♦ Livestream of the ZZT world “Todd's Adventure” by Madguy (1998) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/todd/] ♦
♦ Stream Contents ♦
• (4:10) “Todd's Adventure” by Madguy (1998) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/todd/]
In Todd we trust!
Todd's Adventure is Madguy's first and most forgotten ZZT release, what with this being the guy that made Burger Joint and all. I went into this one expecting a straightforward adventure of Todd versus gangsters and discovered that it's actually a 90s-era comedy game that holds up extremely well.
Todd is very much a jerk of a protagonist, one who gets to do whatever he wants at the expense of everyone around him. This ranges from being an asshole for no reason to his roommate, tearing up his novel and then laughing in his face about it, or not caring about the fate of an old lady being held hostage when he finds himself having to negotiate her release.
You can see hints of Madguy's own inspirations (your apartment looks straight out of Oak Town), and the origin of his unique style of game design everywhere you look. The blunt and bizzare names of locations would be right at home in NextGame 33: the "House of Illegal Weapons" gun store or "The Italian Meat Man" restaurant. There are big board filling portraits of characters like Big Tony in his fireworks factory. The TV station is ran by captured snoops like Todd who are forced into servitude by a large man who will die a very graphic death. (It's a miracle the mom and child at a lion exhibit aren't eaten.)
Todd's attitude works though, and as rude as he can be sometimes, there's a touch of aloofness to it all. It's not so much him offing people left and right as it is him being unphased by the people around him.
Except when it comes to shooting, as the game features a few shootouts with gangsters. This are given more importance by custom life bars that each gangster contributes to, and often with surprise reinforcements arriving out of nowhere after hitting a certain threshold. The enemies never move, preventing the usual friendly fire scenarios, and instead rely on players being caught up in the chaos. Which doesn't work very well, but it does serve the idea that Todd is the hero who cannot be stopped.
Your journey takes you around the local town, with its stores, restaurants, and a large shopping mall, but when the head gangster kills a lady and plans to frame Todd, you need to travel to Hollywood to prevent the lie from being spread across the national news.
It's an easy game, but it's quite a lot of fun!
♦ Play this world directly in your browser ♦
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/todd/
♦ Originally streamed on September 19th, 2025 ♦
