History VideoGame / HocusPocus

Speculation on the game has arisen that Trolodon was Terexin himself, as the player never gets to see the mage beyond the hologram, and both mages bore the same robes and beard. After Trolodon's defeat, Terexin was spiteful rather than grateful towards Hocus, as he couldn't believe that such a great mage like Trolodon could be defeated by a puny wizard like Hocus who was also a dropout.

Terexin, a powerful mage, explains that all magic power of the Land of Lattice is entrenched into powerful crystals that resonate if brought together in sets. As leader of the Council of Wizards, Terexin tells Hocus Pocus, the young wizard the player controls, has the quest to obtain such crystals in order to attain more magic powers to become a worthy member of the Council. He promises Hocus that if he manages to become a member, he gets to marry his sweetheart Popopa, who is also Terexin's daughter. Throughout his journey, Hocus encounters strange and sometimes dangerous creatures, like mummies, bats and Eskimos. Terexin, in the form of a hologram, gives the player advice through the game, although the conversations vary from solving a switch puzzle to how long it took him to grow his beard. After defeating Trolodon, the magic areas were now mostly cleared, so they became fairly safe for travel. As for completing his apprenticeship, Hocus Pocus becomes part of the Council of Wizards. At the end of the game, he marries his beloved Popopa, making them Mr. and Mrs. Pocus.

* BottomlessMagazines: Fortunately, Hocus' basic damaging magic has [[AWizardDidIt infinite ammunition]]. The downside is the fire rate of this spell is slow, though it can be increased by finding lightning bolts.

* BigBad: Trolodon.

* VideogameSettings:
** BigBoosHaunt: Episode 3 levels 3-4, which has ghosts and other spooky things.
** BuildLikeAnEgyptian: Episode 2 levels 5-6, with hieroglyphic tiles, mummies and fire-breathing crocodiles as enemies, and pyramids in the background. Episode 4 levels 3-4 uses the same tileset and enemies, but replaces the background with more of an ancient middle-east thing.
** DroughtLevelOfDoom: Episode 4 level 1 has no healing potions. More broadly, most of Episode 4 is much stingier with healing potions compared to the rest of the game.
** IcePalace: Episode 1 levels 5-6, complete with ice spikes, penguins, and Inuit-looking enemies hurling spears at you (a fanmade 3D remake gives them the names Frigid Fields and Palace of Ice).
** {{Prehistoria}}: Episode 3 levels 7-9, where the enemies are dinosaurs, and [[DinosaursAreDragons the bosses are dragons]].
** TheLostWoods: Episode 2 levels 7-9. Wood- and plant-based architecture, and plant-based enemies including the [[WhenTreesAttack the Tree Demon bosses]].
** TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: Episode 4 levels 7-9, where the architecture and enemies become much more foreboding.

* UnwinnableByMistake: In some levels it's possible to leave an elevator you need out of jumping range, or to fall down an elevator shaft when there isn't an elevator at the bottom. Other levels have a warp potion required to advance in the level, and you can either "waste" it by going back, or get stuck by using it too early. There's also an area in the second level of Episode 3 where, if you park an elevator to a treasure area in a certain position, you can walk up into the chamber but not be able to walk out of it. In all cases, you have to use the "restart level" option from the menu.

** TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: Episode 4 levels 7-9, where the architecture and enemies becomes much more foreboding.

Speculation on the game has arisen that Trolodon was Terexin himself, as the player never gets to see the mage beyond the hologram, and both mages bore the same robes and beard. After Trolodon's defeat, Terexin was spiteful rather than grateful towards Hocus, as he couldn't believe that such a great mage like Trolodon could be defeated by a puny wizard like him who was also a dropout.

* BottomlessMagazines: Fortunately, Hocus' basic damaging magic has [[AWizardDidIt infinite ammunition]].

* TookALevelInKindness: Unusually for a game of this time, Terexin actually undergoes a bit of CharacterDevelopment in the course of the first episode. He starts out quite dismissive of Hocus, and is convinced that he's doomed to fail, but by the time you reach the end of the first episode, he hands you a Rapid Fire potion and encourages you to finish off the last few Mad Monks. Apart from briefly remarking that he never thought Hocus would succeed at the end of the game, he's significantly more respectful of Hocus from this point on.

''Hocus Pocus'' is a 1994 side-scrolling platform video game developed by Moonlite Software and published by Apogee Software for MS-DOS. It is a 256 color VGA game featuring 360 degree scrolling and parallaxing backgrounds. A part of this title is distributed under the shareware license. In the game, the player controls Hocus, a young wizard apprentice, sent on a quest by Terexin, leader of the Council of Wizards to prove his worthiness to join this council. To do this, Hocus has to beat 36 levels spread over four episodes (9 per episode), filled with over 30 different kinds of monsters, including imps, ghosts, and dragons, and a boss at the end of each episode.

[[Film/HocusPocus No relation to the film of the same name]].
!!This VideoGame contains examples of:

* WhenTreesAttack: The bosses at the end of Episode 2. They are mobile and you can easily get cornered if you're not careful. And touching them means instant death.

** IcePalace: Episode 1 levels 5-6, complete with ice spikes, penguins, and Inuit-looking enemies hurling spears at you.

* NumericalHard: Just about the only difference between difficulties is that getting damaged takes away more health on harder difficulties, and the end-of-level point bonuses for OneHundredPercentCompletion and beating the time limit are bigger. Oh, and some levels have more "extra firepower" items on Medium or Hard.
* SealedWithAKiss: Hocus and his love kiss in a scene after the fourth episode's ending tex.

** The "laser shot" powerup, which gives you three shots that instantly kill any enemy they hit and keep going, including bosses. Obviously the game doesn't give these to you on boss levels, but occasionally get a random powerup out of nowhere; if your timing is sufficiently lucky you could take out the final boss in one shot.

* SealedWithAKiss

NeedsWikiMagicLove.

* OneHitKill: Don't even try touching the bosses. On the other hand, hitting a "smart bomb" enemy will do this to every enemy on the screen.

* DroughtLevelOfDoom: Episode 4 level 1 has no healing potions.

* UnwinnableByMistake: In some levels it's possible to leave an elevator you need out of jumping range, or to fall down an elevator shaft when there isn't an elevator at the bottom. Other levels have a warp potion required to advance in the level, and you can either "waste" it by going back, or get stuck by using it too early. There's also an area in the second level of Episode 4 where, if you park an elevator to a treasure area in a certain position, you can walk up into the chamber but not be able to walk out of it. In all cases, you have to use the "restart level" option from the menu.

* NumericalHard: Pretty much the only difference between the difficulty levels is how much damage enemies do, how many hits it takes to kill them, and how many points you get for getting OneHundredPercentCompletion on a level and for beating the level within the time limit.

''Hocus Pocus'' is a 1994 side-scrolling platform video game developed by Moonlite Software and published by Apogee Software for MS-DOS. It is a 256 color VGA game featuring 360 degree scrolling and parallaxing backgrounds. A part of this title is distributed under the shareware license. In the game, the player controls Hocus, a young wizard apprentice, sent on a quest by Terexin, leader of the Council of Wizards to prove his worthiness to join this council. To do this, Hocus has to beat 36 levels spread over four episodes (9 per episode), filled with over 30 different kinds of monsters, includings imps, ghosts, and dragons, and a boss at the end of each episode.

* BigBad: Trodolon.