Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first challenge is choosing a job. Moe’s hand moves over the map’s activity squares, and you have to stop it on the one you want. That little timing test means you cannot always settle into the event you understand best. The next day’s earnings may depend on something considerably less comfortable.

The individual games have a suitably foolish streak. Curly tries to collect crackers from a bowl before the clams take them, while another event sends Larry running for music to help Curly in the boxing ring. Each job asks for a different small skill, with the money you earn feeding back into the rescue effort.

The slapping game has a practical consequence as well as an obvious joke. A more successful round slows Moe’s moving hand when you return to choosing jobs, which can make it easier to pick the activity you actually wanted. Familiarity with the different events matters as much as quick reactions.

The NES instructions help explain the changes of controls between activities. The variety is entertaining, but it also means an event can feel awkward just as you are beginning to enjoy another one. A little practice with the individual jobs makes the campaign less of a gamble.

Graphics

The cracker contest gives most of the picture to an enormous bowl, a spoon, scattered crackers, and the clams waiting to make Curly’s meal difficult. A small character head and a few bold shapes carry much of the joke. The orange dish and checked tablecloth make it an amusingly domestic place to get into trouble.

Larry’s run uses a busier street scene beneath the boxing action, with brickwork, shop signs, and a tiny figure hurrying along the pavement. Curly’s oversized opponent above him is much less subtle. The backgrounds can be blunt and garish, but the exaggerated faces suit the comedy.

Story

Ma’s orphanage is about to be torn down unless its mortgage is paid. Banker I. Fleecem wants $5,000 within thirty days, and the Stooges volunteer to find it.

Moe’s solution is to get a job, which soon turns into a string of unlikely contests and mishaps around StoogeVille. The boys have a worthwhile reason to earn money and a remarkable ability to make the work more complicated.

The deadline keeps their squabbles from being entirely harmless. A poor result means another day spent without enough money, while a good job brings the orphanage a little closer to safety.

Overall Experience

The Three Stooges works best when the event matches the joke. Fighting a clam for a cracker is a suitably ridiculous little contest, and sending Larry after music while Curly faces a boxer gives the chase an entertaining reason to hurry.

The switches between activities can make the package feel uneven. Learning one set of controls is not enough, and the moving hand can make the next choice less convenient than you hoped. Enjoying the characters helps carry the less comfortable moments.

For fans of the trio, it is an affectionate and rather unusual NES adventure. The orphanage gives the jobs a shared purpose, while Moe, Larry, and Curly supply plenty of opportunities to turn honest work into trouble.

Retro Replay Score

6.7/10