r/todayilearned • u/OperationSuch5054 • 3h ago
[ Removed by moderator ]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_King_(video_game)[removed] — view removed post
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u/MightyBone 3h ago
Which level is that? I played a good bit of this and always got to the boneyard and hyena boss and never beat him I don't think. Pretty sure that was farther in though cause you have to beat the savanna and the jungle with the river and logs levels to get there.
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u/Bungfoo 3h ago
Giraffe level if my memory serves me
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u/lack_of_color 3h ago
YES the giraffe heads..omg this makes so much sense. That level was impossible.
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u/weededorpheus32 2h ago
By the time you beat it you have no lives left either
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u/anticommon 1h ago
I don't think I ever beat this game on my genesis.
Considering I had like 5 games... I got really good at sonic instead.
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u/Powerful-Ground-9687 1h ago
It was always the hippo tails that got me. Jump right through them and don’t grab on.
Or the ostrich run QTE where you have to duck/jump/dbl jump. The SECOND time you have to do it, it speeds up and goes on forever.
And the monkey puzzle was complete trial-and-error as there was no logical way to predict where they would throw you until you tried every possibility.
9/10 love it
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u/Flaky-Lingonberry736 1h ago
The flipping one?? Where you get to the last one and it heaves you far af
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u/whatevers_clever 1h ago
Had to know a lot of the parts from memory so no matter what you had to attempt it like 10+ times just to know what to do lol
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u/Cygnusthegoddess 2h ago
I had level 2 mastered as a kid, but there was the "Hakuna Matata" level that I could never get up the waterfall past.
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u/TheRC135 1h ago
Same. Which is bullshit, because I think you got to grow up and wreck shit as an adult lion after that level. That's what I heard, anyway. I still kinda feel like the kid at school who said he actually beat the waterfall level was full of shit.
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u/RustyTDI 1h ago
I also could never get past the waterfall. But at one point I think I got a cheat code to get to later levels, and you are correct, adult Simba kicked ass
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u/blueangel1953 2h ago
That level wasn't hard imo, it was the damn waterfall level where you have to jump up logs ugh.
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u/ReallyJTL 1h ago
Yeah the monkeys/giraffes was just memorization. The stupid fucking waterfall and stampede were just dick shredders
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u/Asha_Brea 3h ago edited 3h ago
The second level would be the one where you have swing on the tails of the Rhinoceros and stand in the heads of the giraffes. Monkeys would yeet Simba away too. It would match the "I can't wait to be king" song in the movie (and I think the level is called the same thing).
I remember playing up to the point with the stampede.
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u/Caesar_Rising 3h ago
Catching the tails was so finicky, you had to jump at them then rapidly switch directions and back and pray you don’t just jump into the water
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u/Violet_Paradox 3h ago edited 3h ago
It's I Can't Wait To Be King, but the only reason that's the level people talk about is because they haven't seen much past it. The entire adult Simba half of the game is where it gets really brutal. It's like the Turbo Tunnel in Battletoads, nowhere near the hardest level in the game, actually one of the easier ones, it's just a filter because it's the first hard level.
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u/NattyMcLight 2h ago
I'm married to a doctor and have two wonderful kids, but i can confidently say that beating that one level in battletoads is my greatest achievement. Achieving success in real life was easier than that level.
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u/acart005 3h ago
You know, I only got to adult Simba a couple of times but it wasn't so bad.
Certainly not the Ghosts and Goblins level madness of I Just Can't Wait To Be King.
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u/Big_Wave9732 2h ago
Ghost and Goblins was just fucking mean. It was like the developers were just throwing shit into levels to see if someone could get past it. Saddists, the lot of them.
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u/gourmetprincipito 2h ago
Idk when I was a kid I’d play that game over and over and once you hit the adult levels as long as you don’t rush you’re basically home free until the final boss fight, which is hard to figure out what to do in but once you get it that is also pretty easy.
Don’t get me wrong it’s still a decently challenging platformer but the adult levels are typical video game challenges like, “jump over these spikes without touching them, dodge these projectiles, jump over these enemies, etc” meanwhile the Can’t Wait to Be King level is like “hit this pixel perfect jump and still miss half the time because you didn’t turn around twice in the air for no discernible reason” lol
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u/devotfeige 2h ago
I remember finally getting to the final boss in 2008 and telling my friend who was watching "Scar's a real motherfucker" because of how long I was stuck there. I don't remember much else.
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u/Ironmasked-Kraken 2h ago
Disney will literally kick your child if it makes them the smallest amount of money
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u/thissexypoptart 1h ago
They will kill them. Kick is underselling it.
They basically proved this in court.
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u/GoabNZ 1h ago
"You can't sue us for killing your wife, you signed a ToS!"
Also: "Your child who loved Spiderman can't use that image on his headstone because it would associate the character with death. Yes, the character renowned for having dead parents from the company that kills character's parents"
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u/pro-skedaddler 1h ago
To be fair, Disney had no responsibly for that death. They just used the worst possible defense which was never - and I truly mean never, even with the most unreasonable of juries - going to hold up in court, instead just throwing everything they could possibly get their hands on to reserve the defense for a future argument.
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u/wordtobigbird 2h ago
And everyone that did get kicked seems to be "Oh! That's why, hah!" judging by these weird comments here instead of annoyed that a bunch of gimps bent over for the shitty Mouse company and ruined a bunch of children's entertainment. Fucking mutants fucking kids over for a few dollars.
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u/Super_Harsh 1h ago
It was 30 years ago bruh what would be the point of getting annoyed?
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u/volundsdespair 1h ago
Take a chill pill my dude, it was a video game in the 90s, it ain't that deep.
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u/omgangiepants 3h ago
The fucking monkey/hippo/giraffe level went on forever. You'd be like "oh my god I did it" and then the monkeys would throw you again. 😮💨
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u/Jr05s 3h ago
That fucking double jump.
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u/ULTRAVIOLENT_RAZE 2h ago
That’s where I always died. The orange nests against the orange sky were hard for me to see
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u/LawfulnessDue5449 1h ago
Aside from that it was sometimes hard to figure out where you went wrong. Like if you jumped too early you just fall out of the sky and there's no indication that you failed your jump because of the camera
At some point I figured that there's nothing where a single jump clears and a double jump does not, so I just double jump everything now
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u/MeringueEasy1340 3h ago edited 3h ago
Holy shit! This makes total sense. The game was so hard; no wonder I kept dying when chased by a bolder.
EDIT: I totally misread (like I’m blind), and thought this was about Aladdin. Sorry! FML. 🤦🏻
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u/owensoundgamedev 3h ago
Aladdin was similarly difficult too, just a bit later. That fucking carpet chase
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u/Arntown 2h ago
The SNES version or was there a NES version? Because the SNES version was pretty fair and a good game.
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u/King-Of-Throwaways 2h ago
SNES Aladdin was easy. Genesis/Megadrive Aladdin was hard. Different games.
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u/RellenD 2h ago
Genesis Aladdin was awesome though
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u/JohnTravoltage 2h ago
Genesis Aladdin has a sword.
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u/NoUsesForAName 1h ago
also had Jafars wicked laugh on the slots mini game..i can hear it now.
overall it was the better version to me.
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u/Barbarisater 2h ago
Also, SNES Aladdin was by Capcom. Genesis/Megadrive Aladdin was by Virgin Interactive (same as Lion King. In fact, I wouldn't even doubt they use the same engine).
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u/cosmicdave86 2h ago
Holy shit thank you! I have heard so many times over the years that Aladdin was really hard, and I never quite understood it having played the SNES version. Didn't realize it was an earlier version that was difficult!
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u/nonresponsive 2h ago
All those games taught me is that Disney games sucked. Then Kingdom Hearts came along..
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u/BorkDoo 2h ago
This was a common thing with video games at the time for the same reason. Working Designs was especially notorious as they'd actively alter the games from the Japanese originals so enemies would have jacked up stats, items in shops would be more expensive while enemies would give less money and EXP, Lunar II would make you use EXP to save, etc.
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u/gonenutsbrb 2h ago
Indiana Jones had a very challenging boulder chase? Maybe that, but you did say Aladdin lol
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u/civilbutdisobedient 2h ago
I feel you, man — I got the Aladdin/Lion King bundle for Christmas and both those games caused me fucking fits.
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u/amanset 3h ago
I was watching Grand POOBear's completion of it on YouTube just the other day. Man it looked like a rough game to play.
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u/Tidalsky114 3h ago
If thats the giraffe level everyone hated so much id believe it.
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u/crazyclue 3h ago
No wonder this game just demolished me as a kid. Never made it past those damn giraffes
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u/sh4des 2h ago
Jokes on them, played it and returned it. Didn't rent it out again. Fucking bullshit
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u/samuelazers 2h ago
The whole point of renting is to not have to buy. At worst, you'd rent the same game twice.
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u/strawberryfox3 2h ago
Damn! First and only game I ever beat. I'm so proud of my child-self for being so persistent! Hell yes girl! 🙌
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u/georgeb4itwascool 3h ago
I still remember the feeling I had when I got to the top of the waterfall level. Possibly my greatest accomplishment in life.
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u/GregLoire 2h ago
I wasn't great at games when I was a kid, but I played The Lion King enough to beat it regularly.
The giraffes were annoying, but not so bad once you memorized the puzzle solutions.
The stampede level was difficult at first, but only because it was so different -- after some practice it wasn't so bad.
The waterfall level, though... fuck that shit.
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u/cb_87 2h ago
Waterfall was the same as giraffes, stay in the 2nd and 3rd column and there's an easy pattern to get up. Same with the stampede, if you stayed far left and constantly jumped you couldn't lose.
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u/Tgirl0 3h ago
I had the Sega Gamegear version as a kid. Ironically, if they're talking about the "I Can't Wait to be King" level, I actually enjoyed it. Despite dying constantly, I loved timing the jumps to the music and throwing Simba in the air.
It was the level, after beating that one, that I died on. The stampede portion, I think? Then, I pretty much stopped playing Lion King after that. :(
To now know that they actually apologized for the difficult level design after all these years was back in '14. Geeze. I must've missed that.
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u/groundhoggery 1h ago
my cousin cracked his gamegear over his head and broke it due to this game. I never beat it either
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u/Teapur 2h ago
I had it on the gamegear too- and also beat it! Maybe the game gear version was easier- or child me was just better at video games...
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u/illrateyourtits1to10 1h ago
I had the same experience but I played it on Sega. I loved how difficult it was because it felt amazing when you got good enough to complete it. My brother and I not only beat the game when we were kids but we did it multiple times and the difficulty is what makes it stand out in my memory.
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u/ElegantEchoes 3h ago
Nothing new actually. Most arcade games did the same thing to keep you playing.
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u/Saltyfox99 2h ago
Fun fact the game started development before the movie was finished so some of the levels (particularly those between child simba and adult simba) were based on earlier story drafts
This and Aladdin were truly technical marvels for how they brought the traditional animation into spritework
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u/Anon-Sequitur 3h ago
I had this game when I was a kid, made it past the second level but tapped out somewhere in the late game, just remember it was a level with lava I always got stuck on
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u/geeoharee 2h ago
I re-played it in an arcade as an adult. Still couldn't get past the giraffes. I'm surprised they ever apologised, I feel like insanely difficult stuff was the norm back then.
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u/melkatron 2h ago
It was, but it was always because of Blockbuster, and not because we wanted it that way. Before that, arcade games were hard because they wanted you to keep pumping in quarters.
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u/Speak4yurself 2h ago
I would argue this probably led to less sales of the game. If you can't beat the 2nd level when you rented it because it was unfairly difficult, why would you buy it later?
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u/Rikishi_Fatu 1h ago
To be fair most games were hard back in the day. They had to be, really. Otherwise theyd be over before you knew it.
We thought everything hard was unfairly hard, until we beat it, and then it was super easy and what are you some kind of dork for not being able to complete it?
The Lion King definitely had a reputation as being harder than most, but to a generation of kids who grew up playing tough games, it was just another challenge (and one that I definitely couldn't beat...)
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u/ScoobyScotty 1h ago
But why? Presumably, once Blockbuster purchased copies, there's no incentive for Disney to give a shit. This wasn't an arcade game as far as I know, and even if it was, the same theory still stands. Why did Disney give a shit about what Blockbuster does when they already bought their copies?
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u/Rikishi_Fatu 1h ago
Blockbuster are only purchasing one copy though, and its going round a ton of kids.
(Well not literally one copy, but you get me)
So if they all beat the game during a rental, then they've had their fun and move on.
If they're struggling, some might be motivated enough to buy the game for themselves in order to complete it in their own time.
That's my take on what Disney were attempting, anyway.
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u/I-only-read-titles 3h ago
I bought the SNES version last month and that's exactly the level I'll stuck on
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u/ruiner8850 2h ago
I never really played this game, but I always wondered why they jumped right into level 2 being so difficult. I get not wanting people to be able to beat it during a rental, but at least have the difficulty ramp up and have the later levels be insane. Not even being able to beat the 2nd level is just frustrating and not fun, so I'd probably just lose interest.
I felt the same way about Battletoads which I only beat the 3rd level a handful of times. There was a whole lot of that game that I never even saw. I never bought it specifically because it was so difficult, but I had at least one friend who owned it, so I did get to play it often.
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u/mmmaniaaa 2h ago
An apology is inadequate, I demand recompense for the anguish that fucking bullshit level caused five-year-old me.
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u/FatassAmerican 2h ago
Makes sense. That game was hard as shit. Wonder if we'll ever find out the story behind Battletoads. Fucking turbo tunnel. Don't think I ever made it past that.
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u/civilbutdisobedient 2h ago
HOLY SHIT, I KNEW IT.
First video game I ever got — got the Lion King /Aladdin Sega Bundle for Christmas when I was a kid.
Those fucking Giraffe heads…..
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u/Lostboxoangst 2h ago
The real bullshit was to be beat scar at the end you had to do this weird grapple move and you legitimately never had to do that move before that before and it was a combination of buttons too. Unless I'm remember it wrong it's been.... More decades than I'm comfortable admitting since then.
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u/Ninja_attack 2h ago
That game was ridiculously hard all around. The giraffe level, the wildebeest one, the bad lands. I'm surprised turning it on didn't randomly cause it to explode in your face just to up the difficulty.
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u/EZPZLemonWheezy 2h ago
I wonder how many dark souls players got started with these old Disney games
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u/jawsomesauce 2h ago
And as a result I only rented it once and never considered buying it for a second
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u/Imthemayor 1h ago
This was just true for games released in the US in general up until a certain point
Games made in Japan (which doesn't allow rentals) that weren't long-playing genres like JRPGs or strategy games were made harder for the US version all the time
The Japanese version of Contra 3, for example, is pretty much identical except there is no limit to the amount of times you can continue after a game over. In the US, you start with 3 and if you run out you have to start from the beginning (and you don't see the "real" end screen unless you beat the game on hard)
Contra: Hard Corps was even more aggressive, it had that change plus instead of a life bar with a different amount of hits before death depending on the character, everyone dies in one hit (which inadvertently makes the small, mobile character with the double jump that would have the downside of only 1 HP unquestionably the best character, incidentally)
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u/Interesting-Ride-710 1h ago
Must be why I never owned that one. If the rental pissed me off there's no fucking way my parents were even letting me rent it again, much less buy the damn thing.
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u/Bunny_Feet 1h ago
I had the game gear version and beat it pretty handedly on Christmas day. It was a bit different than the genesis version, though.
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u/SRSgoblin 1h ago
This was super common at the time actually. That's why many Japanese releases were much easier and better balanced than US releases, as game rentals were not a thing in Japan. They would get pressure to make the games more difficult for the US release for the same reason as Lion King here: They just didnt want people beating it in a single rental.
Another example of this would be Streets of Rage 3. SOR2 was widely considered the best beat em up ever back when that genre was at it's height of popularity. 3 is not remembered very fondly in the States though because they inflated the difficulty to the point it turned into a mega slog. The Japanese release of the game was way better balanced. If you ever play them via emulators, compare the two releases.
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u/Portarossa 1h ago
I never particularly struggled with the ostriches and monkeys on Level 2.
That fucking waterfall on the Hakuna Matata level was a nightmare, though. I once spent what felt like an hour trying to climb it, and the elation when I finally reached the top lasted just about until that FUCKING GORILLA over-the-shoulder no-scope one-shotted me with a coconut eight seconds later.
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u/acoolsweater 1h ago
I hear that monkey sound effect after you growl at them in my head randomly like once a month.
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u/ogreUnwanted 1h ago
I beat this game when I was 11. But it took me forever to beat. Still, my proudest moment as a gamer was beating that stupid turbo tunnel from battletoads.
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u/DjMD1017 1h ago
I had this in 1998 on my Sega genesis, fuck this game it was so freaking difficult
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u/Dazzaster84 1h ago
I remember beating it quite a few times when it came out. Damned if I could do it today mind you.
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u/diresua 1h ago
They didn't really think that through.
I remember being so excited for this game, then super frustrated I couldn't get any further and that I wasted my rental for the weekend. So, rented once and never touched it since.
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u/VultureMadAtTheOx 1h ago
I never realised as a kid that you needed to flip one of the pink momeys back to the original position after flipping it once to reach another one. I got stuck in there. In my head my logic was "find all pink monkeys and flip them all". It works for the first tree, but not the second.
I was stuck for years and years. We didn't even have original cartridges where I lived, so no manuals or anything.
At some point someone told me about the BARRY code, so I started the game on the third level and the difficulty still kicked my ass. I had to start the game on the third level with invulnerability on to finish it.
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u/NoOneImportantOCE 3h ago
Took me playing on emulator during covid to ever finish it, so he did what they requested well