January 17, 2011
Pap the Disney Gamer's
Highlights Beauty and the Beast Week: Beauty and
the Beast: Roar of the Beast and Belle's Quest
Developed by: Sunsoft
System: Sega Genesis
'Tale as old as time. True as
it can be. Barely even friends. Then somebody
bends. Unexpectedly. Just a little change. Small
to say the least. Both a little scared. Neither
one prepared. Beauty and the Beast.'

Those that know me well enough
know that Disney's Beauty and the Beast
is more than just my favorite Disney film. It is
one of my all time favorite musicals and films
ever. And that is because at the core of the
story lie two very unique individuals that
really do learn to love each other despite the
circumstances they were forced to face. Belle is
a very quirky yet endearing individual that is
beautiful on both on the outside and the inside,
while Beast is a man that has never learned to
truly love but holds onto the hope of being
redeemed through Belle's compassion. This,
alongside the great music and stunning
animation, made the film insanely popular in the
early 90s. And thus many video game adaptations
were made.

You might recall that I wrote
about the Beauty and the Beast computer game
that I used to play as a kid with my speech
therapist. I also mentioned about there being a
Beauty and the Beast board party game for the
Game Boy Color (which I labeled as one of the
weirdest Disney games yet). On today's Gamer
Tuesday dedicated to Beauty and the Beast,
I shall talk about not one, but two unique games
that tried to capitalize on the film's legacy in
an interesting manner: Beauty and the Beast:
Roar of the Beast and Belle's Quest.
In the video game industry, it
is common to see multiple releases of the same
game. A very prominent example is Nintendo's
Pokemon series, where they release two versions
of the same game, encouraging people to pick
both of them and maximize their enjoyment of the
adventure. But while gameplay wise both versions
of the game are identical save for a few changes
here and there, Roar of the Beast and Belle's
Quest are two different games based on the same
gameplay engine. Roar of the Beast (starring the
Beast) is more boy-centric as it is based on
fighting enemies that have invaded his castle,
while Belle's Quest (starring Belle) is a slower
game with strong focus on puzzle solving,
exploration, and light activities, both based on
the events of the film as told through their own
perspective.

This is a very peculiar way of
presenting the story of Beauty and the Beast.
It focuses on each characters' personalities and
creates gameplay based around them. Beast is a
very, for lack of a better word, beastly
character that likes to use brute strength
against his enemies (as evidenced in the scene
where he saves Belle from a pack of wolves).
Belle is a woman that loves to read and thus is
more cerebral in her approach towards the
challenges presented in both the film and the
video game. Not a lot of Disney games are
presented like that, making Roar of the Beast
and Belle's Quest particular endeavors of Disney
film to video game adaptations. At the time of
their release, Roar of the Beast and Belle's
Quest were both sold separately as well as
together in a special family pack.

Unfortunately, the idea of
creating two different games based on the two
lead characters may have been creative, but they
were received with mixed expectations. Gamers
have criticized the games for somewhat
problematic platforming, very slow pace and
glitch ridden gameplay. In the case of Belle's
Quest, the strong focus on non-combat based
gameplay made it a chore to play for some, while
in Roar of the Beast the combat felt weird for
many. Many gamers would go as far as to label
both games as some of the worst games ever
released on the Sega Genesis. So really, the
reason I chose this game was to show off how
creative game developers would often get when
given the chance to work on a high profile
Disney franchise.

In terms of presentation, Roar
and the Beast and Belle's Quest look quite nice.
Both games being early Genesis titles, the
presentation doesn't quite offer the same
quality seen in later games like Disney's
Aladdin and Mickey Mania: The Timeless
Adventures of Mickey Mouse, but it does manage
to capture the soft colors and designs of the
feature film. The movie's story is represented
quite well, using stills from the film as well
as turning the big events of the film into
playable levels. Music wise, many of the iconic
themes, such as 'Beauty and the Beast,' can be
heard throughout the gameplay.

On the whole, Roar of the Beast
and Belle's Quest are mostly remembered for
creating two different games based on the same
film. The gameplay in both endeavors received
mixed reviews at best, which is unfortunate
because it looked like it had a lot of
potential. Regardless of the fact, I am
celebrating both games today as they are indeed
quite memorable in how they took the two lead
characters and gave them their own games with
strong focus on how their personalities would
affect the overall gameplay. Beauty and the
Beast is not an easy story to make a game
out of, but Sunsoft attempted the challenge and
even if they didn't fully succeed they are still
remembered vividly. It's a tale as old as time,
one would say...
