The Goonies (video game)



Being a major film, The Goonies had a licensed video game to go with it. Konami made a platformer game, with some adventure elements for the Famicom and MSX. Although the actual connection to the movie was rather light. Mikey's fellow goonies are captured instead of traveling with him, and the Fratellis are basically individual Mooks instead of the family chasing the heroes. Then you have rats, bombs, and Mickey using a kick attack. It was still fun for a lot of people, and considered largely an aversion to The Problem With Licensed Games.

Then there was a sequel (The Goonies II: The Fratellis' Last Stand), which takes the platforming elements, but, like Castlevania II Simons Quest, changes the levels to free roaming exploration (not to mention has elements not seen in the movie at all, like a mermaid to rescue). It's also considered a good game, but like that other game, suffers from some design flaws for being one of the first of the Metroidvania genre.

The games provide examples of:

 * Barbie Doll Anatomy: Annie.
 * Blind Idiot Translation: "OUCH! WHAT DO YOU DO?" Several other cases in II, as well.
 * Canon Foreigner: Annie the mermaid, most prominently.
 * Distressed Damsel Mermaid: Annie
 * Empty Room Psych: A lot of rooms with safes and people giving useless advice; there's even one completely empty room (dubbed the Amazing Nothing Room in one walkthrough). "I'M ESKIMO. THERE'S NOTHING HERE."
 * And there's a fairly long path in one underwater stage, but there's nothing useful in that path.
 * Fan Remake: The MSX version has one.
 * Guide Dang It: Most of the major goals in II.
 * If you didn't have "The Official Nintendo Player's Guide", you were basically screwed. In the 80's, it wasn't like you could just Google an online walk-through.
 * Killer Yoyo: In II.
 * Medium Awareness: "IT'S FUN TO PLAY THE GOONIES II!"
 * Metroidvania: The original Famicom game featured explorable levels, but otherwise had a stage-based structure. Goonies II on the other hand had free-roaming stages.
 * Mooks Ate My Equipment: Floating skulls on the bridge in II eat your boomerang. Now the weapon isn't vital to winning, but it is an annoyance.
 * No Export for You: The first NES game had an arcade release in the U.S. under the title of Vs. The Goonies (which ran on the Vs. System, essentially an NES modified for arcade play), but only Famicom owners got the chance to play the game at home.
 * Password Save: The second game.
 * Precision-Guided Boomerang: One of the weapons in the sequel.
 * Real Song Theme Tune: The main theme that plays throughout most of the game is a simplified rendition of "The Goonies R Good Enough" by Cyndi Lauper.
 * Furthermore, this particular rendition was given a remix and used in one of the Pop N Music games.
 * Save the Princess: Annie.
 * Slippy-Slidey Ice World
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Both games give you bombs, and the second game gives you molotov cocktails.
 * Under the Sea
 * Unusually Uninteresting Sight / Worst News Judgment Ever: The reporter at the end of II seems to find the capture of the Fratellis more interesting than the fact that Annie's a freaking mermaid!
 * Unwinnable: Mistaken for this. If you reach the door to Annie in the second game without A) all six kidnapped Goonies or B) one of the Interchangeable Antimatter Keys, you seem to be trapped in the room, because many forget you can just equip the diving suit to leave.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can hit anyone found in the rooms in the second game with your fist - or a hammer later on. In fact, you have to punch one old woman five times to get the candle needed to light up dark rooms.
 * Video Game Cruelty Punishment: That said, if you smack around Konami Man, he'll refuse for the rest of the game to restore your health. This is even saved in your password, so the only option is to reset and start a new game.