Who hasn’t seen the 1980s classic film The Goonies? It was directed by Richard Donner and based on a story by the prolific Steven Spielberg. The Goonies film was a grand success that went on to spawn other forms of media including video games. In 1986 a platform game developed by Konami was released for the MSX and the NES. The game was never sold in retail in North America but it was rereleased for the VS. System, an arcade system similar to the NES. The rerelease was rebranded as Vs. The Goonies. The game received positive reviews. It was praised for its attention to detail, interesting puzzles, and it’s fun gameplay.
©Screenshot of The Goonies Gameplay – License
The Premise Of The Goonies
In the computer versions, the player plays as Sloth but in the NES and arcade versions, you play as an unnamed main character who’s only referred to as Player. There are many other differences between the different ports of The Goonies. In the computer versions, the entire game takes place exclusively in the caverns. The player goes through 25 interconnected and non-linear levels searching for the Goonies. The NES version roughly follows the film, with stages resembling the restaurant, caverns, and a pirate ship. The ending also recreates one scene from the film where the Goonies are on a beach watching The Inferno ship sail away.
©Screenshot of The Goonies gameplay – License
The Main Characters Of The Goonies
- Sloth
- Chunk
- Mikey
- Data
- Brandon “Brand” Walsh
- Mouth
- Mama Fratelli
- Andy
- Stef
- Francis Fratelli
- Jake
- Mr. Walsh
Other Titles In The Series
There is a sequel, The Goonies II, released for the NES. The title was an exploration platformer with an open-level design. The game features two modes of play: platform and first-person. Most of the game is played as the former as the player works through a non-linear map. The player moves Mikey to new areas of the map by ladders or doors that may act as warp zones.
The Goonies Cheat Codes
MSX Cheats
Level Passwords
At the title screen, press CTRL + K to enter the password screen and type the following keys:
| Effect | Password |
|---|---|
| Stage 1 | GOONIES |
| Stage 2 | MR SLOTH |
| Stage 3 | GOON DOCKS |
| Stage 4 | DOUBLOON |
| Stage 5 | ONE EYED WILLY |
NES Cheats
Continue
At the game over screen, hold Up & A and press Start.
Game Genie Codes
To use the following cheat codes you need to have the third-party hardware, Game Genie. If you’re using an emulator to play The Goonies then these codes should work still.
- SZSU-NTSA Infinite Health
- OZEA-LLVK Infinite Lives
- SSOO-UZVI Infinite Time
- AVI-OOI Invincible
- AEOE-POUY Skip Title Scroll
- ZASZ-YTPA Walk Faster
- SXNP-TZAX Walk Through Walls
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Screenshot of The Goonies Title Screen.