Frasier Fantasy is a free RPG homage to the snobby 90s sitcom
"I hope you’re hungry because this irony is delicious."
When I was a kid I sort of hated Frasier. It was one of those shows you’d find in the 6pm slot on terrestrial TV, back when you had to show up for TV episodes on time or miss them forever, and as far as 10-year-old me was concerned, 6pm was Simpsons hour. Who was this strutting Seattle intellectual, with his glass of sherry and his call-in psychiatry show and his passion for silverware?
I couldn’t abide Frasier and developed a pathological aversion to headliner (and surprisingly convincing X-Man) Kelsey Grammer – but that was before The Simpsons spoofed Frasier and showed me the error of my ways. I still wouldn’t say I’m an outright Frasier fan - or Frasien, as they prefer to be known. Some of the humour is kind of eeesh, in hindsight. But I’ve experienced and enjoyed enough to find Edward La Barbera’s Fraiser Fantasy pretty funny.
Frasier Fantasy is, as you may guess, a pisstake of Frasier and Final Fantasy that’s designed to resemble a Game Boy Color game (update: scratch that, it is a Game Boy Color game, which also runs on the retro handheld Analogue Pocket). You can play it for free in a browser on Itch.io. The game is styled like a Frasier episode with the overall objective of shooing everybody out of Fraiser’s flat so you can enjoy an evening with your new pearl-handled dinner set, including the all-important grape scissors.
Along the way, you’ll have a staring contest with Eddie the dog (“Eddie’s gaze follows like Courbert’s The Desperate Man”), and use Freudian slaps and unkind assessments of Star Trek to get the better of your radio show’s delusional TA.
It’s very much one reference per line, scene or interaction. I won’t spoil anymore – if you’re big on Frasier, you’ll likely love it. You might also get a giggle out of this Cyberpunk mash-up. Twin Peaks fans, meanwhile, should head over this way.