Pap the Disney Gamer’s Highlights: The Jungle Book
System: Super NES, NES, Genesis, Sega CD
Developed by: Virgin Interactive

Disney’s The Jungle Book is perhaps one of Disney’s most important achievements. It was one of the last animated films Walt personally supervised, and it received a lot of critical and commercial success when it first premiered in 1967. Such is this film’s legacy that many years after it premiered, Virgin Interactive released a game in 1994 based upon it.

For those not in the know, “The Jungle Book” tells the story of a young boy named Mowgli as he is discovered by the friendly black leopard Bagheera in the jungles of India. Mowgli is then raised by wolves. The jungle, however, is under the constant threat of Shere Khan, a tiger set on getting revenge on the humans. The wolves decide to send Mowgli off to a human village so he can be safe and at peace. Along the way he meets Baloo, a friendly grey bear who inspires Mowgli to stay in the jungle. They, however, are constantly challenged by the dangers of the jungle.

The video game adaptation follows the events of the film very closely, narrating each piece of the story as a level is completed. Players will also face off against the film’s villains, such as the hypnotizing snake Kaa and, of course, Shere Khan.

The game was notable for its high level of difficulty: one that inspired players to beat it in the highest setting possible, meaning that in order to get the full ending, you have to be like Mowgli and master the dangers of the jungle. Despite that, The Jungle Book was a very solid, easy to learn game. It wasn’t as memorable as games such as Aladdin or even Mickey Mania, but it was still a fun experience.

In terms of graphics, The Jungle Book sports a very clean and colorful animated look that pays tribute to the film’s Xerox process animation. The animation is very fluid and very representative of the characters and their personality. Music wise, some choices from the catchy film soundtrack are present here, most notably “The Bare Necessities.”