DC Live! The Lion King (Complete) Livestream
I had originally planned to start Final Fantasy VIII this week. Then I had completely forgotten that it was Easter Sunday, a holiday I do observe. Since the requestor of FFVIII lives in Europe, a late stream after a holiday dinner would not do. So, time for a backup plan in the form of a one-off stream. I figured breaking out the Analogue Mega Sg and my treasured copy of The Lion King on Sega Genesis would be perfect.
A lot of video game adaptations of movies in the 1990s (heck, even today) were hit or miss. The Lion King video game came out on the Super Nintendo, Genesis, Game Gear, Master System, Game Boy, Amiga, and MS-Dos. Like the movie it was also released in 1994, and came out five months after the film premiere. Westwood Studios and Disney Software developed the game, while Virgin Interactive was responsible for publishing. The TLK game follows the plot of the movie. Gameplay-wise it is a platformer, but combat isn’t’ really an option until Simba reaches adulthood. The game can be quite difficult at times as well. Graphically, it’s a gorgeous 16-bit title.
Astoundingly, Virgin sunk $20 million into the game gambling that it would be more successful than Aladdin. They recognized the success of The Lion King would be tied to the movie, which did amazingly well bringing in over 700 million in 1994. The success of the featured animated film would prove to be a boon, as the game sold over 4 million copies across various platforms.
Sure, I have The Lion King on newer consoles thanks to the Disney Classic Games Collection, but we enjoy going old school on Damage Control with original cartridges if possible. I haven’t beaten the game since I received my copy for Christmas in 1994 and finished it (with much difficultly) during winter break. I was 11 at the time. Decades later, I’m not sure how much I’ll remember, but it should be a fun experience. (On a side note, I did a Let’s Play of the first half hour of the game a few months ago.)
Join me at 9PM Eastern, 8PM Central on our Twitch Channel as I flex my atrophied muscle memory regarding The Lion King.
As always, a recording of the stream will be archived on our YouTube channel and embedded below.
Edit: I updated the article to reflect the 1994 box office sales of the movie. Thank you, Joseph for the correction.
And Oh hey, I finished the game in one stream.
About The Author
Angela
Executive Editor | Angela has had an addiction to video games and cartoons since she was young and impressionable. She enjoys writing long articles about these subjects and whatever else catches her eye. Mastodon
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There’s a slight error in the article. That billion dollar box office earning is the cumulative total of its original 1994 release and all of its re-releases including 3-D in 2011 and iMax in 2002. The original take in 1994 was $763,455,561.
Thank you for the correction, Joseph. The article has been updated.