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Squish ‘Em Sam

ColecoVision

ColecoVision

Squish'em Featuring Sam lets you assume the role of the title character, a man obsessed with climbing to the top of a 48-story building to obtain a suitcase full of money. As you guide Sam up the side of the building, Creeping Creatures that crawl along the ledges will get in your way. You can ju...

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Developer
Interphase Technologies

Released on
1984

Size
1 Player

Version
ColecoVision

Requirements
ColecoVision

Downloads
Action

ESRB Rating
Not Rated

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Description

Squish’em Featuring Sam lets you assume the role of the title character, a man obsessed with climbing to the top of a 48-story building to obtain a suitcase full of money. As you guide Sam up the side of the building, Creeping Creatures that crawl along the ledges will get in your way. You can jump over them or squish them flat. After avoiding or stomping on a creature, you should climb on up to the next floor. A squished, temporarily harmless creature will soon turn white and resume crawling. White creatures can be jumped over, but not squished.

In addition to encountering creatures, you must keep on the lookout for falling objects. Bricks, hammers, tires, motors, dynamite, fire hydrants, television sets and sinks can bonk you on the head and knock you off the building. At some point along the way, you can pick up a prize that will give you a bonus life. You begin the game with four lives and can earn up to 128 in reserve.

Sam is a climbing man, but he’s also verbose. When he squishes a creature he says “SQUISH’EM!” If he gets clocked by a creature or is conked on the head by a falling object, he lets out a “WHOOPS!” If he manages to snag a prize, he’ll say “WOW!” After scaling the building and collecting his monetary reward, he gleefully shouts “MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!”

Squish 'Em Sam

Overview & History

Released in 1983 by Interphase for the ColecoVision, Squish 'Em Sam is a wonderfully quirky and overlooked vertical-platformer that deserves far more recognition in the classic gaming pantheon. Developed during the golden era of arcade-to-console ports, this title tasks players with guiding Sam—a determined window washer—up a perilously constructed skyscraper while dodging and flattening a bizarre assortment of hostile aliens and eccentric rooftop pests. Unlike standard ladder-climbing contemporaries of its time, the game leans heavily into its titular mechanic, offering a frantic, vertical puzzle-action experience that brilliantly highlights the graphical and sound capabilities of Coleco’s hardware, delivering bright primary colors and bouncy chiptune audio that capture the whimsical Saturday-morning cartoon vibe of the early '80s.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

The core objective of Squish 'Em Sam revolves around ascending multiple stories of scaffolding while clearing out intrusive invaders. Sam cannot simply shoot his enemies; instead, he must outmaneuver them, lure them onto specific elevated platforms, and utilize the heavy framework above to literally squash them flat. The game features single-screen and multi-tiered vertical scrolling stages filled with hazards, moving platforms, and tricky gaps. Players must manage a strict time limit while gathering bonus items and avoiding lethal contact with patrolling extraterrestrials. Mastering Sam’s unique physics and momentum is crucial, as misjudging a jump or mistiming a squash will cost Sam one of his precious lives, escalating the tension with every rising floor.