With the 2017 remake of Beauty and the Beast just around the corner, I decided to look at something that while has little to nothing to do with the film, its still Disney. Plus with Disney having shut its doors on video games (though will still create mobile games and allow companies like EA and Square Enix to make games for them), its time I felt to open up my childhood and share with you all my experience of playing these games. Now most of these games I played the demo of via promo CDs so never really played the full version until I was old enough to be banking and a lot of these are now considered collectors items these days which goes to show how valuable they are. So let's get to it:
Oh and just to be clear, none of these are bootlegs. These are the real video games without any alterations.
A Bug's Life
So for a while (especially in the 90s and early 00s), Disney had this trend of releasing a video game plus two pieces of software all based on that one film. One would be an Activity Centre which would have some activities and minigames based on the film. One would be a print studio where people can create things like cards and certificates using characters and settings from the film. And the video game would be your typical multi-platform video game. For A Bug's Life, I had the print studio and more recently got my hands on the video game. The print studio worked reasonably well and was very user friendly. The video game which was made by TT Games (then known as Travellers Tales, aka the people behind the LEGO games since 2005), was ok at best. Pretty repetitive in gameplay and had some familiar elements of gameplay seen in other games (like the letter collectibles from the Donkey Kong Country games). But did a good job of matching events to the storyline of the film. So both get a 7/10.
102 Dalmatians
For 102 Dalmatians, I never played the games or used the software when they first came out (though I really wanted to at the time). But more recently, I got my hands on the Activity Centre and the video game which had the subtitle "Puppies to the Rescue". The former had some pretty decent games and activities that keep people occupied for a while so I enjoyed them. The actual video game however decided to not follow the live action film and instead go for something that's reminiscent of the first Disney film based on the source material. However, that's OK as it follows an original story about Cruella de Vil running a toy factory and following the mishaps of two dalmatian puppies, uses it to hunt down pets to make more realistic toys. Its actually a pretty good game, but it does have some flaws like the voices not matching lip movements and the game just being too easy which is quite common among licensed video games. Both get a 7/10
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Now Atlantis was a funny one. I got the above game in a cereal box (which was a popular thing to do in my childhood) which served as a prequel to the film on how the journal came to be. Then there's the game Trail By Fire (made by the same developers of the above game) which follows the events of the film from when the sub crashes too arriving in Atlantis. I then also played a game on the Gameboy Colour which felt like playing the whole film rather than variations of the film and allowing you to play as key characters from the film. So a mixed bag for this set so the prequel I will give that a 4/10 as I felt it was a borefest at most, Trail by Fire gets a 7/10 for being more action packed and adventure like and the GBC game also gets a 7/10 for being the main video game for the film and actually playing out everything that happened in the film in a pretty decent and fun, but challenging way.
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
So one of the things that many of us liked about the Toy Story films, was Buzz Lightyear and with Toy Story 2 giving Buzz more things to do and having a focus on the franchise that Woody came from, this would naturally lead into Buzz having his own spin-off in the form of an animated TV series which for the most part, was a pretty good series even if it was short lived. So naturally, the series got itself a video game and while it kind of feels like playing Toy Story 2 again (which I will get to later in this post), it wasn't particularly good. Gameplay was repetitive and really lacked originality. But hey, at least it will please all Buzz fans everywhere, if only for a couple of hours or so. 6/10
Dinosaur
Not much can be said about this film. I've never really liked its title and ever since watching, I've often wondered what were going through Disney's minds when making the film. Its not a bad film per say, but they could've done better. Anyway let's talk about the games. Only one game exists for this film which is the multi-platform one and I got the PC version of this game. It has you play as one of three characters from the film as you get to solve puzzles, beat enemies, all the while doing these things from a third person perspective. Pretty generic and dull like the film, but can work well as a time waster if necessary. But why I'm so against this film. I'm not, its just that I've seen better dinosaur things than this, though at the time, its only competition was The Land Before Time films, which I'd say are better in many ways. 6/10
Arcade Frenzy
So coming shortly before the end of the Disney Renaissance, Arcade Frenzy is a set of 4 arcade based games based on 4 films that came out as part of this great time for Disney. In Hercules, you are given the task of defending the heavens from the titans using various means. In Aladdin, you have to control Abu and move him through a series of rooftops to light up the place. In The Little Mermaid, you need to move Flounder through a maze and get him to the goal at the end of each level. And finally in Mulan, you must defend a village from the Huns that are racing down the mountain. No progression bonuses, but you can record your high scores and save the progress on each game. Its an OK bunch of games, but to be honest, gamers like me deserve some rewards for the games we play and fortunately we get a lot of that. Just not in this game. The games aren't bad, but it could be better. 6/10
The Lion King
So seeing as The Lion King is my number 1 all time favourite film, its also the film where I got the most games and software from. I got the Activity Centre which was fun, I got a spin-off game featuring some mini games hosted by Timon and Pumbaa and I got this software on typing. So not one for the multi-platform game this time, but I managed to get a lot of fun from these (and the Typing one certainly helped me in the long run) and got my chance of playing a video game based on the film via Kingdom Hearts II which was good I have to say. All get 8/10.
Tarzan
The last of the Disney Renaissance films and one of the few that does well at being a side scroller platformer. I only got the action game for Tarzan and it was a very fun one too. It follows the film closely and puts in all the best bits about the film such as the tree surfing and just doing what Tarzan likes doing which is exploring the jungle in style and using as many circus like stunts as possible. I like it a lot. 8/10
Finding Nemo
So I got two games for Finding Nemo and both are well, actually pretty easy to do. Both are mostly minigame compilations with one following the plot of the film and the other just being like Disney Activity Centre games. Both are OK games at best, but I would've personally preferred something more substantial than what we got. Oh well. 5/10 for both games.
Hercules
One of the best things I like about Hercules is that unlike many of the other games on this list, it often has cartoony graphics that are reminiscent of the kind of graphics you can use on 5th gen consoles at the time and they actually look pretty good. I only got the main video game for Hercules and it is great in that it follows the film's plot well, it always challenges you in every level and its just a lot of fun. Plus hearing Phil saying Sword in the way he does, its hilarious, but can get old pretty fast. 8/10
Maui Millard in Cold Shadow
I don't think anyone really remembers this game. When anyone thinks of Donald Duck in video games, the first game that comes to anyone's mind, would be DuckTales and then Kingdom Hearts. But one game I played that involved him was this game. A game where the duck we know and love, is a ninja. Its mostly a platforming game and I got to admit, it can get very complicated almost instantly and I often found it very challenging when I played it. Though having said that, it was one of the first platforming games I ever played and would pave the way for me to have a keen interest in that genre. So its an OK game, but it deserves more recognition than it got initially. 7/10
Peter Pan
So another more recent, but old Disney game I got to play were two games based on Peter Pan. One was a treasure hunt and the other was pretty much the same thing, but it had a different name. Not sure if they were the same games, but they were fun. Not following the plot of the film, both games have you play as Peter as you explore Never Land and stop Hook in your tracks. Guess they had to make the film's video games somewhat original. Good time wasters, but not the sort of games I would play personally. 6/10 for both of them.
Toy Story
Toy Story was a pretty interesting one. I played two games and a racing game. The first game was based on the first film and you get to play as Woody as you navigate through several 2D platforming levels which were pretty fun to start with, but very repetitive after a while. The second game was based on the second film and was in 3D and had you play as Buzz Lightyear and how it worked was that you would be thrown into a sandbox like level and have to do challenges to get enough Pizza Planet tokens to progress onto the next level and every 3 levels will give you a boss to contend with which for the most part, was a variation of Zurg, an original boss not seen in the film or someone from the Round Up Gang that is basically a villain. Didn't really follow the story well, but did well to keep up with where you are in the story. The racing game was basically Mario Kart but with Toy Story in the name and it was actually pretty fun. First game gets a 6/10, second game gets a 7/10 and the racing game also gets a 7/10
Treasure Planet
So we now come to Disney trying to do something creative with the story of Treasure Island and putting a sci-fi twist into it is actually pretty original I have to say. But looking at the video games, I played a minigame compilation and this game. For a while, Disney were doing this thing where you would have to buy a selection of minigames to unlock another one and I did this with Treasure Planet and all the minigames were pretty fun I have to say. I then also played the above game, but this one feels more like playing a strategy game than anything else, but does serve as a sequel to the film as we see Jim Hawkins rising in the ranks in these naval battles. So both games get a 7/10 because both were surprisingly fun and enjoyable for what they were.
Monsters Inc.
So for Monsters Inc, I once again played minigames which unlocked another minigame and I also played Scare Island and a Gameboy Colour game. The minigames were fun, Scare Island was OK but kind of used a one trick pony for a lot of the time and the GBC game followed the plot of the film well, but was pretty hard to do for some of the levels. But in general, all the games were good and so they all get 7/10
Lilo and Stitch
Lilo and Stitch had only one game that I played and like the main Treasure Planet one I played, it's a sequel to the first film and gets you playing as both characters each with their own abilities as they venture through levels, defeating enemies and solving puzzles. It was an OK game and didn't really have much problems with it, but I kind of felt that it could have more things than what was in it initially. Oh well. 6/10
The Incredibles
For the Incredibles, I played all the games. The main one followed the story of the film and got us playing as all the heroes (except for Frozone), each having their own abilities and each one having levels dedicated to them. I'd say the focus was more on Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl than Dash and Violet where the former only got 2 levels and the latter got one level, but both sharing a level (and to be honest, violet was pretty useless in her level where she gets killed by one hit). But it was an overall good game, but the save files can and will go on walkies after a while. The second game based on the ending of the film, let's you play as Mr. Incredible and Frozone as you battle the Underminer via a sort of co-op style type of gameplay with both using their combined abilities of super strength and ice respectively to take on this miner guy. Lastly, the final game is basically an Activity Centre, but with that brand dropped. All great games and all get a 7/10.
Toontown
So wrapping up this list, we now look at one of Disney's first attempts at an MMO. Toontown focused on a battle between cartoon characters made similar to that of Mickey and friends and business like robots called Cogs. When it was around, it served as one of the first MMOs I could try, but because of its subscription based service, I only played the free version and it was certainly fun for a while. But with the growing success of games like World of Warcraft at the time, it became apparent that this MMO wouldn't last. But it was good for what it was and maybe it will get an official revival. But until then, there's always Toontown Rewritten. 8/10
And that's the Disney games of old. Most of them served my childhood well and some of them were great to play now and even though Disney are no longer doing games like these, please do check them out. You won't regret it.
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