In 1994, Virginia Interactive published a video game entitled The Lion King based on the successful animated feature film from Walt Disney Pictures. The main character of this musical film is a young lion named Simba who overcomes several obstacles to eventually become King. In the process, he learns about the wonderful Circle of Life. The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride and The Lion King 1½ were also produced by Disney within the next few years. The video game by Virginia Interactive was released for the Game Boy, the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, the PC, the NES, the SNEA, the Amiga, the Game Gear and the Master System. In 2000, Activision released another game entitled The Lion King: Simba’s Mighty Adventure for the PlayStation and the Game Boy Colour. In 2004, another video game entitled The Lion King was designed for the Game Boy Advance in Asia and Europe.
The plot of the video game by Virgin Interactive traces the journey and growth of the young lion cub. The Lion King is a side-scrolling game in which the playable character can move from platform to platform. He can run, climb, descend and leap for exciting game play. There is an onscreen roar metre that should be fully charged for an effective roar. The onscreen health bar reduces whenever Simba gets hurt. There is even a counter at the bottom of the screen that displays the number of remaining lives Simba has. By picking up bugs of different shapes and sizes, the health of this character can be revived. Although a few of the bugs can cause a drastic deterioration in Simba’s health.
In this video game, the cub Simba can roll and pounce on foes. By rolling, this game character can enter concealed places and avoid attacks. When the Simba cub character is left alone for some time, then a tiny white butterfly moves past attracting his attention. The adult character is more powerful, and slashes and mauls his foes instead of leaping on them. He cannot roll, but can roar loudly. This adult character moves in an alert manner when left alone. Disney animators drew the sprites and backgrounds for this game. Songs and music from the movie soundtrack have been adapted for the video game.
The levels of this video game vary according to the format. The game levels include The Pride Lands, Can’t wait to be King, The Elephant Graveyard, The Stampede, Simba’s Exile and Hakuna Matata. Pride Rock is the final level of the game and re-enacts the final scenes of the animated film in which Simba fights his uncle Scar. The method needed to defeat Scar changes according to the version of the game. Bonus levels like Bug Hunt and Bug Toss have been added to make this game even more enjoyable.
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