Adam & the Tree Climbers

When I was a kid (around 7-8) I remember my Dad would take me to Blockbusters all the time to pick up all sorts of Videos, CDs but mainly I would be allowed to choose a PC Game. I don't mean one of these big fancy games like "Skyrim" I mean boring educational games or pixel games. Yeah this is a different generation of games I'm talking about. So I remember one day going with my Dad to go get another game; and this time I was allowed to choose about 3 of them since there apparently was a big sale on. I happily chose my games and those were: I remember when I got home I played the hell out of them, but the one I used to play the most was'' "Adam & The Tree Climbers". ''From what I can remember the game was a pixel game where the objective was to climb all the trees and collect the fruit trophies on top. Depending on what level you played you would get a different tree. It was pretty simple to start with but as the levels progressed you would have another "Tree Climber" join your party, which meant that you had to be careful to make sure they weren't knocked off the tree. It was fun and I enjoyed the hell out of it, but the days of playing those games were long gone.
 * "Amazon Trail: Rainforest Adventures"
 * "Barbie Supermodel"
 * "Adam & The Tree Climbers"

Recently I was moving out of my parents house to move in to my own flat, and I had to go through loads of boxes to see which stuff I wanted to take and what I thought wasn't needed. In the process I had dug through a large old box and found our old computer. It was one of the bulky kinds. You know, the big boxy ones where the monitor was as wide as an 90s TV. In the box was the keyboard, mouse and at the bottom in its own little plastic tub was all my old PC games. I decided that I wanted to take a look at all these games again for nostalgia, but I would set it up when I got to my flat.

The moving process was fine and when I finally sorted everything out a few days later, I set up the old bulky PC in my bedroom and began to dig through the old games. Many titles were there, ''"BlockCAD", "Bookie Bookworm.." I wasn't interested in those though, I just wanted to play some good ol' "Adam & The Tree Climbers."''

So after a long 20 minute load up of the PC and getting the old disk to work after so many years, I saw the bright

title screen pop-up. Although I never noticed it as a kid, I found it quite strange how there was a lack of a Company Copyright and there was no sight of Adam or the Tree Climbers, but regardless I clicked Enter and continued to the 'Saved Files' Menu. To my surprise my old file still remained there and it told me the date since I last played: '05/08/2004' I would have been 8 at the time, so I decided to continue from where I left off and it started off with a cut-scene of Adam and the four 'Tree Climbers'. (TCs)

The TCs looked rather nervous (well from what I could make out from their pixelated faces.) As they began to explain that they were too scared to go and fight the "Tree Caller". I was rather confused as I couldn't remember making it all the way to the last level yet, and the "Tree Caller" was mentioned through most of the levels as being "very VERY evil". I wasn't planning on playing the game for long anyway so I continued on to the level and Adam and the TCs began to climb a very dark oak tree. The branches were covered in bugs, snakes, spikes and there were little mice throwing what looked like hammers at you. I assumed I was on easy mode because I was getting through the level with no problems.

I was actually quite bored, so I went to turn if off and try another game, but before I turned it off I noticed one of the TCs shouting "Oh no! The tree is calling!" and I noticed how now the branches were completely bare. There were no enemies and the oak had now been replaced with plain black branches that would curl and hit you. The game became incredibly hard now as I already lost all of my TCs and now it was just Adam left. When I reached the top of the tree the game made a straight low buzzing sound, sort of like when a TV is waiting for something to load, and I heard Adam's rather broken up voice call out: "Oh no! The Tree Caller!"

What followed had to be the most deranged boss I had ever seen; at least for a kid's game. The black "branches"

weren't branches at all, but the Tree Caller's hands and fingers and where the trophy would have been was it's bright white head, with piercing white eyes and a disturbing grin. When it began to speak: the only sound that came out was the same buzzing sound I had heard moments before. I found it very un-settling and it was so out of place with the rest of the game, but regardless I tried to fight it but no matter what I did it would keep smacking Adam back until I finally ran out of life, but unlike the normal "Game Over" screen with just plain green text; the Tree Caller just stayed on screen...

Just staring right into my eyes. It made no sound and I tried to open the Menu, but I couldn't. I assumed the game had crashed so I ejected the disk, but the Tree Caller remained on the screen. The same low buzz sound slowly began to play once again but now a small text box popped up above its head saying "you're mine now" before it let out a screech of pixelated mess as it's face slowly moved closer to the screen.

Startled I switched off the PC and put the disk back in its case and turned the PC back on, now just anxious to play another game to take my mind off it. I logged back in but what followed startled me so badly I almost fell off my chair. The Desktop background had been replaced

with the 'Tree Caller' and the words "YOU'RE MINE" flooded the screen. I quickly turned off the PC, packed it all away and made sure not to go on it again.

A couple of days later I decided to do some research up on "Adam & The Tree Climbers" but I couldn't find a single trace of this game online. I went back to where the Blockbusters used to be; but now sadly it was replaced with another game store, but I went in anyway and asked the people there about the game and if they have any archives on the game itself.

They said they know nothing about the game but they do have the Blockbusters archive book since it was given to the owner when it was found in the backroom. When I got home and looked inside, but to no avail there was no such thing as "Adam & The Tree Climbers". So I gave up on it all completely and assumed I just had an independent game, but when I went to put the book away it flipped to the back page.

At the back was a listing of games that were withdrawn or banned from selling, there was only one game on its list.

"Adam & The Tree Climbers".