Inside the Wisdom Tree written by n64stalker If you are offended by religion-related commentary, you may want to avoid this article. One of the most interesting of the classic unlicensed developers is Wisdom Tree. They were the creators of unlicensed Christian games for such platforms as the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis (all of the mentioned systems will be covered in this article). Of course, Nintendo and Sega alike did not want religious games to grace their systems, so Wisdom Tree was formed in 1989 to create such games for Christians who wanted a change from mindless blast-'em-ups and such. Since they could not make the games by Nintendo and Sega standards, they had to make them without the companies' permission (I'm not sure if a Christian organization should have done that). The following is coverage of the games published by Wisdom Tree for the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis consoles. Several of the NES games were ported to Sega Genesis with (slightly) updated graphics, so they will be covered at the same time. Choose to assist Noah on the Ark, become David and battle Goliath, or save baby Moses from the Pharaoh's nasty henchmen! ...and Graphics by Nina! Note that apparently she has been flung in the air by some sort of spring mechanism. Noah is climbing the tree in search of woodland creatures to place upon his newly-renovated Ark. This is one quote of many in this game, from the setting of Noah's Ark. He is to bring two of every animal. What a terrific shock I had! I never expected that at all! According to the game's stern instrucions, David has to put four sheep into the corral for some reason. This is a screenshot from the Genesis version of the game. Look at all the improvements! Bible Adventures You get not one, but three quests in this action-packed game! This game was released in 1991 for the NES (and later for the Sega Genesis in 1994), and as you can tell from the title screen, the graphics were done by Nina! There were several versions of this game, but the most recent one is v1.3. Any differences between this and older versions are...not apparent to me. Here is a synopsis of each of the three different quests that you must perform in this game. Well, you don't HAVE to do them all... 1. Noah's Ark You are Noah, and you must gather two of every animal (one male and one female), as well as food that you can put in your Ark for your journey when God floods the world. Don't worry about the fish. According to the manual, you will have some trouble with some animals, such as tree snakes, woodpeckers, and those playful monkeys. You may have to coax them with tasty food... The second level gets Noah to gather enough food for the Ark trip. Lots of animals will come and try to munch on Noah's goodies (no humor intended), so he's got to get the edibles to the Ark safely. Could this be a truly daunting task for our favorite white-robed old man? This is generally not the type of game most people will want to play. The tedium rises with every uncooperative animal that won't want to board the Ark. Who knows how long it will take to force them on the boat? I suggest getting out a net and just scooping them up, but to my dismay, that's not an option available. 2. Baby Moses That nasty Pharaoh's at it again! His goony henchmen have been ordered to take all Jewish male babies and toss them into the Nile. Whether this is meant to be a sacrifice, or whether the Pharaoh just got bored with eating and sleeping and needed excitement, we don't know. One of these babies to be drowned is Baby Moses. Now it's up to his sister...uh...nobody seems to know her name (not even Wisdom Tree)... to carry him to safety by the Nile's edge. There she will place him in a cool-looking miniature Easter egg basket and scoot him down the river safely. However, guards march throughout the Egyptian territory, and they'll likely want to give Moses and his sister a good thrashing. You've got to be swift in order to save your brother. Of the three sub-quests, this one has the worst graphics. I also find it hard to judge your landing position after you've been brashly flung into the air by way of spring-powered tiles. Hey, they even managed to install these things in clouds, where they don't fall through! Congratulations, Wisdom Tree -- you failed Grade 3 science class. 3. David and Goliath Before David gets to fight Goliath, he gets to herd sheep and keep them safe from the harm of lions and bears and squirrels that could injure them. However, if a sheep gets hurt, it just lays on its back on the ground. Feel free to pick it up again and take it to the corral at the end of the level. There's four sheep, so try and herd them! The second part of this particular quest is the most popular: you get to fight Goliath! A shield bearer will try and protect Goliath from attacks, but you can defeat it if you try hard enough. Then it's on to the battle with Goliath. Technically, you can overcome Goliath with one hit, but you have to hit him in the right spot. I won't tell you where... Guess what! You can jump onto the top of a tree and walk on it in this game! Once again, Wisdom Tree defies all that is scientific. Anyway, like all Wisdom Tree games, the graphics are so-so, and the music is so irritating that it makes you want to test that new table saw on your cartridge. Enough high notes, thank you very much! Sadly, the Sega Genesis version from 1994 did not make the game any more enjoyable. Although the characters and backgrounds look like they've undergone that change from 8-bit to 16-bit, the gameplay (and to a lesser extent, the music) stays the same, and I guess that may have hurt the sales of this game altogether. And also because it was unlicensed, people may not have trusted it. The good news though is that you can buy this game from Wisdom Tree's site! Don't forget to eat your carrots. Visit twelve different lands in this wacky off-kilter game, including the elusive Liquid Land, the well-basted Bar-B-Q Land, and the oh-so-spudly Potato Land! Tomatoes and cabbages inhabit this farmyard. Your goal is to get to the exit without getting killed by the nasty vegetational army of Buffet Land. Bible Buffet Who said that Bible study can't be fun? Welcome to the Bible Buffet, where up to four ready and willing players can travel through twelve delectable food-themed lands in order to...get to the end of the game. This game was released in 1993, but the graphics do not in any way reflect the year. As always, the sound is still irritating and Wisdom Tree loves to put high notes in wherever and whenever possible. This game was NOT ported to the Sega Genesis. You don't hear me sobbing in my boots. This is version 6.0, and I know not of any other versions. I'm not interested either. There are two areas of play. The first is a board-like setting, similar to that of a board game (like Monopoly, Life, yadda yadda blah blah). You can use the spinner in the bottom left hand corner to find out how many spaces you can move forward. If the spinner stops on the face, you have to either lose a turn, or go back a few spaces...and lose a turn. Whoever gets to the end of the path first wins the game, and gets a freaky "First to Finish" award. Honourable mention goes to those who collect the most food during the game. Depending on what square you land on, you may have to enter an action scene or answer some biblical questions. The action scene is lame, and usually consists of enemies that reflect the land you're in coming at you angrily. Just either shoot them or get out of their way and follow the path off the screen until you get to the EXIT sign. The question portion just asks you various multiple choice questions about the Bible's contents. I sure stank at that, so I guess I won't win the "Most Questions Answered Correctly" award. I cry into my pillow every night because of that. Just kidding; I wouldn't bawl over such a corny game as this. In the question section, you can win health and gold stars, which are always important in any game or primary classroom. If I had to choose only one game between any of the NES games by Wisdom Tree to purchase, I'd choose...well, it wouldn't be this one. I'd ask for Kirby's Adventure instead. Even though Kirby is a vacuum, Bible Buffet sucks more. The color scheme is poor in the action areas, and it's just not up to the 1993 standards (like Kirby's Adventure was!). The only good thing was digitized speech. "Player One!" Hooray. Give them a round of applause. Now throw vegetables at them and say "Start a Bible buffet." I need sleep after this. Click here for more Wisdom Tree enlightenment >>