J.J. Cooney

J.J. Cooney is one of the characters in the 1983 horror anthology film Nightmares. He the main character in the segment The Bishop of Battle. He is played by Emilio Estevez.

Jerry "J.J." Cooney Jr. is a teenager who loves in Los Angeles and a video game wiz who is also a video game hustler. He hangs out with a kid named Zock Maxwell. J.J. is a teen who is obsessed with a video game called "The Bishop of Battle", a maddeningly difficult video game that features thirteen levels; no one he knows has made it to the thirteenth, and many believe it is just a myth. One day, J.J. and Zock go to East L.A. to a video game arcade place and J.J. hustles a Latino gang member in playing a video game. One of the other kids recognize his name is tells the gang member he's being hustled after losing to J.J. playing a video game. The gang members chase after J.J. and Zock and they get away on the bus.

Later on that day, J.J. wants to go to the mall to the arcade place and play The Bishop of Battle, Zock is tired and wants to go home, but J.J. wants Zock to come with him. he tells J.J. that the Level 13 of the game does not exist. After an argument about Jerry's obsession with video games, they split up for the day. J.J. goes to the arcade and plays The Bishop of Battle. He repeatedly tries and fails to make it to the thirteenth level until the owner forces him to leave at closing time.

J.J. goes home and his dad, Jerry Sr. and his mom, Adele, have a talk with him, concerned about his performance in school, ground him until his grades improve. J.J. tries to convince his dad that he just want one more time with the game and his dad refuses. J.J. tells his parents off and cusses them out and goes to his room and listens to some punk rock music, pissed off. Later on that night, J.J. sneaks out of the house and goes to the mall and breaks into the arcade and turns of the games. He goes to play "The Bishop of Battle". However, when he reaches the thirteenth level, the arcade cabinet collapses and the enemies fly out, and he defends himself with the suddenly-functioning gun from the game's controls. Jerry flees to the parking lot, but the Bishop of Battle appears, drawing closer and closer to a terrified Jerry and is about to swallow him with J.J. screaming in terror.

The next morning, Zock goes to J.J.'s house looking for him and his parents find J.J. not in his room and go look for him. They go to the mall and at the arcade, they see the video games damaged, with the exception of The Bishop of Battle cabinet, which reconstructed itself. Zock sees the game running and sees J.J. has become part of the game. Zock tells Jerry Sr. and Adele he sees J.J. and are horrified. Jerry's image appears on the screen for a few seconds before it turns into another of the game's sprites.