I Want My Mommy

How to play I Want My Mommy online

• Walk left and right: left and right arrow keys
• Build a ladder and climb: stand on a flashing dot, press Space and push the up arrow
• Climb down: down arrow at the top of a ladder
• Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
• Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it

Gameplay

Teddy can’t jump, so he climbs on magic “stardust ladders”. Each flashing dot is the start of one, and all the ladders on the way must be in place before he can reach the top. The first climb leads to an apple, and the second leads to his mother. Dream demons walk the floors. The little coloured block floating around is “a kiss from Mommy”: touch it and, for a short while, Teddy is strong enough to knock the demons out.

Small pictures of Teddy show how many tries you have left. There are no points: the number at the top of the screen is your time, so the lower it is, the better you did. The old tune “Little Brown Jug” plays at the start and at the end.

Tips

• Don’t leave ladders behind. Every ladder has to be in place before you can reach the top, so the manual advises against leaving too many unbuilt ones on the floors below.
• Fool the demons. Start up a ladder, then step back down. A demon can be tricked into turning around, which clears your path.

History

The box carries ZiMAG’s KidStuff logo, which meant the game was meant for children under nine. A 1983 review in Video Games Player summed it up as great for little kids but not for anyone else. The game is closely related to Bit Corporation’s Open Sesame, which has the same kind of floor-by-floor climb with an Arabian Nights theme. Renamed, unlicensed copies of I Want My Mommy appeared elsewhere: Teddy Apple in Europe, and Apples and Dolls and Ursinho Esperto in Brazil.