The Goonies II is an adventure video game produced by Konami of Japan for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was released in 1987 in North America. It is a sequel to a Goonies video game released only on the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan and in North America on the arcades.
I always loved to play this NES game during the late 1980s. I borrowed it from a friend. Somehow the catchy soundtrack always beckoned me to play the game even though I was mediocre at it.
The Story
Ugly mean old hag Ma Fratelli has come back for revenge. And this time she plans to destroy your kid gang, "The Goonies", for good! This crazed mama and her two weirdo sons have kidnapped your fellow Goonies and locking them up in secret places.
Now as the only kid Goonie left, you gotta save your friends. Armed with your yo-yo and handy weapons you can find, you gotta to be willing to risk it all. Go now and rescue "THE GOONIES!"
The Graphics and Sound
This game has decent graphics. The stages look nice with many details. The enemies look good too. On the bad side; all of the Goonies look the same when you rescue them and your hero character Mikey’s hair looks like a helmet. Also, some of the enemies of a certain color are difficult to see against some backgrounds. But overall the graphics are good at the time of release.
Great pop theme music! I think that Cyndi Lauper song, "Good enough", actually sounds better coming from the NES. The other music is also great with the Cave music sounding dark and the underwater music sounding light. However, the first-person music gets boring quickly.
The Gameplay
In this adventure game, you are armed with a yo-yo and you also get bombs and a slingshot with limited ammo. You get to go underground and battle your way through creatures and the crazy Fratelli family to find doors. When you go inside doors, you will are in first person view and can go different directions that could also take you to another stage. You can punch walls to reveal objects that you can select to take. Or use a hammer to discover doors or holes on the ceiling or the floor. You will have to find many different objects.
These rooms also can reveal each of the Goonies if you got some keys. You can either find them by punching the walls or destroying enemies. The rescued Goonies say something nice or interesting in return.
This mixture of action and adventure sequences is an addictive experience that requires you to find stuff, think about how to use it and keep good maps if you ever want to beat the game. This makes the game have a good replay value.
My Verdict
The Goonies II is timeless. Games like this make the NES famous. Even though it is over 2 decades old, this game still feels good to play.
I think that every true gamer should at least get to play this game. Try to play this one on the NES or on emulators.