Murder on the Mississippi

The Famicom game is known as a kusoge (i.e. a terrible game). In Japan.

• Title — Murder on the Mississippi • Developer — Activision Tose (Famicom) • Publisher — Activision Jaleco (Famicom) • Producer — Brad Fregger • Designer — Adam Bellin • Writer — Rob Swigart • Artist — Hilary Mills • Composer — Ed Bogas • Released — October 31, 1986 (Famicom) 1987 (MSX2) • Genre — Adventure • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Apple II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, MSX2, Famicom

While heading to New Orleans from St. Louis on the ship "Delta Princess", detective Sir Charles and Watson are caught up in the midst of a murder case by chance, that they must solve.

• Sir Charles Not Holmes. Becomes the second victim. His appearance is similar to that of a painting of Sherlock Holmes by Charles Doyle (Arthur Conan Doyle's father). • Watson Known as "Regis" in the Activision version. Only a few of his memos can be taken. He occasionally takes walks by himself without any notice. After Charles' death, he longs to do everything over again the right way. • Dizzy A prostitute, staying in Room 8. Going to New Orleans to visit her Aunt Pearl. Her aunt's secret formula for Okra soup is popular among the passengers. • Taylor Prostitute from Nevada. Staying in Room 2F20. • Carter Judge staying in Room 9. Has a reputation for drinking. • Helen The widow of a millionaire, staying in Room 2F23. Has a very bad reputation amongst the passengers. • Nelson The captain. Speaks of the incident even before entering the cabin and discovering the body. • William Philanthropist staying in Room 2F15. His hobby is shooting, and he often hits birds. • Henry Crew member staying in Room 1F27. Brown's illegitimate son. Is in love with Taylor. • Brown The victim, found dead in Room 4. Owner of the Delta Princess, which he co-manages with Nelson. Also managed many additional businesses.

Pitfalls exist in Room 1 and Room 14. Falling through one of these holes results in death and an instant game over. There is also a trap in Room 16, in which a knife flies through the air towards Sir Charles immediately after he enters. Unless the knife is dodged it hits Sir Charles in the head and kills him, resulting in another instant game over. While solving the case reveals the true criminal, the identity of the person that set these traps remains a mystery.

Each suspect can only be spoken to once per piece of new information – consequently, if there is a piece of information missed the first time around, since it is impossible to talk to them again this can lead to the player becoming impossibly stuck in the game and unable to progress any further.