Two floppy disks with a handwritten label on them identifying them as a Neighbours video game.
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-01/Neighbours-video-game_floppy-disks_1600x775.jpg

Archival Obsessions: the unofficial Neighbours video game

A classic Australian soap opera, a British meteorologist and an illicit computer game. In the latest instalment of our series Archival Obsessions, the NFSA's Digital Games Curator, Chris Arneil, unveils the story behind 'Neighbours: The Adventure' – an unauthorised 1991 game created by a devoted UK-based fan of the show.

 

Who

Chris Arneil, Digital Games Curator

 

What

Neighbours: The Adventure – an unauthorised 1991 point-and-click adventure game created by UK meteorologist Arron Hawke. Programmed on an Amiga computer using GRAC (Graphic Adventure Creator) software, the game features digitised VHS visuals of Ramsay Street and characters from the Aussie soap opera Neighbours (1985–current). It was distributed as public domain software but never commercially released. The following screenshots from the game introduce the player's objective and feature information and disclaimers about the game: 

 

Neighbours meets point-and-click adventure gaming

Digital Games Curator Chris Arneil has an eye for obscure and quirky video games. Neighbours: The Adventure is a fascinating mix of ambition, oddity and heartfelt devotion – a fan-made game turning suburban drama into an interactive experience.

‘I’m also fascinated by outsider art and the tensions between creativity and commerciality, so this lights up all the right parts in my brain.’

 

The Ramsay Street mystery you never played

In the early '90s, Arron Hawke, a meteorologist near London, had an idea for his sister’s birthday. Armed with a new video digitiser and his collection of recorded Neighbours VHS tapes, he set out to create a game based on the beloved soap – all without permission.

Arron’s passion project was born out of his guilty pleasure: catching up on taped episodes of Neighbours as he juggled university and work. ‘I started pretty much from the beginning. My mum watched it in the mid-'80s, and while pretending I wasn’t interested, I soon found myself invested in the characters.’

This short clip shows a player navigating their way through the game, examining the controls and game functionality and interacting with one of the characters:

Gameplay recording from Neighbours: The Adventure video game. Courtesy: Arron Hawke. NFSA title: 1774526

His sister’s birthday came and went, but the project became much bigger than he anticipated. Over two years, Arron had crafted a complex point-and-click adventure game featuring real locations and characters from Neighbours episodes.

The storyline was inspired by (or, as Arron put it, ‘generally ripped off from’) an episode where Paul Robinson (played onscreen by Stefan Dennis) tried to buy the Lassiter's Complex.

Some familiar interior and exterior scenes are explored in the following short gameplay clip: 

Gameplay recording from Neighbours: The Adventure video game. Courtesy: Arron Hawke. NFSA title: 1774526

As a gift, it didn’t quite land. ‘She feigned delight in her present and, as far as I am aware, never, ever loaded the game into a computer,’ Arron recalled. He was also unable to release it commercially due to copyright restrictions, although it was later distributed freely via shared floppy disks and bulletin board computer networks, and even got reviewed in a couple of computing magazines at the time. ‘The game didn’t bring me fame or fortune. Ultimately, I failed, but I had a good time failing.’

 

Its singular strangeness 

For Chris, the game’s charm lies in its oddities. A suburban soap opera reimagined as a point-and-click adventure is unexpected enough, but it’s the details that make it shine: VHS-quality visuals, a mash-up of Aussie and UK slang (‘G’day mate. Bloody hot innit?’), and a tagline that lingers in Chris’s mind: ‘The fabric of the Ramsey [sic] Street society has been blown apart.’

Neighbours: The Adventure also captures a unique moment in technology. Using a video digitiser to turn VHS footage into gameplay reflects the emerging DIY culture of the time, where analogue media met digital experimentation.

It’s also no stranger than the official Neighbours video game released the same year (and also developed in the UK), which saw players skateboarding around Ramsay Street and avoiding kangaroos and emus (that looked more like ostriches). Both games, Chris noted, ‘delightfully miss the mark in capturing antipodean life.’

 

Why it matters 

Fan-made games like Neighbours: The Adventure were ahead of their time, paving the way for today’s thriving fan game culture. With the internet now enabling vast creative communities, projects like this feel like a nostalgic precursor to a connected world.

‘In the context of today’s technological dystopia, there was something simple and beautiful about a tech community that formed connections without an internet connection, and makers making just for the sake of it,’ Chris says.

The cultural power of Neighbours during its heyday also can’t be overlooked. That a fan living in the UK would dedicate years to creating an interactive homage speaks to the show’s global resonance and its ability to inspire creativity.

 

Preserved for posterity

Now part of the NFSA collection and our Archival Obsessions series, Neighbours: The Adventure continues to intrigue as a piece of retro gaming history. Curious? Experience this handmade labour of love, complete with digitised VHS visuals, quirky Aussie-UK slang, and Arron Hawke’s ‘lofty but untenable aspirations.’

 

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Main image: The original floppy disks for Neighbours: The Adventure with handwritten labels. Courtesy: Arron Hawke. NFSA title: 1774526