Disney Gaming Episode I

Hey everyone so today I want to take a look at a bit of Disney gaming history. In this blog I am going to be looking at a few Disney games through the years that were quite good and some that were quite well... Not so good. Disney movies are the part of many people's lives from the time they are a child to the time they are adults. Timeless classics such as The Lion King, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, and many more have been made into video games on a variety of systems. The classics however are not the only ones to see themselves become games. Wall.E, Tangled, and Brave are just a few of the newer movies that have video game adaptations as well. In addition to the movie games, Disney also has a ton of games that are based off of Disney TV shows as well as sport games and rhythm games. For this blog I am going to be focusing on a few of the games based off of movies and the Disney Parks themselves. I'll look at some of the other games at a later time as there is a ton to go through.

First on our journey through the mountain of Disney video games is Disney Adventures In the Magic Kingdom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This is one of the many older Disney games that Capcom actually developed. Fun fact about this game is that the music was composed by Yoko Shimomura who later went on to compose the music for the Kingdom Hearts series. This game took players through the Magic Kingdom as you collect 6 keys to open up the enchanted castle. Along the way you'll see popular Disney characters, play levels based on theme park rides including The Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain. Also also along the way you'll be met with some Disney trivia as well. The levels are all pretty unique and include platforming, racing, and even first person stuff.

The map layout is apparently supposed to represent Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, but is more similar to Disneyland. Overall this game is a lot of fun, not too difficult, and still one of the best Disney Park based games there is!

I'm sure for some people this thing is a blast from the past. Nintendo was not the only one cashing in on Disney with their games. Tiger Electronics made a bunch of these handheld games. Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book are just a few of the movies that were turned into Tiger hand helds. None of the games are overwhelming and are pretty basic. The Beauty and the Beast one in particular I remember because if you fail to win, Gaston ends up with Belle and Beast is basically crying at their feet. Pretty dark for a kids handheld video game if you ask me.

Fans of Disney Parks your eyes are not deceiving you. Are next little stop is on the Nintendo Wii (also released on PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3, but the Wii version always made the most sense to me) where you can play Toy Story Mania. So what is the difference between the above and this?

The answer is the first picture does not have a 60 minute wait time. The other is that the Wii game has original levels and includes more characters and mini games than the theme park ride. It also retains the original levels from the incredibly popular ride. If you are a fan of the ride, chances are you are going to be a big fan of this game. If you've never been on the ride, or don't care for it, chances are you wont care for this game much as in the end it really is a collection of minigames. There is a storyline, but it really doesn't go anywhere. Really I feel like Disney made this game as a fan service for fans of the ride and to try and get kids to be interested in the ride if they've never ridden it. As a huge Disney fan though, I find this game as a great way to bring back memories of fun friendly competition on Toy Story Midway Mania at Hollywood Studios.

An often forgotten movie, A Bug's Life was a pretty big deal when it first came out. This is one of those games where you play through the movie. There are 15 bug filled levels that are full of hidden seeds, letters, and other objects that can aid Flik in his quest to defend the ants from the evil Hopper. The game (Playstation in particular) did not get much praise. Many critics claim that this game should only appeal to the youngest of crowds. I tend to agree that the game is certainly geared towards kids as it has a low difficulty, but if you love the movie, there is no real reason not to love this game. Each level starts with a cinematic from the movie and additional videos can be unlocked through collecting things. 

I wouldn't say that this game is a must own by any means, but if you are a fan of the movie as I am, then this game is actually pretty fun despite not really being difficult. In fact the hardest part of the game is that it actually slows down a great deal as you move around. Seems like the game cant keep up with itself and for a game that came out kinda late in the Playstation's life, is kinda sad.

Growing up in the 90's, The Lion King was THE Disney movie. Rightfully so too, the movie is nothing short of brilliant and as such inspired a game that can be found on the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Nintendo, Game Gear, and Game Boy. It was developed by Westwood Studios who are best known for their work on the Command and Conquer series. This game however I still feel is one of the best Disney games out there. The game literally screams Lion King. The colors, the challenges, the story. It all feels so akin to the movie that is is really quite impressive. Anyone who has seen the movie will quickly pick up on the familiar tunes played in the game and will quickly remember all the lovable characters from the movie as well. The only real drawback I see with this game is the platforming itself which is a pretty decent part of the game. In many cases a jump that is not perfectly timed will leave you dead.

This game is really a fun time once you get past the minor frustrations it can cause. For a Disney fan, this game should be a must own. For a retro gamer, this is a game that is absolutely worth checking out as it really shows what the Genesis, SNES, and Game Gear in particular were capable of doing in terms of taking a movie and turning it into a beautiful and pretty complete video game.

So with every high comes a low right? Well the final game for this blog is going to be a game that is widely considered the worst Disney game ever made. If the people who put the masterpiece of a movie together back in the 1940's has a crack at this game, they would probably never look at gaming again. This ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls is....

Before I go into the reasons that I am by no means a fan of this game, I have to give credit where it is due. Fantasia actually does do very well in a couple departments. For one the graphics are actually very good I think. They're colorful, you can tell what is what, and it really has the feel of Fantasia. The music, for the Sega Genesis is largely remakes of the classic melodies from Fantasia. Of course the Genesis is no powerhouse for music at all, but for what the Genesis is, Fantasia's music is actually pretty well done. So that's the good. The plot is that Chernabog (the demon from the Night on Bald Mountain scene in the movie) has stolen the orchestra's music notes and it is up to Mickey (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) to get them back. Kinda neat to have Chernabog vs Mickey, but really unneeded as you never actually deal with Chernabog in the end anyway... The sounds outside of the music are simply annoying. The sound when Mickey gets hit is probably the most annoying in my mind. The controls are simply garbage. They are often times unresponsive and slow which for a platforming game, isn't the best thing to have to deal with. The gameplay is slow. Enemies move fast, but Mickey moves slow. There will be times where you feel like you jumped on an enemy, only to take damage instead. Likewise you'll think you missed a jump but somehow the game registers that you landed it. Welcome to hit box problems folks. 

Fantasia is a game that I would not recommend to anyone. Even fans of the movie I tell to keep a distance or go into it prepared for a train wreck. Considering Fantasia is one of my favorite Disney movies, I was severely let down each time I tried to pick this game up. It was a great idea to try and bring Fantasia into the world of video games, but the execution was simply horrendous on almost all fronts.

So we've come to the end of the first of what will be many blogs that will be taking a brief look at Disney games. We've already had some ups and downs here and one would expect that trend to continue as Disney's massive history in gaming is literally full of just that. Ups and downs. My next blog will be a review of the first game in the popular video game franchise, Rayman!