Highlordretrogamer89 plays The Smurfs: Rescue In Gargamel's Castle

C'mon, it's not that bad.

This game has probably the most frustrating second screen in any Atari 2600 game if you don't know what to do. I remember watching a friend play this on a netbook on the Stella emulator and we both wondered how the hell to jump over that lousy fence. It was harder than it should have been, and that fence became a pain in the ass until we finally found out there's a double jump. To do the Double Jump, you jump, then immediately jump again in the direction you want to go. This second jump is much higher, and as long as you keep jumping, you'll keep doing the high jump. I find it amazing that you have to use the double jump to basically get past every obstacle in the game, and that touching as much as a simple fence outright kills you.

Once you know how to do that, the game's pretty much easy. The hawk and the bat are both easy to double jump over when you do it at the right time. Double jump over the snake when he's on the river. The spider's pretty easy, too. Just walk under him when he's right over your Smurf's head level while he's on his way back up to the web.

It's all really a matter of not screwing up in Gargamel's House to rescue Smurfette, as you have to position yourself in a certain spot and figure out the double jump's limits. The bat waits a little longer than the hawk to dive down for a few seconds, but once you figure the bat out, all that's left is Smurfette.

You get an extra life every 10,000 points.

Is this one worth picking up? Despite the occasional person on the Internet telling you that it's really bad, it's really not that difficult once you get everything down, and it's actually quite enjoyable when you do. There's not really much to the game in terms of action, and it's all a matter of knowing what to do when. Once you figure out how to do the double jump and memorize as the enemies' attack patterns, the game is ridiculously easy. It's a must for a Smurfs fan, but it's definitely worth a shot even for the most casual gamer as there are few choices better than this one for the beginning 2600 enthusiast who actually wants to play the games as much as collect them.


Try this game out. You won't be too disappointed.