Main • Chex Quest? • T.U.C.Q.? • Why Bother? • Screenies
Downloads • Requirements • F.A.Q. • Credits • Links • Forum
Chex® Quest was a DooM total conversion (TC) developed by Digital Café, and released as freeware by Ralston Purina on boxes of Chex® Cereal as a promotion back in 1996. Chex® Quest consisted of a five level episode in which the player got to take on the role of the Chex Warrior and rid the peaceful planet of Bazoik (Yes. Bazoik.) of the evil mucus based life forms, the flemoids, which have invaded from another dimension. Upon completion of the game, users were told to go to chexquest.com, where they were able to download a second episode, Chex® Quest 2, in the form of a patch wad. (Note: chexquest.com still exists, but no longer has anything to do with Chex® Quest.)
The Chex®Quest CD-ROM and its decorative cover sleeve.A high quality first person shooter game worth $30.00 US distributed for free in boxes of cereal? Don’t be ridiculous!
That was just what the Waters-Molitor promotional agency was suggesting when they proposed the idea of Chex® Quest to Ralson Purina in 1996.
Today it is not uncommon to see CD-ROMs bearing games, or even DVD movies, on boxes of cereal, but in 1996, it was something that had never been done before.
Chex® Quest had to be created in just five months. That was simply too short a time in which to develop a complete game from scratch. The solution was not to create a whole new game from scratch. Instead, Waters-Molitor approached id software, and obtained a licence to use DooM, still one of the top selling games of the time, despite being three years old, as the base for the new game. Licencing DooM, rather than developing a new game engine from scratch, was the key to Chex® Quest’s success. The actual creation of the game was assigned to Digital Café.
Chex® Quest was touted as a “non-violent” game, despite the fact it was a (very slightly) modified version of DooM. Supposedly, none of the flemoids were ever actually killed, but were simply teleported back to their home dimension via the “zorch” energy fired from the player's weapons.
Chex® Quest proved to be an extremely effective promotion, raising Chex® cereal sales by 295% over the same time the previous year, and increasing Chex®’s market share by a dramatic 48%. This is not a half bad trick for a game that was essentially a DooM TC.
Aside from the original Chex® Quest and Chex® Quest 2, a third five level game, Chex Quest 3, was created by fans of the game, using levels and graphics from other DooM mods. This mod can still be found on various web sites around the net, but is generally not considered a true Chex® Quest game, because of its stolen content.
At present, a mod for the Eternity engine, Chex Quest III: The Flem Wars, not to be confused with the above mentioned Chex Quest 3, is currently in the works. This mod is intended as a parody of the game Contra III using the characters from Chex Quest.
Another new mod, this time for the new DooM 3 engine, called Chex Trek, is currently in its early stages.
Main • Chex Quest? • T.U.C.Q.? • Why Bother? • Screenies
Downloads • Requirements • F.A.Q. • Credits • Links • Forum
