Disney's TaleSpin - Sega Gensis - Quick Review
All throughout the SNES/Sega generation of consoles, Disney games were always on the map with a decent amount of attention. Everything from Lion King being notorious for it's incredible difficulty, and Aladdin being praised as being one of the best at the time. For this review, I decided to go back a bit before those two to TaleSpin.
In TaleSpin, you control either Baloo or Kit (or both in two-player) through the entirety of the game. The two catch wind of a contest in which the winner can earn a lifetime contract flying and delivering for the city of Cape Suzette, but have to deal with Shere Khan and his company who are vying for the same thing. The contest requires all who enter to fly around the world picking up ten crates of cargo in each of eight different locations. You can pick up boxes by crouching on top of them, certain boxes can be dropped again with A, B attacks, and C jumps, and during the flight levels, the D-Pad controls the position of the plane on the screen and B fires the weapon. So let's see how this one stacks up with it's other family members in the Disney games.
The Good
- Platforming with a Purpose. Much like I said with Prehistorik Man on SNES, TaleSpin is a lot more than just getting from the start of the level to the end in a certain amount of time. In Prehistorik Man, you had the optional objective of collecting as much food for your village as you could. In TaleSpin, your objective isn't optional. There are cargo boxes scattered through each level, and you must collect at least ten of these before going to the customs office to face the boss.
- Difference Between Characters. A lot of games that allow you to choose between characters don't offer much of a difference, especially not back in the retro days. But TaleSpin does! One big difference is their weapon range (Kit's slingshot can go farther than Baloo's rubber ball), but the most important difference is your role during the flight levels of the game. Since Baloo is the pilot, if you play as him you'll actually be fling the plane. Whereas if you play as Kit, you'll be air-surfing behind the plane on an airfoil that's attached to the plane with a chain. So Kit can shoot farther in the platforming stages, but Baloo's ability to fly the plane makes the flight sections a bit easier to get through.
- You Can Turn Back Time. The game runs on a time limit of the seven days that you have to complete the contest. However, through each level there are random time power-ups you can grab that will turn time back a short period (since you can't really add time to the deadline of the contest). While these power-ups aren't needed, it's nice to have them as an option, and I especially like that they function in a way that stays true to the game.
The Bad
- Enemy Placement. It's really awkward at times.You can only fire your weapon from standing or crouching (also in mid-jump) but to score a hit on an enemy you have to hit them perfectly. The tiing on this can be pretty tricky sometimes, especially when you are dealing with birds flying in the air that swoop down at all angles to attack you.
Is it Worth it?
I wasn't expecting much from this game since it didn't get the same kind of attention that other Disney titles did. So I was very surprised when I fired this one up and fell right into a barrel of fun. I absolutely love the requirement of having to find a certain amount of cargo before you can get to the boss to finish the level. It gives the game more of a purpose than just running from start to finish. It requires a bit of strategy to get through the levels. So even though TaleSpin might not have earned the same amount of attention as other titles, it's definitely a bit of a sleeper hit in that sense.
You can find TaleSpin for just under $10 just the cartridge, or around $15 if you want it in the original case, but either way you'll most certainly be getting your value from this one.
In TaleSpin, you control either Baloo or Kit (or both in two-player) through the entirety of the game. The two catch wind of a contest in which the winner can earn a lifetime contract flying and delivering for the city of Cape Suzette, but have to deal with Shere Khan and his company who are vying for the same thing. The contest requires all who enter to fly around the world picking up ten crates of cargo in each of eight different locations. You can pick up boxes by crouching on top of them, certain boxes can be dropped again with A, B attacks, and C jumps, and during the flight levels, the D-Pad controls the position of the plane on the screen and B fires the weapon. So let's see how this one stacks up with it's other family members in the Disney games.
The Good
- Platforming with a Purpose. Much like I said with Prehistorik Man on SNES, TaleSpin is a lot more than just getting from the start of the level to the end in a certain amount of time. In Prehistorik Man, you had the optional objective of collecting as much food for your village as you could. In TaleSpin, your objective isn't optional. There are cargo boxes scattered through each level, and you must collect at least ten of these before going to the customs office to face the boss.
- Difference Between Characters. A lot of games that allow you to choose between characters don't offer much of a difference, especially not back in the retro days. But TaleSpin does! One big difference is their weapon range (Kit's slingshot can go farther than Baloo's rubber ball), but the most important difference is your role during the flight levels of the game. Since Baloo is the pilot, if you play as him you'll actually be fling the plane. Whereas if you play as Kit, you'll be air-surfing behind the plane on an airfoil that's attached to the plane with a chain. So Kit can shoot farther in the platforming stages, but Baloo's ability to fly the plane makes the flight sections a bit easier to get through.
- You Can Turn Back Time. The game runs on a time limit of the seven days that you have to complete the contest. However, through each level there are random time power-ups you can grab that will turn time back a short period (since you can't really add time to the deadline of the contest). While these power-ups aren't needed, it's nice to have them as an option, and I especially like that they function in a way that stays true to the game.
The Bad
- Enemy Placement. It's really awkward at times.You can only fire your weapon from standing or crouching (also in mid-jump) but to score a hit on an enemy you have to hit them perfectly. The tiing on this can be pretty tricky sometimes, especially when you are dealing with birds flying in the air that swoop down at all angles to attack you.
Is it Worth it?
I wasn't expecting much from this game since it didn't get the same kind of attention that other Disney titles did. So I was very surprised when I fired this one up and fell right into a barrel of fun. I absolutely love the requirement of having to find a certain amount of cargo before you can get to the boss to finish the level. It gives the game more of a purpose than just running from start to finish. It requires a bit of strategy to get through the levels. So even though TaleSpin might not have earned the same amount of attention as other titles, it's definitely a bit of a sleeper hit in that sense.
You can find TaleSpin for just under $10 just the cartridge, or around $15 if you want it in the original case, but either way you'll most certainly be getting your value from this one.
