Important: this game needs the Kid Vid accessory
The cartridge was designed to run with the Kid Vid plugged into the right controller port and one of its three audio tapes playing. The emulator on this site does not emulate the Kid Vid or play the tapes, so the tape-led game will not work as intended here. If you want the full experience with the original audio, AtariAge offers recordings of the tapes for use with the z26 emulator.
According to AtariMania, the cartridge also has a hidden way to play without the Kid Vid. We have not tested it in this emulator, so treat it as an experiment:
- Set the difficulty switches to choose the activity: both on B for Greedy Smurf, left A and right B for Harmony Smurf, left B and right A for Handy Smurf (F4 and F9 toggle them).
- Start with the TV type set to colour, push down on the joystick (down arrow), switch the TV type to black-and-white (F2), then hold Select (F11) and push up (up arrow).
- Both difficulty switches on A resets the game.
The three activities
The game is for one player, using the joystick (arrow keys) and the fire button (Space). Each activity has a Game Mode, led by the tape, and a free-play Toy Mode, switched with the Select switch while the tape is stopped. A counter at the right of the screen shows your score. In the music and colour activities there is no time limit and no penalty for getting something wrong.
- Harmony Smurf is about music. You walk Harmony left and right and push notes up or down a musical staff to copy a melody. Up to six notes can be used, and in Toy Mode you can make up your own tunes.
- Greedy Smurf is about mixing colours. You move Greedy under spigots of red, yellow, blue and white and pull down to pour, trying to match the colour in Clumsy Smurf’s glass. The fire button empties the glass if you get it wrong. The colours start simple and get harder.
- Handy Smurf is about sorting. Objects travel along conveyor belts, and you use the button to open and close gates, then stand Handy under the right bin to catch each object by shape, size or colour. The sorting rule changes after every five correct catches, and objects arrive faster as your score rises.
History
Coleco sold Smurfs Save the Day in a large box together with the Kid Vid module and three tapes. The only other Kid Vid game, Berenstain Bears, was sold separately with tapes but no module. AtariAge rates the cartridge as very rare. The tape audio was later preserved and made available for emulation.
