I’ve had most of the old Disney games on my backlog for quite some time. I have fond memories as a kid playing Aladdin on Sega Genesis. But I never played The Lion King much, outside of a few quick sessions through the first level. Everyone had always warned me about this game – specifically the dreaded “Monkey Level”. However, I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge. I thought it was long past time to give this game its due.
The Lion King plays like most other platformers of the 90s era. You control Simba. He runs. He jumps. He can jump on bad guys. Seems simple enough. But my experience with The Lion King was anything but simple. I struggled with the floaty jumping and imprecise attacks (both jumping and clawing as Adult Simba). I think my problem was I’ve played too many modern Mario games. As such, it took all the patience in the world to wrestle with the 90s engine and persevere through the Pride Lands.
I do need to address the “Monkey Level” above. So many people who have played this game told me that level would do me in. That the frustration of the monkey puzzle, set against the backdrop of I Just Can’t Wait to Be King, would break me before I even got into the game. Honestly? It really was not all that bad! Once you figure out what the game wants you to do (which it tells you right in the level name – “Roar at Monkeys”), it’s really just a simple matter of puzzle-solving. And let’s be honest – the music is pretty awesome. No, the monkeys for me were really not the problem.
The Lion King hums along at a pretty regular difficulty until the final two levels. The second-to-last level, “Simba’s Return”, forgoes the previous levels’ linear challenges (“Stampede” not-withstanding) and presents a maze to the player. It’s also not immediately obvious that the level is indeed a maze. This took me over an hour to get through, not just because of the roundabout passages, but because of all the obnoxious hyenas along the way. I felt the difficulty spike here was a bit outrageous.
And that brings us to “Pride Rock”. As a final level, it really is not all that hard. Pretty straightforward enemies and platforming sections. But the sections where you fight Scar, the game’s final boss (duh), are just a nightmare. The game wants you to toss him around like a ragdoll after bopping his nose a few times. But at no point in the game up to this point has this ever been an attack. There is no indication as to what you’re supposed to do. It took some button mashing on my part to even trigger the attack, and then several more attempts to even figure out what the heck I had done. Even for the 16-bit era, this was a bit much for me.
However, I did it! I threw Scar from Pride Rock and took my place in the Circle of LIfe (yes I said it). But honestly, this game wasn’t the nostalgia trip I was looking for. I’m glad I beat it, but once was enough for me. Hakuna Matata? Not so much!
If anyone is looking to add The Lion King to your collection, it’s fairly inexpensive, going for around $10 USD on average. Worth owning for any Disney fan.
