The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid. As a kid I loved this movie. It was one of my favorite Disney's films of all time, and since then it became my number one favorite from the company. The story is fairly straightforward with wonderful animation that holds up even today and a great soundtrack, but I'm not here to talk about the movie. I'm here to talk about the game.

This was another entry in Capcom's classics of the old 8-bit era before they went to shit. Originally came out on July 1991, two years after the movie. There's a version for the NES and the Game Boy. They're more or less the same game but with the limitations of the Game Boy affecting the latter. Since there aren't many differences, I'm just going to go ahead and review the NES version.

  Kiss her already! You would've had to pry me away with a crowbar by now!

The game kicks off with some images explaining a little bit of backstory on Ariel and the plot of the game. Apparently, Ursula plans to take over the ocean and Ariel reverts back to her mermaid form to go rescue them. I like how she just transforms back at will. What the hell did she need the trident for in The Little Mermaid 2?

Fuck you! I'ma save my friends!

You see these cut-scenes throughout the game in-between each stage, but there isn't much variety. They recycle the same drawing of Ariel in all the talking scenes and just change her clothes depending on which form she's in. There are a few different images at the beginning and the end, but that's it. Even Ursula cut-scene image is the same as her boss sprite. These were the NES years of gaming so I won't be too hard on it.

  I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum!

Holy shit what happened to the colors? Did the designers not know what red looked like? You colored it in the cut-scenes okay. I don't know if they thought red would clash with everything else or not, but they made her hair and even the hearts a mix of purple. I know the NES is capable of having red colors. We've all played Mario.

I don't even get a full heart meter? What? Why even have two extra ones there if they aren't filled? You can find new hearts inside of seashells that act as weapons, but it's rare.

Ariel can trap enemies in bubbles and use them as projectiles. She can also swim faster underwater to help avoid obstacles. There are power ups found in treasure chests that can increase the power or the range of Ariel's bubbles. Some chests are easy enough to open, but others can be a little tricky and requires more than just the seashells. I never figured out how to do it.

Apparently, Ariel can dig through sand to find treasure, too, except I never done it. I don't even remember seeing anything that resembles sand! There are six levels in the game overall. Very little sand to be had in them.

Enemies ranges from fishes, seahorses, and annoying octopuses that shoot shit at you. Any enemy you can't trap in a bubble can be frozen for a time. Levels are loosely based on places from the movie for the first two, and then starts adding filler. There's a pretty fun ice level and an underwater volcano stage. The fifth stage is at Ursula's castle can be a bit of a puzzle, but once you figure out the pattern it's a piece of cake.

Queen, huh? Here's your crown! Throws fish at Ursula.

At the end of each stage you face the boss. First level has the all too familiar Glut the Shark. After that you face the moray eel, Flotsam and Jetsam, and then two filler bosses before Ursula herself. You have both regular size Ursula to contend with and then the giant from the end of the movie. Having Ariel be the one to take Ursula down is a welcome change of pace.

Bosses are pretty easy to whip. All you have to do is throw bubbles at them and avoid them when they zip across the screen. The second boss fight is a little harder because you have all these crabs falling from the sky that you need to trap. Third is mainly hard because you need to throw a seashell up at an angle to hit the boss. Fourth guy shoots enemies at you from canons that you need to hurl back at him.

Ursula started off as hard for me at first because you need to avoid multiple enemies she throws at you. This changed drastically when I realize you don't have to move to the left or right of her platform to hit her. All you have to do is aim straight up at her face and enough hits will do her in. That remains true for the next stage when she's a giant. The only challenge is fighting the currents, which isn't that hard. Next to The Lion King and Aladdin? The Little Mermaid is a cakewalk. You'll still get a fair amount of challenge, but it's a more forgiving kid's game than the other Disney games I played. I dare say the Game Boy version is even easier than this one.

 

Once Ursula is defeated and the day is saved, King Triton changes his daughter back to a human so she can marry Eric and that's it. The game is over.

  Until the divorce proceedings.

And that's The Little Mermaid. Great game for kids. If you're like me and you absolutely love The Little Mermaid franchise I think you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Even the Game Boy version can be a lot of fun despite its many limitations. This is easily my favorite Disney game by far, which makes sense given my feelings on the movie.

This concludes Disney's Month. I hope you had a fun time reading all of my reviews and who knows we may do this again next year. I will see you guys in the month of August where I have even more amazing games laying in wait.

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