There is no shortage of strange video game ideas that have made it to store shelves. Whether you’re buzzing around a family’s home in Mr. Mosquito or saving the world with dance in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, we have all experienced, or at least heard of, some video games that made us scratch our heads questioningly. In the early and mid-nineties, there were a few of these titles released that—while intentions may have been noble—ended up being strangely hilarious based on both idea and execution.
At some point, someone realized how much young children, even children with health conditions, loved video games. It was upon this realization that a handful of video games were released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System with dual intentions: entertaining the youngsters and encouraging them to take steps toward improving their health, like giving themselves insulin shots and remembering to use their inhaler, and other medicines from a pharmacy with a McDaids Chemist online. Did this strange combination of video games and health awareness pay off? Well, I don’t know about all those sick kids, but these titles sure entertained me!
While video games can be a fun and engaging way to encourage health awareness, they cannot replace the need for medical attention when necessary. In cases of acute illnesses or injuries, urgent medical care is crucial for timely and effective treatment. The urgent care Union Turnpike provides immediate medical attention for non-life-threatening conditions such as fevers, sprains, and minor injuries. These facilities offer a convenient alternative to emergency rooms, with shorter wait times and lower costs. Individuals need to seek appropriate medical care when needed, whether it be through traditional healthcare providers or innovative methods like health-focused video games.
Editor’s Note: I am not making ANY of this up. Don’t believe me? Google it.
Captain Novolin – The world was introduced to the amazing world of Captain Novolin in November of 1992 and we have never been the same since. Designed to help diabetic children learn to control their blood sugar levels, the game included one of the funniest, albeit accidentally so, storylines I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading about. In the town of somewhere USA, the diabetic mayor has been kidnapped by evil aliens. Why? Who knows, and it doesn’t matter. Luckily for the mayor, Captain Novolin resides in the same city, and he will have none of this kidnapping business. Captain Novolin shares a sort of kinship with the mayor, you see, as he himself suffers from Type 1 diabetes. The aliens are apparently aware of this, and so in order to battle him, they take the form of evil junk food such as donuts and soda pop. Players control Captain Novolin both on-foot and in speed boat through a handful of side-scrolling levels. Alien cookies and other types of food constantly bound your way, and you can either jump over them or smash them to bits. Even that’s not enough, as you must also grab all the floating health food strewn about the world. Why, you ask? Because Captain Novolin is diabetic, of course, and a meter on the side of the screen acts as a constant reminder of where your blood glucose levels are and healthy foods help to keep it in the safe zone. Really. Bonus points also accumulate by correctly answering diabetes-related questions that occasionally appear on the screen. It all seems rather silly, but the focus groups of diabetic children that tried it out actually seemed to respond well by eating better and taking their shots more regularly. Count that as a victory for Captain Novolin! By the way, are you wondering where Captain Novolin got his strange name? Well that’s because the game was sponsored by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk who manufacture the Novolin brand of insulin. Talk about product placement coincidence!
Rex Ronin: Experimental Surgeon – Instead of focusing on kids who have a pre-existing condition, Rex Ronin: Experimental Surgeon focused more on preventative measures by warning kids about the dangers of cigarettes. A noble endeavor to be sure, but the game itself is one of the more ridiculous premises I’ve ever come across. The game begins as Jake Westboro lies in his hospital bed, dying of lung cancer. Jake is a smoker, you see, and has been since the tender age of fifteen. He even works for the Blackburn Tobacco Company! Now he’s dangerously close to leaving behind a wife, son, and the American dream. His surgeon, however, refuses to lose hope and commences an experimental and dangerous procedure in the hopes that he can save Jake. Rex Ronin has himself, along with some sort of shuttle, shrunk down to microscopic size in order to enter Jake’s body and battle against cancer cells, tar, and nicotine. The gameplay consists of on-foot sections and flying shuttle missions and. Players will find themselves, among other things, cleaning built-up tar off of Jake’s teeth and shooting down precancerous cells coursing through the blood stream. Now that may seem strange enough a premise, but things get really absurd with the addition of the enemies that Dr. Ronin must battle. Somehow, the Blackburn Tobacco Company caught wind of Ronin’s efforts and they are afraid that if he succeeds, Jake will become some sort of whistleblower and expose the company for the evil, cancer causing jerks that they are! Apparently, the game exists in a fictional world where no one is cognizant of the dangers of cigarette smoking. Through means that are never explained, the Blackburn jerks manage to shrink an army of their own men, along with a million laser shooting robots, and inexplicably inject themselves into Jake’s body as well. Now, poor Rex Ronin not only has to worry about battling cancer, he also has to battle an army of evil robots. Who says doctors are overpaid?
Packy and Marlon – Apparently, kids with diabetes are more important than kids with other ailments because they get two games to help with their affliction. Packy and Marlon was another diabetes focused game released for the Super Nintendo back in June of 1995. Now, in case you’re one of the few (billion) who missed this game when it came out, let me set the scene for you. Packy and Marlon are two young, diabetic elephants on their way to enjoy a week of summer camp at beautiful Camp Wa-Kee. Get it? Wa-Kee? Wacky? Hilarious. Anyway, upon arriving, the elephants realize that the fun may have to be cut short because this particular camp has a rat problem. These are no regular rats, though. Apparently, these particular rats are unsatisfied with the current level of hatred for rats because these little bastards decide to steal all the healthy food and medical supplies from Camp Wa-Kee and scatter it all over the campgrounds. Where’s Captain Novolin when you need him? Players control Packy and Marlon as they take it upon themselves to track down all the food and supplies while ridding the campgrounds of the misfit rats. Things even culminate in an epic boss battle as players take on Veets and Yebur who are members of some kind of gang known as The Lunch Room Crew. Move over, Hell’s Angel’s; there’s a new crew in town! All the while during the playthrough, the player must keep an eye on Packy and Marlon’s blood glucose levels and make sure they take their insulin. Again, the whole thing seems ludicrous but studies taken at Stanford University indicated that after a group of sixty diabetic children played the game over a span of six months, they all became four times less likely to visit to the emergency room versus kids who played other games. Take that Lunch Room Crew!
Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus – Kids who dealt with diabetes and smoking temptations had video game heroes to look up to, but what about kids with asthma? Well, fear not! Here comes Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus! Before we get into this game, let me answer the question that is undoubtedly burning in your mind: no, there is no such thing as a Bronchiasaurus. It’s made up. Now to the game at hand: things were going just fine in Prehistoric City until the fateful day when a meteorite crashed into the earth and caused debilitating asthma to plague the dinosaurs. Even that bit of synopsis brings a few questions in my mind. First of all, why would dinosaurs name their city “Prehistoric City”? You see what I’m saying? It wouldn’t have been prehistoric times when they named it; it would have been the present. I don’t know, maybe “Present City” didn’t sound as good to them. Also, if I remember my schooling correctly, when a meteorite supposedly struck earth it was supposed to wipe out all of the dinosaurs. In this fiction, all it did was cause respiratory problems. Who knows anymore? Anyway, in the game, kids would control Bronkie as he traverses his prehistoric dust bowl of a world and learns how to properly use an inhaler. The game also teaches many facts about how to live a full and active life, even while dealing with asthma. Players had to avoid things like tar, smoke, and furry animals lest they suffer shortness of breath and risk having to start over. Kids eager to get this gem of a game couldn’t just waltz into any Wal-Mart or Target though. This game could only be obtained by ordering through the mail or by doctor’s prescription. That’s right: a prescription for a video game. Kids with asthma were living the dream back in ’95!
I know that there are other strange video games out there but these are a few that caught my attention. Have you ever played any weird games? Or more importantly… have you ever played one of these?
