Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King

Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King

CD cover art
Developer(s) Media Station
Publisher(s) Disney Interactive
Series Disney's Animated Storybook
Platform(s) Windows, Macintosh
Release November 18, 1994
Genre(s) Point-and-click adventure, interactive storybook
Mode(s) Single-player

Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King is the first entry in the Disney's Animated Storybook point-and-click adventure interactive storybook PC game series, based on theatrical and home video releases. The game is based on the 1994 Walt Disney Feature Animation film, The Lion King, which tells the story of how a lion named Simba rose to become king of the Pride Lands, claiming the role from his evil uncle Scar, who manipulated Simba into thinking that he killed his father (and Scar's brother) Mufasa. The game was developed by Media Station and published by Disney Interactive. It released on November 18, 1994.[1]

History

Conception

The vision of Marc Teren, VP of entertainment for Disney Interactive, was to create games with a "true and fair representation of the original property",[1] and aim to capitalise as "ancillary products to successful theatrical and home video releases".[2] To achieve this, Teren helped ensure the games were animated by Disney animators.[1] From December 1994 to February 1995, the company had hired 50 new employees.[3] Children's Business suggests the series came into fruition because in the contemporary entertainment market, it was "customary now for entertainment companies to release CD-ROMs to support a film or TV show".[4]

Development

Disney and Media Station collaborated to create more than 12,000 frames of digital animation for each game, as well as 300 music and vocal clips. Digital music and sound effects were composed, orchestrated, arranged, edited, mixed and synchronized at Media Station.[5] The games had hundreds of clickable hotspots that produced animated gags, as well as many mind-challenging interactive games.[6] The voice cast sometimes consisted of actors from the films reprising their roles;[7] meanwhile, at other times voice soundalikes were used.[8]

Commercial performance

By February 18, 1995, Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King had sold more than 200,000 since its November 1994 release."[1] Eventually, the title sold 400,000 copies.[9] The Lion King became the top selling children's title in both 1994 and 1995.[10] Together, The Lion King and Winnie the Pooh In the Honey Tree grossed between $1 million and $2 million in the fourth quarter of 1994.[11] NewMedia's bestseller list of CD-ROM titles found The Lion King to be the fourth best-selling title in April and May, 1995.[12] According to PC Data data released in November 1995, The Lion King had the 8th highest retail penetration, being featured in at least three-quarters of 16 major chains.[13]

Critical reception

Multimedia World wrote in March 1995, "Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King is a winner that everyone can enjoy, from toddlers to adults."[14] Disney Stories: Getting to Digital notes that it wasn't until this video game title that "Disney achieved its stunning visual quality in an interactive digital story on par with that in the animated films".[14] Superkids gave Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King a rating of 3/5 stars.[15] Coming Soon Magazine gave the game a rating of 85%, adding "it has many things to attract young children like animal characters and great artwork".[16] Entertainment Weekly said Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King was "Hakuna monotonous", yet gave it a rating of B-.[17] Allgame gave The Lion King a rating of 3.5/5 stars.[18] Family PC Magazine called it a "a big hit", while USA Today said it was a "guaranteed kid pleaser".[19] Computer Shopper positively compared the game to the Living Books title The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight.[20] Beth Kljajic from Adventure Learning Club said the game was "very poorly written".[21]

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGame[18]
Superkids[15]
Coming Soon85%[16]
Entertainment WeeklyB-[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Nielsen Business Media, Inc (1995-02-18). "Billboard": 69.
  2. ↑ "Disney jumps into interactive software: McBeth to lead new unit with ambitious CD-ROM, game plans. (Steve McBeth, president of Disney Interactive) (Telemedia Week: The Interactive World of Video, Voice and Data)". 1994-12-12.
  3. ↑ "MOVIE STUDIOS FOCUS ON BUILDING INTERACTIVE DIVISIONS". 1995-02-13.
  4. ↑ "E3 preview: state of the edutainment market. (educational entertainment)". 1997-06-01.
  5. ↑ "Media Station develops "Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King" for Disney Interactive. – Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  6. ↑ Media, Working Mother (July–August 1996). "Working Mother".
  7. ↑ "CD-ROM ROLES PULL STARS INTO CYBERSPACE. – Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  8. ↑ Bob Strauss (1996-05-17). "Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story Review". EW.com. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
  9. ↑ "TROUBLE WITH A CAPITAL `C' DON'T LET CD-ROM GIFTS SPELL DISASTER". 1995-12-25.
  10. ↑ "DISNEY'S ANIMATED STORYBOOK, TOY STORY SETS SALES RECORD DURING FIRST THREE WEEKS OF RELEASE – Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  11. ↑ "Grumbles about CD-ROM Painful for Michigan Firm. (Originated from Detroit Free Press)". 1995-01-30.
  12. ↑ "NewMedia Magazine's May Highlights: Windows 95: Can It Beat the Mac at Multimedia?; Passage to Vietnam and Star Trek: The Next Generation CDs Are Awesome; New Bestseller CDs: Interactive Encyclopedia '95, Learn to Speak Spanish 4.0, and NASCAR Racing. – Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  13. ↑ "Data points: retail penetration rates. (PC Data retail report) (Industry Trend or Event)". 1995-11-30.
  14. 1 2 Lee, Newton; Madej, Krystina (2012). "Disney Stories: Getting to Digital". ISBN 1461421012.
  15. 1 2 "SuperKids Software Review of Disney's Lion King Animated Storybook". Superkids.com. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
  16. 1 2 "Animated Storybook: The Lion King – PC Review – Coming Soon Magazine". Csoon.com. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
  17. 1 2 Caren Weiner Campbell (1995-08-04). "Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King Review". EW.com. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
  18. 1 2 House, Matthew (2010-10-03). "Disney's The Lion King Animated StoryBook – Overview". allgame. Archived from the original on 2010-02-05. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
  19. ↑ "'DISNEY'S ANIMATED STORYBOOK: THE LION KING' ON MAC ROARS INTO STORES; COMPANY EXTENDS MACINTOSH OFFERINGS WITH DEBUT OF TOP-SELLING CD-ROM – Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  20. ↑ "The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight. (children's software from Living Books) (Software Review)(Brief Article)(Evaluation)". 1995-09-01.
  21. ↑ "Center Helps Ease Kids – and Parents – Into Computer Use". 1995-02-19.
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