Bible Adventures
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Bible Adventures | |
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![]() Box cover of Bible Adventures | |
Developer(s) | Wisdom Tree |
Publisher(s) | Wisdom Tree |
Platform(s) | NES/Famicom, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, PC |
Release | 1991 |
Genre(s) | Side scroller/Platform game |
Mode(s) | Single player |
Bible Adventures is a Christian video game by Wisdom Tree and not sold through video game retailers, first released in 1991 for the NES, and re-released in 1995 for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis. It contains three different games: Noah's Ark, Baby Moses, and David and Goliath, all of which are based rather loosely on stories from the Bible. The gameplay of these games is sidescroller style similar to that of Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Gameplay
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ad/Bible_1.png/200px-Bible_1.png)
The game was a collection of three games based on stories contained in the Old Testament:
In Noah's Ark, the player must round up animals and food—sometimes by knocking animals out or catching fruit thrown by a monkey—and carry them onto the Ark. Noah's health is recharged when the player reads Bible verses that are scattered around the four levels. Snakes seen on the trees are decoys.
In Baby Moses, the player controls Miriam, Moses' sister as she tries to save her brother from the Pharaoh's decree that all male Hebrew children be killed. In order to do this, the player carries Moses from one end of the level to the other, in a manner quite similar to the way in which characters in Super Mario Bros. 2 carry vegetables. Moses can be thrown around without harming him, but enemies cannot be harmed in any way. The adversaries attempt to throw Moses into the Nile. If the player completes the level without Moses, the game says "Good work, but you forgot Baby Moses." and the level must be restarted.
In David and Goliath, the player starts out controlling David as he herds sheep and avoids predators such as lions and bears. The player then obtains a sling and goes on to dodge guards, scorpions, and stones before he fights Goliath's shieldbearer and ultimately Goliath himself, whom the player must strike once in the head to defeat.
Rarity
Before the Entertainment Software Ratings Board became established, Nintendo banned certain images, ideas, references and or depictions from appearing in any game for their Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy or Super Nintendo. Religious themes, except for ancient mythology, were banned; consequently the game was not eligible for the Nintendo Seal of Quality.
Bible Adventures is one of a very few games produced without a license from Nintendo. In order to bypass the NES's 10NES chip, which was intended to prevent unauthorized games, Wisdom Tree used technology licensed from Tengen which used a voltage zap to bypass the security mechanism. While Tengen was sued by Nintendo for making unauthorized games, Wisdom Tree was not.
The game's bright blue, rounded cartridge looks dramatically different from the square, grey cartridges in which licensed games are housed. It can also be found in a black cartridge. The games were not sold in traditional video game retail outlets, who needed to be on friendly terms with Nintendo. Instead, they were primarily sold in Christian bookstores.
Criticism
The game has been criticized for being overly didactic (e.g., gameplay is broken up by Bible verses), for being highly derivative of Super Mario Bros. 2, and for generally bad gameplay. It also has been criticized for its recycling of its other levels; each level basically has the same gameplay and same style of gameplay. Nevertheless, it sold reasonably well in Christian bookstores.[citation needed] It was featured on Seanbaby's EGM Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Games of All Time as the 19th worst game ever.[1]
References
- ^ "Seanbaby's EGM's Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Games of All Time". EGM. Retrieved 2007-01-15.