Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas has become a holiday classic with a sizeable following, being a movie that can easily be watched for most of the end of the year (although it's considered a Halloween movie). Within it, we follow Jack Skellington as he searches for something grand and finds it in Christmas Town. His sense of wonder is infectious, and the audience is quickly caught up in his fervor.
It's enough to make the audience wonder about Jack's world--how did he become the Pumpkin King? Where did Oogie Boogie, the main bad guy, come from? It's plenty of fodder for fanfic writers, who would love to see a prequel expanding upon this--well, good news, folks! There is a prequel to the movie: The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King.
Developed by Tose and released for the Gameboy Advance in 2005, Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King takes place a year before the movie's events. The game kicks off with Oogie hearing from his henchmen that Jack is scarier than him, which angers him into sending bugs to attack Halloween Town. Through the game, we learn that Oogie was the king of a now-defunct holiday, Bug Day, and that he's angry that Halloween pushed it into obscurity. Of course, Jack takes offense to him attacking the town and kidnapping Sally and ends up battling him for the right to the holiday.
The Pumpkin King's game mechanics are typical of the time period, being a side-scrolling platformer that requires some puzzling and battling to progress through the game. Jack starts with a 'frog gun' and gains more tools and powerups as he progresses and rescues the townsfolk from the bugs and beasties plaguing them. Electric chairs positioned at key points recharge Jack, and in some places, the player can even take control of Zero.
It's certainly not an easy game, though. Some areas can be difficult to navigate, and good luck to you if you get lost--which is actually very easy to do. Some areas require powerups to navigate past--but these powerups have finite power, and if you run out of juice, that means either reloading the save or engaging in a lot of backtracking.
Despite this, the game has just as much charm as the movie. We get to see the townsfolk and how they interact with Jack, with some characters such as the Molten Man getting more of a role in the game. Halloween Town is charming in pixelated form, and the game manages to make Jack's monochromatic world nicely vibrant. Exploring every nook and cranny of the world means seeing more of the gorgeous art style, which isn't a bad thing.
Learning some of the history between Jack and Oogie is definitely a bonus as well, as their relationship was only hinted at in the movie. In this game, we learn just how the two know each other and why Oogie is so terrified of Jack. This game also reveals when Jack and Sally first meet, with Jack rescuing Sally from Oogie's clutches (which explains how she knows how to find him in the movie). It's a game that gives some meat to an already charming world, and fans would do well to give it a try.
Unfortunately, as a fifteen-year-old game, finding a copy may be easier said than done, and anything newer than the DS won't play the game's cartridge. If you can manage to find it and play it, though, prepare yourself for some Nintendo-hard gaming set to the tune of a beloved and spooky franchise.