I first became aware of video game systems on a visit to my cousin
David’s house. He had an Atari, and every time we went there, I looked
forward to playing his E. T. game, which, as I recall, mostly
consisted of laying trails of Reese’s Pieces. Later, my friends would
introduce me to the wonders of Nintendo, and although my wild, jerky
movements threatened to knock out a lamp or a clock whenever I was
allowed to try my skill at Duck Hunt or one of the Mario games, I
thought that nothing could be cooler than having a Nintendo of my very
own. Then Super Nintendo came along, and I couldn’t stand it anymore.
One year, my brother and I pooled our savings, and we bought ourselves a
Super Nintendo, along with several classic games that we played through
the ground.
My favorite was one that came along a little
later. As I watched the usual parade of Saturday Morning Cartoons, a new
commercial captured my attention. A ferocious drill sergeant bellowed
out his descriptions of all the rigorous challenges a player would have
to face in playing The Jungle Book for Super Nintendo. That
classic Disney movie, the last animated film overseen by Walt Disney
himself, had long been a favorite of mine, so the premise appealed to me
at once, and it looked like a fun game. And my brother and I collapsed
into giggles whenever the sergeant concluded the commercial by
demanding, in a low and dangerous voice, “Have you ever tried to get to
Level Ten in your underwear, boy?”
No, we had not, but yes, we
were determined to try. The underwear, of course, refers to the paltry
bit of red cloth that passes for Mowgli’s clothing, both in the movie
and the game. Mowgli is lanky and limber, even more so in the game; he
swings from trees, surfs on giant leaves, ducks and weaves and crouches
and leaps his way through all of the trials that await him. Super
Nintendo isn’t nearly as graphically advanced as the systems that are
out today, but I was always happy with the look of the game, which is
modeled after the film. Similarly, the game incorporates music from the
movie, most notably The Bare Necessities, a sped-up version of which plays when Mowgli dons a mask giving him brief invincibility.
The masks can be handy, as Mowgli can breeze past enemies without being
injured, though I find that, especially with the music on, the mask
puts me in a frantic energy mode and, as often as not, I end up
accidentally launching myself off a cliff. It’s the steep drops that I
generally find most hazardous to my health in this game. For instance,
Mowgli must sometimes leap a series of floating leaves, which is tricky
to get right. It’s also easy to get carried away when swinging on a
vine; that’s one of the most entertaining actions you can do on this
game, but it can be tricky to get the timing right. Even when there is
no immediate danger below, there is a chance of taking up too much time
and ending up losing a life.
Handily, there are halfway points
in the levels, so once you’ve mastered the first part of a level, you
won’t have to return to it again and again before moving on to the
latter portion. The midway point is usually heralded by the young son of
elephant colonel Hathi, while Baloo the bear is often on hand to usher
Mowgli out of a particular level. Most of the characters from the movie
turn up at one point, to help or hinder. My favorite villain, in film
and game both, is Kaa the snake. He’s the end-of-the-level boss in the
largely vertical tree level, in which Mowgli spends much of his time
inside of trees, stumbling into invisible obstacles. The first few times
I played, I had one heck of a time putting the hypnotic Kaa out of
commission. It’s not quite so tricky anymore, but still, he is one
slippery fellow! Other levels require Mowgli to navigate a river, march
with Hathi’s troops and make his way through the ruins where King Louie
resides. The game finally end when Mowgli beats the tiger Shere Khan and
makes his way into the man village to start a new life.
A lot
of the game is about ingenuity and agility. Mowgli does a lot of
climbing, ducking, jumping and the like, and it’s important to navigate
the level with an eye for hidden treasure, since you must collect a
certain number of gems in order to advance. Of course, in unearthing
hidden treasure, you might also stumble into a threat; my least favorite
of these is the beehive, which comes with a very irritating sound
effect. There are also prickly pears to watch out for, and mischievous
monkeys are always lobbing fruit from overhead. Of course, Mowgli is not
unarmed himself. He has an arsenal of bananas, and along with the gems,
he also collects various other fruit-based weapons. I generally find
the bananas the easiest weapons to use, but it’s worthwhile to pick up
as many extras as possible because it is possible to run out of bananas.
The Jungle Book is fairly easy to play but not so easy that it lacks a challenge. I prefer it to the fairly similar Aladdin and The Lion King,
though those are fun as well. The only downside, really, is that two
people can’t play at once, but I’ve always preferred one-at-a-time games
anyway, since you get to make all of the decisions without having to
worry about how they affect another player. If you prefer to play
simultaneously with a friend, Goof Troop is a cute Disney game that allows this and is probably my favorite of such games that I have tried on the Super Nintendo.
I’ve noticed that lately, a lot of my friends have joined the Facebook
group When I Was Your Age, We Had to Blow on the Video Games to Make
Them Work. Though we don’t pull out the Super Nintendo too often at my
house anymore, it’s still in the living room, and once in a while I get
the urge to expend a bit of hot air for the sake of spending a couple of
hours with a classic video game, particularly this one. Now that I have
gotten to level ten many times over, I can certainly attest that The Jungle Book was a worthwhile investment.
No comments:
Post a Comment