Play Hudson Hawk on GB Online

Hudson Hawk on the Game Boy came out in 1991 from Ocean Software, right in the thick of the handheld's early life. It was a time when licensed games based on movies were everywhere, and this one tried to capture the oddball heist comedy of the film in a side-scrolling adventure. You don't see many games about suave thieves pulling off ridiculous capers, so it stood out, even with the hardware's limitations.

You control Bruce Willis's character, Hawk, moving through levels screen by screen, avoiding guards and dogs while hunting for keys and treasures. Your main goal is to steal pieces of Da Vinci's alchemy machine by completing objectives in each stage, which often involves careful timing and some light puzzle solving, like moving crates to reach higher platforms. Combat is simple; you throw small objects, like baseballs, to temporarily stun enemies rather than kill them. The pacing is methodical, and the difficulty can spike unexpectedly in later stages, especially with limited checkpoints. It feels like a cautious, slightly janky crawl through a cartoon version of a euro-caper gone wrong.