''Frantic Flea'' is a

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eur ...

video game created by British studio Haüs Teknikka that was released in April 1996.

Gameplay

The player takes control of a

flea Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...

warrior out to protect his Flea World from an evil race of bugs called the Insideos who are

enslaving Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

his friends and family. This video game is a side-scroller with six different levels, where the player explores each stage, freeing fellow captive fleas and utilizing weapons and devices to aid in their missions. These weapons include the Hoverpod, which enables flight, and the Stikko, which can give the player the ability to climb walls.

Development

Andy Whitehurst, creative director of Haüs Teknikka, described the team's approach to the graphics: "What we were trying to show is that despite 16-bit graphical limitations you can actually make a video game look like a cartoon. We wanted FF to look like a '50s or '60s Warner Bros. cartoon and to have the same zany feel, almost Dr. Seuss-like which nobody has tried before in a video game."

Reception

The four reviewers of ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'' gave the game a 5.875 out of 10. Three of the four commented that though the game has some innovative features, they are not enough to hold the player's interest. They also criticized that losing all the player's collected fleas each time said player is hit is more frustrating than fun, and that the levels quickly grow repetitive. The remaining reviewer, Sushi-X, defended the game, praising its compelling action, graphics, and selection of weapons. A review in ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' said the game "puts another nail in the Super NES coffin with uninteresting gameplay, horrible cartoon-like graphics, obnoxious and monotonous music, and annoying, imprecise controls. Basically all you do in this game is run around and collect your little flea buddies."

References

{{reflist 1996 video games Fleas GameTek games Slavery in fiction Fictional slaves Video games about slavery North America-exclusive video games Platform games Side-scrolling video games Single-player video games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Super Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Video games about insects Video games developed in the United Kingdom