(No complaints about the box art. That's pretty much Gilligan's Island right there)
This is one of those “more fun to dunk on than it is to play” games that people who write about games love to make fun of. On the surface it’s not too hard to see why. By the time this game came out the series it was based on had been canceled for almost twenty years. It’s not like there’s ever been a big market for games based on sitcoms either. Is there another example of a game based on a tv show that had been off the air for decades? Even The Addams Family had a movie to promote when they got their own game. So it already has one strike against it for being based on a very silly show that had been off the air for a generation. It also came out right at the peak of the NES in 1990 when people were too busy playing Mario 3 to care much about such and odd licensed game. It would be more understandable if it came out a couple years earlier when the system was desperate for games, but instead it was destined to collect dust in a rental store beside Tom Sawyer and Wall Street Kid. So just how is this game which seems to be aimed only at uncles? Well as an uncle myself I was determined to find out.
(The 60s sexism was left intact)
I have to say, for a game that’s 95% backtracking it’s pretty good. Each level is set up like an episode of the tv show, although I have no idea if they were recycled from the show or original to the video game. The setup, for those of you who didn’t watch TBS in the early 90s, is that every episode they would think they were getting off the island, but for typically Gilligan related reasons they never did. It works just the same in the video game. The levels will start out with a plot-related discussion and then you spend the rest of the levels talking and gathering things for the other castaways. You play as the portly skipper who doesn’t really look like any other video game hero besides maybe Fred Flintstone. Gilligan follows you around to make sure that you never accomplish anything. He mostly falls in holes and supplies funny dialogue. Unfortunately he only has about three pieces of dialogue so don’t expect this game to provide that many laughs. There is some combat, including a surprisingly hard final boss, but the meat of the game is hunting down all the required items for the different castaways before time runs out. There is a map to help you find where everyone is, but sometimes they can be hard to get to. It drives me crazy that some places require you to float in the water, but the water always hurts you. There’s nothing worse than a required part of the game hurting you. When you finally reach the end of the level you get the joy of thinking you are going to get off the island only to find out that Gilligan has inadvertently thwarted you again. I suppose it is fairly unusual for an old game to be so full of downer endings. It might be disappointing for someone not familiar with the show to find out that they never get off the island, but don’t worry. They eventually make it off then go back later and watch the Harlem Globetrotters play basketball against Martin Landau’s evil robots. I only wish that plotline made it into the game.
(A common reaction when playing this game)
Honestly I had a pretty good time playing this one. I know I shouldn’t have, but I just can’t help myself. Maybe a lifetime of playing bad old games has hardened me. Maybe it’s because of the intricate levels with world maps. As you know if you’ve been reading this I love a good world map. I enjoy these old games that have baffling layouts where characters will be hanging out in dangerous caves for seemingly no reason. 1990 was probably the peak year of my Gilligan’s Island obsession, but I wouldn’t even play this game until 28 years later making my enjoyment of it even more baffling. I guess that when you spend years and years hearing snarky comments and reading bad reviews about a game you are surprised when you turn it on and it's a real game that you can actually play. There’s always something comforting about playing such a legendarily bad game and finding out that it is both playable and beatable. I took a risk and played through Gilligan’s Island without the need to be snarky or hateful, and for some reason that makes me feel like a slightly better person.
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