The Lion King

aka: Der König der Löwen, El Rey Leon, Le Roi Lion, O Rei Leão
Moby ID: 2077
DOS Specs
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Included in See Also

Description official descriptions

Young Simba just can't wait to be king. His father is the current King of the Savannah and the young prince is able to frolic the lands at will; jumping on and around other subjects of this animal kingdom. When Simba's father, King Mufasa, is killed and his evil brother Scar takes over the kingdom, Simba is banished from the lands of his birthright and has to grow up fast, honing his skills, for the day of his return.

The Lion King, based on the famous Disney movie, is a platform game where you control Simba - initially as a young cub, and later as an adult lion. The plot of the game follows the plot of the movie. Each of the levels represents a part of the movie.

As young Simba, you can fight various beasts, such as lizards, by jumping on them. You can also roar to scare some creatures into submission, though every time you roar, you have to wait for your "roar meter" to charge.

As an adult lion, you can still roar and jump, but now you fight enemies by slashing at them with your claws (if you're skillful enough, you can also grab them and toss them off the screen).

The game features no in-game save function, and it needs to be replayed from the beginning every time.

Spellings

  • ライオンキング - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

152 People (131 developers, 21 thanks) · View all

Programming
Testing
  • Ross
  • Reece
  • Ria
Producer
Executive Producer
Testing
Creative Director/Producer
Programming
Assistant Programming
Programming Support
Lead Designer
Assistant Designer
Background Art
Animation
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 79% (based on 47 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 127 ratings with 4 reviews)

A disappointing version of a classic game

The Good
Everyone knows the disney film, and many can also remember the action game which was released on many platforms. It was a platformer, and a fun one too! You played the part of Simba, who starts off as a cub before becoming an adult in the later levels. He is very easy to control, so even beginners will enjoy the experience

The graphics, like many other disney games, are very colourful, making use of the AGA chipset. The sound and music is also faithful to the movie.

The levels are also well-design, some of them having the odd boss in some parts of the level.

The Bad
About a quarter of the game was taken away in the amiga version. Three levels were taken out (Levels 2, 6 and 9). Even worse is that all the bonus games with Timon and Pumbaa were taken out. All this meant that the lastability had been greatly reduced! Another thing that was taken out were all but one cut-scene (the only cut scene in the amiga version is the one where Timon says 'It Starts')!

These weren't taken out because of technical limitations (the amiga was powerful enough to handle all the other versions of this game's features), but it was because... well, Virgin Interactive didn't say anything! It was probably because the game came on four floppies. When you think that the AGA version of Rise of The Robots came on 13 disks you couldn't have cared less!

The Bottom Line
A big disappointment. Play one of the other versions.

Amiga · by pottyboy (68) · 2004

Great Game But Hard

The Good
1. The fact that they put just enough diversity in the different levels to make each one it's own. Through the first 6 levels you focus alot on jumping and grabbing onto ledges, but in the last four levels the mood seems to shift to focusing on combat not that you don't still jump, believe me your gonna be jumping through the entire game. When you grow into adult Simba you get many more attacks.

2.The graphics are incredible for a 16 bit console. Vibrant colors will entertain your eyes until you stop playing

  1. They stuck to the locations well, they even made a level for the classic Hakuna Matata song and I Just Can't Wait To Be King.

  2. The soundtrack is straight from the movie and the quality is beyond the games of it's day.

  3. The game is actually very hard making it a game for adults as well.

    The Bad
    1. They didn't seem to back the storyline up very much, You don't have a clue why you go into exile, you never see Mufasa die, you don't realize that Scar is the enemy till the last level. and Timon and Pumba only appear in mini games,No Nala, even the other version of the game on GBC had you fight her before you recognize her, she is quite an important part of the story.

  4. The game is too hard for younger kids who may be attracted to the characters and story.

  5. Not enough types of enemy's.

    The Bottom Line
    Very fun game but if your getting a SNES don't pick this out as your first game.

SNES · by Trey Barrow (2) · 2009

Beautiful graphics

The Good
The artists did such a great job on this game, it's almost like watching a cartoon. Terrific soundtrack goes along great with the gameplay and storyline. The first few levels are challenging and fun.

The Bad
About halfway through the game there's a level which me and my wife never could get past. We could play about 15-20 minutes into the game but one of the levels we just weren't skilled enough to solve.

The Bottom Line
Great graphics, requires great skill the further you get into the game.

SNES · by r h (13) · 2007

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Shouldn't there be a "Disney's" in the title? Cavalary (11445) Oct 4, 2016
Some cheats not working Nowhere Girl (8680) Jul 16, 2013

Trivia

DirectX

The Windows version of The Lion King was the inspiration for DirectX. It was released with a large line of Compaq computers, but then the system specs were changed at the last minute. The game ceased to work on the computers after the change. To prevent this from happening in the future, Microsoft created DirectX so that applications could run on any computer.

Missing levels in the Amiga version

The Amiga version has only 7 levels compared to 10 levels in the DOS, Genesis and SNES version. The missing levels are "Level 2 (Can't Wait to be King)", "Level 6 (Hakuna Matata)", "Level 9 (Simba's Return)" and both bonus stages ("Bug Toss" with Pumbaa and "Bug Hunt" with Timon).

There are 2 different explanations:

1) Programmer of the Amiga version - Dave Semmens - said in an interview that he had only around 2 months to convert the game from Genesis because it had to be released on Christmas. He received all the source code from the Genesis version which he expected to be in 68000 assembler (the Amiga and Genesis shared the same 68000 processor) so a lot of parts could be used from the existing code. Unfortunately it turned out that the source code was in "C" - a language he had never seen before. Converting the game was a crunch job right from the start and at one point he worked 40 hours straight. In the end he only used one table from the provided code. Because of this fact and a limited time he wasn't able to fully complete the game for a Christmas release. He had 2 of the other levels almost complete but there wasn't enough time to fully test them before release. As a result he lost out about 25% of the money for not delivering the missing levels.

2) The Amiga manual contains following information: "Due to size limitation this version of Disney's The Lion King does not contain the bonus stages, "Can't Wait to be King", "Hakuna Matata" or "Simba's Return".

Awards

  • Amiga Joker
    • Issue 02/1996 – #2 Best Dexterity Game in 1995 (Readers' Vote)
  • GameFan
    • Vol 3, Iss. 1 - Movie to Game Translation of the Year 1994
  • Game Players
    • January 1995 - Best Genesis Game in 1994
    • January 1995 - Best Genesis Action Game in 1994

Information also contributed by Big John WV, B.L. Stryker and Picard

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Related Games

Disney's The Lion King
Released 1994 on Game Boy, 1995 on NES
Disney's The Lion King 1 ½
Released 2003 on Game Boy Advance
Disney's The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure
Released 2000 on Game Boy Color
Disney's Activity Center: The Lion King
Released 1995 on Windows, Windows 3.x, Macintosh
Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King
Released 2019 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King
Released 1994 on Windows 3.x, Macintosh

Related Sites +

  • "Devs Play" S01E01 · The Lion King
    Double Fine’s Greg Rice is joined by Louis Castle, co-founder of Westwood Studios, for a full play-through of the Genesis version of The Lion King.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 2077
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Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Luiz Pacheco.

Windows added by POMAH. SNES added by Corn Popper. Macintosh added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. Linux added by chirinea. Amiga added by Martin Smith. Genesis added by Syed GJ.

Additional contributors: Terok Nor, Zack Green, Ramcard, B.L. Stryker, Shoddyan, chirinea, Sciere, Kohler 86, Freeman, Patrick Bregger.

Game added July 31, 2000. Last modified March 15, 2024.