The Goonies II Nintendo Game Was Good In It’s Own Way

There are certain games that stick with you, not because they were perfect, but because they were peculiar. The Goonies II for the NES was one of those games. It wasn’t mine, not technically. It belonged to my best friend Geoffrey, who had a habit of acquiring every new game that hit the shelves. Geoffrey was the kind of kid who always had the latest thing. If it had a cartridge and a glossy box, it was in his possession within days of release. But just as quickly as he got them, he’d grow bored. And that’s where I came in.

Geoffrey would hand off his castoffs like a benevolent king distributing treasure. One day, he sent me home with The Goonies II, and I was thrilled. I loved the movie. Who didn’t? It had adventure, booby traps, and a gang of misfits who made you believe that treasure really could be buried beneath your town. I popped the game into my NES expecting to relive the magic. What I got was something else entirely.

The game didn’t follow the movie’s plot. Not even close. You played as Mikey, armed with a yo-yo, navigating a labyrinth of caves, corridors, and strange rooms. There were no Chunk or Data, no Sloth swinging from the rafters. Instead, you had a maze of doors, hidden passages, and cryptic clues. It felt like the developers had built a game first and slapped the Goonies name on it later. But I didn’t mind. It was weird, and weird was good.

Saturday afternoons became my time with The Goonies II. I’d sit cross-legged on the living room floor, the sun slanting through the window, casting long shadows across the carpet. The game was a brain bender. You had to collect items, backtrack through rooms, and figure out which tool unlocked which door. There were moments when I’d wander for an hour, trying to remember where I saw that ladder or which room had the old man who gave me the diving suit. It was maddening. It was glorious.

The yo-yo, of all things, was your weapon. You’d sling it at enemies like a suburban ninja, knocking out rats, guards, and whatever else stood in your way. It wasn’t elegant, but it worked. And there was something satisfying about using a toy to fight your way through a video game. It felt right.

I never beat the game. I don’t even know how close I got. But that wasn’t the point. The point was the journey. The point was the mystery. The point was sitting there, controller in hand, trying to figure out what the heck was going on and loving every minute of it.

Looking back, The Goonies II wasn’t a great adaptation. But it was a great experience. It was one of those games that made you feel like you were part of something bigger, even if that something was a confusing maze with a yo-yo-wielding kid. And thanks to Geoffrey’s short attention span, I got to live that adventure for a few weeks, tucked into the corner of my living room, chasing secrets and swinging for the fences.

This was another game that I never actually owned.  But my best friend Geoffrey had it, and quickly tired of it.  Geoffrey was one of those kids that got whatever he wanted, and what he always wanted was a new video game.  He would get one, play it for a few weeks, and then tire of it.  Once he was done with one, it was offered to me to take home for a few weeks and play.  That was a pretty good setup on my end.  He sent me home one day with this game and being a fan of the movie, I was excited to pop it in and give it a whirl.  But like I already said, it differed from the movie quite a bit.  Not to say that as a bad thing though.  I feel like they had a game developed, and then just added the tie into the Goonies after the fact to sell more copies.