Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell

Development for the game began around April 1996. All puzzles were drafted by the development team on notebooks and minigames for the carnival were sketched.[8] While programming the game, programmers used pseudo-code to keep track of their work.[9]

The characters were designed from basic descriptions with 10 till 30 sketches drawn until a final sketch was approved.[10] The longest process in the character animation was adding bubble trails to their movement.[11] During the storyboard process it took from 15 to 30 sketches to design each scene in the game.[12] Backgrounds were penciled, inked and hand painted. Some of those backgrounds were inspired by scenery photographs.[13] To find the right voices for the characters, dozens of actors auditioned for the game.[14]

On summer vacation, Pelican Sam takes Freddi and Luther on a trip to the Founder's Day Festival in the Hawaiian sea, where Luther's Uncle Blenny is the keeper of the Conch Shell that commences the celebration. Upon arrival, however, Luther and Freddi are shocked to find Uncle Blenny in jail. Blenny explains that the conch shell has been stolen and he has been wrongly blamed for the incident. He tasks Freddi and Luther with finding the three golden pipes that fell out, saying that if they succeed in finding them, his dogfish, Old Soggy, will be able to help track the thief; the potential suspects are Gill Barker, Claw, Nadine the Narwhal, Rosie Pearl, Pierre the Tailor, and Horst Fedders the tourist.

Once all of the three pipes are found, Freddi and Luther give them to Old Soggy, who is able to pick up the scent, and they follow him to an Aztec Temple, where the thief has gone. While in the temple, Freddi spots the thief sneaking out and Old Soggy swims off to catch them. During this, Luther takes interest in a jewel and grabs it, locking the temple's gate and getting himself trapped in a cage. At Freddi's insistence, Old Soggy continues after the thief, while the former searches throughout the temple in order to find the cage's key to free Luther, using different gems as a way to solve a puzzle in order to grab it.

After Freddi frees Luther and the latter puts the jewel back in place, the gate opens, and a bag that the thief was carrying drops into the temple. After seeing what's inside it, the duo hurry back to the festival, where the townspeople have formed an angry mob to confront Uncle Blenny. Freddi and Luther tell everyone that Uncle Blenny is innocent and reveal the item inside the bag, which is either a cane, a boxing glove, a toothbrush, a microphone, a spool of thread, or a visitor's map. When the suspect is chosen, they deny owning the item or having anything to do with the crime until Old Soggy bites them from behind. The culprit then confesses and explains their reason for committing the heist, which varies depending on who stole it.

After the culprit gives Uncle Blenny the conch shell, everyone apologizes to him for their accusations. He forgives the town and has his title of "Grand Exalted Keeper of the Conch" reinstated. Luther places the pipes in the shell and Uncle Blenny blows out the signal to open the festival so everyone can celebrate. Afterwards, whoever stole the conch shell is charged for their crimes with a comical punishment.

The game uses exactly the same mechanics as its predecessors. In each playthrough, the puzzles, collectible and usable items, character encounters, locations, minigames, and trivial click spots change to randomly determine which of the six suspects stole the Conch Shell. One specific minigame, Floating Fun, can be played in the Carnival and four purple sea urchins must be paid in order to gain access. Along with purple sea urchins, orange sea urchins are introduced, which are also used as currency; in total, five urchins can be collected in-game.

Freddi Fish 3 was generally well-received, getting scores of 85% from GameBlitz,[15] a 4-star rating from Allgame,[16] 81% from Greenman Gaming,[17] an Excellent rating from About this Particular Macintosh,[18] 4 out of 10 from GameCola[19] and a 5.5 out 10 score from Unikgamer.[20]

• Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell at MobyGames
• Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell at Humongous Entertainment