A port of A Bug's Life
Based on the Disney/Pixar 3D animated film, you must guide Flik as he sets out to find a group of warrior insects to help his colony of ants to fight off the hungry grasshoppers. Unlike the other versions of this game, the GBC version is a 2D side-scroller. You must guide Flik in finding parts for his inventions. Along the way, you must avoid other enemy insects, including the grasshoppers, or hit them with berries.
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There are definitely better games out there based on A Bug's Life on N64 & PS1 ---- I just never played them when I was a kid. Instead, I had this. I don't purposefully wanna be mean to Tiertex Design Studios, but their GBC adaptations of Disney/Pixar films were just rough. Here we have a mediocre platformer in which controlling your jump arc is a difficult chore & you only have 2 movement speeds: blisteringly fast or woefully slow. Sprinkle some chirpy, bleepy sound effects & a grating OST & there you have it ---- it ain't great.
3/10 - Mas que desgraça, até é jogável mas pelo amor de Deus, que porcaria em, pelo menos consegui terminar. No geral é só um plataforma 2D com controles ruins sem nenhuma mecânica interessante ou algo que chame a atenção.
Another childhood GBC game I had. I remember keeping switch this one with Link's Awakening. That first level where you have to do that weird jump was dull, just like those minigames. Also that final level was weird with all that running.
Cannot say much else, beside being the average Disney tie-in game.
Cannot say much else, beside being the average Disney tie-in game.
A Bug’s Life for the Game Boy Color is an atrocious platformer from a company known for less-than-stellar games. First major issue – windup animations. Jumping, throwing projectiles, running, all take a split second before you actually perform the action, which is really frustrating. The game also features the “turbo”-like nature, where holding the button will basically act like you’re pressing it every frame. Oh, and running and a throwing projectile are mapped to the same button. Which means, when you stop running, you may find yourself accidently throwing away your ammo. These problems make precision platforming and dealing with hazards more stressful than it should be.
Second issue – trial and error. The first roadblock is probably going to be the first stage, where you have to bounce on leaf platforms. As it turns out, jumping repeatedly on the same leaf makes you bounce higher, which isn’t very intuitive in my opinion. But that’s the least of your worries. The way you acquire berries that you can throw at your foes? They drop from the top of the screen, and if they happen to land on top of you, you take damage! And their spawn is seemingly random, so good luck passing under or getting all the stuff you need. Next, the various enemies. The way the camera works is not in your favor, as you’ll be positioned slightly towards the end of the screen you’re moving towards, which means ambushing you is easy. The grasshoppers in particular are quite nasty, as they’re super fast. You’ll practically have to memorize their spawn locations and attack when needed. But not in stage 3!! As the devs decided to change the rules and make them insta-kill for some reason. You’ll have to launch the little bugs to legally murder them, and since they’re way offscreen, you’ll be have to do that over and over, praying that they’ll actually get hit. The same stage also features the spider web platform section close to the end. The platforms are created after some time, some more delayed than others, which creates more trial and error gameplay. If you try to rush, the platform may not spawn in, and at times, you’ll have to wait for more platforms to spawn offscreen before rushing in, it’s more frustrating than it needs to be.
Third and last issue – bad collision detection. Flik has a slightly smaller hitbox than you’d think, so falling off ledges when you think you can make a jump at the last moment isn’t uncommon. And again, this can make platforming more tedious than it should be, one notable example is the fourth level with moving platforms. When you think you can make it from the platform onto solid ground, whoops! You can’t land on the very corner of it, otherwise you won’t actually make it. And don’t forget about the windup animation and everything else.
The graphics are quite average, though to be fair, it’s an early Game Boy Color game and it also supports original Game Boy hardware. The music is fine. The only notable thing about this game is that it’s the only Game Boy Color game that plays an alternate soundtrack when played on Super Game Boy, but that achievement could’ve gone to a better game.
Overall, A Bug’s Life GBC is, quite frankly, a terrible game. The platforming mechanics are horrible – pretty much all the actions are on a delay, which doesn’t lead to a smooth platforming experience. The game is filled with trial and error elements and frustrating design. The only good thing about it is that it’s pretty short, which should be indicative of it’s quality. Hard pass.
Second issue – trial and error. The first roadblock is probably going to be the first stage, where you have to bounce on leaf platforms. As it turns out, jumping repeatedly on the same leaf makes you bounce higher, which isn’t very intuitive in my opinion. But that’s the least of your worries. The way you acquire berries that you can throw at your foes? They drop from the top of the screen, and if they happen to land on top of you, you take damage! And their spawn is seemingly random, so good luck passing under or getting all the stuff you need. Next, the various enemies. The way the camera works is not in your favor, as you’ll be positioned slightly towards the end of the screen you’re moving towards, which means ambushing you is easy. The grasshoppers in particular are quite nasty, as they’re super fast. You’ll practically have to memorize their spawn locations and attack when needed. But not in stage 3!! As the devs decided to change the rules and make them insta-kill for some reason. You’ll have to launch the little bugs to legally murder them, and since they’re way offscreen, you’ll be have to do that over and over, praying that they’ll actually get hit. The same stage also features the spider web platform section close to the end. The platforms are created after some time, some more delayed than others, which creates more trial and error gameplay. If you try to rush, the platform may not spawn in, and at times, you’ll have to wait for more platforms to spawn offscreen before rushing in, it’s more frustrating than it needs to be.
Third and last issue – bad collision detection. Flik has a slightly smaller hitbox than you’d think, so falling off ledges when you think you can make a jump at the last moment isn’t uncommon. And again, this can make platforming more tedious than it should be, one notable example is the fourth level with moving platforms. When you think you can make it from the platform onto solid ground, whoops! You can’t land on the very corner of it, otherwise you won’t actually make it. And don’t forget about the windup animation and everything else.
The graphics are quite average, though to be fair, it’s an early Game Boy Color game and it also supports original Game Boy hardware. The music is fine. The only notable thing about this game is that it’s the only Game Boy Color game that plays an alternate soundtrack when played on Super Game Boy, but that achievement could’ve gone to a better game.
Overall, A Bug’s Life GBC is, quite frankly, a terrible game. The platforming mechanics are horrible – pretty much all the actions are on a delay, which doesn’t lead to a smooth platforming experience. The game is filled with trial and error elements and frustrating design. The only good thing about it is that it’s pretty short, which should be indicative of it’s quality. Hard pass.
My first game with a password save system, I mainly hated it because I never had anything handy to write the password down on lol
Easily the best ant-themed movie tie-in game I’ve ever played.