I saw Nightmare Before Christmas when I was a very little kid. I remember falling in love with it even though some things went over my head and various things were scary or confusing. I think everyone everywhere at least knows of this movie (not to be confused with Nightmare on Elm Street. That's something...else!

I actually had this on the GBA a lot time ago, around 2006-2007, and played it at school when I was supposed to work on other things or even before class started. It's built up to be a prequel to the movie explaining just how Oogie Boogie King of all Bugs and Jack, King of all Pumpkins met and hate one another in the movie.

It also explains how Jack and Sally (living doll) met one another. Turns out, Sally was a damsel in distress (though it was an accident...more on that later or something) and she needed to be rescued.

This game means so much to me as anything related to Nightmare Before Christmas does, and I am here to explain to you why this isn't just a blatant cash grab the likes of all movie licensed games tend to be.

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Graphics: The game has a very charming, cartoony nature (not stop motion like the movie, but that's another thing altogether) and do their job. Things look about the same from the movie just smaller. If you saw the movie recently or remember it, you can tell where you are for the really iconic moments. One boss fills the entire screen too! There is not "What is that" syndrome in effect here.


Sound: The Sound isn't enough to write to the Academy of the Arts on or anything, but it does contain remixes of several classic songs from the game. Sadly the best song in the movie (and arguably most famous one at that) is used as the power up theme of sorts. You only hear it four or five seconds at most. Which is sad. Every time Jack jumps or canoodles about, a Sonic type jump sound occurs. While not the best, they add to the experience and you might find yourself humming the song.

Addictiveness: The charming NMBC nature of the game and a slight desire to see how it all comes together will make you want to beat the game. I played this game twice and plan on playing it again in a few months. This might not be you, and you might play it once and be done with it. But I tend to replay some of the games I play and enjoy. Unless you flat out hate it, or don't much care for the source material (why are you playing a game you can't stand the source material or don't much care for in the first place) then you should play it all the way through.


Story: Oogie Boogie the self proclaimed King of all Bugs decides that the world is bugless and unhappy so he sends his hapless minions to kidnap the usurper King of All Pumpkins. Being kids, and not knowing what a King of All Pumpkins looks like, they kidnap the first victim they meet. But when Oogie decides to check on the three's work, he finds that they kidnapped a girl. Not a KING of all Pumpkins. Sally, not knowing where she is, annoys Oogie by asking who he is. So the story starts when the King of Bugs unleashes his horde of Bugs upon Halloween Town. It plays out a bit like Zelda. Girl is kidnapped, evil descends upon a hapless village, and a dope goes out to save the world.

Depth: The game isn't that long. It has 20 pickups and 10 Health Restoratives to pick up and various tasks every good minded simpleton needs to do to help his fellow man or woman. Every now and then a boss is fought. If you know what you are doing and don't get boggled by anything, the game won't be that long to beat. I could have beaten it in two days going after everything, but I got tired so it was three days. The game is your standard Metroid game and can be compared gameplay wise to both Zelda and Metroid.

Difficulty: The game has the distinct pleasure of being both difficult and easy at the same time. The early portion of the game is really simple. Some bosses might give you a minor hard time but once you get to the Pumpkin Patch and meet the Noisy Gnats, things prove quite challenging. Jack sometimes plays floaty and there is some minor ice physics where he takes a few seconds to stop. There is also actual ice physics in the game so you have two benefits. If you are the type of gamer to insist on a no damage run (boss or platforming) this game is flat out impossible to do so. You might get lucky with the bosses, but the game forces you to platform on spike balls (you can grab on them and use them as a boost) so without cheats, it is borderline impossible on that front. I could also suck, but it seems some bosses are rigged too. I don't know if it is me, but I frequently got hit a bunch and one boss is almost impossible to hit without taking some damage in return. The final boss is a little too long and is quite frankly a hard marathon boss where it takes awhile to hit him.

If you ignore the difficulty of some moments and some quite frankly annoying bits of platforming, the game is quite enjoyable. Most of the time you have your licensed game that just seems rushed and lazy. A quick way to cash in on the movie's success. This game might be that, but I honestly had a ton of fun. If you like the source material and play a lot of Kingdom Hearts (which I still have yet to play as I never had a PS2) or need a good GBA game to play, this is clearly the game to play. It has it's problems. Some platforming is a bit finicky, the bosses are damage sponges and take a lot to go down, but in the end, it is a very enjoyable experience.

9/10

Just cause I am so forgiving on a game. This score doesn't equal every person's opinion. I am just willing to overlook most flaws, but to say a game is perfect is unfair as nothing ever is.

Not a bad review, man. I don't remember much at all about this show, but I do remember seeing part of it anyway. I don't have a GBA, but I do have a PS2 or two lying around, so I'll have to grab a copy of this now. Thanks for the tip!

Oogie's revenge is for the PS2 (and old Xbox) and is a sequel to the movie, while this is only for the GBA and the prequel. This is the only NMBC game I have played except a brief helping from Chain of Memories. They came out around the same time.