Playing Hobo 5 Space Online
Ah, the Hobo series. A true masterpiece of early internet flash game culture. “Hobo 5: Space Brawls” was a wild turn for the series, but it somehow made perfect sense at the time.
So after fighting his way through pretty much everyone on Earth, from cops to the army and even Satan himself, there was nowhere left for our favorite homeless brawler to go… except space. The story picks up with him getting abducted by aliens, and naturally, his first instinct is to fight his way through the entire UFO. The core of the game is exactly what you’d expect from the series: pure, chaotic, side-scrolling beat-’em-up action. You walk right, punch, kick, and use the grossest attacks imaginable on anyone who gets in your way.
What made this one so fun was how they adapted the signature “hobo” moves for the alien theme. Instead of just burping or spitting, you’re learning new combos that involve alien tech and zero-gravity weirdness. The enemies are all different kinds of aliens, from your classic little green men to bigger, weirder creatures, but they all explode into goo just the same. It keeps the gross-out humor that the series is famous for, just with a sci-fi twist.
Honestly, it was the perfect way to keep the joke going. The idea of this disgusting, unstoppable force of nature tearing his way through a technologically advanced spaceship using nothing but his fists and bodily functions is hilarious. It’s got all the satisfying, button-mashing combat of the previous games, but the change in scenery and enemies made it feel fresh. It was a high point in a series that was never afraid to be completely ridiculous.