the resolution to market a online game adaptation to the youngsters of 1990, who had been busy sinking hours into “Mega Man” and “Zelda” looks like one of many strangest moments in “Gilligan’s Island” historical past. Simply two years after “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island,” we had been all busy unleashing ferocious fatalities on our enemies in “Mortal Kombat,” so why had been Bandai satisfied that we might all be tempted to wander an 8-bit model of an island from a campy 60s sitcom?

Suppose if it had been an honest journey/technique recreation that simply occurred to make use of the “Gilligan’s Island” branding, it could be a distinct story. However by all accounts, the sport was about as unhealthy as any NES recreation has ever been. It opens with a chiptunes model of “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle” — the famous sitcom theme co-written by Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle. However even then, there’s one thing off, with the NES’ digital synth chip struggling to recreate the precise notes of the unique tune. Issues solely received worse from there. Except for the truth that you did not get to play as Gilligan in “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” and the truth that the in-game AI was atrocious, there have been a number of different issues with Bandai’s recreation. More often than not, gamers merely walked forwards and backwards between different castaways, which included all of the beloved characters from the unique present (Mary Ann, the Professor, Mr. and Mrs. Howell) however inexplicably omitted Ginger, performed by Tina Louise on the unique sitcom. 

In response to GameFaqs, these expeditions between characters concerned interactions with “hyperactive monkeys, ferocious wild boars, and swarthy headhunters” who had been practically unimaginable to hit and due to this fact value avoiding fully. This solely left island exploration — hardly essentially the most thrilling online game expertise, particularly when so many different facets of the sport did not work.

GameFaqs’ retrospective of “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” summed up the sport as a “three-hour bore,” however even that is not fairly as unhealthy as Wired‘s estimation of it as a “three-hour torture.” The journal reviewed the sport again in 2009, solely to surmise that it “performs like a grad scholar’s achingly postmodern grasp’s thesis by which he explores what occurs to gamers when they’re pressured to play a recreation with nothing in it. Besides Bandai really bought this to precise kids for $50.”

Whereas GameFaqs at the least acknowledges that there are some first rate facets to the sport, total “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” was a fairly abject misfire that continues to be considerably of a thriller as we speak. Why was it made? What child with an NES was asking their dad and mom for the “Gilligan’s Island” recreation — absolutely a real-world analog for “Lee Carvallo’s Placing Problem” from “The Simpsons.” Did Bandai actually suppose Gilligan and his stranded crew would enchantment to youngsters who might have been enjoying “Tremendous Marios Bros. 3” or “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Recreation,” each of which additionally debuted in 1990? Questions abound.

To this date, “The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island” is the one online game adaptation of Sherwood Schwartz’s beloved sitcom ever made, and, all issues thought-about, that is in all probability for one of the best.