Media - Games - The Lion King 1994
Release: December 8, 1994
Language: English
Genre: Jump & Run
Platforms: PC (DOS, Windows), NES, SNES, Sega Mega Drive, Amiga, Game Boy, Game Gear
Developer: Virgin Interactive
General
The game was released in December 8., 1994 on many different platforms,
among others are: PC, NES, SNES, Amiga, Sega and Game Boy. As common at
these days, the graphics are based on sprites with an up-to-date
graphics technique. However, now this seems way outdated, but it didn't
spoil the fun. On the contrary, the graphics and backgrounds are created
from Disney artists, who partly also participated at the movie. The
soundtrack was adapted to the Midi interface and accompanies the
different levels with the appropriate music, without voices of course.
During the game you will notice on some platforms some favorite quotes
from the movie for in-between sequences. The quality can differ much
from platform to platform.
Unfortunately there is no multiplayer at all in the game, neither
network nor split screen. Nala as cub as well as adult is also missing
completely in the game.
After the game started, a friendly and easy to understand game interface
welcomes you, while in the background "Circle of Life" plays and Rafiki
holds a lion cub in the air at Pride Rock. There are 3 different
difficulties, which differ in strength of the opponents and the number
of life at start. The difficulty can be set up in the options menu and
on some platforms the key bindings can also be changed, as well as some
additional tweaking for the music and FX sound effects.
In total, the game has 10 levels and 2 bonus levels, which can appear
many times, in case the conditions are met accordingly. Therefore a
specific beetle has to be collected. Most of the functions of the game
are self explaining, so there is a safe point in every level, where you
can start after your death again. Collecting different beetles are for
health and regenerate or increase roar energy. A sun, or "life circle"
allows you to start at the beginning of the last level, in case all your
lives are exhausted.
Content
Real positive about "The Lion King" is the orientation on the storyline
from the movie. Each level enables the player to be part of a bit from
the whole story in the corresponding setting. Generally, the aim of the
game is to reach the end of the level, or beat a boss character. Thereby
the player controls always Simba as cub, or respectively as adult. In
the bonus levels Timon or Pumbaa is controlled.
As usual the game consists of a HUD, which displays certain informations
like the health and roar energy of Simba, which can be increased by
collecting beetles. The number of remaining lives and life circles are
also shown.
Level 1: The Pride Lands
The first level starts with cub Simba in the Pride Lands, where the
player can get familiarize with the controls and Simbas different
skills. Beside run-, duck- and jumping, Simba can "roar" and "roll".
With this abilities different kind of opponents can be eliminated. In
the first level however, only small animals like hedgehogs and
lizards are to be expected, which of course can also be dangerous to
Simba. Meanwhile, Simba must go over rocks and trees to the top of the
level, to finally oppose the boss, a hyena. It can be beaten by jumping
on its back, while it is hackling for air.
Level 2: Can't Wait to be King
Arriving in the next level, Simba doesn't have to deal with bugs
anymore, but instead he has to jump over giraffes heads, dealing with
apes, ostriches and hippos. Thereby, he has to crack at two positions in
the level some kind of code, in which order he has to roar the apes to
be redirected into the right direction. The level ends unspectacular,
when a certain point is reached.
Level 3: The Elephant Graveyard
In level 3 the elephant graveyard is waiting for the player, which
creates a very creepy atmosphere due to the rough landscape and the
spooky "Be Prepared" medley. In most cases, the player has to get rid of
angry hyenas and hungry vultures. You should keep in mind the tip from
the first level: do only attack the hyenas when they are hackling. The
vultures need to be attacked fast, ideally before they fly off. Then
it's more difficult to get rid of them, when they are flying. It is too
late for that, then wait for their attack. At the lowest position try to
jump on them. (Another tip: Observe the movements of the hyenas. In
principle they ignore one special corner, where you can rest and start
your counterattack.
Level 4: The Stampede
Likewise to the movie, the only goal here is to survive and ovoid the
galloping horde. If the gnus are not enough here, during the level
further difficulties are added, like fast appearing stones, which you
should ovoid as well. A difference to the movie is here, that
unfortunately no Mufasa will jumps into the mass to save our little
hero, but he has to save himself to the end of the canyon instead. At
least every run of the level follows the same pattern, so after a few
times you know what to expect when. It should be noted here that this
level is also special from the point of view, because this is in
contrast to all the others in some pseudo 3D.
Level 5: Simba's Exile
Now completely on his own, Simba has to escape through thorn bushes and
the desert into his exile. In this level, the same opponents appear like
in the first levels, like hedgehogs and lizards. In addition, further
complicated climbing parts has to be covered and rolling stones, which
you should avoid, because after they hit you, you are immediately dead.
And avoid the thorn bushes as well. Keep a lookout for hidden paths,
which can lead to valuable beetles for health, condition, lives and even
shortcuts through the level. In the end scene, the annoyed hyenas called
their famous sentence "If you ever come back, we'll kill ya'".
Level 6: Hakuna Matata
In the background the familiar medley of "Hakuna Matata" is played,
meanwhile Simba needs to be lead to an endless landscape of waterfalls.
But even in the problem-free paradise, you should be kept alert for
jumping spiders and spitting frogs. In this level you also should keep a
lookout for shortcuts, when you go down a waterfall. The direction you
can control with the left, or right key. This can saves you some
unpleasant parts of this levels. Before the end of this level you reach
a very big waterfall with falling trees, which you should climb to get
up. You should try to remain in the middle, and observe the velocity and
size of the tree trunks. They all have a regular pattern. With a little
patient and luck you are able to get up to the top tree. Now you finally
thought the level was over, a very bad ape (no, not Rafiki) appeared
before you, which must be defeated. He is most vulnerable for jumping
attacks, shortly after he smashes in King-Kong style on the ground. The
end of this annoying ape is worth watching.
Level 7: Simba's Destiny
Finally grown-up, our lion has now additional skills. The rolling is
gone now, but instead you can beat your enemies with slashing claws in
two different modi and defeat this way, hyenas, leopards and apes.
Moreover, two combo attacks are added to your repository, with one you
can throw your enemy when they are hackling and a jumping claws
slashing attack move. You should practice these one, especially the
throw move, although it is not needed for the next few levels, but
you'll need it in the end. Now back to this level: Simba has to pass
here the jungle and has to deal with leopards, stone throwing apes and
some other natural obstacles, which blocks his way. But this is no
problem for a fully grown lion now. At the end, Mufasa appears and tells
him that he has to take his rightful place as king. Because Nala is
missing in the whole game, there is of course no "Can You Feel the Love
Tonight" scene. Never mind the questions how to implement it.
Level 8: Be Prepared
The most unpleasant part of the game comes now, although "Be prepared"
is more at the beginning of the movie, in this case it is more a hint to
the setting of this level and not Scars song. Simba has to go through
it anyway. Acid dropping cave walls, which you should avoid of course,
Hyenas and flying bats, which can only be beaten with precisely aimed
hits and roars, are only a few of the negative highlights of this
level. Meanwhile Simba has to pass lava spitting geysers, which erupt in
regularly patterns and rolling or falling stones, which can be useful at
some points to free blocked ways. In the end of this level you should
exploit these to close the geysers, but don't let them hit you!
Level 9: Simba's Return
In the next to last level, Simba has to face a labyrinth with many
different entries and caves, which he has to pace in order to get home.
After every entry, hyenas are lurking, which needs to be defeated, or
other natural barriers. If you turn the wrong way and have to double
back, you have to face the opponents you defeated before again. These
nested cave connections are a real challenge. (A small tip: Take the
last bottom entry first)
Level 10: Pride Rock
The final battle with Scar is now about to begin. But even when you
think you have won, Scar escapes and you are forced to follow him, which
is of course not as easy as you might have thought. Hyenas and natural
barriers like cliffs and rocks are blocking the way. After passing
these, the second encounter with Scar follows, where he can escape after
taking some heavy beating again. Finally arrived at the top of Pride
Rock the real final battle begin. Scar tries to use his claws or a
jumping attack, in case you are going towards him too fast. Beside that
he can beat you with his paws like Simba, but in addition he also has a
defending move, which blocks your claw attacks. Scar is also able to
jump at you and press you to the ground. You should definitely avoid
this one, because after such an attack you are most likely dead.
Effective against Scar is to keep him on distance and use the jump
attack of Simba. Unfortunately Scar doesn't have a health indicator,
which could show you his status. However if Scars begin to heavily
hackling, then he is almost finished off, but not beaten yet. In order
to do this, you have to throw him over the cliff, likewise to the movie.
The best strategy is to drive him to the corner of the cliff, then jump
over him and use the throw combo. Afterwards you can finally take your
rightful place as king.
End Sequence: Simba throws Scar over the cliff.
The rain set in...
...and Simba takes his rightful place as king.
Bonus 1: Bug Toss
In the first bonus level, Timon are standing on a tree trunk and
throwing beetle, lives and life circles down to his companion Pumbaa,
who has to try to get/eat them. If you miss one, the level is over.
Thereby the velocity of the beetles and numbers of them are increasing
with the game time. But be careful, Timon is not always throwing good
things, but also spiders and that sort of things, which should be
avoided. Of course, you keep the lives and life circles you get after
the bonus level. In order to get to the bonus level, you must collect a
special beetle, which is mostly hidden in the different levels.
Bonus 2: Bug Hunt
Here you are controlling Timon now, who has to hunt beetles now. Thereby
he is running through the level and must try to collect as much as
possible within 30 seconds. After every 10 beetles you get either an
extra life or a life circle as long as the time is running or you don't
accidentally get a spider. The total number of lives Simba can have is
limited to 10, though.
Comparison between the different platforms
Although the game is developed for different platforms at the same time,
the versions can differ much from each other. In most of the cases, this
can be traced back to the difference in architecture and their
limitations. For instance, the Amiga version lacks a few levels, so that
the game fits on three 880kb DD-Discs. The sound and the effects are
limited by the sound cards of each system, whereas the DOS and SNES
Version have the best music quality and the best sound effects. In the
DOS versions it depends on your sound card. With a good sound card it
can outdo all other systems. The graphics is most convincing on the SNES
version, because they don't have to rely on dithering effects. A very
detailed comparison between Mega Drive, SNES and Amiga can be found
here.
There are also differences within the levels on the different platforms,
for example in the SNES versions some bugs were fixed and it seems to be
more simpler in this particular version than e.g. compared to the DOS.
One of these mistakes, which happens very often in the DOS version is,
during the ostrich run in "Just Can't Wait to be King" is that the
ostrich runs in the middle of the screen instead of the left corner,
which limits your reaction time. Also the sound effects differs lightly.
However, the last level are designed to be more difficult with fire
igniting at the SNES.
Different covers and handbooks
Because the game is released on so many different platforms, I try here
to collect some scans of the different covers and handbooks.
DOS version
Cover of the DOS version. Unfortunate it is quite old and used.
Backside of the DOS version.
The English handbook.
The german handbook.
Windows/SNES version
Cover of the Windows CD version.
Backside of the Windows CD version.
CD Cover of the Windows CD version.
German handbook of the CD version. Page 2-3
German handbook of the CD version. Page 4-5
German handbook of the CD version. Page 6-7
German handbook of the CD version. Page 8-9
German handbook of the CD version. Page 10-11
Sega Mega Drive version
Cover of the Sega Mega Drive box.
Backside of the Sega Mega Drive box.
Multilanguage handbook from the Sega box.
Conclusion
You can't expect much variation of the game, but the backgrounds and the
animation of the figures are very lovely. Moreover, it is nice to see a
game which actually follows the storyline of its movie, although not all
characters appears in it. From an objective point of view, the graphic
is really outdated, but on the other hand 1994 the graphic was very good
and I grow up with it, so at least I still like to play the game.
In case you want to play the game, there are many possibilities, so you
can look for ROMs or the DOS version and use dosbox, or an emulator for
SNES, which should be the most preferable solution. With an good
emulator you can even increase the gaming experience with additional
built-in post-processing like anti-aliasing.