If you've ever wondered what an IT video game would have looked like in the 90s, an animator has you covered. Get ready to be terrified by Stephen King's IT - The Hide & Seek Adventure, a fictional video game based on the killer clown movie.
While the new adaptation of Stephen King's classic keeps breaking box office records, animator Robert Penney presents Stephen King's IT - The Hide & Seek Adventure, a fictional video game based on the killer clown movie. The video imagines what an 8-bit IT game, designed in 1990, would have looked like, as if made by a team that probably never watched the trailer or even read the book. In other words, a faithful reflection of what happened (and still happens) in most cases of movie-based video games.
A Fictional NES Game
Penney shows the perfect example of how to ruin a horror movie game in the simplest way. His job is to imagine what current movie games would be like if they had been released for the NES years ago. Easy money with rushed games that cashed in on the hype of film releases. Just read the brief intro at the beginning of Stephen King's IT - The Hide & Seek Adventure, where it says that Pennywise and his friends enjoy playing hide and seek. In this fictional platformer, you control the clown, who must find the kids hiding throughout each level. As you advance, you'll have to avoid enemies and collect coins, which you can spend in a shop to get abilities (like transforming into a spider, werewolf, or mummy), powers that let you overcome obstacles. There's even a boss to face in the middle of a stage!
Visually, the game has a childlike design (contrary to everything IT represents). This was common in NES games based on horror movies. Nintendo would never have allowed too much violence and guts flying everywhere. Clear examples of this are the atrocious adaptations of movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Total Recall, among others, whose tone was heavily toned down due to Nintendo's policy. That's why Stephen King's IT - The Hide & Seek Adventure is an excellent portrait of what a bad conversion would have been, made in haste to capitalize on the success of the movie, something that was common back then (and if not, remember the E.T. conversion for Atari, ugh).
Penney Pixels and Fictional Bad Games
Penney Pixels is the YouTube channel behind these Fictional Bad Games. It doesn't have too many videos, but the ones it has are really good. For example, you can find one about the series Stranger Things (in a conversion styled as a graphic adventure game). There are also conversions of the movies Gravity and Scarif Resort Simulator, a Sim City clone loosely tied to the Star Wars universe. There's no doubt there's incredible work in each of these videos, highlighting the most common errors of the era (gameplay problems, tone shifts, rushed bad conversions). A highly recommended channel!
For more fictional bad games, check out the official Fictional Bad Games channel.
