Hook (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.ย. 2024
- A playthrough of Sony Imagesoft's 1992 licensed-based platformer for the NES, Hook.
I really liked the Hook movie when it came out. In hindsight, I suppose it wasn't that great, but as a kid, I watched it over and over again. I also loved the SNES game - a neighbor got it when it came out and I borrowed it more times than I can count. I remember being curious about the NES game, but I quickly dismissed it after seeing some rough reviews and unflattering screenshots in magazines. A lot of people did, so it would seem.
However - let me don my "champion of the underdog" hat here - Hook on the NES tends to be a misunderstood animal.
The game roughly follows the plot of the movie - you, as adult Peter Pan (thankfully bearing no on-screen resemblance to Robin Williams), have to return to Neverland to save your kids from the evil Captain Hook. Donning your best Dollar Store "Green Fantasy Jerkin" Halloween costume, you take to wilds of Neverland ... searching for cupcakes and peaches?
Alright, so the game doesn't really match the movie very much at all. But then, most NES movie games didn't, so that's hardly an issue.
It seems that the largest criticism leveraged against the game is that it's too difficult, and this complaint stems from the utter uselessness of Peter's knife. While the annoyance is a valid one, here's the secret to playing, and enjoying, Hook: forget that you have a weapon. I really doesn't do much of anything besides give you an animation cycle to play with. You never need to use it in the game, and you'll only make yourself miserable by insisting on stabbing everything with your toothpick-sized saber. Go ahead, play a level and tell me that not using the B button isn't way better.
Each level is a small maze of sorts, and to gain access to the exit, Peter has to collect all of the special items that have been scattered about. Sometimes there's a switch to hit or a trail of fairy dust to bounce across, but for the most part, you're jumping over enemies and grabbing random items. I usually dislike the "collect items from the maze" style games (*glares at Home Improvement on the SNES*), but this one is pretty okay. The maps are never so big that you get hopelessly lost on them and the items aren't difficult to find, so the level design rarely becomes a frustration.
There are two other stage types to be found as you cruise around the Neverland map - flying stages, and boss stages. The flying stages have you soaring to a different area to the island from a third-person "chase cam" perspective. In these areas, you merely have to collect the orbs and avoid the lightning to win. They're an easy and simple break from the standard fare, but what is going on with Peter's sprite on those levels? Do we really need such a clear view of Peter's backside? Given how tight those shorts are, is Peter even a dude? Why does he look like he's preparing to become the "receptive" partner in the filming of an adult movie scene? Or is the Pan just modelling Miley Cyrus's renowned chicken butt look?
The other stage type is seen only during the game's two boss fights. The first, against Rufio, involves trying to disrobe one another. To win the battle, you have to remove Rufio's shirt with your sword. Seriously. Pictures of Peter and Rufio's torsos are used to indicate how much life they each have remaining. It's weird, for sure, but it's hilarious. The last fight, against Captain Hook, isn't quite as suggestive. Well, except for the awkward animation of the pirates trying to shackle your ankles. That hand motion is a bit suspect.
If nothing else, these instances would probably make J. M. Barrie quite proud of what has been done with his work. Eww. Moving along.
Weird concepts aside, I really enjoyed Hook. It feels like one of the old Ocean movie-based Amiga games with it's big character sprites, colorful backgrounds, and grating yet catchy music, but the control is much tighter than in games like RoboCop 3 and Darkman. There are a few strange choices in the graphics - I never understood, for instance, why everyone's skin is paper white - but overall it looks pretty nice, and the sound is chirpy and bouncy in that, "I was made somewhere in western Europe," style that appears from time-to-time in NES games.
Hook is by no means a classic, but it is solid game that generally manages to keep its head slightly above the mediocre mark. Sure, you could dismiss the game by merely agreeing with random internet rants. People do that all the time. But, if you can get past the popular opinion, you might just find a servicable, fun platformer here.
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocom...) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
Visit for the latest updates!
/ 540091756006560
/ nes_complete
Despite people's love for hating on it, Hook is a really solid NES platformer. Weird, and sometimes creepy, but solid.
NintendoComplete I wish the music was better
R.I.P Robin Williams 1951 to 2014 (╥_╥)
NintendoComplete I knew I wasn't the only one who found this game creepy as hell. 😂
Love this game except for the water levels.
Fully agree with you, man! Really enjoyed this game!
That music... I remember my dad bought this game on a little store in my town, I believe I was like 7 or 8. I was so disappointed because the game was so... Weird and didn't look like the movie, but I finally like the game when I controlled it... Memories...!!!
"Memories" doesn't even begin to describe it, friend... The lady who looked after me back when I was 9 was named Roz and I attended her funeral just a few years ago. She used to let us play her Nintendo and this was the last game that I remember enjoying at her place before I had to move to another part of the city and away from her (and my friends) forever.
I had such wonderful times with this game and my friends back then - Skye, Makella, Joshua, Heidi... We would eat Vegemite or Peanut Butter sandwiches in the overcast mornings while this music rang through our ears... Have endless arguments between each other that were trivial but so important at the time... And in the afternoons while Roz watched 'Days of Our Lives' on midday television, we would sleep peacefully next to each other in the sunroom out the front of her house, content in the knowledge that our parents would be along to collect us in a few short hours.
I wish I could go back there... But who among us can? Nothing truly beautiful is meant to last.
I love the music from this game so much! When I was a kid, I played through the whole thing, the game was weird, scary, mysterious and it stuck in my mind forever. I think I even dreamed about it a few times in my life. I especially loved the flying theme, I always flew as high as I could, so when the stage ended, Peter Pan would fly down longer and the music would play a bit more. :)
we must not have heard the same music. When I was a kid, It was the only game where I stopped playing music after 15 minutes, it was so repetitive and it gave me some headaches. And after all these years of video games, this is the only game where I've played without sound.
Actually, the melodies sound way better in the Game Boy version.
Growing up this game was and still is my favorite nintendo game
This game shares the same music driver library that many other NES Ocean Software games used. As a result, there is a hidden version and copyright string:
Music Driver (C) Jonathan Dunn & Ocean Software
The interesting thing is that the game's sound composer, Matthew Cannon, only receives credit in the Japanese Famicom version.
This was one of those games I rented at the video store over the weekend and couldn't even get past the first level.
Same here!
I loved this game as a kid. Never completed it but I let a friend borrow it and he did complete it. His mum let him phone me to tell me he'd got to the end. He was so excited he couldn't wait until the next day to tell me in school. Still got the game and a NES buried in my garage, hoping to get them out again soon to see if they still work after all these years!
That, uh... That's not the most dignified screenshot for a video preview I've ever seen.
Quicksilver6 Lmao. Precisely the reason I chose it!
Ocean Software began working on the graphic adventure version in January 1992. For the graphic adventure game, the creative team read the film's script and were required to have the gameplay closely follow the film's story. It was Ocean Software's first graphic adventure game. The NES and Game Boy versions, developed by Ocean Software and Painting by Numbers, were the first versions to be released; they were published by Sony Imagesoft, and were released in February 1992.
Wow, no wonder Ocean fucked up this game so badly
Hook! Hook! Hook! Pan! Pan! Pan!
His sword kind of looks like a paintbrush...that he's holding by the bristles! lol
I like how you go through the whole game and you beat it and it's just like "Thanks."
I absolutely love the sound effects of this game. They're really satisfying for some reason. Same with McKids.
You don’t have to only go to the top of the water to replenish health/air, you can swim up to the (what I think are plants) things that hang down from the ceiling in little niches.
That game was so psychedelic ^^
I miss these days.
The Sega CD version is the best.
No doubt I had that game on the Sega CD and it was alot more crisp and stereo sound with original Symphony from the motion picture movie made it even better !👑
The game where you play as 8 bit Robin Williams.
i used to have this game on the game boy. it's basically the exact same game as the nes only in monochrome and a much smaller screen.
It always amazed me how the same titles were so different on NES and Sega
The Super Nintendo/Genesis/Sega CD versions of Hook were the same though, I believe
One of the first games I ever played as a kid
a full hour game play, OCD seems pleased with you.
Love it.
One of my favorite games
The memories...
Great game what I finally completed when I was 25y on a simulator with saving
The Angry Video Games Nerd says that Peter Pan's sword looks like a paint brush like he's holding it from the bristles.
Well looky looky I got hooky, they made a game out of hook
A BAD one.
The SNES version was great, though.
I’ve had a memory since I was 5 of the ghosts part. All I could remember was the sound and the ghosts flying around. I finally found what damn game it was! I’m 34 lol
BANGARANG! Love the movie to death. Still do, even more so after Robin's passing. The game, to me, was very meh. I really hated the SUPER short range of the sword. The Hook arcade game was much better.
Oh it’s Hook. Arrrrrr.
xD
14:45 for the disrobing boss fight.
I actually kinda enjoyed this game back in the day. My only gripe with it was that your weapon has barely any reach. Also, why do you defeat the bosses by stripping them off their clothes? 0_o Other than that, for some reason I did enjoy playing through it, even though it's definitely nothing special. There was also another game for the NES based on the same premise, Peter Pan and the Pirates, but that one was a real trainwreck. (I also like how this LP is exactly 1 h long!)
The Fox PP game was a such a wreck. Oh man.
I remember some guy lambasting the final boss for just having to jump to turn around.
Didn't know about the NES version. I played the SNES and always dreamed about the Sega CD version when I was a young lad 😊.
This game is such a dank meme, it's so bad that it's good.
If it's as dank as Peter's butt in the thumbnail, I fear for the internet
I like the description but I demand to know why he sticks his ass in the air when you crouch.
An invitation, perhaps?
Looks like bare ass too. This game predicted the ending of Patch Adams.
Comparing to the Gameboy version, its better for colour but the GB has more bass sounds. So both good in their own ways.
The Thumbnail
27:18 I could never beat this level because i didn't for the whole time i played this game knew you could do that from a distance to push him away and could never get past him lol.
I got stuck here as a kid too. Also couldn't figure out why Peter Pan sometimes jumped on the stars and sometimes fell through. Didn't read the manual as a kid obviously. Figured it all out as a teenager.
So cool!
Did they even get Peter pan to look like Robin Williams?
As a platformer, it seems to be more in the Alex Kidd vein.
Hey, it’s Jimmy Buffett!
I agree with AVGN
I never liked this game, it looks like it was made to piss you off xDD
Klasyk :)
This game still unsettles me. Hook's face is weird as hell. 😂
14:47 I beat this boss fight on a first try, I know how to use this notorious controls. I even beat Captain Hook on the first try 57:40
This was my favourite on Game Boy. I don't get the hate.
Why put a weapon in a Game that I can't even use?
"AVGN"
we got ripped off alot as kids
The music is the best part of the game. The mechanics were awful. I must of been really bored when I played it as a kid.
How you get the fairy? She stays an won't go with me
You need to collect thimbles to make her follow you.
Quiero la primera música de la primera misión para mí celular y no sé cómo hacerle 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Hook great Nes game Peter Pan
Que recuerdos
Peter Pan could've farted out a better game.
That is one ugly looking Peter Pan.
This was a NES game!? Fuck
That indian meditation guy was the only character they got right in the game
I have this on the game boy it’s unplayable
It was good but the snes version was better
Oh God, what a piece of sh....
But thx for playing it 😊👍
How lazy were they to not add skin color into the game other than the title and Tink.
Maybe it’s implied he’s a vampire? Could be a Lost Boys reference.
😢😢😢😢😢😢
So, most people were playong this in a bad way all along?
Not like the shitty sword was glitchy or broken at all. /s
Worst Zelda game ever