Home Alone (1991, Nintendo versions)

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Home Alone

You'll be screaming like Kevin after playing this game.
Genre(s): Action
Platform(s): Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Game Boy
Release Date: Nintendo Entertainment System
NA: October 1991
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
NA: December 1991
EU: January 1, 1992
JP: August 11, 1992
Game Boy
NA: November 1991
JP: June 26, 1992
Developer(s): Bethesda Softworks (NES)
Imagineering (SNES, GB)
Publisher(s): NA: THQ
EU/JP: Altron
Series: Home Alone
Successor: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Home Alone is a 1991 video game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, MS-DOS, Amiga, Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear and Sega Master System.

This page applies only to versions released on consoles produced by Nintendo. NES version was developed by Bethesda Softworks, SNES and Game Boy versions were made by Imagineering and published by THQ in North America, and Altron in Japan and Europe.

Why It Should Be Home Alone

NES Version

  1. Very tedious gameplay. Kevin has to fight Harry and Marv with traps until the cops come to pick them up.
  2. Kevin is extremely slow in movement, while Harry and Marv move extremely fast, which makes the game ridiculously difficult.
    • To make things worse, walking the stairs makes Kevin move even slower. If Marv or Harry is near, you're assured to get caught.
  3. Horrible controls. Walking up and down the stairs is also a chore since you have to walk in front of them and then hold Up.
  4. The game can be completed in 20 minutes.
  5. You only have one life and no continues. If a burglar touches Kevin, you have to start the game from the very beginning.
  6. Lazily made game over screen that shows Kevin screaming and a cloud saying: "Oh no!".
  7. Lack of an on-screen clock, so you can't see how much time is left unless you press the Start button.
  8. Lackluster animations. For example, the falling down animation is quite poor.
  9. All the traps are just white squares with drawings on them representing what they're supposed to be.
  10. Terrible ending. It just shows Harry and Marv getting arrested as Kevin celebrates.
  11. Kevin can't exit the house or go to other places besides the treehouse.
  12. Terrible, monotonous and repetitive music that barely ever changes. The only times it does if Kevin goes to the treehouse area or the basement.
  13. Hideous graphics, with a very washed-out color palette and none of the characters (with the exception of Kevin on the game over screen) looking like their movie counterparts.

Game Boy Version

  1. It was clearly a quick cash grab to make money on the Home Alone movie name.
  2. Its length is very short: there are four main levels. The fifth and final level is a showdown against the Furnace.
  3. The controls suffer from a slight delay: when Kevin stops running, there's a bit of a delay before he can move again.
  4. The enemies and most bosses mostly don't have anything to do with the movie, barring Marv and Harry.
  5. Knowing what weapons to use on the Wet Bandits' lackeys are not hinted anywhere, even in the manual.
  6. Fighting the bosses themselves are either too easy or too difficult: the first boss can be too difficult to fight, whereas the third boss, a giant ghost, is too easy.
  7. If you get hit by most bosses, there's a significant delay before you can move again.
  8. None of your weapons work on enemies that are found in the attic and basement. Instead, you must either avoid or jump over them. It's also very easy to get hit by them because of how sluggish the controls are.
  9. There are two game-breaking bugs:
    • Due to the right-facing wall not being solid in the attic on the third level, you can end up making the next level unwinnable by collecting too many items. You have to get a game over to get the collectables in the fourth level to respawn.
    • On the fourth level, if you go up on the right ladder heading back up to the attic, the game freezes due to invalid pointer data.
  10. The final boss comes out of nowhere: It's the furnace from the movie. Nowhere in the game hints its presence, or what its role is behind the Wet Bandits.
    • Also, the game doesn't hint that the water gun you had from the beginning of the game is its weakness.
  11. The graphics suffer from a lack of detail. The backgrounds in particular look undetailed.
    • It's tough to tell what some objects are in the background. For example, floor tacks look like triangles or spikes.
    • Enemies in the basement in particular lack the most detail, such as ghosts looking like floating gingerbread men, the tarantula looking like a giant ant, etc.
  12. The sound effects are difficult to hear. Furthermore, they suffer from poor quality.
  13. While you have three continues, there's no way to gain extra continues. You can only start using them from the second level onward.

SNES Version

  1. It is incredibly short for a SNES game. After four levels, the game suddenly ends.
  2. It doesn't really follow the movie at all.
  3. The game itself is lacking in challenge. You can be finished with it in approximately 20 minutes.
  4. The sound effects don't really fit well with the game.
  5. There's a lack of boss fights, compared to the Game Boy port. Marv and Harry, originally bosses of the fourth level, are now enemies. The final boss from that port, the Furnace, is nowhere to be found.
    • The bosses themselves aren't even mentioned in the movie, besides the tarantula. The final boss is a giant rat, of all things.
  6. Weapons you obtain at one level cannot be carried over to the next. The Game Boy version allowed you to do that.
  7. Controls are a bit stiff and delayed, making avoiding enemies and obstacles a bit of a challenge.
  8. The enemies respawn if you leave/enter a room or vice versa.
  9. Power-ups and items are found in the most unusual and nonsensical places, such as a full pizza pie being found inside a toilet.
  10. The graphics, while an improvement to the first two, are not very good. Even Super Castlevania IV and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, which came out the exact same year as this game, had much superior graphics.

Redeeming Qualities

SNES Version

  1. At least it has the Home Alone theme at the title screen, unlike the Genesis version.
  2. It does have some songs from the movie, however, bitcrushed.
  3. The soundtrack is decent but it's probably one of the only good things going for this game.
  4. It's one of the first SNES games to have digitized voices, which is impressive for SNES standards.

Game Boy Version

  1. The music was at least decent.
  2. Unlike the SNES version, you do keep your weapons between levels.
  3. Non-basement enemies remain defeated, even after you leave the room and come back.

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Reception

"What were they thinking?"
The Shit Scale
Games that are debatably bad High level of shit contamination The very high category The severe zone Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Major code red
👆
This product belongs to the "Very High Category" category of the AVGN's Shit Scale.

Even the actor himself who played the role of Kevin in the movie (Macaulay Culkin) said: "They shat on my legacy." Like saying that this game ruined (By own words of the same Macaulay) his legacy.

Trivia

  • It is one of the first SNES games with digitized voices.

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