Producer: Sunsoft
System: NES
Year: 1990
Overview: Once upon a time, there was a movie called Gremlins. A charming tale about cute, furry critters that turn into mean, vicious monsters when the right (or should I say wrong) conditions are met. It later got a sequel made, Gremlins 2. These movies, while obviously borrowing a bit from the horror genre, were much more funny than they were scary, the second one in particular. Unlike other B horror flicks at the time, both movies managed to be quite good as well, had pretty good special effects for their time, and came out just fine without having to use a few tanker trucks worth of blood. Now, enter Sunsoft. Someone decided that Gremlins (the second one) would make a good NES game. And you know what? They turned out to be right.
Story: The story loosely follows the movie, but as with all games based on movies, the game developers took some creative liberties. In this game, fuzzy-wuzzy mogwai Gizmo must battle his way through five levels of the Clamp Center to eradicate the gremlin infestation. Billy and pals do next to nothing.
Graphics: Graphics are pretty decent, not much to say about them, other than that it’s not hard to tell what’s what.
Sound: The Gremlins movies succeeded in making a truly bitchin’ main theme, and this game, while I haven’t heard it used anywhere, has some pretty good tunes nonetheless.
Gameplay: The game consists of five levels that Gizmo must navigate in a Zelda-type overhead view style. The first four levels are divided into two parts, making a total of nine stages. You’ll fight a boss at the end of Levels 2-5. Three of the bosses are the big mohawk gremlin in various guises, unarmed, with the machine gun, and as the spider mutant. Giz has a variety of weapons as well; he gains a new one at the start of each level. He begins by throwing lowly tomatoes, and ends with the fire bow. You can also find entrances to Mr. Wing’s shop (I thought you were dead… it’s a miracle!), where Gizmo can power up his currant weapon, or buy various other items.
Challenge: So-so challenge. There are plenty of tough areas, but none are impossibly cheap. There's also a password save.
Final Rating: 8/10 This is honestly one of the best games-based-on-a-movie that I’ve played. It’s a shame its GameBoy counterpart fell far short of this one.
