Needless to say my game collection has grown a bit so I'll be able to do this much more ofter :)
Let's start things off with The Little Mermaid for the NES.
I recently had a "Disney Rampage" and started buying a lot of DVDs for all my favorite classics, being one the best, The Little Mermaid could not be the exception. So upon doing a little Wikipediaing I stumbled upon the fact that there was actually a game released for this on the Nintendo Enternainment System and Game Boy.
Published by non other than Capcom and released in 1991, this 8-bit fantasy automatically raised my expectations, so I couldn't pass the oportunity to aquire this at my local game shop.
Upong popping this gem up on my console I was greated to a very nice title screen with a very good rendition of the all-time classic "Under the Sea".
This were looking pretty good up to this point. Upon pressing start as the screen asks, you are taken to some very nice detailed cut scenes where Ariel and Prince Eric have already met and aparantly are planning to marry, when Ariel's fish friends appear and inform her that Ursula has put a spell on all sea creatures amd is planning on rule over the sea. Ariel bravely turns back into a mermaid somehow and rushed down to stop Ursula.
When the game begins you are treated to this...
Holy crap, it looks like Ariel did some crack before going down under. Anyway, this is pretty much a basic side scroller where you trap enemies in bubbles shot from your tail (fish farts) and throw them at other enemies. Along the way you encounter treasure chest that can only be opened by throwing a green shell at them, which are found randomly around the stage. This chests contain power ups that increase your attacks in power and distance, this power ups carry on from level to level but disappear once you die. There's also items that provide points at the end of each level or that increase your health, honestly, not once did I encounted such items, I was left to rot with my 3 itty bitty hearts and make the most with them, but then again, I didn't really know where to look.
It didn't dawn on me until I started playing that, THIS WHOLE GAME WAS GONNA BE JUST ONE HUGE WATER LEVEL!, holy crap. Despite that, I continued and faced off agains angry fish, funny looking seahorse and shrimp with weird swimming patterns amongst others.
I couldn't help but be reminded by this game of the water levels in Super Mario World, particularly the one in the Forest of Illusion.
What bothered me the most about this game, aside from the fact that it's really short, were the really easy bosses. Most boss battles involved the said boss standing on one side of the screen while random enemies came at you so that you could trap them in bubbles and then throw them at the boss. Afterwards, they would just swim to the other side of the screen.
Even big boss Ursula would just stand there while you threw bubbled enemies at her. Even the powered up version with King Triton powers will just change the direction of the water flow.
After a very meh boss battle, your daddy (who was nowhere to be found when Ursula was trying to take over his kingdome, but whatever) turns you back into a human and you reunite with Prince Eric, to get married and live happily ever after...
Needless to say, with only 5 levels, I finished the game in less than an hour which was really disappointing but overal it was a nice 45 minutes or so.
It's safe to say that Disney games became much more complete, challenging and fun once the 16 bit consoles were created, with great games like Aladdin, The Lion King and Mikeymania. But it's still fun to go back to simpler times were games were pretty straighforward.
Until next time, I live you with this shot of Ariel with a slutty look in her eyes...
