Another fine case of a game beating me as a child and me harboring a deep, seething resentment for it straight through adulthood. I knew when I was building my Bucket List that I would need to take this game on again and finally put it to bed, and the nicest thing I have to say about it is that I can now safely never play it again. Hell, after today, I probably won't think about it another second for the rest of my miserable life.

How could I hate something based on one of my favorite Disney movies? The monkeys. It's the damn monkeys! It was always the monkeys!

The second level of the game is based around the I Can't Wait to be King song from the film. One of the best out of the whole soundtrack, which is filled with bangers. My favorite is Be Prepared, because I too am always hatching fiendish plots against my enemies and I like men. I digress. It's a bright and colorful level that does a respectable job of being representative of the musical number from the movie, but your progress is repeatedly interrupted by sequences of roaring at monkeys to change the direction in which they vault you ahead the level. You need to set up specific sequences to progress, and I swear this was designed with the intention of stopping young children from beating the game in a weekend. As an adult, I got it down, but solving the riddle so many years later didn't feel satisfying in the least bit, because the whole rest of the game - which had been waiting for me since 1994! - is just kinda... bleh.

There's just this all-around cheap feeling to it. Level layouts are very uninspired and do not facilitate fun platforming, Simba's jump has a weight to it that just feels off, and (similar to Disney's Aladdin for the Genesis) Simba's swipes lack a sense of impact, instead feeling like they're going through enemies rather than connecting with them. The only part of the game that feels like it has any real weight to it is the graphics, which is owed in large part to contributions from Walt Disney animators. It is then perhaps appropriate that The Lion King was rereleased only a few years ago with Aladdin, as I think the two share a lot of similar strengths and weaknesses.

Excluding the marketing costs, this game had a 12 million dollar budget. However, I don't know if that is a combined budget for every version of the game and how that pool would've been split up between them if it was, let alone what would be considered the average cost for developing a game in the mid-90s. I assume it's a lot, but that the game was rushed out to capitalize on the momentum of the movie rather than act as a compliment to it, because that's certainly how it feels.

"IF YOU EVER COME BACK, WE'LL KILL YA"

Virgin Interactive's Aladdin 2. A much more game-ified title, utilizing unique stage gimmicks and reinterpretations of iconic scenes, replacing the outline-driven art of Aladdin for a gradient-shaded look that's more functionally appropriate while maintaining high fluidity, and much more thoughtfully designed gameplay on a moment-to-moment basis.

It's also hard. It will skin you alive and never fairly. Low HP, deceptive hitboxes, death traps, surprise hazards and punishing checkpoints are the weapons in the weekend rental war. In a twisted way, Lion King the Game does a better job of making you feel Simba's terror and panic than even the movie could. For Genesis players, Virgin's swapped away from the regrettable GEMs sound engine to Krisalis' in-house tools. The result is an outstanding re-take of the movie's score with mournful, dramatic vibrato and punchy tribal percussion. It's less 'accurate' than the SNES version's orchestral samples, but it brings a soul that accompanies and enhances Elton and Tim's tracks beautifully.

The impenetrable difficulty will always hold this game back in the cosmic scheme, but it couldn't be a more appropriate send-off to 4th gen and its bizarre, funky little quirks. A tried and true time capsule.

A wonderful example of a tie-in game. It was a blast to play almost 30 years ago and it still holds up today. The art of the game resembles that of a movie and the soundtrack also fits the level themes with the already familiar motifs from the said movie. The gameplay itself is simple - jump on platforms, jump on enemies and slap the enemies in the second half of the game. Combined with a good level design, that uses not only horizontal progression, but also goes vertical - it delivers a satisfying experience.
Unfortunately the game still has its drawbacks. For example the roar is rarely used as a mechanic and can be easily ignored. Also there are certain traps that you need to be aware of to pass them - otherwise you'll lose a life. Basically a certain death for a first-timer. And there are a couple of unnecessary tedious parts: monkey puzzle, the cave maze and the last Scar part. And if you can brute-force through the first two - the last one requires the knowledge of a specific move to execute. Being the very last bit of the game - it can taint the whole experience.
So yeah. This is a wonderful game, but like many games of that era it requires repetition: do a few steps, fail on one part of the game, learn that part of the game, repeat it, do a few more steps. Too bad there is no in-game solution on how to teach the very last part. Not sure about the difficulty though. Maybe it's muscle memory, maybe because it was PAL version, but I had no problem completing the game first try after many years. And back when I was 5 I was still able to beat it, and getting past level 2 wasn't such a problem.

Classic art-first, gameplay-second design disaster. Every single level needed someone asking, "Hey, is this a good idea?" so they could realize it wasn't and then start over from scratch with something else. Pretty close to no fun to play, but it looks great! And good music, too, but that's mostly thanks to the movie.

This score is for the Genesis version, which is slightly better. The SNES one controls like you're on roller skates and has insanely bad platforming detection. That one gets a 1.5.

May be the first game I beat as a kid. I was stuck on every level except for the 1st level, Pride Rock. The Jungle/Hakuna Matata level kicked my ass for the longest time, specifically that ridiculous waterfall that you need to climb midway through the level (shout out to the Elephant Graveyard level as well).

When I finally threw Scar off the top of Pride Rock and saw the end credits, I felt an incredible sense of pride and triumph.

Afterwards, my younger self could then sit down and beat this game from beginning to end in ~30 minutes...nowadays, my adult self cannot even beat the 2nd level, "Can't Wait to Be King". :D