Just a small article on a title that I had a ton of fun playing back in 1993-94. A title that I really think should have had its own series. But even though it became a commercial success and praised in reviews it was released at a time when increasing competition and technological advancements left many of the old “classic” adventure games behind.

Al Lowe had been working for Sierra for a decade and his Leisure Suit Larry series was still going strong with its wacky but award-winning stories and characters. In 1992, between Leisure Suit Larry 5 and 6, Lowe and Josh Mandel got together to write and design a new humoristic title that would tap into the ever-popular Western theme. Mandel, who had joined Sierra in 1990, was appointed as a junior designer and project manager. Mandel assembled his team while Lowe, from his home, developed the story and overall design. The two ended up mix-matching their ideas into a finished story and game, filled with humor and charm. Ken Williams was even parodied as the villain, Kenny the Kid, who in a gunfight shot off one of Freddy’s ears.

Freddy Pharkas used Sierra’s, at the time, proven SCI framework, with a point-and-click interface, 256-color hand-drawn art, and a perfect matching musical MIDI score by Aubrey Hodges.
Mandel had the ingenious idea of doing the intro as a song. Lowe, who initially was a bit hesitant went along and wrote the music while Mandel wrote the lyrics. The catchy intro known as The Ballad Of Freddy Pharkas was on the CD version performed by Lowe himself.

On the left, the original US 5.25″ release. On the right, the US 3.5″ release and one of Josh Mandel’s personal copies, signed by him and Al Lowe.
In my opinion one of the best-looking boxes of the time, very high quality with embossed artwork, gold decoration, and lettering

Upon its release in 1993, Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist enjoyed significant success, selling over 150,000 copies during its first year. Although the sales figures fell short of convincing Williams to commission a sequel it was enough to do a CD-ROM version, catering to some of the new technological advancements. Fairly quickly voice-over was added alongside CD-quality music.

The CD version was released in 1994 and sales continued, eventually topping around 500.000 copies. While the number might have been sufficient to warrant a sequel, several years had now passed since its initial release, and both Lowe and Mandel had moved on, as had the technology and probably most importantly so had the majority of people and what they wanted from software entertainment.

The CD-ROM version from 1994. This featured voice-over and CD-quality music.
The catchy intro song was performed by Al Lowe, with lyrics written by Josh Mandel

Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist was a breath of fresh air, far enough away from knights, space janitors, and middle-aged losers in leisure suits, to be its very own. It showcased not only Al Lowe’s humor and talent for writing but maybe, even more so, helped establish Josh Mandel as both a producer, a great writer, and designer.

Josh Mandel went on to Legend Entertainment and designed Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon, published in 1997. Al Lowe continued working for Sierra, where he wrote and designed Torin’s Passage alongside a few more titles in the Leisure Suit Larry series before leaving the company in 1998.