The game's box art
A 1991 Licensed Game for the Game Boy, Home Alone was published by THQ and developed by Imagineering. A 16-bit version was released for the SNES, and a different 8-bit Home Alone game developed by Bethesda Softworks was released for the NES the same year.
Some time after Home Alone, the Wet Bandits arranged Kevin's family to be away, leaving Kevin to be home alone again. He must defend his family's home, return the collectibles back to the family vault, and face his fears in the basement.
Not to be confused with the Sega versions of the game, released for the Sega Genesis and Game Gear the following year.
This game contains examples of:
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: It's never clarified that the McAllisters owned a lot of rare pets. In the movie, not one pet is seen, but in the game, they apparently have a whole menagerie of pets, from birds, cats, dogs, frogs, to lizards.
- Adaptational Villainy: Buzz's Tarantula from the movie serves as the first boss. It scurries from side to side, increasing speed when it is damaged.
- Adapted Out: Kevin's dad and the rest of his family is not mentioned at all, either in game or in the manual.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Did you run out of BB gun ammo against the boss fight vs. Marv? Check the right sink to get more ammo.
- All There in the Manual: The manual not only tells the main story, but also alludes to the Furnace being the major threat.
- Banana Peel: These can be employed as traps against burglars. Once it's set, they will slip on it and instantly be defeated.
- Bedsheet Ghost: The boss of the third level is a giant bedsheet ghost that teleports after flying a certain height.
- Boss-Only Level: After defeating Marv and Harry, there is the final showdown with the Furnace that's its own level.
- Boring Yet Practical: The basic water pistol might stun burglars, but it's very useful when you don't want to consume the harder-to-find weapons, such as baseballs and BB gun ammo.
- Brats with Slingshots: Kevin can employ a slingshot to dispatch . It's the weakest weapon in the game, but it is useful on Light-Fingered crooks.
- Canon Foreigner: All of the burglars who appear as enemies are original characters.
- Continuity Nod:
- In the third level, Kevin can climb the cabinet to cause it to collapse, a nod to the movie when he climbed the cabinet in Buzz's room and caused it to collapse.
- In the boss battle with Harry, Old Man Marley helps Kevin out by hitting Harry with a shovel.
- Death by Irony: The player can defeat enemies by knocking an item down onto an enemy when they are directly underneath it. Want to know how it's ironic? The item that does them in is more often than not one of the same items that the robbers are intending to steal.
- Death Throws: When an enemy is defeated, they'll fall off the screen.
- Dumb Muscle: Bruiser Boys will ignore any valuables and jump, causing the screen to shake. In later levels, a piece of plaster comes raining down.
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Dummied Out: A fish bowl is seen in the game's ROM. It would have been one of the items Kevin needed to collect in the fourth level. - Game-Breaking Bug: Climbing the right ladder back up from the attic in the fourth level will cause the game to crash.
- Game-Over Man: Harry and Marv serve as this, with Kevin being defeated in the background.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The final boss comes as a surprise: It's the furnace from the movie. If the player got the game second-hand and didn't have the manual, they might be surprised that it's the final boss.
- Giant Spider: The first boss is none other than Buzz's Tarantula. It guards the safe door to the Jewelry wing of the McAllister's family home.
- Gotta Catch Them All: Every level has a certain amount of items Kevin must collect before getting to the basement.note
- Guide Dang It!:
- In the third and fourth levels, you will have puzzles where you have to turn on the lights to intimidate crooks. By turning off the lights, you get a one up.
- How do you get the dog off the top of the pantry in the fourth level? By throwing a baseball on the screen.
- Invincible Minor Minion: All of the non-boss enemies in the basement and bats in the attic of the fourth level cannot be harmed by any of Kevin's weapons.
- Invincibility Power-Up: Picking up aftershave in bathrooms will not only make Kevin invincible. It will also give him increased movement speed while it is active.
- It's Personal: The Wet Bandits were not too happy with being arrested. They want to get revenge on Kevin, set up a deal with his family to leave him by himself.
- Kill It with Water: Remember the water pistol that you had since the beginning? It's your only way to defeat it. No other weapon works against it.
- Knockback: Getting hit by most bosses will send Kevin flying backwards a screen. Thankfully, the boss' HP doesn't reset when you come back to the screen.
- Lightning Bruiser: In the Pets wing (fourth level), all enemies get a movement speed increase. One enemy of note is the Bruiser Boys, which now have fast speed and their plaster-rain attack.
- Long Song, Short Scene: The music that plays when you're invincible is cut off about ten seconds after it is played. The rest of the song is never heard.
- One-Hit Kill: Successfully setting off a trap will instantly defeat any burglar. Throwing a baseball at Light-Fingered Criminals will also defeat them in one hit.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: The third level's basement has two varieties of ghosts. The smaller gingerbread-like ones and the boss, who is a Bedsheet Ghost.
- Permanently Missable Content: If a criminal takes a valuable item, it's gone for good. Only the Light-Fingered and Sneak-Thieves can steal these items.
- Playing with Fire: The furnace continuously shoots embers out that travel in different paths. One goes on the ground, another goes straight-forward, another flies in midair then lands onto the ground, and the last goes straight into the air.
- Point of No Return: Once Kevin goes inside a level's basement, there's no turning back. He must defeat the boss that's guarding that level's safe.
- Power-Up Food: Cookies will replenish one hit from Kevin's energy meter.
- Puzzle Boss: All of the bosses act like this. There's a specific method that Kevin must do to defeat them.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: The Giant Rat is the boss of the second level. It will jump much higher when it is weakened.
- Secret Room: In the third and fourth levels, there are hidden doorways that hide power-ups.
- Spikes of Doom: Floor tacks will damage Kevin if he walks on them. Sneak-Thieves and Bruiser Boys will not walk on these hazards.
- Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: Kevin's consumable weapons work differently from enemy to enemy. For example, BB guns are more effective on Sneak-Thieves, baseballs both work effectively on Bruiser Boys, Light-Fingered Thieves, hat throwers, and yo-yo throwers, and the Slingshot is best used on Light-Fingered Thieves.
- Teleportation Spam: The Giant Ghost will try to teleport roughly below where it was after flying a certain height.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Pizza slices can be found in every level. Collecting eight slices, or a pizza box will give Kevin a 1-Up.
- Turns Red: Most of the bosses gain a movement speed increase when they're weakened. Don't let your guard down and accidentally get hit by them!
- Unintentionally Unwinnable: In the third level, the right attic wall is not solid. It will take Kevin to the bottom floor of the fourth level, but any important items will not respawn if he returns to this level for real. Either you have to get a Game Over or redo the entire game.
- Water Guns and Balloons: Kevin starts with a water pistol as his default weapon. It can be used to stun burglars, but not defeat them.
- Weaponized Ball: Kevin can use baseballs against burglars to defeat them.
- Weaponized Headgear: One type of burglar can use his hat as a weapon against Kevin. It rebounds to him like a boomerang.
