The California Raisins: The Grape Escape (1970). Play online

Summary

The California Raisins: The Grape Escape lets you swing through a funky, side‑scrolling quest as a single raisin on a mission to rescue the whole band and their missing musical notes. You can walk, jump, climb vines, even moonwalk by hitting the Select button, while hurling an endless stream of grape‑jelly‑bean projectiles at enemies—or simply at empty air to uncover hidden goodies.

Each of the five zones—The Grape Vine, The Factory, The Maize Maze, The Juicery, and the cloud‑high finale—offers collectible icons: "I" for temporary invincibility, black musical notes for bonus points, Sunshine to heal, and Raisinette for an extra life. The first four stages can be tackled in any order, but the cloud level unlocks only after gathering a note from each.

Though Capcom had slated the NES title for a 1990 launch, plummeting raisin sales shelved it, leaving the game a rare collector’s item; the beta cartridge now fetches around $1,000 and it even earned a full review in Game Player's Encyclopedia before the cancellation.

Storyline

The California Raisins: The Grape Escape (often just called The Grape Escape) is a single‑player side‑scrolling action game for the NES. You take control of a lone California Raisin who must battle through a series of colorful levels.

The adventure spans five distinct stages, each filled with platforming challenges and enemies. Your goal is to rescue the Raisins’ band and reclaim the musical notes they’ve lost after a gang of rival musicians stole them. Success restores the group’s rhythm and lets the Raisins jam once again.