Freddi Fish

Freddi Fish is an award winning series of children's software from Humongous Entertainment.

Freddi Fish is an anthropomorphic, yellow fish who takes on detective investigations throughout the series of games. She has her own pal, the green-colored Luther, who is her best friend and goes with her on all her adventures. [ [http://www.backyardsports.com/adventure/adventure/freddi.php Backyard Sports ] ] The voices of Freddi Fish and Luther were performed by Annette Toutonghi and Mike McAuliffe at Bad Animals studio in Seattle, WA.

While Freddi Fish was always designed as a girl, there was one mistake in Freddi Fish 1 where her grandmother referred to both her and Luther as 'boys' (though this is probably just a mistake made by the character). However in a later series, Freddi Fish said that she's a girl when someone mistook her for a boy. She was also referred to as a "frank lady" on the old Club Humongous Online website. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/19970206222302/www.humongous.com/clubhe0.html Club Humongous Online ] ]

Adventure Games

When released, these games were categorized as Junior Adventures intended to teach problem solving to ages 3 to 8.

Gameplay

The game play for the main five Freddi games is as follows: Characters move from one screen to the other by clicking when the cursor turns into a chunky arrow. When the cursor is just an small cursor outline then there is nothing clickable, but when the small cursor outline fills in, you can click the mouse and something will happen. As with all Humongous Entertainment games, clicking on the environment prompts an animation which is sometimes funny but rather useless to the plot, usually with tiny fish. However, when you click on a person or certain objects, something will happen like the person talking or Freddi Fish picking up the object. Collected objects appear on the bottom of the screen in their own individual bubbles. Freddi Fish puts objects away by sweeping them behind her back, often resulting in hilarious scenes when putting away large objects. Overall, Freddi Fish Junior Adventures are mainly about helping to solve other creatures' problems by trading and using objects which is tied in to a constantly-progressing storyline.

In all the Freddi Fish games except number 2 (Haunted Schoolhouse), the game has some area that is only accessible when you accomplish your "initial" objective- the objective you are given near the start of the game. Once you unlock that area, often any leftover stuff is taken away and you have to solve one last challenge. In the first game (Kelp Seeds), the last discovered bottle leads you to the sunken ship, where you have to find a way to get into the room with the treasure. In the third game, you have to rescue Luther and in the fourth game you have to escape the rustlers' dungeon. In the fifth game your final mission is to find Marty, but before you can do this the mission changes to opening his safe.

The third and fourth games end with a challenge to find out who was the thief. In the third game they give you one or two clues that point to the personality of one person; in the fourth game you have to figure it out based on a clue in the Hogfishes' room which points to an object the person had been using.

Games

* "Freddi Fish: The Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds" (Windows, Macintosh) (1994). ::In this game, Grandma Grouper's treasure chest of kelp seeds are stolen, and Freddi and Luther go off in search of the thieves, who turn out to be two sharks (One is called Spongehead but the other is never called anything but Boss). Thankfully Spongehead has a bad memory so he left a trail of notes in bottles leading to the chest. This game, as well as its subsequent titles, won several awards upon release. It is now a Wii game, too. [http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1996/oct96/freddipr.mspx] .

* "Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse" (Windows, Macintosh) (1996).:: When Freddi and Luther are at school one morning, a ghost appears and tries to steal Luther's action figure toy. Following the ghost to the basement of the school, they discover that the ghost is just sharks wearing a ghost costume. They then plan a trap to catch the ghost, but they are missing some objects needed for the trap.

* "Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell" (Windows, Macintosh) (1998). The Conch shell which is blown to signal the beginning of the Founder's Day Festival has been stolen, and Luther's Uncle Blenny is blamed because he is the 'Grand Exalted Keeper of the Conch.' Freddi and Luther search for the real thief to clear Uncle Blenny's name and prove that he did not steal the conch. They search and investigate the suspicious characters to find out who really 'done it.'

* "Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch" (Windows, Macintosh) (1999). Freddi and Luther (upon arrival at Freddi's Cousin Calico's Ranch) come to find out that her hogfish have been rustled. (which in Calico's way means 'someone came in and took them, without asking) Luther and Freddi head to the town square, in search of clues to find the rustlers. While in Saltwater Stella's Soda Saloon, they stumble upon their first clue - a note with a secret combination on it. Freddi and Luther figure this must be important, so they must investigate where the combination is. After checking the town square out a bit (or getting some help from Saltwater Stella) they find an abandoned ship with a huge lock on the metal door and a combination required. After entering the combination, they meet up with the first rustler, a slim fish dressed in 'what the well dressed rustlers are wearing.' He then says since Freddi and Luther aren't wearing these things, they mustn't be rustlers. The rustlers are seriously fashion-cautious, so they won't accept Freddi and Luther until they have the proper attire. Freddi and Luther must search all over in order to find a ten gallon hat, (dyed a different color each game) a belt and a belt buckle, (different letter each game) and either a bandana or a hankerchief accessory. Then, they can get in in order to liberate the hogfish. Finally, Luther and Freddi need to find out who the mysterious Mr. Big is. (Mr. Big could be anyone of the townsfolk who had the idea of hog-napping) In the end, the rustlers get to get their dream job - hogfish ranching. (they are now helping out at Cousin Calico's Ranch) And Freddi Fish and Luther sing "Home On The Range."

* "Freddi Fish 5: The Case of the Creature of Coral Cove" (Windows, Macintosh) (2001). Freddi and Luther (on their way to Coral Cove Park) run into a large mob of sea creatures and the park's developer Marty Sardini, who are both angry yet terrified of this sea monster supposedly terrorizing the park. Bravely, Freddi and Luther decide to investigate why this sea monster is scaring the citizens. Firstly, they get into Coral Cove Park (after getting a permission slip signed by the Mayor) and enter to find a chunk of green sea cheese with a large bite taken out of it. Freddi and Luther continue to examine it and it becomes their first clue to locate the sea monster's whereabouts. After they get into the sea monster's cave and finding his to-do list, they discover he is lurking in the deepest crevice of the ocean. Freddi and Luther then come to realize that the sea monster named Xamfear Duncan Dogberry Valentine was drove out of Coral Cove Park by a certain greedy developer and was scaring the townspeople because they took his home. Luther figures this must mean Marty. Just as Xamfear is about to show Freddi and Luther his deed for proof, Marty and everyone in town arrives. Marty states that 'there is no such deed.' Suddenly, Xamfear (after checking the place he had the deed, under a piece of ground) comes to discover the deed has been stolen. Freddi and Luther find that Marty is missing as well. Together, Freddi and Luther slip into Marty's base and after dodging traps, find the hidden deed Marty has stolen. Marty catches them at his place and calls security right when the Mayor (after getting his picture taken) shows up to arrest Marty for theft. All's well it ends well with Xamfear Duncan Dogberry Valentine opening up the Park for everyone to play in, while Marty doing the dirty work. Currently Freddi and Luther's last adventure.

Arcade Games

Thes games are categorized as Junior Arcades for ages 3 to 8.

* "Freddi Fish and Luther's Maze Madness" (Windows, Macintosh) (1996)
* "Freddi Fish and Luther's Water Worries" (Windows, Macintosh) (1996)

While originally released for Windows and Macintosh, these games can now also be run with the ScummVM player on more platforms such as handhelds and consoles.

ee also

*Pajama Sam
*Putt-Putt
*Spy Fox
*Fatty Bear

References