Pap the Disney Gamer's
Highlights: Tigger's Honey Hunt
System: PlayStation, Nintendo
64, PC
Developed by: DokiDenki Studio

You might be asking yourself
"Wait. There are several Winnie the Pooh video
games?" Indeed there are. The surprised reaction
is to be expected. The Winnie the Pooh universe doesn't seem to lend itself towards a video game
adaptation, but there has been many attempts at
presenting A.A. Milne's ode to childhood
nostalgia in digital form. For today's Winnie
the Pooh week feature, I decided to talk about
Tigger's Honey Hunt, originally released in 2000
for the Nintendo 64, PC and PlayStation,
developed by DokiDenki Studio.

The story behind Tigger's Honey
Hunt is that Winnie the Pooh is throwing a party
for all of his friends, but needs a lot of honey
to make it happen. Right after Tigger bounces on
him, Winnie asks him to collect as much honey as
possible. Tigger won't be alone in this mission.
The rest of the 100-Acre Wood gang joins him in
his quest for honey. Of course, they too have
their own missions to accomplish.

In terms of gameplay, Tigger's
Honey Hunt skews towards a younger audience. It
is a straightforward platforming, goal based
adventure title where the main objective is to
collect honey pots. Each level contains 100
honey pots. As you traverse the levels, though,
you find the other characters who ask you to
complete missions, such as finding hidden
objects.
The levels are presented in a
2.5 D manner. This means that while the visuals
are in 3D, the gameplay and camera are set on a
2D plane, recreating the gameplay seen in
classic games like Super Mario Bros. Alongside
honey pots players can also collect four hidden
photograph pieces. Doing that unlocks new pieces
or artwork in the game's photo album.

Outside of the main game there are three
mini-games where up to four players can join in.
The first of these is Rabbit Says, a variation
of the classic game of Simon Says. Pooh Sticks
is the second mini-game, in which players drop
sticks onto the river and see which one reaches
the finish line. The third and final mini-game
is Owl-Paper-Scissors, which, as the name
states, is based on Rock-Paper-Scissors.

It's not exactly the deepest
Disney video game experience, but it is very
polished and perfect for the younger set.
The visual presentation is
beautiful. Being an N64/PSone era video game,
Tigger's Honey Hunt looks and feels like the
classic book illustrations as well as the Disney
films from the 1960s. Characters look a tad
blocky, but resemble their animated counterparts
greatly. The voice cast from various Winnie the
Pooh projects return to voice the characters,
most notably Jim Cummings as both Winnie the
Pooh and Tigger.

All in all, Tigger's Honey Hunt
provides solid entertainment for young Winnie
the Pooh fans, and the young at heart. This game
might not be the only Winnie the Pooh game out
there, but it is one of the most memorable.