Throwback Thursday: When "Lion King" for the Super Nintendo Kicked Us Right in the Feels

Since we're all hungover from E3, here's a Throwback Thursday entry worthy of all your feels.

Jun 12, 2014
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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Twenty years ago this upcoming Sunday, Disney released The Lion King in the United States.

The film inspired a generation of young people, and it’s no wonder. It had the visuals—gorgeous, hand-drawn renderings of the African Savannah. It had the music—Elton John instrumentals, Tim Rice lyrics, and some of the greatest Disney songs of all time. It had the dramatic storyline—a dark tale of betrayal, murder, and regicide. And, most importantly, The Lion King had Scar.

Unlike his fellow villains, Scar actually achieved his goals—he killed Mufasa and ruled as king for years (albeit badly). A potent mixture of oily charisma and evil, Scar, like all great Disney villains, made us love him and hate him at the same time. Plus, no one can deny the greatness of “Be Prepared,” a villain song complete with Nazi-esque, goosestepping hyenas.

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alad

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Disney video games have always been high quality, but the SNES and Genesis Aladdin games raised the bar significantly—we dedicated an entire Throwback Thursday to the greatness of Capcom’s Aladdin for the SNES.

Aladdin’s only flaw (if you could call it that) was its low difficulty. Aside from the “Escape From the Cave of Wonders,” it was nearly impossible to die. You had so much health, and even if you missed a jump, Aladdin would auto-grab the nearest ledge, saving you from certain death. When you combined these forgiving mechanics with the Rug power-up, which gave you even greater jump control, you were left with a game that was fun, but very simplistic. In a way, however, that made sense—the Aladdin film, with its thieving monkey, loud-mouthed parrot, and big, blue genie, wasn’t exactly adult fare.

adult

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So, when Virgin Interactive released The Lion King for the SNES and Genesis in 1994, they had a reputation to live up to. Like Aladdin, The Lion King had expressive, lush visuals, as if they were lifted directly from the film. The gameplay, however, was extremely unforgiving and unfair. Combine that with loose play controls, and you had a playing experience that was more frustrating than fun.

The game started out with promise. You played as Simba, and as a cub, you had three attacks—a Roar, which would momentarily stun smaller enemies—a Pounce, which let you to stomp on foes, and a destructive Roll, which could take out multiple opponents. If you made it to the later levels, you could play as an adult Simba, which allowed you to claw, maul, and throw your enemies. Very few of us, however, would ever progress that far.

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The first level, “The Pridelands,” was simple enough. You kept jumping up and to the right, and eventually, you would fight a hyena, which ended the stage. You also began noticing crucial flaws in the gameplay—they seemed minor at first, but they exacerbated as the levels progressed.

Firstly, you started with 2 Lives and 1 Continue. That’s it. This game did not screw around. One of the great things about Aladdin was its open endedness—it was difficult to die, and thus, you felt at liberty to go off the beaten path.

This playstyle would have fit Simba’s mischievous personality. Instead, for the entire Lion King game, your cautiousness locked you into a strict, linear progression. You never knew if the alternate path would lead you into a spiked or fiery pit, and you couldn’t afford the lives to explore and find out.

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Secondly, the visuals were confusing—the foreground and the background were identically bright. So, it was impossible to discern what you could jump on, and what you could not. You ended up doing a lot of jumping and a lot of praying. Was that blob of pixels a platform or an artistic detail? There was only one way to find out, and if you were wrong, you ended up drowning in the water. That was another annoyance—Simba’s a lion, and he can’t even swim?

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Lastly, the jumping mechanics themselves were lacking. A character—even a cartoon character—should have some tangibility and weight. One shouldn’t be able to change direction multiple times in midair, and one shouldn’t be able to make gigantic, long leaps from a stationary, standing position. These details, while minor, break an important, emotional connection between the game and its audience.

Also, one’s jumps shouldn’t have to be anally precise, down to the pixel, but that’s exactly what was required in Stage 2, “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King.” After swinging with monkeys and jumping off giraffe’s and rhino’s heads, you reached the hippos—you had to swing from hippo tail to hippo tail in order to cross the lake. The tails were nearly impossible to grab—if you approached them from the wrong angle, they slipped right through your paws. To make matters worse, the hippos were spaced irregularly from each other. Thus, each jump was unique, and there was no way to get into a rhythm.

The same was true for platforms—if you jumped at them from the wrong angle, you would fall right through them. To reach these crucial checkpoints, only to lose all of your lives from mistimed jumps, was rage-inducing. Games should be challenging—there’s nothing wrong with dying a lot, but in a good game, the player will blame him or herself. In a bad game, the player will blame the game. Difficulty should never come at the cost of enjoyment.

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In Stage 3, “The Elephant Graveyard,” hyenas and vultures, both of whom had irregular, airborne attack patterns, double teamed you in close quarters. Most times, you were better off running instead of fighting. Twice, however, you had to fight two hyenas, and then three hyenas, in order to progress. ‘Hopelessly outmatched’ was an understatement.

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If you managed to survive this stage, you got a reward—one of the coolest, most memorable stages from the 16-bit era. It was a re-enactment of the wildebeest stampede from the film, and the visuals in this head-on level were extraordinary. You could see the wildebeests thundering in the distance, and they gave you just enough time to dodge and plan ahead. You also had the rocks in front of you, which you needed to dodge or jump over. Once again, Nintendo Power came to my rescue—the Game Counselors told me to count to three, and on three, jump to avoid the rocks completely.

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For the die-hards who persevered, the final stage was a cinematic masterpiece. Flanked by lightning and fire, you fought Scar in a duel to the death. The only way to defeat him was to throw him off a cliff, where the hungry hyenas would then finish him off.

Many of us have fond memories of this game, but try playing it today. The graphics? Undeniable. The music? Indisputable. The stampede level by itself is a minor masterpiece. But overall, the gameplay and controls were too unwieldy, and too inconsistent, to make this game a ‘must have.’ Hakuna Matata? Yeah, right.

Casual gamers, beware—beautiful visuals aside, this one was strictly for the masochists.

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