Cool World (NES) Playthrough

A playthrough of Ocean's 1993 license-based action game for the NES, Cool World.
Cool World for the NES was one of the many games produced by Ocean to be based on the 1992 movie starring Brad Pitt and Kim Basinger. The movie was a box office flop that got crucified by critics, and the NES game didn't exactly set the world on fire when it finally released a year later.
The SNES version ( • Cool World (SNES) Play... ) met with a rather tepid reception, but the popular gaming magazines never even bothered to acknowledge the existence of the NES game. Rightfully so, I say.
Remember the movie's awkward tagline? "Holli would if she could ...and she will." I suppose the intention was to sum up the movie's plot - that Holli, a trashy Jessica Rabbit wannabe, wanted to become real, and she was willing to do anything to make that happen - with a spicy bit of innuendo.
The game follows that same basic idea: you play as Frank Harris, a cop who has to stop her from turning herself human with the "golden spike" (oh, more innuendo, how clever!) and unleashing the "doodles" (ah, what a knee slapper!) on the real world.
Doing this on the NES involves collecting map pieces that, when put together, reveal Holli's location. You can play the first four stages in any order, and once the map is complete, you move on to the Ocean Tower for the final showdown. The goal of each stage is to collect the map piece from the boss, but since your pen is useless against these guys, you'll need to gather a stockpile of special weapon ammo before throwing down the gauntlet.
There are a few irritatingly arbitrary "puzzles," but the cycle generally goes like this:
1. Frantically run away from swarms of baddies as you search for the pen so you can defend yourself (if the pen doesn't forget to spawn itself).
2. Attempt to interact with every innocuous object you come across in the vain hope that you'll find a way to move forward, only to be insta-killed by a car or electricity.
3. Collect special weapons and candy canes while falling through false platforms into acid vats and bottomless pits.
4. Scream in frustration at the playfield's wonky sense of depth, the fact that attacking and ducking are both assigned to the B button, the inability to move diagonally, the way jumping from a platform to the floor leaves you momentarily stunned, and the flaming trainwreck of a soundtrack.
5. Reach the boss and pelt them with your items (whenever they aren't glitching out) until they drop the map piece, and if you don't have enough items to finish the job, well... it sucks to be you. Unless you have a huge stockpile of extra lives, you might as well hit the reset button.
So yeah, it's understandable that Holli would want to escape Cool World, and I'm confident that she will. It's hardly worth the effort to stop her.
Not cool, Ocean. Not cool at all.
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocom...) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!

[@NintendoComplete]

Holli would if she could... be in a decent game, but we don't always get what we want.

[@TeddyBelcher4kultrawide]

27:50 damage is score but kill is not score

[@freakyzed8467]

Ah, to be old enough to get that reference.

[@AllofJudea]

"Hi, I would like to do the music and sound effects for this game. I have 6 sounds. Not all at once please."

[@edwardgaines6561]

God knows how well KONAMI would've handled the OST!

[@_space_cat_]

I can see that Holly took some lessons from Battletoads' Dark Queen. Also, I love the endings that make you feel like you still have lost the game.

[@NintendoComplete]

Yeah, also Valvalis from Final Fantasy II. Evil ladies in early 90s video games seemed to love turning into tornadoes.

[@Rykiz_Vidz]

Aw man, I always had a crush on the dark queen from the battle toads games for as long as I can remember.

[@dorpth]

I was even thinking that the climb up the tower was reminiscent of the final level of Battletoads.

[@mrmusickhimself]

I'm still shocked that they thought a Ralph Bakshi movie would do Roger Rabbit numbers, especially with the source material. Nothing against Ralph, but you're not going to see a Fritz the Cat NES game, can't believe Kim Basinger wanted the movie shown in children's hospitals either. Just a LOT of things I won't understand about Cool World, but the soundtracks to the movie AND the game were both awesome.

[@kaiokendo]

Kim believes that cool world could pass as a bluth sxhlock and i don't blame her

[@GetLostGames1]

When I saw this at blockbuster as a rental I shook my head with disappointment and moved on. I was 9 and knew this game was a complete pile. I enjoyed watching the play through ty

[@ericbass3349]

I could never wrap my head around British game design. So many games rely on hidden, out-of-the-way paths or hard-to-reach items. Not that I'm arguing in favor of games that hand-hold you through the first eight hours of play, but I at least want to be able to find my way forward without checking every block in a wall, or having to pick up a billiard rack and take it to a room with a giant chicken, dropping it on the right pixel, because the developer thought we would all know about

[@ArttuTheCat]

I still want to look for the Ralph Bakshi movie tie-in of COOL WORLD for my Commodore 64 and Amiga 500 😹🤘. I saw that movie for the first time in the mid 1990's. I still have it on DVD 😺👍.

[@rcblazer]

Bit of a correction in your description. Frank Harris (Brad Pitt's character) was the human cop who was pulled there after his mother dies at the beginning of Cool World. Holli's creator was actually Jack Deebs, played by Gabriel Byrne in the movie. He's who you played as in the SNES version.

[@NintendoComplete]

Ah okay. Thanks. It's been forever since I saw the movie.

[@Liquidcadmus]

the movie was bad, and the games of the movie were worse. the video gets a like for your willingness to go through this whole game. I think not many people would.

[@godagon97]

Same. 👍

[@depletable]

The movie was good.

[@NintendoComplete]

Thanks! I can't say as I blame anyone for not wanting to touch it with a 10 foot pole. I only played it because I do this for a living. This is the type of game that makes playing games feel like a job.

[@Rykiz_Vidz]

​@@NintendoCompleteIt sucks too because I can tell how much you've had to play this game to practice for this video playthrough, which just makes it so much worse.

[@NintendoComplete]

@@Rykiz_Vidz Thanks. At least the effort shows lol. It's a small consolation.

[@christianboyce2070]

I really like how movies are mixed with animation and live action like “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”. Nowadays there just CGI and Live-action mix.

[@richardDara-ot9zp]

Wow you got into a game that I haven't played, seen or heard of since I rented it at Blockbuster video.

[@fahriakalin5936]

this is the kind of game they would keep behind the counter. under the desk. in the circular file. where it belongs.

[@JFJD]

It looks like Ocean used the same engine as The Addams Family, and I could swear the cutscene font was ripped from Dick Tracy, (even though that was made by Bandai, apparently.)

[@NintendoComplete]

I got that sense too. It feels like a more broken version of The Addams Family.

[@sa8die]

i just love those Nintendo sounds ,. and very good play,. thx

[@TheBigDynamo]

I have never seen this movie, but how far fetched is it to say that it's basically a down bad, water downed, weird alternative to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

[@Aaaaaaa-sc8jo]

It's exactly what it is. Iirc the producers wanted to make cash after RR's success, while Bakshi just wanted to experiment with live/animation mix and do weird stuff like he always does.

[@ElZorroHonesto]

Bakshi claims he wanted to make a horror movie about a half-human, half-cartoon freak who hated herself and wanted revenge on her human father for abandoning her, but Paramount and Kim Basinger got in the way.

[@NintendoComplete]

Yeah, it's basically Roger Rabbit from Wish.

[@TheBigDynamo]

@@ElZorroHonesto That actually doesn't sound too bad. It would make for a pretty memorable character if it was done right. It's not something I've ever seen in a movie either.

[@TheBigDynamo]

@@NintendoComplete Love that response 😂

[@sharmat1611]

I never really fully read the video description before, but honestly, it’s as impressive as the playthrough. I’m a longtime watcher and I just kind of assumed that you just plowed through these games World of Longplays style with savestates and no real detail about the game. Now I’m gonna have to go back and rewatch a lot of my saved videos to read the descriptions.

[@NintendoComplete]

Oh, thanks! That's cool of you to say 😊

[@blodguizer]

Emulation is the best way to play this, the physical prices on this game are steep.

[@NintendoComplete]

Oh I'll have to go check that out. I've had a sealed copy collecting dust on my shelf for years.

[@blodguizer]

@NintendoComplete one seller on Ebay is asking $3,400 for his sealed copy.

[@NintendoComplete]

​@@blodguizerThat's so ridiculous hahaha

[@christopherthibeault7502]

@@NintendoComplete I'd buy it, just so I can film it getting burned in effigy. Then sell tickets.

[@indrachaudhari7874]

Ocean Software were the British LJN.

[@princessmarlena1359]

There was a NINTENDO game for this!? Wow! 🤯

[@julesgamergourmand]

I don't know this game but I find it beautiful.

[@senseicorey9979]

Right? My first impression was it looks and sounds better then I expected

[@LPetal86]

Seeing the game is produced by Ocean and noticing how Frank slips through the top of some of the platforms due to sloppy programming means it is working exactly as expected. I used to have a book full of cheat codes for SNES/Genesis games back in the day and remember the SNES version having a game over screen that read, "Try again, sucker!". It seemed like such a weird game. I've also seen the movie a couple of times, it's weird and almost cohesive but you can really tell they ran out of budget, LOL.

[@NintendoComplete]

Haha right? That Ocean logo brought with it certain expectations. If you were really lucky, it would turn out to be playable, but most the time it was just a terrible game with a nice soundtrack. The movie at least had potential. It's a shame it turned out the way it did.

[@marcelosoares7148]

I think this is still better than the SNES game but that's a really low bar anyway.

[@robwest5457]

The opening title screen looks like a city of giant masked luchadores buried up to their noses

[@POLE7645]

Somehow, Holli in the thumbnail looks more like Angel from Rock and Rule. Why didn't that movie got a game?

[@TentacleShark]

the rare time where the tie-in game beats the movie it's tied to in pretty much every aspect

[@v7bdv7bd34]

Так вот же он - герой комикс зоны номер один ! :-)

[@jamesl.anderson1384]

38:03 Holli Would: ✏️ Dork

[@Luisin88]

17:00 what the heck? you cheesed him!!

[@adamjeremycapps]

The one Ocean game I've seen that totally looks like an LJN game.

[@peechitmanuel6663]

Thumbnail, it's Kim Basinger.

[@MbRetroGamer]

cool world nice

[@nintendokenakasuperyoshi1518]

Nice. Will you be doing a playthrough of Axelay for SNES?

[@TheFoodieCutie]

What’s the premise of this movie? Never saw it was not allowed to see it when it came out.

[@Rykiz_Vidz]

It's very similar to Who framed Roger Rabbit

[@noahboat580]

It just seems so strange seeing a Cool World NES game that isnt some unreleased prototype or fangame or whatever. And of course it isnt a left to right platformer it has to solve a bunch of crap puzzles

[@jprogman]

Music is somewhat better when the SFX cancels out the sound channels. Otherwise, too much arpeggios. ("Better", not "great")

[@NintendoComplete]

The sound effects cutting in is great. The arpeggiated chords are so loud and grating. Most games will either play them quietly in the background or fade them out to prevent them from standing out too much in the mix, but in Cool World, every note is like a shot from a nail gun. It sounds awful.

[@VideoMeltdown]

How in the ass am I still learning about random games that were on NES for some reason

[@JinzoCrash]

Glad i passed on watching the movie and renting the game... this was painful. lol.

[@KenMasters.]

Cool World would only be good as a laser-disc game with fully animated cutscenes.

[@orlandoturbo6431]

If this was on the TurboGrafx16 it would have fully animated cutscenes.

[@DMSteeley]

Cool game.

[@DeadlyVenomKing]

As a kid if would played this game back in day. Got frustrated and gave up

[@mrmurdock6994]

its funny how this game doesn't sound like NES. It's more like MSX or Spectrum.

[@paulonatanaeldossantossana3909]

35:50

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Of course its an Ocean game too. 🤣

[@Dorian_Scott]

The only good Ocean game was the 16-bit Addams Family game for SNES and Genesis. I wanted to like Values as I found it to be more enjoyable than Fester's Quest and it did a much better job of capturing the essence of the TV show than FQ... but it wasn't perfect.

[@ElZorroHonesto]

@@Dorian_Scott I thought their SNES versions of Jurassic Park and Alien 3 were okay.

[@NintendoComplete]

Yeah, an ocean of shit. I know I'm channeling big AVGN energy here, but it feels appropriate. Didn't he call Ocean England's LJN, or something to that effect? He was totally right.

[@Dorian_Scott]

@@ElZorroHonesto Yeah, Alien 3 for SNES was decent. I didn't know they published the SNES one. I thought they *_only_* published the NES version.

[@Rykiz_Vidz]

I mean it could have always been the dreaded 🌈 LJN

[@orlandoturbo6431]

I wonder how would this game look if it was on the TurboGrafx16. I know one thing it would have better sound.

[@spoonshiro]

Another bad tie-in game from Ocean...

[@jonathand9682]

Without any context, this IS a Cool World......lol

[@ejsvirtualgarage]

The soundtrack is almost as bad as 1942's. Ouch; my ears.

[@TheNei]

[@AmisAngelstreams]

Leisure Suit Larry NES port looks weird

[@dorpth]

Was this a Commodore 64 port to NES? That music sounds EXTREMELY like C64.

[@NintendoComplete]

I think the C64 version was a different game. The music in this sounds like a really poor adaptation of the SNES version's music.

[@eviljigglypuff2254]

What a weird movie to gamify. This looks seriously painful

[@mnemonichotpocket]

"....and I'm a cat." - Family Guy

[@Dorian_Scott]

Oh god, that horrible music. Even the SNES version had a decent OST.

[@dearmadeline]

i always have holli as my pfp on discord lmao

[@Penfold8]

The soundtrack of this game made my ears bleed.

[@tiefighter3445]

This looks fun 😂 I saw another version maybe it was super nes not sure but it’s nothing like this in fact it looks horrible compared to this.

[@moneybot646]

Sorry the cartoon in the movie was way hotter than Kim bassinger

[@NintendoComplete]

So was Mrs. Potatohead, but it's all good. Different strokes for different folks, right?

[@W4lmartbag]

The cool world games where a train wreck Like the own novie they where based on HOW IRONIC HAHAHAHA

[@robwest5457]

It’s so lazy that they programmed the woman to say the same thing after every round, also stupid because the way would be less long as you progress. This was a terrible movie, a confusing game and I dare anyone to explain what they’re seeing

[@ShantaeFan1983]

The SNES version is way better and has better music and graphics, some of the graphics and sound are not that bad in this though

[@saintsheepy6682]

I consider this to easily be the worst Ocean published game on the NES (their worst SNES game? I'd say Waterworld).

[@RhianeTurtonator]

Click girl

[@edwardgaines6561]

The music in this game is garbage.

[@NintendoComplete]

Right? You hear it and you're like, wtf even is this?

[@guy38853]

You play as the Gabriel Byrne character instead of the Brad Pitt character😅 That's disappointing.

[@ve1309hd]

Really?

[@claudioadriano5422]

The game looks boring as hell!

[@Avrelivs_Gold]

(in avgn voice) This game sucks

[@juanbautistagonzalezrodrig9715]

Another lousy game the Angry Video Game Nerd needs to review. Although was a very curious movie and Kim Basinger did a good role as Holly Would and Brat Pitt being the main character, the movie is a cult classic but the game is frustrating and atrocious at tbe same time.

[@shakurburton9358]

Watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Instead. Don't play any games for that neither, tho - they suck, too, unfortunately & honestly enough.

[@Pen1tent1]

I don't like to get too harsh on the nes games. But when i saw this, i couldn't help but ask myself. What kind of unhinged garbage is this game