Hocus Pocus (video game)

Hocus Pocus is a 1994 side-scrolling platform video game developed by Moonlite Software and published by Apogee Software for MS-DOS. It is a 256 color VGA game featuring 360 degree scrolling and parallaxing backgrounds. A part of this title is distributed under the shareware license. In the game, the player controls Hocus, a young wizard apprentice, sent on a quest by Terexin, leader of the Council of Wizards to prove his worthiness to join this council. To do this, Hocus has to beat 36 levels spread over four episodes (9 per episode), filled with over 30 different kinds of monsters, includings imps, ghosts, and dragons, and a boss at the end of each episode.

Despite being released around the same time as the film of the same name, the game is not related to it in any way.

The game begins with most of the story of Hocus Pocus being told to the player.

Terexin, a powerful mage, explains that all magic power of the Land of Lattice is entrenched into powerful crystals that resonate if brought together in sets. As leader of the Council of Wizards, Terexin tells Hocus Pocus, the young wizard the player controls, has the quest to obtain such crystals in order to attain more magic powers to become a worthy member of the Council. He promises Hocus that if he manages to become a member, he gets to marry his sweetheart Popopa, who is also Terexin's daughter. Throughout his journey, Hocus encounters strange and sometimes dangerous creatures, like mummies, bats and Eskimos. Terexin, in the form of a hologram, gives the player advice through the game, although the conversations vary from solving a switch puzzle to how long it took him to grow his beard. After defeating Trolodon, the magic areas were now mostly cleared, so they became fairly safe for travel. As for completing his apprenticeship, Hocus Pocus becomes part of the Council of Wizards. At the end of the game, he marries his beloved Popopa, making them Mr. and Mrs. Pocus.

Speculation on the game has arisen that Trolodon was Terexin himself, as the player never gets to see the mage beyond the hologram, and both mages bore the same robes and beard. After Trolodon's defeat, Terexin was spiteful rather than grateful towards Hocus, as he couldn't believe that such a great mage like Trolodon could be defeated by a puny wizard like him who was also a dropout.


 * The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Council of Wizards.