Current Events > The Lion King video game

(+) Yeah! (+)

This was my first video game ever. Got it for Christmas as a Mega Drive bundle.

Talk about jumping into the deep end. It was ridiculously hard. Pretty sure the furthest I got without save states was the Hakuna Matata waterfall section. That level had so many worries.

I could beat Aladdin fine but Lion King was just too much. That stretch of I Can't Wait to be King to Hakuna Matata is just ridiculous.

IIRC you get one of two more levels that ease up when you're finally adult Simba (although one is a big maze) and then it gets hard again in the second last level.

I also played a Crash Bandicoot rip-off Lion King game on the PS1. It was meh.
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Darmik posted...

when you're finally adult Simba

Like I ever got to adult Simba.
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That game was TRASH boi. Way too difficult.
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How was this game hard for people? I made that game my bitch.
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It was not that hard, what the hell? I couldn't beat Scar but I never had any issues with that game at all.
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Try the Nes game, it skips the adult Simba levels.
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evil_zombie11 posted...

That game was TRASH boi. Way too difficult.

Just because it was difficult dont make it trash. I love the snes version but it is hard as fuck
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Played the PC version at school a lot.

Only thing I never dominated was the bug hunt where you slide down the trees.

The moment I learned how to do the waterfall/log section of Hakuna Matata, everything coordination-wise clicked, like I figured out the literal physics of the game.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQOieXkUjG8" data-time="
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OmegaPillow posted...

evil_zombie11 posted...

That game was TRASH boi. Way too difficult.

Just because it was difficult dont make it trash. I love the snes version but it is hard as fuck

You right I was being extra. Game was tough tho but I was also like......... way young lmao.
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DarthDemented posted...

How was this game hard for people? I made that game my bitch.

Lets see
- The giraffe platforming section being thrown at you incredibly early in the game
- A monkey puzzle section that you just sorta have to somehow figure out
- The hippo tails where you can only connect with the front bit of Simba's ball form for some reason
- An instakill ostrich section where I'm still not really sure what is killing you when you double jump
- Figuring out how you're supposed to time the jump button in the rising acid section of Be Prepared
- Learning how you're supposed to dodge rocks and wildebeest in the Stampede and having enough health to survive the final section where you're bombarded.
- Avoiding the randomly falling rocks in Simba's Exile
- Instakill boulder sections in Simba's Exile
- Quick ass spiders in Hakuna Matata
- Learning how to jump up the extremely long river and waterfall log platforming section
- Dealing with the Donkey Kong style boss out of nowhere

Combine that with a limited lives system and a Game Over that makes you start the whole game from the very beginning and deal with it all over again. No save system either.

I haven't played the later levels enough to remember their bullshit.
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Oh jeez that game...

First level is fine. Second, I always mess up those double jump bird sections. Third is fine, finally teaches you the zigzag jump technique to climb up quickly. Stampede sucks. Thorn one is hard but at least you can cheese the rock running sections if you land in the right spot and do a roll as you land for an extra boost to your distance. Next one, only got past the waterfall once because I kept losing too much height. Next level is a maze but easy enough. Fuck the lava level, the last stretch before the "ride a plume to to exit" part is the furthest I've ever got, you have to either dodge the bats with precision timing or time a roar well enough to then attack one and land on the platform again but don't get hit by the lava drip that'll make you fall off the platform. Watched a playthrough for the next two levels. Maze that could be fatiguing to get through. And final boss fight.

Overall, way too hard for most kids to even get through but as an adult I could probably finally beat it.
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A lot of the platforming is WAY too precise. If your weird sprite even grazes another, you're hit, and lots of platforms of ambiguous length.

There's an interview with the devs where they admit they made (or were forced to) it artificially harder to extend the playtime to cut down on Blockbuster rentals.
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With save states the game is absolutely fine.

But back in the days when you couldn't save at all? You're gonna to be seeing that Game Over screen a lot while you're learning how the hell you're supposed to tackle each obstacle and going through it all over again. Some levels are hard even when you know what you're doing. A lot of the stuff has to be done in exactly the way the developer intended and is very trial and error.

It was a different time because they didn't want you to beat the game in a rental.
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Burn this game. Burn this game in HELL where it belongs.

Meanwhile, Sega Aladdin and SNES Aladdin are pretty fantastic and hold up to this day.
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Yeah it's weird. Aladdin Genesis had a similar reputation but I didn't have as much of an issue there. I was able to beat it with rentals.

IIRC Aladdin's difficulty peaked in the Cave of Wonders sections.
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Those who said the game isn't hard...

...You got some mad skillz, boi.
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The game boy version was one of my first actually. It was not great
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One of the levels (the monkeys in trees) was intentionally made difficult, btw. I think it was to drive up rentals or something.
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Shotgunnova posted...

One of the levels (the monkeys in trees) was intentionally made difficult, btw. I think it was to drive up rentals or something.

Yep that list I made was mostly that level. It was I Can't Wait To Be King.

There's several trial and error moments that the player has no way of knowing first go. It's an awful level. It's not so bad once you know the tricks and how Simba's jumping physics work.
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I had it on Game Gear.

It and the Sonic game with the first boss that was just a set of pincers were a huge factor into my childhood anger management troubles.
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Had it on SNES. The I cant wait to be king level was complete bullshit. the platforms weren't fully solid or something
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I remember getting to the escape from the Pridelands part on a 2-day rental.

I don't remember it being that much harder than an average SNES platformer tbh but I did only get like halfway through or so.
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Alladin was a masterpiece on the Genesis.

Lion King was okay.

Now the fucking JUNGLE BOOK man. Did you ever play that game?
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You had to roll the coconuts back at the monkeys if I remember correctly. Seriously though the waterfall section is easy if you paid attention to the pattern. Trial and error got you through the monkeys and ostriches. The stampede you just had to pay attention man. Even I took a few hits getting through it but it's still doable.
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You had to roar at the pink monkeys (only pink) to create a route of them throwing you to the exit. I think they'd throw you in the water if you got it wrong sometimes.
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Kelystic posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQOieXkUjG8" data-time="

Did...
Did he just call Simba Mufasa?
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Darmik posted...

You had to roar at the pink monkeys (only pink) to create a route of them throwing you to the exit. I think they'd throw you in the water if you got it wrong sometimes.

Only 2, but yeah.

Smashingpmkns posted...

Had it on SNES. The I cant wait to be king level was complete bullshit. the platforms weren't fully solid or something

The giraffe heads you had to jump on didn't have the "platform" coincide with what you were looking at. Only like 2-3 frames and only on the ones that would tilt their heads back. But still enough to throw you off from safely timing jumps between them for the section that you had to jump between those and hippo tails. Hippo tails also could only be grabbed at a certain part of the animation, and so figuring out that sweet spot is key. You get one dry run with those then the rest are over water.
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dave_is_slick posted...

It was not that hard, what the hell? I couldn't beat Scar but I never had any issues with that game at all.

Um that last bit is a contradiction @dave_is_slick
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dave_is_slick posted...

Kelystic posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQOieXkUjG8" data-time="

Did...
Did he just call Simba Mufasa?

No.
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One of the first few SNES games I played. I never got very far though.

Darmik posted...

- An instakill ostrich section where I'm still not really sure what is killing you when you double jump

this pissed me off so much back in the day

i mean, the whole list you put up were all the annoying ass parts for sure, but this one...
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Yeah the tails are so bullshit.

When Simba jumps normally you might be able to figure out that the front of his paws grab onto ledges so perhaps you could also figure out that applies to the tails too.

But when you swing off a tail Simba curls up into a ball similar to Sonic. But the 'can only grab things from the front' rule still applies! Not only that but Simba himself is smaller so it's much harder to judge which part of him grabs.

So you could swing directly right into the tail and die. You specifically need for the right hand side of balled up Simba to touch the tail.
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