Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (console versions)
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| Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (video game) | ||||||||||||||||
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You are Home Alone with this game.
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Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a video game loosely based on the 1992 film of the same name.
The page only applies to versions released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Sega Genesis.
Plot
Kevin McCallister is lost in New York and must outwit the Sticky Bandits to get back with his family.
Why They Should Be Lost
Overall
NOTE: Some of these pointers do not apply to the Sega Genesis version
- Poor grasp of the source material. The first half of the movie is skipped over for some reason, making the game very unfaithful to the movie, except for the hotel part.
- There is no continuation, so if you lose all three of your lives, you go back to the beginning. This is unacceptable since the game is hard for all the wrong reasons, and the lack of continuation could make the game almost impossible to beat for the newbies.
- It's not made clear which parts of the level can be jumped on and which can't, making the game even more frustrating than it already is, especially in the atrocious NES version.
- Enemies make little to no sense in the game. For example, old ladies are jumping around, trying to hit Kevin with their umbrellas.
- Certain enemies, such as the large hotel guests and vacuum cleaners, can instantly kill Kevin.
- Slippery physics creates more of a hassle to avoid enemies. He will slightly slip before losing momentum.
- Keys in this game are enemy projectiles. A first-time player will likely mistake them for an item.
- Useless weapons: the dart gun only stuns enemies for about three seconds. The slide can be used to kill enemies on some levels, but not all of them. The super fist gun can be wasted if the player uses it too close to the edge of the screen.
- The pearls only work on a couple of enemies, and they are practically useless after the first level.
- Hitbox issues: Sometimes, when an enemy comes close to hitting Kevin, it counts as a hit, especially in the NES and SNES versions.
- The game's difficulty is completely screwed up. The Hotel, the first level, is the most difficult level due to how many one-hit kill enemies and hazards there are.
NES version
- The graphics are abysmal and are so bad that even most 1986 games look better than this, with the sprite work looking like it could have been in 1987 or even 1986, which would have been good for these years but not for a 1992 NES game.
- Despite looking a bit better than the already awful-looking first Home Alone game on the NES, the color palette is very washed out and downright hideous to look at.
- The characters also don't look like who they are supposed to be; instead, they look like they came from a different game, mostly due to how bad the sprites are.
- It doesn't help that games like Kirby's Dream Land on Game Boy, Darkwing Duck, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project, and Mega Man 5 all look better, and they were released the same year as this game.
- Even games released much earlier, such as Doraemon (1986), Kiki Kaikai (yes, even the dreadful Famicom Disk System version), the very first Pac-Man, Mega Man 2, Bomberman II, and Super Mario Bros. 3, all look better, and these were released between 1986 and 1991.
- Very terrible controls that are even worse than the already mediocre controls from the SNES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy versions, as here they are even more unresponsive and are even delayed to the point of being nearly unplayable at times.
- This is also one of the main reasons why this is the absolute worst version of the game, along with the horrible graphics and awful soundtrack.
- Climbing up a ladder is horrible because of this since it is so bad that you might be an easy target for the enemies if there are some in your way.
- Terrible soundtrack that is much worse than the SNES and Game Boy versions' soundtracks (not counting the Sega Genesis version since that one had a decent soundtrack), which sounds very ear-bleeding on the NES version, not to mention that it's also annoying and repetitive.
- To board the elevator, you have to hit the elevator button. However, unlike the other two ports, there's no clear indication of how many times you should press it.
- Horrible levels design: while it's similar to the SNES version, it is somehow worse than the already awful level design of the SNES version of this game, as here the levels feel like they are much worse because of the even worse controls than the other version and hardware limitations.
- The jump and player damage sounds are taken from The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants. Given that both games were developed by Imagineering, this comes off as more of laziness on their part, if anything.
- The bird lady doesn't even appear in the NES port until the last level. This is despite her graphics being in the game's coding in the sewers part of the second level.
- The fourth level is supposed to be a chase level, but it's bogged down due to Marv or Harry respawning when they're defeated, making this port quite glitchy compared to the other versions, such as the Game Boy version.
- In the Uncle's House (third level), spin-jumping on the wet bandits in some of the rooms causes the game to freeze.
- Awful ending.
- The hit detection is atrocious, as even if Kevin did not get a contact with an enemy, he still would get hit, or even if an enemy came close to hitting him, it'd still count as a hit, thanks to how badly programmed this port is.
SNES version
- The sprite work clashes with the backgrounds in this game. It tries to be more realistic, but it looks off.
- Speaking of the previous pointer, while the graphics are better than the NES version, it still looks very bad for an SNES game, as the sprites work not only clash with the backgrounds but also look quite poor, despite the graphics and overall sprite work being better than the Sega Genesis version.
- The sound effects are extremely bizarre for a Super Nintendo NES game. The death sound effect, for example, sounds too cartoonish.
- There is a slight movement delay before Kevin can move around. It takes a while for him to gain momentum for running.
- Again, the controls are very poor and unresponsive, which makes climbing ladders a bit of a chore, although not as much as the awful controls from the NES version.
- The soundtrack is very bland and even sounds weird, especially the first and final-level music, despite the soundtrack being surprisingly decent for a Home Alone game (even if the Sega Genesis version has a better soundtrack).
- The game is hard for all the wrong reasons, as here there are a lot of one-hit-kill enemies and the level design is downright awful; in fact, it might be even harder than the NES version.
- The cutscenes are incredibly ugly and grainy to look at, even by the standards of the SNES, as they've also had a very poor color palette and are pixelated.
- Poor ending, despite being a bit better than the ending of the NES version, despite both having pretty much the same ending.
Game Boy version
- The Uncle's House has some pinpoint precision jumping that has to be done in a dark room; otherwise, Kevin falls into a bottomless pit and loses his life.
- You only get four hit points instead of five.
- The Central Park level is much longer than the other two versions, which have Kevin go through the Central Park Zoo. No explanation is given about why, and it is never mentioned again.
- You can get stuck in the second level with the bell power-up. If you jump at just the right time, you can fall off the screen and get stuck. The only way you can get out of this is by resetting the game.
- The graphics, while still better than the NES and Sega Genesis versions, are still not that good. The lack of detail on sprites makes it difficult to tell who's who.
- The game is Incredibly short, lasting only 20 minutes.
- Despite being better than the NES version, the controls are still very poor and clunky.
- The ending is much worse than the SNES version.
Sega Genesis version (Bad Qualities)
- The graphics, while still better than the NES version, are still very poor and undetailed for a 1993 Sega Genesis game, especially the sprites work, which makes it even harder to tell who's who than the SNES version.
- It's also got a very washed-out color palette and has dark colors to the point of making the game extremely ugly, and due to the terrible sprite work and graphics, it's making the game look much worse than the first Home Alone game on the Sega Genesis.
- It's also a huge downgrade from the first Home Alone game on the Sega Genesis, which had good graphics and was released two years earlier.
- The controls are very stiff, although they are better than the other versions.
- The game over screen is very scary and is infamous due to Kevin being thrown in a bag and looking in the train. It also doesn't help that the music that plays with this screen is scary and stops after being finished look at your own risk.
- The game is incredibly short and is even shorter than the other versions of the game, lasting only 15 minutes, and if you remove the cutscenes from a long play, you can see that the game is even shorter.
- Terrible ending that is much worse than the already terrible ending of the other versions, with the bird lady saving Kevin and Kevin asking his mom if they can go home, and it's abruptly going to the credits screen, making the ending incredibly bland.
- The difficulty is very unbalanced, as the enemies are annoying and badly placed to the point of being on some platforms that can make it difficult to access them.
- Poor level design, as some platforms have poor placements, and the enemy placements are terrible, especially in level 2.
Redeeming Qualities
Overall
- The DOS version is a decent version and most of the flaws have been fixed.
Sega Genesis version (Good Qualities)
- The soundtrack is quite decent and may remain possibly the best soundtrack for a Home Alone game.
- It's still not a bad game compared to the other versions of the game, as this game is just mediocre on the Sega Genesis, but it's still enjoyable and remains one of the best Home Alone games.
- This version is more faithful to the movie than the Nintendo version.
- The controls, despite their flaws, are still not bad and decent, despite being clunky, much like the Bonk games.
- The game can be fun, unlike the other versions.
Game Boy version
- It's at least better than most versions of the game (except for the Sega Genesis version).
- The soundtrack is decent compared to the NES version.
Reception
The game had very poor reception for Nintendo version. Most reviewers complained that various elements of the game change depending on what part of a level the player is on; for example, the slide attack is an effective move on one level but does not work on another.
The Sega Genesis, however was mixed reception, it criticized for same as Nintendo version, but it praise for faithfulness from the films.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was awarded Worst Sequel of 1992 by Electronic Gaming Monthly. They also awarded it Worst Movie-to-Game of 1992.
In the Angry Video Game Nerd review of this game, he was getting mad that he couldn't get past the level with the ladder (AVGN playing the Home Alone game on NES).
In JonTron's review of all the Home Alone Games, he criticized the game for having almost nothing to do with the film, the use of keys as enemy projectiles, and the ineffectiveness of the pearls.
Trivia
- Another Home Alone game on the Game Boy was planned to be released in 1994 with the title Home Alone 2: Kevin Dream, however, the game was canceled and was reworked into a Booby World game (which was also canceled), the game would be a collect thon platformer, despite being canceled, the roms for these both games where released online and the Home Alone 2 version was leaked in 2020, the game was possibly canceled because THQ wanted to work on the game that was based on the movie, which is this game that this article talks about.
- The Sega Genesis version has graphics and a soundtrack are somewhat similar to the Sega Genesis version of TaleSpin (which is another mediocre game), especially the graphics.
Videos
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