When I heard that someone made a Perfect Strangers video game, I cringed. There were a lot of ways that this could have gone wrong–say, a dull point-and-click adventure or yet another faux 8-bit adaptation.
Fortunately, Jason Oda’s Perfect Strangers: Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now is, well, perfect. In 70 seconds, the video game sums up what it felt like to watch this classic ’80s sitcom–at least to my nostalgia-addled brain.
The use of the Perfect Strangers theme song helps tremendously, since it’s arguably the greatest sitcom theme song of all time, but the complementing imagery from the show couldn’t be better. The game itself–a 3D path on which you control Balki and collect stars–isn’t original, and it doesn’t have to be. It’s short, sweet and simple, and you will feel better for having played it.
Update: I just got an e-mail from Jason Oda, after e-mailing him this morning to find out more about the game. Here’s what he wrote:
It’s a personal project built to help people be inspired to chase their dreams. Those characters and that song inspire me to keep working and having hope for the future, just wanted other people to have that too. I also received an email from Marc Linn-Baker (Larry) who was very pleased with the game.
That is awesome. No word on whether Bronson Pinchot approves, but we’ll settle for one Perfect Stranger at least.