Original Release: GameTek, 1990, NES
A variant of GameTek’s Wheel of Fortune that has easier puzzles available that are more appropriate for kids.
Wheel of Fortune: Family Edition (NES, GameTek, 1990)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
Like most of Rare/Gametek’s board game/game show offerings for the NES, Wheel Of Fortune is a solid and passable adaptation of the source material. It gets by mostly on the strength of offering zippy gameplay and a sensible interface.
I guess they didn’t get the Pat and Vanna licenses to appear, ’cause the former is nowhere to be found (the game is narrated entirely by text) and the latter is represented by a somewhat hulking blonde. You also don’t get RSTLNE in the final round, instead choosing your own pick of five consonants and a vowel (though the puzzles are also usually excruciatingly long.) But otherwise it operates pretty much as the game show does – 3 contestants, any mix of human and computer players, and you can pick from 3 difficulty settings, though the computer is pretty dumb on all but the highest one.
What drags it down is mostly a limited selection of puzzles (I always seem to exclusively get the generic category of “titles”) which tend to be pretty easy to solve with only a few consonants. In as much as my research can dig up, there were four different Wheel Of Fortune games (using this same engine) released for the NES, and this one is denoted “Family Edition” as it specifically has a lot of easier puzzles mixed in for the kids. So there ya go.
Links
Vanna White: Not For Families Edition
Videos