The Amazing Adventures of Mr. F. Lea

Arcade Video game published 43 years ago:

The Amazing Adventures of Mr. F. Lea (c) 1982 Pacific Novelty.

A four part game where you get Mr. F. Lea where he wants to go (on the back of some lush, tasty dog, of course). You run through lawns and across highways, on the tails of other dogs, and up a hill to get to your destination. Occasionally you even make a run for a dog's head.

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : Zilog Z80 (@ 4 Mhz), Zilog Z80 (@ 6 Mhz)
Sound Chips : (3x) General Instrument AY8910 (@ 2 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 248 x 256 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 32

Players : 2
Control : 4-way joystick
Buttons : 1

- TRIVIA -

Released in February 1982. This was the last game produced by PNM (Pacific Novelty Manufacturing). It had a very small run and utilized some of the best technology of the time to produce images, sounds and game play (The Amazing Adventures of Mr. F. Lea is the only PNM game that doesn't use a cassette player for background sound). At the time of its release, the video game industry was way down in business and only a certified blockbuster could save the company. As good as this game was, it was not a blockbuster and after its release, PNM sank into the sunset.

The intro of the 'William Tell Overture' plays in the selection screen.
The end of the 'William Tell Overture' plays in the Game Over screen.
The main part of the 'William Tell Overture' is played in the 'Dog's Back' scene.
The song that is played in the Lawnmower scene is 'Waiting for the Robert E. Lee'.
The song that is played in the Dog's Tail's scene is 'The Man on the Flying Trapeze'.
The song that is played in the Dog's Hollow scene is the 1950's pop hit 'Why Do Fools Fall in Love?'.
Each time you lose a life, 'Brahms' Lullaby' is played as Mr. F. Lea is parachuted to the bottom of the screen.
Tchaikovsky's '1812 Overture' is played when you successfully complete a scene. It also plays as you enter your initials after the game is over and you made the high score list.
Completing an entire level (all four scenes) will yield a cut scene, set to the song 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow', before the game begins again.

Each of the four scenes is taken from another game. The Lawnmower scene is a copy of "Frogger", the Dog Hollow scene is a copy of "Donkey Kong"'s first screen, the Dog's Tail scene is a slight variation of "Jungle King"'s Vine scene, and the Dog's Back is a revision of the Boulder Jumping section of "Jungle King".

The release of this game was dedicated to Doris and Addy.

- SCORING -

* Lawnmower Screen :
Each jump forward : 50 points

* Dog's Tail's Screen :
Each jump : 100 points.
Time Bonus is given at end of round.

* Dog's Back Screen :
Jump over spots : 100 points.
Pop balloons : 100-1,000 points.

* Dog Hollow Screen :
Jump over obstacles : 100 points.
Pop balloons : 100-1,000 points.
Time Bonus is given at end of round.

- STAFF -

Game written by : Philip Lieberman, Craig Edwards
Music by : Francisco Pflaum
Graphics by : Dan Posnick, Craig Edwards

- CONTRIBUTE -

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