Jim Henson's The Hoobs

Jim Henson's The Hoobs for PlayStation is a PAL-region educational adventure based on the British children's television series. Developed by Runecraft and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, it arrived on 7 June 2002 for the original PlayStation. Rather than being a general account of the television programme, this is the licensed PS1 game built around Iver, Tula and Groove and their explorations of Hoobland. Its child-friendly presentation carries the colourful puppet-inspired characters and made-up Hoob vocabulary into an interactive setting.

The game frames its activity as a voyage of discovery. Iver, Tula and Groove investigate their surroundings, seek out things to learn, and pass their findings along through the Hoobopaedia, the Hoobs' large information store. That idea reflects the series' knowledge-gathering premise while giving the PlayStation release a clear progression: move through its Hoobland locations, uncover discoveries, and add to the information being shared with the wider Hoob community.

Its design combines simple action-oriented play with educational material instead of treating either element as a separate mode. Discovery is the central objective, and the three familiar Hoobs provide the connection to the television cast. Hubba Hubba's Hoobopaedia is joined by the local news service and the Hoobs' internet-style communication as part of the game's world, reinforcing the theme that discoveries are meant to be reported as well as found. The result is a single-player experience aimed at younger players and fans of the programme.

The PS1 release belongs to the early-2000s wave of licensed children's games that adapted a television property for home consoles. The television series itself was made by The Jim Henson Company and Decode Entertainment for Channel 4, but the game is a distinct Runecraft production rather than an episode of the show. Its 2002 release came while The Hoobs was still a current series, making the game a period-specific companion to its characters, language, and learning-focused fictional world.

Jim Henson's The Hoobs was released in Europe for the original PlayStation and is generally catalogued as a PAL-only title. That regional focus matters when identifying the game: it should not be confused with the TV series itself, nor with a later version for another system. For players exploring PlayStation games based on children's television, it is a compact Hoobland adventure whose defining features are its licensed cast, exploratory theme, and Hoobopaedia-centered approach to learning.