Disney's The Lion King 1½ is a standard The Lost Vikings style platformer from Vicarious Visions, and probably the first one from them. I mean, I haven't played all of their games, but this is the earliest one I know, acting as a precursor to other Lost Vikings style games from the same devs, such as Shrek 2 and... Shrek The Third. Also, apparently this game released earlier than the movie by a few months.
You play as Timon and/or Pumbaa in platforming stages to solve simple puzzles and platforming challenges to progress. Timon can jump high, climb on vines, dig certain surfaces and distract hyenas, while Puumba can charge or burp at enemies and push heavy objects, as well as act as a springboard for Timon to reach higher areas. There are also chase levels where both run away from some danger, these levels feature prompts right before obstacles that need to be crossed, which is very helpful. Every level has 40 bugs, collecting them unlocks a puzzle piece for each world, unlock all of them and a bonus level will be revealed, which is a timed challenge which awards an extra health pickup. These challenges are decent, though there are moments where you have to wait, like in first Timon challenge with spiders on vines, breaking the pace. Looking around for bugs can be beneficial, although collecting and recollecting them all can be frustrating, since the game doesn't feature checkpoints, and the bugs are like high score and won't stay collected when reentering the level, but especially in chase levels, where you practically have to memorize the layout. Aside from bugs, rarely, upgrades for Timon and Puumba's abilities can also be found, allowing for longer distraction period or burp attack more often, which end up being mildly useful. Lastly, there are one time use items, such as a remote that stops time and enemies for a brief time or clear screen bomb. The level design itself is alright, although later levels do feel like they drag on, and dying means repeating them all over.
Graphically, the game is odd. Timon, Puumba and some other characters look like they use pre-rendered sprites, even though the source material is traditionally animated. Not that they look bad, they're decently animated, but they do stand out from other hand-drawn sprites. The foreground and some backgrounds also have realistic feel to them. The music is pretty good. The game advertises animated clips from the film, available after each world, and they honestly look pretty good given the hardware, although they are brief and lack sound.
Overall, this is a pretty average Lost Vikings-style platformer. The level design is just alright and there's not that much variety and later levels get pretty frustrating because of their length and lack of checkpoints. 100% completing it can be a chore, but casually playing it, it's not a bad time.
You play as Timon and/or Pumbaa in platforming stages to solve simple puzzles and platforming challenges to progress. Timon can jump high, climb on vines, dig certain surfaces and distract hyenas, while Puumba can charge or burp at enemies and push heavy objects, as well as act as a springboard for Timon to reach higher areas. There are also chase levels where both run away from some danger, these levels feature prompts right before obstacles that need to be crossed, which is very helpful. Every level has 40 bugs, collecting them unlocks a puzzle piece for each world, unlock all of them and a bonus level will be revealed, which is a timed challenge which awards an extra health pickup. These challenges are decent, though there are moments where you have to wait, like in first Timon challenge with spiders on vines, breaking the pace. Looking around for bugs can be beneficial, although collecting and recollecting them all can be frustrating, since the game doesn't feature checkpoints, and the bugs are like high score and won't stay collected when reentering the level, but especially in chase levels, where you practically have to memorize the layout. Aside from bugs, rarely, upgrades for Timon and Puumba's abilities can also be found, allowing for longer distraction period or burp attack more often, which end up being mildly useful. Lastly, there are one time use items, such as a remote that stops time and enemies for a brief time or clear screen bomb. The level design itself is alright, although later levels do feel like they drag on, and dying means repeating them all over.
Graphically, the game is odd. Timon, Puumba and some other characters look like they use pre-rendered sprites, even though the source material is traditionally animated. Not that they look bad, they're decently animated, but they do stand out from other hand-drawn sprites. The foreground and some backgrounds also have realistic feel to them. The music is pretty good. The game advertises animated clips from the film, available after each world, and they honestly look pretty good given the hardware, although they are brief and lack sound.
Overall, this is a pretty average Lost Vikings-style platformer. The level design is just alright and there's not that much variety and later levels get pretty frustrating because of their length and lack of checkpoints. 100% completing it can be a chore, but casually playing it, it's not a bad time.