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==Gameplay==
==Gameplay==
The game makes use of a simplified adventure system where a single click on a certain spot allows the player to pick up items, go to another location, talk to characters and find trivial but fun stuff in the screen. Clicking on an item in the right place allows Freddi to make use of it. Most puzzles require the player to make exchanges with characters and use items to get to inaccessible areas. The locations of the clues in bottles and the trails to follow for the treasure chest are randomized in every new game.
The game makes use of a simplified adventure system where a single click on a certain spot allows the player to pick up items, go to another location, talk to characters and find trivial but fun stuff in the screen. Clicking on an item in the right place allows Freddi to make use of it. A specific kind of item, purple [[Sea urchin|sea urchins]], can be found in various locations (with some being achievable after solving a puzzle) and used to gain access to a volcano (where a bottle is sometimes located); in total, seven urchins can be found in the game. Most puzzles require the player to make exchanges with characters and use items to get to inaccessible areas. The locations of the clues in bottles and the trails to follow for the treasure chest are randomized in every new game.


There are also a few minigames, such as "Jellyfish Jamboree", where Freddi must fend off waves of jellyfish by throwing food at them before they get too close, with Luther keeping score. Such minigame forms the basis of the LCD handheld version.
There are also a few minigames, such as "Jellyfish Jamboree", where Freddi must fend off waves of jellyfish by throwing food at them before they get too close, with Luther keeping score. Such minigame forms the basis of the LCD handheld version.

Purple [[Sea urchin|sea urchins]] can be found in various locations; they can be dropped in a bucket, which pushes open a gate to a valcano, where a bottle can sometimes be located. One sea urchin can be earned by rescuing Mrs. Halibut's son, Gabby, from a cave. Up to six purple sea urchins can be found and kept in-game, while an additional purple sea urchin can be found near the bucket that opens up the gate and dropped in if the player clicks on it.


==Reception==
==Reception==

Revision as of 21:39, 24 October 2023

Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds
1998 Cover art
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment[a]
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment[b]
Producer(s)Ron Gilbert
Designer(s)
  • Ron Gilbert
  • Larry Kay
  • Tami Caryl Borowick
Writer(s)Larry Kay
Composer(s)George Sanger
EngineSCUMM
Platform(s)Macintosh, Windows, digiBlast, LCD game, Wii, iOS, Android, Linux, Steam
ReleaseReleased:
  • October 28, 1994 (Mac, Win)
  • 1999 (LCD)
  • 2005 (digiBlast)[1]
  • August 29, 2008 (Wii)[2]
  • October 10, 2010 (iOS)
  • April 3, 2014 (Android)[3]
  • April 17, 2014 (Linux & Steam)[4]
Genre(s)Adventure, humorous
Mode(s)Single-player

Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds is a video game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment and the first game released for the Freddi Fish franchise. It was released on October 28, 1994.[6] In 2008, it was released on the Wii under the title Freddi Fish in Kelp Seed Mystery[7] as well as Windows and Macintosh,[8] and on Android with a shortened title Freddi Fish and the Missing Kelp Seeds. The Wii version's availability was limited by legal problems concerning its development.[9] A simplified handheld LCD game partially based on Kelp Seeds was also released in 1999 that adapted one of its minigames, Jellyfish Jamboree and was titled Freddi Fish: Jellyfish Jamboree.[10]

Plot

A pelican named Sam delivers flowers to Freddi Fish to give to Snappy Turtle (or Jason the guppy), and Grandma Grouper. When Freddi arrives at Grandma Grouper's house, she finds out that the latter's treasure chest that holds all the kelp seeds (the source of the ocean's food) has been stolen. As such, her garden has begun to wilt, which will cause all the fish to starve if the kelp seeds aren't found. A courageous Freddi offers to find the treasure and Grandma Grouper gives Freddi her last "peanut butter and jellyfish" sandwich for her journey.

After leaving Grandma Grouper's house, Freddi finds her friend, Luther, trying to swim loop-de-loops, eventually knocking a bottle loose. When Freddi and Luther investigate, they discover a note lodged inside. The note gives them a clue to where the kelp treasure is, and they set out to look for more clues. Unbeknownst to them, it was two sharks named Boss and Spongehead, who were the ones that stole the treasure as part of their plan to help their boss, the Squidfather, grow kelp. Spongehead had hidden four bottles with notes in them in random locations so he could find his way back to the treasure.

As Freddi and Luther find more of Spongehead's clues to the treasure, Boss becomes increasingly furious at Spongehead for not remembering where the treasure is or the bottles that lead the way, so he takes him to the Squidfather as punishment. Upon finding out, the Squidfather is enraged and spews out ink. Out of fear, Spongehead remembers where the treasure is and the sharks go retrieve it right after Freddi and Luther have found the last bottle, revealing that the treasure is at a sunken ship.

At the sunken ship, Freddi and Luther open a window on the ship (after receiving a crank handle from the pirate, Phineas McFinn) and spot the treasure, but the two are stopped by Boss and Spongehead, who order them to hand it over. Freddi boldly refuses and explains that everyone can grow kelp if they share it, which the sharks agree on. While the sharks go to tell the Squidfather about their deal, Freddi and Luther grab the treasure, spread it around to give to everyone, and plant it in Grandma Grouper's Garden. As Luther tries to take most of the credit for retrieving the treasure, Grandma Grouper invites the two into her home so they can tell her all about their adventure.

Gameplay

The game makes use of a simplified adventure system where a single click on a certain spot allows the player to pick up items, go to another location, talk to characters and find trivial but fun stuff in the screen. Clicking on an item in the right place allows Freddi to make use of it. A specific kind of item, purple sea urchins, can be found in various locations (with some being achievable after solving a puzzle) and used to gain access to a volcano (where a bottle is sometimes located); in total, seven urchins can be found in the game. Most puzzles require the player to make exchanges with characters and use items to get to inaccessible areas. The locations of the clues in bottles and the trails to follow for the treasure chest are randomized in every new game.

There are also a few minigames, such as "Jellyfish Jamboree", where Freddi must fend off waves of jellyfish by throwing food at them before they get too close, with Luther keeping score. Such minigame forms the basis of the LCD handheld version.

Reception

Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds received mixed reviews from various critics. GameRankings lists a 60% score for the Windows version based on 1 review,[11] Metacritic has an average score of 70 out 100,[12] Allgame gave a 4-star rating,[13] GameZone rated 7 out of 10,[14] Adventure Gamers gave a 3-star rating,[15] and Unikgamer gave a 7 out 10 score.[16] It also received over 20 awards.[17]

The Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds won Electronic Entertainment's 1994 "Best Edutainment Title" award. The editors wrote that the game features a well made original characters, strong storyline, appropriately challenging puzzles, and beautiful animation.[18]

The Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds was a commercial success, with sales of 250,000 units by 1999.[19] During the year 2001 alone, Freddi Fish sold 54,447 retail units in North America, according to PC Data.[20]

References

  1. ^ "Freddi Fish". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Freddi Fish:Kelp Seed Mystery on Wii". Nintendo of America Inc. Archived from the original on April 16, 2015. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  3. ^ "Freddi Fish and the Missing Kelp Seeds - Android Apps on Google Play". Google Play. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  4. ^ "Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds on Steam". Steam. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  5. ^ "Mistic Software Inc". Mistic Software Inc. 2013. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  6. ^ "Freddi Fish". Archived from the original on February 10, 1998. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  7. ^ "Freddi Fish: Kelp Seed Mystery". GameFAQs. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  8. ^ "Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds – Box Scan". GameFAQs. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  9. ^ Moss, Richard (January 16, 2012). "Maniac Tentacle Mindbenders: How ScummVM's unpaid coders kept adventure gaming alive". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  10. ^ "FREDDI FISH JELLYFISH JAMBOREE - 1999 HUMONGOUS - ELECTRONIC HAND HELD (12/14/2012)". Worthpoint. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
  11. ^ a b "Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds for PC - GameRankings". GameRankings. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  12. ^ a b "Freddi Fish in Kelp Seed Mystery (Wii) reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  13. ^ Brad Cook. "Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds - Review - allgame". Allgame. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  14. ^ a b jkdmedia (May 4, 2012). "Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds - Wii - Review". GameZone. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  15. ^ a b Joe Keeley (June 11, 2010). "Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds Information, Screenshots & Media". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  16. ^ a b "Freddi Fish series on Unikgamer". Unikgamer. Archived from the original on June 15, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  17. ^ "Microsoft and Humongous Entertainment Pair EasyBall and Freddi Fish to Deliver Unbeatable Value for Families in Time for the Holidays". Microsoft. October 15, 1996. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  18. ^ Staff (March 1995). "The Second Annual Electronic Entertainment Editors' Choice Awards". Electronic Entertainment (15): 45–51.
  19. ^ Haring, Bruce (February 28, 1999). "The story of a Humongous project". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 6, 1999. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  20. ^ Sluganski, Randy (March 2002). "State of Adventure Gaming - March 2002 - 2001 Sales Table". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on June 19, 2002. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Humongous Entertainment Handcrafts Another Junior Adventure(tm)". Farlex, Inc. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  1. ^ Ported to digiBlast by Transposia and the Wii by Mistic Software (Wii).[5]
  2. ^ The digiBlast and 2010 IOS ports were published by Atari.
    The Wii version was published by Majesco Entertainment in the United States[2] and Atari Europe in Europe.
    The IOS re-release and Android version were was published by Tommo.
    The Steam release was co-published by Tommo and Night Dive Studios.
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