The only Nightmare Before Christmas sequel was a bizarre video game

More than a decade after Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas debuted in movie theaters, Street Fighter and Mega Man publisher Capcom pulled off something impressive: It made a direct sequel to the movie, with Burton’s blessing.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s RevengeThe game, which was released in the United States on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox original consoles in 2005, takes place one year after events from the movie. Oogie, who is a Halloween Town resident, is resurrected by Lock, Shock, and Barrel. He has aspirations of taking over Halloween Town and becoming the Seven Holidays king.

Capcom aimed for authenticity with its sequel, bringing back much of the original film’s cast to voice characters, including Chris Sarandon as Jack Skellington and Ken Page as Oogie. The film’s art director also contributed new design work for the game. And the game’s makers even matched the film’s musical numbers, with Jack fighting bosses to re-recorded versions of Danny Elfman’s songs.

Gameplay-wise, Capcom aimed much lower. Oogie’s Revenge plays like a simplified version of the publisher’s Devil May Cry games: Jack wields a glowing green cord called a Soul Robber to whip, grab, and smash rooms full of skeletons and giant bosses. Like the Devil May Cry games, an on-screen combo counter lavishes praise on players as they battle, calling their in-game performance “Spine-tingling”, “Bone-chilling”, and “Shriek-i-fied.” And, similar to Devil May Cry’s swappable fighting styles, Jack can switch in and out of costumes that imbue special powers on the fly. He can freeze and stun enemies in his Santa Form. In his Pumpkin King form, he is able to spit flames.

Capcom

Unlike Devil May Cry — which should really adopt this mechanic, though — Oogie’s Revenge’s boss battles feature a musical rhythm game called Dance Mode. Jack is able to sing and dance while he fights off his opponents, which include a giant Oogie Boogie and Dr. Finkelstein who has had their brains swapped.

Oogie’s RevengeCritically, the game was dismissed. Despite it being a long-awaited return to the setting of Burton and director Henry Selick’s stop-motion animated world, the game was dinged for its repetitive gameplay and shallowness. Multiple reviewers at the time criticized the fact that Jack Skellington said “Soul Grabber!” out loud every time he used the weapon.

You can also read about it here Oogie’s Revenge — and a Castlevania-inspired prequel, The Pumpkin King in The Nightmare Before Christmas — were released when NightmareFans were eager for new Jack Skellington games, Sally and Lock, Shock and Barrel. Capcom created the original game in Japan for its audiences. The Nightmare Before Christmas still enjoys immense popularity.

Michael Mullin claims that Disney Japan staffers in the merchandise department wanted new Nightmare materials even before it was released. Mullin, a Disney Copywriter ended up pitching and writing two sequel stories. The Nightmare Before Christmas Burton did not want to continue the story by sending Jack Skellington into other themed holiday lands such as Easter Town. Mullin later worked on a Nightmare game for NECA. Oogie’s Revenge.)

Capcom

Oogie’s Revenge doesn’t do much to expand the world beyond Burton’s original vision; it’s largely set in locations seen in the film. It did, however, add new elements to the environment of the film. These were created using input from the cast. The Nightmare Before Christmas art director Deane Taylor.

“There was a lot of opportunity for freedom, which was good,” Taylor said in a 2005 interview with Team Xbox about the development of Oogie’s Revenge, “but you have to understand that you are trying to make it look like Tim drew it, which was my brief when I got the job on the film. This is a lot easier said than done.”

“There’s a bunch [of new locations in Oogie’s Revenge],” Taylor said, some of which fleshed out characters seen in the film. “To design the vampire castle I drew the four vampires as a group, frozen in mid scare, which I then turned into stone and then into castle detail. With the Mayor’s house I wanted an interesting entrance, or approach to the house. Since his house was basically his hat and head, I imagined the house had once been placed face-down in the mud. Then, it would have been lifted up. The impression left in the mud was used to create a mosaic made of dried bugs and old bones. This level of detail is not always apparent, but it is always there.”

Capcom

While Burton hasn’t been keen on sequels, according to Oogie’s RevengeMasato Yoshino was the producer of this game and he approved it. Speaking to Movieweb in 2005, Yoshino said Capcom showed an in-development version to the director “and received detailed advice on various elements, including his signature expression of contrast between light and shadow, character movement and facial expression as well as the world of Nightmare Before Christmas itself. He provided advice on such a wide range of details that we could really feel his love and passion for the film.”

Said Yoshino of his meeting with Burton, “I went into the meeting with the attitude that I was the biggest fan of the film and possibly I love The Nightmare Before Christmas more than even Tim does, only to realize my understanding of the film was shallow and superficial when Tim enthusiastically gave us more conceptual advice rather than bickering over differences in small details.”

Unfortunate for you, The Nightmare Before Christmas fans, Oogie’s RevengeThe game is effectively locked on the old platform. The PS2 and Xbox games are not officially backward compatible on current platforms, and there’s been no hint of a re-release. But second hand copies aren’t too expensive, if you’re willing to put up with mid-aughts graphics.