Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle

aka: Pitufo, Schtroumpf Au château de Gargamel, Schtroumpfs, Smurf, Smurf Rescue
Moby ID: 10218
ColecoVision Specs
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Description official descriptions

Smurfette has been kidnapped and is being held atop a platform in Gargamel's castle. The player controls a smurf across the screen and must jump over obstacles, away from spiders, eventually up to smurfette to rescue her. Completing of this task restarts the game with faster moving obstacles and it also takes longer (more scenes) to get to Gargamel's castle.

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Credits (Atari 2600 version)

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 74% (based on 9 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 36 ratings with 2 reviews)

A Fun and Memorable Title That's Smurfing Good.

The Good
Smurfs was kind of a guilty pleasure. Players led a non-specific Smurf through forests, caves and fields into Gargamel's Castle to rescue the only female Smurf in the Village, Smurfette. The graphics were bright, detailed, and colorful, looking exactly like the cartoon. The music was also bouncy through the outside areas, using classical music, and gloomy in the caves and castles. It was an easy quest, but the environments were diverse, and the gameplay was satisfyingly addictive.

The Bad
Unfortunately, Smurfs also had some odd control issues, mostly with its jumping. Double jumps were often a pain, especially if mistimed at all. But it's really hard to place the blame, as it was either the game, or the awkward ColecoVision controller, which handled like a dead moose. Simply walking into an obstacle would result into an instant death (fences and tufts of grass were ferocious in the fields, it seems). Even turning the character around could be a minor annoyance at times, especially trying to run away from a spider or trying to position for a jump.

The Bottom Line
Given its control issues, Smurfs was a surprisingly fun title, and one of the ColecoVison's earliest and best games. The graphics and music really made it stand out, and Smurfs were still a popular show at the time of its release (after all, what other character could use its name as a noun, verb and adjective?). Fortunately, it wasn't a title that simply cashed in on the popularity of its license, and offered some entertaining gameplay and occasional challenges.

ColecoVision · by Guy Chapman (1748) · 2004

Watch Out For That Deadly Blade of Grass!

The Good
Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle was one of the first platform, side-scrolling games I played for the ColecoVision. For the early 1980's, it featured some impressive graphics, music and sound effects. Heck, it even had an actual storyline and was based on the friendly, polite and asexual little blue creatures I watched on Saturday mornings as a kid.

The Bad
Their were four things about this game that I always disliked. Firstly, you die if you do not properly jump over specific objects, even a little blade of grass! I can sort of understand this when you are dealing with spikes, but grass? Secondly, the game has an energy bar that slowly declines, similar to what would later be seen with "Adventure Island". This means that you not only have to make perfect jumps, but have to do so fairly quickly. Thirdly, Gargamel does not appear in the game. Heck, even his trusty cat is no where to be seen. Last, but not least, I always found it a bit odd that the Smurf had no offensive weapon, like being able to toss apples or something at the enemies. No self-respecting Smurf would go after the likes of Gargamel without some sort of weapon or magic potion.

The Bottom Line
Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle is a fun little side-scrolling, platform game, that shows some respect to the franchise as well as some impressive graphics, music and sound effects. If you grew up watching the Smurfs on television, you may want to try and get a hold of this game.

ColecoVision · by ETJB (428) · 2010

Discussion

Subject By Date
C64 release? MiG_ (4) Mar 1, 2018

Trivia

Cancelled Intellivision version

Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle is mentioned in several of Coleco's and CBS's catalogues as being available for the Intellivision in addition to the VCS and Colecovision systems. This version was never released, though.

ColecoVision graphical glitch

One of the weirdest known quirks about this title was to walk the Smurf into the room where Smurfette was being held. Once the Smurf walked into the room, players could quickly leave the room, and due to a graphic glitch, it looked like Smurfette's dress would fly up. Harmless, but amusing for its time.

Information also contributed by Игги Друге.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Shoddyan.

Atari 2600 added by Servo.

Additional contributors: Guy Chapman, chirinea, Alaka, Игги Друге, formercontrib, LepricahnsGold, Cantillon.

Game added September 2, 2003. Last modified September 21, 2023.