Ludography
Hook cover

1992 · Port · Ukiyotei · Adventure · Platformer

Hook

Port

In Hook, based on the 1991 film by Steven Spielberg, the player controls Peter Pan who is trying to rescue his children from Captain James Hook. This version differs from the version of the game by Ukiyotei. While also a platformer, the title by Painting by Numbers also includes flying levels as well as one-on-one fight scenes.

Released
1992
Platforms
Commodore C64/128/MAXGame GearNESSNESSega CDSega Genesis
Genres
AdventurePlatformer
Developers
UkiyoteiRockstar LincolnCore Design
Publishers
Sony Imagesoft
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
Fantasy
Country
Japan
Age ratings
CLASS_IND L
Languages
English

About

There have been several video games based on the 1991 film Hook. A side-scrolling platform game for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy was released in the United States in April 1992. Subsequent side-scrolling platform games were released for the Commodore 64 and Super NES and an arcade beat ‘em up by Irem later in 1992, followed by versions for the Sega CD, Genesis, and handheld Game Gear console in 1993.

A point-and-click graphic adventure, developed and published by Ocean Software, was released for Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS in 1992.

Keywords

  • based on - movie
  • licensed game

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In each version of the game, the player plays as Peter Pan, who must go through Neverland to rescue his children after they are kidnapped by Captain Hook. Each version of the game is set in Neverland, and concludes with a sword fight between Peter Pan and Captain Hook.

The arcade version is a side-scrolling beat 'em up that supports up to four players. The player chooses to play as either Peter Pan or one of the Lost Boys: Ace, Pockets, Rufio, or Thudbutt. The game is played across six stages. It was handled by Irem, who is known for their other arcade games, like Kung Fu Master (known as Spartan-X in Japan) and the R-Type series.

Development

The Super Nintendo version was in early development in January 1992. 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 Painting by Numbers, were the first versions to be released; they were published by Sony Imagesoft, and were released in April 1992. The Amiga version had been published in Europe by July 1992.

Reception

Nintendo Power considered the NES and Game Boy versions to be nearly identical, and criticized them for being "an average running and jumping game with a pretty weak character and sluggish play control. The movie is good, but the game falls short."

N-Force criticized the music of the NES version and wrote that the film "doesn't translate very well to console. You occasionally get one that does the platform adventure game extremely well–but Hook just isn't one of them." Steve Jarratt of Total! praised the graphics of the NES version but wrote that the in-game music "is a bit annoying after a while".

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
NES27 March 1992Japan · North America 1 April 1992 · Europe 31 December 1992
Commodore C64/128/MAX31 December 1992Europe

Editions and related releases

Based on
Hook
Part of
Hook
Derived from
Hook (film)
Port of
Hook

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Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.