Beauty and the Beast
Developed By:
- Probe Entertainment
Published by:
- Hudson Soft
- Jeroen Tel
- Nick Stroud
- Alan Menken
- Super NES
Release dates
- JP - 1994
- NA - 1994
- PAL - 1995
Genre:
- Action platformer
- Single Player
Check pricing here:
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Box Synopsis
A self-centered prince is transformed into a hideous beast by the magic of an enchantress. What's more, all his servants have been turned into household objects. Before departing, the enchantress leaves a rose in the hands of the Prince. "This rose will bloom until your twenty-first birthday. You have until then to find the one you truly love and to earn that person's love in return. If you don't, you will be doomed to remain a beast forever." Can the Beast break the spell before it's too late?
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Gameplay
The game is played completely as The Beast. The objective of the player is to pursue Belle and get her to fall in love with The Beast so the curse cast upon him and the castle will be broken. Characters from the Disney film are involved with the story which of includes Gaston the hunter, who tries to steal Belle from you.
The player is required to use the beasts speed, strength and might to complete 4 main levels which begin in his very own castle. Each main world design is broken down into smaller segments.
Each segment has a start point and an end goal which you must reach while not taking to much damage and beating the clock which is represented by the petals falling of the rose in the top right of the corner.
The story continues to be told through the game and the main story elements are rewarded to the player for by reaching the end of all the segments and then defeating the boss of that level.
Each level also has a handful of pickups which will help the player achieve their goal. These come in the forms of coloured books, rose petals, hearts and story inspired type items.
The player is required to use the beasts speed, strength and might to complete 4 main levels which begin in his very own castle. Each main world design is broken down into smaller segments.
Each segment has a start point and an end goal which you must reach while not taking to much damage and beating the clock which is represented by the petals falling of the rose in the top right of the corner.
The story continues to be told through the game and the main story elements are rewarded to the player for by reaching the end of all the segments and then defeating the boss of that level.
Each level also has a handful of pickups which will help the player achieve their goal. These come in the forms of coloured books, rose petals, hearts and story inspired type items.
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Controls
Directional pad - movement and look up or down
L - N/A
Y - Swipe/slash
X - Hold to charge a roar. When the screen shakes release to roar
B - Jump
A - Hold to charge a roar. When the screen shakes release to roar
Select - N/A
Start - Pause
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Pick up guide
- Rose Petal - Resets the timer
- Red book - Grants immunity
- Green book - Checkpoint
- Pink book - Refill health
- Blue/orange book - the are for points I believe
- Looking glass - Shows the level ahead for a short distance
- Heart - Extra life. Maximum 8 lives.
Hint: 50,000 points also awards a bonus life
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Game Videos
Game Videos
Introduction
Gameplay Sample
Shanwow's Review
Story and Gameplay: 2 point
Disney's Beauty and the Beast is an action platformer game that uses Beast's perspective and allows the player to play through his behind the scenes series of events. The player takes control through 4 large level which include both interior castle locations and the wild out doors. The story is charming and given to you as a reward for completing the small segments that lead to the Boss fight of the level.
The story telling is done through a combination of colourful sprites and animations that have a good Disney feel. I enjoyed looking into the Beast's side of the story because it adds a little bit of masculinity. His perspective follows closely to the film storyline, however there are some levels that feel like fillers. An example of this is when you meet Belle outside and have to catch snowballs, which if you drop 3 times take one of your lives.
The gameplay is action based but it often feels stacked against the player because of design flaws such as the brightness of the screen and enemy sprites. It can be quite frustrating because not only are things hard to see but they are hard to hit with your limited attack range and speed.
The gameplay is action based but it often feels stacked against the player because of design flaws such as the brightness of the screen and enemy sprites. It can be quite frustrating because not only are things hard to see but they are hard to hit with your limited attack range and speed.
I also found that some sections of the segments leave you confused on what to do because of something that may be roar activated. An example in the first level where you cannot proceed unless you roar at the maximum strength which makes a platform appear to help you ascend to the goal. There are no clues on what to do so I lost a few lives just there trying to figure it out.
The level sizes are good for the amount of difficulty encountered and I sunk about one and a half hours into the game before I finished it. It may sound shorter than some Disney games but it isn't designed to be finished on your first attempt.
Controls and Features: 2 points
As fierce as the beast may be, you aren't really armed with many defensive actions which makes this game a bit of a struggle. You can easily master the layout because it is simply a jump and slash game for a majority of it.
On screen the controls do come off pretty crappy and annoying. The one and only attack you have is slow and the hit detection is inaccurate leaving you exposed to a cheap shot from the enemy directly to your front. Another major issue I had is how often Beast would fall of the edge of platforms even after landing a good distance on a platform. This directly affects your progress in levels where you need to roar to freeze platforms and have a time to complete a tricky jump.
Beauty and The Beast features cameos from the Disney characters which is a nice relief from the poor controls. Lumiere is the first to appear as a guide through a very dark first level. There are a few more appearances which are joyful additions.
There is a score system that is hidden until you complete a level, which is useful for gathering those extra lives as you save Belle and prepare to fight Gaston. You score points from defeating enemies and gathering story related pick ups.
Design and Difficulty: 2 point
Throughout the life of the Super Nintendo, Disney pumped out a few games that were known to be designed to have sections that were intentionally hard to stop you from finishing the game to fast. I feel once again it is true with Beauty and the Beast as there are a lot of sections that require you to either make a leap of faith or burn precious time figuring out what to do. These roadblocks appear in at least one segment for each level.
When it come's to comparing the major level design as a whole it is rather approving. They all have a unique section of the story to tell which is rewarded once you complete the challenges. The location changes are very obvious which keeps the game flowing nicely. You get to enjoy a mixture of interior and exterior levels with enemies that vary depending on where you are.
The enemies are nicely designed and have basic sounds that they play when on screen. Some sprites are tricky to locate at first because of the overall brightness of the game. It's brightness preset is rather low and contributes to some hard to pass parts as well. I found that I missed many of my attacks because the sprite was too dark to see properly. That darkness also is a problem for you as contact damages you and has knockback which can throw you off a platform to your death.
The look and feel of each level brings a fresh breath as you progress and I really enjoyed the attempt to make it 3D even if it is cheesy in some spots. The darkness is present even after you progress from the castle interior to the exterior locations like the forest but it does get brighter when you meet Belle again on screen. To get there however you must defeat two terribly annoying bosses who are hard to hit but do have a set pattern. So once you lose all your lives you might figure out how to beat it on the next attempt.
Another difficulty raising element is the use of one hit kill elements such as water and the floating platforms on it. There are just way to many ways to die instantly in this which makes it even more challenging and life consuming. The are often paired with a tricky jump that you can misjudge or has an enemy there waiting to knock you back off. Overall it is a tough game to complete especially because there is no password system.
Fun and Summary : 👎
This Beauty and the Beast game by Disney has many small things that make it a charming and fun experience however those elements are outweighed by the amount of cheap life stealing techniques and bad design choices.
The game does get easier in some parts but that changes quite quickly when you are back into areas with instant death opportunities. The game could be a little more fun if they leveled out the challenge with a password system for return players because this game has that rage quit factor.
It's not all dark and gloomy for this game as it does have a fun story full of animations and sprites. The story is one of the best features of the game because it is presented beautifully even when it's purpose is simple. However it is a story that may go unheard for some because the game is toughness sadly outweighs the reward factor.
- No difficulty setting
- No passwords
- Very dark in some spots
- Lots of instant kill spots
RetroRating: 6 / 10
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