This Halloween hack-and-slash is one of the best movie tie-ins of all time

Over the years, many game developers have tried to create video games that perfectly capture the magic they see on the screen. Unfortunately, this often doesn’t work, as many movie tie-in games are glitchy messes with substandard graphics, clunky gameplay, poor voice acting, and narratives that don’t respect the source material. However, this doesn’t stop the developers, as these games regularly generate profits as younger viewers buy corresponding games based on animated children’s films. While these tie-ins are usually terrible, one of them stands out as a memorable experience that follows on from the source material’s amazing narrative.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge was released on October 21, 2004, over a decade after the film’s release. The game was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox and unfortunately, almost 20 years later, the game is still relegated to those platforms. Oogie’s Revenge takes place shortly after the original film, in which players take on the role of Jack Skellington as he attempts to defeat a revived Oogie Boogie. The Capcom-developed game obviously takes inspiration from its other projects, and that helps Oogie’s Revenge It will be a great experience even if it is not related to a film.

Devil May Cry borrowed its gameplay from Halloween Town

Capcom is one of the most influential game developers of all time, and its characters are regularly listed as some of the most famous faces in the entire industry. The gaming industry legend pioneered the modern renaissance of the survival horror genre Resident Evil 4 and with him created the hack-and-slash genre Devil May Cry. Over the years, Capcom has created some of the most popular franchises of all time, but They also created one of the most popular movie tie-in games by taking inspiration from some of their previous work.

The nightmare before Christmas is a Christmas classic that fans have wanted a sequel to for years. While the film never received a sequel on the big screen, there was one from Capcom The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge is a retro gaming classic that is the only sequel to the source material. The game’s narrative takes place shortly after the end of the film, when Jack Skellington begins to find Halloween boring again a year later.

This leads to his friend Dr. Finkelstein gives him the Soul Reaver’s whip. This sets the plot in motion as Jack Skellington embarks on a journey to find enemies to take on before he must return to Halloween Town and foil the plans of the revived Oogie Boogie. Although the story is quite simple, it is still charming and pays respect to the characters of the original film by not forcing them to perform actions that would be unusual for their personalities.

Similar to the early ones Devil May Cry Title, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revengeuses a dreary art style that perfectly showcases the protagonist and the creatures he fights. The environments are simple in detail, but this makes the game feel appropriately eerie, much like the film on which it is based. Overall, the game is a testament to the success of the original Devil May Cry title and uses the feel of the game to attract players who may be unfamiliar with the source material.

Stylish gameplay appeals to all ages

The Pumpkin King has many tricks up his sleeve

The problem with many games that tie in to films is that the gameplay loop for these projects is often too safe to appeal to anyone but the most loyal fans of the source material. These games are usually generic 2D platformers or action beat-em-ups with poor narrative that only retell the story of the source material but leave out crucial details.

Part of what makes up The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge Such a good game is that it is a Natural development of the source material that further explains its characters in an interesting way. Furthermore, the game also makes use of an underrated genre, viz Oogie’s Revenge features Jack Skellington as a hack-and-slash protagonist. This helps the project stand out from other bad film tie-ins while also standing the test of time due to its uniqueness.

Similar to that Devil May Cry series, while The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s RevengePlayers attempt to reach the highest rank on a stage by landing stylish combos, taking no damage, and finding hidden objects to increase a player’s score. However, the gameplay is of Oogie’s Revenge is far less complex than its M-rated counterpart, as it attempts to appeal to fans of all ages with satisfying but simple combat. Throughout the game’s 24 chapters, players take part in frantic action, dangerous platforming and strange puzzles to finally reach and defeat Oogie Boogie at the end of the story.

One of the game’s most interesting mechanics plays a role in the grade players receive for the mission, as the number of enemies Jack surprises with his attacks significantly increases the letter grade (from D to S). One of the game’s few shortcomings is that Jack can only use very few abilities, which can lead to combat sections becoming repetitive if they last too long.

However, the latter parts of the game add some variety to the gameplay as Jack gains access to a Christmas Town suit and the Pumpkin King suit. When the Christmas Town suit is equipped, Jack Skellington can throw presents at enemies to stun them and freeze enemies in a block of ice, while the Pumpkin King suit allows players to set enemies on fire.

Like many other hack and slash games The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge offers a wide variety of enemies and boss fights. Most of the enemies in the game are skeletons, each with different attacks. For example, the Heat Skeletons throw boomerangs, while Jack has a harder time grabbing the Troll Skeletons and Royal Skeletons with the Soul Reaver.

The encounters with the bosses are also quite varied and range from typical Halloween creatures such as spiders and ghosts to Oogie Boogie and his three henchmen Shock, Lock and Barrel. Overall, indeed The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge is a simple game with sophisticated action and fun for all ages.

A re-release is necessary but unlikely

Licensing rights could prevent this game from resurfacing

While The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge is a fantastic experience, Unfortunately, it’s stuck on retro consoles and is unreasonably priced. The game can be purchased used for around $60, but sealed copies often cost more than $200 online. Additionally, the game cannot be purchased on Steam or modern consoles, meaning it is impossible to obtain a copy of the game digitally. Unfortunately, this will likely continue to be the case, as old games tied to movies often run into licensing issues that prevent them from being re-released.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge was published by Capcom in Japan and developed by Tose, making a re-release of this iconic film tie-in possible in Japan if Capcom wanted to. However, this is unlikely to be the case as the game only sold just over 300,000 copies, which is good for a game tied to a movie, but well below Capcom’s average sales figures.

Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to re-release the game in territories outside of Japan, as Disney doesn’t often allow the re-release of its film tie-ins. Because the game was published by Buena Vista Games (a subsidiary of Disney) in North America, a port of The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge is almost impossible.

In total, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge is a Excellent movie game that differs from other movie-based games by using a unique genre. Unlike other film tie-ins, this is a canonical sequel that charmingly expands on the lore of the source material. Still, it’s unlikely the game will ever be available again, as licensing issues will likely prevent the game from returning to the spotlight.