The Disney Game Mark Hamill Once Stayed Up All Night To Beat

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 Luke Skywalker
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)

We know that Mark Hamill doesn't have much time to game, and he's been quite busy these last few years promoting Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The last Jedi, but he has managed to get in some time with one particular Disney game, so much so that he spent all night playing the game in order to beat it. So what game was it?

According to IGN, Hamill put in his time with The Little Mermaid. He explained to the entertainment media outlet that he spent all night playing the game, saying...

"They still laugh about the fact that I stayed up 'til four in the morning to beat The Little Mermaid. They say, 'dad, don't tell anybody that, it's a girl's game.' (laughs) But that was about my speed."

Well, at least Hamill has no qualms about sharing what sort of games he enjoys playing. In fact, during the interview with IGN, he talks about what games he was best at playing, and he says that he was pretty big into gaming when his sons were small and he used to play with them. So what other games did he play? Well, how about Sky Kid from Bandai Namco? It was an older title that came out way back in the day for the NES and the Super Cassette Vision, which lets you know just how long ago it was when Hamill was an ace at the joysticks. Hamill also name-drops other classics like Lucky Dime Caper for the Sega Master System, an old-school classic that came out way back in 1991.

But it was The Little Mermaid for the original NES from Capcom that had captivated Hamill enough to put in his time and energy into playing until he beat the game. He had one of those keep trying until you win attitudes, which is most definitely admirable, even if he was playing a "little girl's game".

Back in the day, Disney Interactive used to license out titles based on the animated movies, and many developers made some really awesome games based on the Disney movie properties. So it's not at all surprising that Hamill would find himself enraptured with some of Disney's classics. Keep in mind that to this very day people still consider Aladdin on the original 16-bit Sega Genesis as one of the very best 2D side-scrolling platformers ever made.

But that leads into the next segment about Hamill talking about his abysmal skills in EA and DICE's highly controversial Star Wars: Battlefront II, where he says he's like Grandpa Simpson from The Simpsons (which is now under Disney). It's almost poetic that so many of Hamill's references and fond memories with his family recall moments tied directly to the company now towering over the Star Wars franchise.

Nevertheless, it's quite funny to hear how Hamill was once a gamer but has practically retired from that little endeavor. I'm almost curious to know how well he did with other games he's starred in, such as the Batman: Arkham series from Rocksteady Studios where he played the Joker. Then again, if he had a tough time with Star Wars: Battlefront II, I doubt he did much better in Batman.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.