Play Pagemaster Online

I picked up Pagemaster on Game Boy back in 1994, a Fox Interactive release that came out around the time licensed games were everywhere. It was based on that animated movie about a kid getting lost in a library, and on the small screen it translated into a side-scrolling action platformer that felt pretty typical for the era, with large, colorful sprites and levels that changed theme drastically.

You control Richard Tyler, the boy from the film, and your goal is to navigate through three distinct storybook worlds (Adventure, Horror, and Fantasy) to find your way out. The gameplay shifts depending on the book you're in; you might be swinging a sword against knights, avoiding Frankenstein's monster, or platforming across pirate ships. You collect pages scattered in each stage, which act like keys to progress, and the screen-by-screen exploration reminds me of older adventure titles. It can be a bit unforgiving with its enemy placement and jumps, but moving between such different settings keeps it interesting. It feels like hopping between short stories, each with its own rhythm and dangers.