Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King (2005). Play online

Summary

The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King lands on the Game Boy Advance as a gritty 2‑D platformer that feels lifted straight from the Castlevania playbook. You control Jack Skellington as he chases Oogie Boogie’s bug‑swarmed minions, tossing a mix of weapons and solving maze‑like puzzles with the aid of Sally, the mayor and Dr. Finklestein. The game doubles as a prequel, showing Jack’s first clash with Oogie and how he earned the title of Pumpkin King, neatly syncing with the film’s spooky lore. It launched in 2005 alongside Oogie's Revenge on consoles, debuted at E3, and received middling reviews — about 70% on Metacritic and a 6.5/10 from IGN, who praised the kid‑friendly adventure but slammed the visuals and audio. Despite the lukewarm scores, I still appreciate its tight level design and the nostalgic handheld feel.

Storyline

In Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King, the story takes place a year before the film’s events. Jack Skellington is busy preparing Halloween when Oogie Boogie learns from his henchmen Lock, Shock and Barrel that Jack is scarier than him.

Oogie orders the trio to kidnap Jack, but they return with Sally, Doctor Finkelstein’s rag‑doll assistant who secretly loves Jack. On Halloween night the town is eerily empty and the Mayor warns of a bug infestation spreading through the streets.

Jack battles the mischievous trio, helps frightened citizens, and gathers weapons, upgrades and clues that reveal Oogie’s hidden lair beneath the treehouse on the town’s edge.

Confronting Oogie, Jack discovers the villain’s plan to turn Halloween into “Crawloween” and later into a Bug Town. After a fierce showdown, Jack defeats Oogie, orders him to stay hidden, rescues Sally for the first time, and restores the Halloween celebration.