The Three Stooges (video game)

The Three Stooges was an Amiga video game by Cinemaware, released in 1987, and was later ported for different systems like NES, in which Moe, Larry and Curly play arcade mini games (derived from the Stooges' classic films) in an effort to raise enough money to save an old widow's orphanage. The game was fairly advanced for the time, featuring sampled speech ("Calling Dr Howard, Dr Fine, Dr Howard") and multiple winning endings, with the orphanage in various states of spiffiness depending on how much money the trio had collected.

Plot

The Three Stooges come upon an old widow, her three daughters and their orphanage, which is in extreme disrepair. On top of that, an unscrupulous banker demands the mortgage payment of $ 5000 within 30 days. The trio immediately sets out to collect the money.

Several options for getting (or not getting) money are presented: from dropped wallets to finder's fees to participating in competitions:

• Hospital: The Stooges are to follow a nurse on her way to the operation room, assigned to collect the medicine packs she keeps dropping from her cart. In order to make it faster, they race after her on go-carts - but watch out for the patients! (This option is based on the Stooges short films Men in Black and Calling All Curs.)
• Boxing: Curly is to fight in a boxing match, but in order to win he needs to hear the Weasel Tune. Unfortunately, Larry's Stradivarius breaks, and he is forced to run to the next radio shop to get a box - which develops into a steeplechase, with packs of paper, lamp posts and lazy dogs lining the way. (This option is based on the Stooges short film Punch Drunks.)
• Pie-Serving: The Stooges find work for a day in a restaurant, and the main dish is pies. However, the patrons are less than polite, and so the Stooges decide to serve the pies in the most direct way possible: by thowing them into their opposition's faces. Of course, the latter respond in kind, and the player collects points with each hit on a guest, but gets points deducted when the Stooges are hit.
• Radio Quiz: When this option is chosen, the player must answer an A-B-C trivia question about the Stooges. If the answer is wrong, Moe shares out some clouting.
• Dough Balls in the Soup: Curly is to eat as many dough balls as he can spoon up in this competition. But beware - clams hidden in the broth do their best to narrow the winning margin. (This option is based on the Stooges short film Dutiful But Dumb.)

There is also an interesting option which seems trivial at first, but becomes important as the game progresses: Each day, the choice of options is made by a hand moving randomly between several panels, which also includes a mouse trap. As the days pass, the hand speeds up, and if the player is not careful, he will lose a finger to the trap(s) (and if all fingers are disabled, the game is over). With a special option, the speed can be reduced by having the Stooges "blow off steam"; the player controls Moe as he attempts to hit either Larry or Curly, and for each hit the selection speed is reduced.

The story may end in one of the following ways:

• The Stooges do not succeed, and the banker has the last laugh;
• The Stooges manage to collect $ 5000, just enough to pay the mortgage;
• with $ 10 000, the orphanage can be fully restored;
• and for $ 20 000, the Stooges may wed the three daughters.

Original Feature List

The Three Stooges

Can THREE Stooges save ONE orphanage from FOREclosure?

Moe, Larry & Curly starring in their own Cinemaware Interactive Movie? Why coitanly! Nyuk. Nyuk. Nyuk. Join those zany masters of mirth as they try to save an old lady and her 3 beautiful daughters from the clutches of an evil banker. You'll love the eyepopping graphics and animation. And the voices and sound effects digitized from their classic films! You'll maneuver the Stooges through prizefighting, pie throwing and medical madness in the famous "Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard" scene. It's like starring in a Stooges movie!

Coin-op quality arcade sequences Includes Moe, Larry, & Curly's actual voices. Stooges trivia quiz and surprises galore. Easy to use joystick control. No typing required!

Ports to other systems

The game was ported to the NES in 1989 by Activision, and then to Game Boy Advance in 2002 by Metro 3D.

Trivia

• This video game has a cameo in the action movie Lethal Weapon 3, where Mel Gibson accidentally activates the pie-serving sequence.

• In the very beginning of the game, a logo for Defender of the Crown comes up. But as they Stooges walk to the logo, they walk away trying to find their own.