Is Toy Story still good?
Disney’s Toy Story is platformer released at the tail end of the Sega Genesis lifecycle.
It was also released on the Super Nintendo and PC, but today I’ll be focusing on this
Sega version.
Unlike Aladdin and The Jungle Book which came from Virgin Games, Toy Story was developed
by Traveller’s Tales, the folks behind games like Sonic 3D Blast and Mickey Mania.
Needless to say, these guys knew how to push the 16-bit consoles to their limits.
Like most Disney games from the 1990’s, Toy Story was met with positive reviews.
Game Fan magazine scored the game an 8.7 out of 10 stating, “Toy Story has the most unbelievable
graphics I've ever seen on the Genesis…
The gameplay is a little basic and the music is only OK, but overall Toy Story is still
one of the best Genesis action games this year.”
Electric Playground agreed, scoring the game a 9 out of 10 noting, “All in all, there's
nothing more that I can do other than pat the people behind this title on the back.
It rises above its brief mediocre moments and not only raises the stakes on Genesis
visuals forever but also puts some heat on the next gen system manufacturers to really
start knocking our socks off.”
Finally, Mean Machines magazine gave the game a 9.2 out of 10, proclaiming, “An incredible
achievement in 16-bit programming, and a near perfect Mega Drive classic.”
So, after 20 years, is Toy Story still a Mega Drive classic?
Let’s dive in.
Like many Disney games of this era, Toy Story starts off with some text based cut-scenes
following the events from the film.
And like always, I don’t particularly care for these.
I’d prefer to just watch the movie.
I will say however, I do appreciate how the stills are ripped straight from the film,
and I’m impressed at how good these look considering the vibrancy of the source materials,
and the color limitations of the hardware.
And you can shut these off completely in the options menu, which is a welcome addition.
Anyway, let’s move on.
Before each level begins there is a mission briefing.
For the first level, we have to free the green army men from their bucket prison and retrieve
the baby monitor so Woody can spy on Andy as he opens his birthday gifts.
For a first level, 'That Old Army Game' leaves a terrific first impression.
The level looks like it’s ripped straight out of the film, complete with the appropriate
wallpaper, trim, and floor.
Classic characters like Mr. Potato Head and Ham make an appearence, Woody looks excellent,
and I like how a classic scene from the film is turned into a mission-based level.
This doesn’t feel like a generic platformer with Toy Story characters, and the efforts
of Traveller’s Tales are admirable, to say the least.
After completing the mission, it’s time for 'Red Alert!'
Again, this is a mission based level, complete with timer, where Woody has to return toys
to their appropriate locations before Andy returns to his room.
After bouncing Ham, Rex, and Robot into the toy box, you have to use Rocky to push a heavy
bucket to a crane, which lifts the bucket, allowing RC to make it’s way under the bed.
Not to sound like a broken record, but this is another clever use of the source material,
and completing the different objectives is a lot of fun.
After this, we arrive at 'Ego Check'.
This is just a straight up platforming level.
You’re supposed to race Buzz Lightyear to Andy’s bed, but you'll lose no matter what.
As this is a traditional platforming level, let’s finally take a few moments and talk
about the controls.
First, Woody can run and jump and both work exactly like you would expect.
Woody moves with a purpose with quick momentum, while also being able to come to a complete
stop rather abruptly.
The jumping feels great as well, with a nice ark and perfect mid-air controls.
Everything feels sharp and precise, and I can honestly say these are about as tight
as one could hope for.
Second, Woody can use his pull-string as a whip.
This can be fired forward, slightly upwards, or while crouching and acts as the game’s
only weapon.
It feels accurate enough, and roping up enemies is a rather painless affair.
It can also be used to swing off designated hooks in the level.
Like the running and jumping, it feels responsive and latching onto hooks never feels glitchy
or strange, it just works, and works well.
'Ego Check' does lack some of the polish of the first two stages however.
While falling into the bottomless pit of the stage only knocks off a point of your life
bar instead of killing you outright, Toy Story does seem to put a few too many things on
the screen at once, forcing you to take damage.
Still, with the smooth controls, it offers up a fun platforming challenge.
The game’s first boss battle is then introduced.
In a nightmare, Woody has to take down Buzz who is sporting some actual lasers.
Simply crouch and take down the shield, and then hit Buzz 4 times, and the fight is quickly
over.
Next, we arrive at what will be one of a few different non-platforming levels found in
Toy Story.
In 'A Buzz Clip' we take control of RC in an overhead driving stage.
While Woody controls well with precision and finesse, I can’t quite say the same for
RC.
The controls here are just far too twitchy, and making slight alterations to your trajectory
is almost impossible.
Not only this, hitting any of the roadside objects while traveling with any amount of
speed will cause RC to spin out.
To make it through the level, you have to take your time, which is a bit counterintuitive
in a driving level.
To make matters worse, you must drive into Buzz Lightyear, who will then release a battery.
Grabbing these is imperative as RC loses power awfully quick.
'A Buzz Clip' isn’t overly hard or even frustrating, it just feels out of place, and
doesn’t match the awesome quality found up to this point.
Thankfully, 'Revenge of the Toys' returns Toy Story back to platforming.
Woody has to help Rex escape Andy’s room by knocking down a series of blocks constantly
hindering his progress.
This is a really thoughtful level, and forces Woody to move vertically through the room
across various book shelves and other platforms to assist Rex with his journey.
Even though Woody is exceptionally tall, by 16-bit standards, the level is designed around
his exceptional height and you’ll rarely find yourself jumping into things.
Vertical screen crunch could have been an issue, but the designers were quite savvy.
After this is 'Run Rex, Run!'
This is an autoscrolling level, featuring Woody riding Rex.
The goal here is to carefully jump over obstacles, and avoiding jumping when enemies are overhead.
You can also move forward and backwards, helping you dodge the obstacles.
Again the departure from the traditional platforming is a bit jarring.
Near pixel perfect jumping is required at times, and this lack of forgiveness doesn’t
really fit what Toy Story has presented thus far.
As a fan up jumping and ducking, it’s disappointing to say the least.
To be fair, there are stars littered throughout the level giving you a clue as to when to
jump, and these work in conjunction with the enemy patterns to create a sort of flow, but
again I just don’t find myself having fun here.
Backin up a bit, let’s talk about those stars littered throughout all of the levels.
Each level, including the boss fights, contains 50 stars for you to collect.
Collecting all 50 will earn you a cool extra life.
Collect 45 or more and you’ll gain a hit point back.
Fail to collect at least 45, and you earn nothing.
Toy Story does keep a running tally however.
After collecting 200 a mini game is presented where you can restore up to 3 hit points.
Collecting 300 will reward you with a continue.
Getting a gameover will reset the star total however.
Anyway, it’s a nice set of rewards for nabbing the stars, though I wish the extra lives requirement
wasn't so stringent.
You know what else I wish, your hit points reset after each level.
Instead, if you clear a level with a single hit point remaining, this is how you begin
the next level.
This feels a little harsh.
This means if you don’t enter 'Run Rex, Run!'
with a full 5 hit points, you’re probably going to lose a life.
There is simply too much trial and error required, rather than reflex and skill.
'Buzz Battle' is next, taking place in the parking lot of a gas station.
The goal here is to whip the tire into Buzz Lightyear.
Despite looking clumsy, the physics here work really well and bouncing the little tire across
the stage is strangely entertaining.
From here we arrive at 'Food And Drink'.
This level returns to form, taking a scene from the movie and turning it into a very
enjoyable level.
Basically, Woody is in a drink cup and has to make his way across the Pizza Planet restaurant.
You can’t let Buzz run into you however, so you have to crouch down to stop his pursuit.
Along the way you’ll have to dodge falling food and malfunctioning vending machines.
About halfway through the level you’ll start seeing paper planes fly across the screen.
These are followed by running children, so you have to duck to avoid taking damage.
This isn’t the most brilliant level ever, but unlike the top down racing and Rex running
segments, they offer a different gameplay style without breaking the flow of the game,
or changing the established rules of the adventure.
From here we make our way to 'Inside the Claw Machine'.
This is another platforming level, though there is a nice increase in difficulty level.
Different items inside the machine will explode, meaning you have to pay attention to your
surroundings and visual queues, otherwise you're taking damage.
There are also a variety of moving platforms and other obstacles, and I have to say, the
controls are more than up for the challenge at hand.
Of course, the appropriately named 'Really Inside The Claw Machine' is next, and this
is perhaps one of the most impressive pieces of coding to ever grace the Sega Genesis.
The goal here is to locate the 8 aliens and drop them back off into the prize area.
As you can see, Traveller’s Tales built a fully realized ray-casting engine just for
this single level.
The level hums along at 20 frames per second despite the rather large gameplay window.
The controls work excellent as well, without a hint of lag.
It’s truly a stunning display of what the aging Genesis was truly capable of.
Now, these first 11 levels in Toy Story represent a massive part of my childhood, and when someone
mentions the classic Toy Story game, I always get a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Despite a couple of rough patches, there is a ton of fun to be had here, and I absolutely
love the experience up to this point.
Unfortunately, the next 7 levels don’t give me the same fuzzy feeling.
‘The Claw!’ is a just an abysmal mess of a boss fight, and as a kid, would quickly
deplete my remaining life stock and continues, resulting in a game over.
Basically, you have to stop the claw from snatching Buzz and taking him off the screen.
To stop these proceedings, you have to use your whip to shake an alien loose.
Next, you have to use your high whip attack to launch the alien across the level.
If you time it right, you’ll hit the claw which will then drop the captured Buzz Lightyear.
Time it too early, or too late, and it’s pretty much curtains.
You have to do this four times, and the claw moves with increasing speed each and everytime.
The required alien launching maneuver has to be done perfectly, because if you miss,
there is almost no opportunity to get in a second strike.
This is a massively frustrating fight, and even after beating it dozens of times over
the years, I rarely get it right on my first try.
After clearing this mess, Woody finds himself on Sid’s Workbench.
As you would expect from the final third of the game, the difficulty is again ramped up.
The screen is almost always littered with multiple enemy types.
From mutant toys, to exploding fireworks, and darts falling from the ceiling; this is
an all-out assault from every angle.
There is another little treat waiting near the end however, with Sid burning Woody with
a magnifying glass.
Once Woody starts melting, he runs really fast, cannot jump, and cannot be slowed down.
You have to carefully make your way forward and backwards trying to avoid obstacles, ultimately
making your way to a couple bowls of liquid to put out the fire.
It’s tricky for sure, and a clever way to take a memorable moment from the film and
turn it into a fun bit of gameplay.
This is followed up by a second workbench level, 'Battle of the Mutant Toys'.
The emphasis here is on swinging, with a ton of sections requiring mastery of the swinging
mechanic in order to progress.
The level ends with Woody using Buzz Lightyear's karate chopping action to fend off a couple
of Sid’s toy creations, and then we’re off to 'Roller Bob'.
Much like ‘Run Rex, Run!’
this level is extremely tedious and sure to suck up a few of your lives.
The game is relentless in the amount of crap it throws at you, and at times it simply isn’t
clear where the safe path through the onslaught is.
There just isn’t much fun to be had here, and ‘Roller Bob’ serves no real purpose
than to drain your life count.
After surviving ‘Roller Bob’ Toy Story offers a reprieve with Day-Toy-Na.
If building a 2D platforming engine, and a 3D raycasting engine weren’t enough, Traveller’s
Tales also made a line scrolling racing engine.
This feels a bit half-finished if I’m honest, with no traffic impeding your progress, simply
grab the orbs which recharge your batteries, and enjoying the nifty sprite scaling happening
with the road-side obstacles.
The RC antics don’t stop here, as Toy Story throws in another overhead driving section
in for good measure.
'Light My Fire' is marginable better than 'A Buzz Clip' thanks to a much wider track
making the spinouts less frequent.
Still, the twitchy controls, and backtracking for batteries still doesn’t make for riveting
gameplay.
If you’re a fan of the film however, you are likely aware our journey is coming to
an end.
The final level is ‘Rocket Man’ with Buzz and Woody taking to the skies.
This is another auto scrolling level, and like the auto scrollers before it can be a
very frustrating experience.
Buzz and Woody are quite big, and diving below the shrubbery, and over the traffic, is a
lot tougher than it looks.
Memorization is again key, as the screen moves far too fast to react to incoming objects.
The end of this level concludes with a flight over the moving van, and then finally arriving
at Andy’s minivan.
Once you reach this point, you’ve beat the game.
You’re rewarded with the final few cut scenes, a congratulatory message, a montage of all
the game’s characters from the film, and of course, the end credits.
One cannot talk about Toy Story without praising the graphics, they are simply amazing.
Now I’m not much for the pre-rendered 3D sprites marking the tail end of the 4th generation
of game consoles.
However, as the source material is a computer generated film, I find it works.
The sprite work is awesome, and captures the 3D look of the film.
On top of the awesome sprites, is some stunning animation.
Woody runs and jumps with a smoothness unmatched for the time, and I’m amazed they were able
to cram this much detail, and this many frames of animation, into the limited ram available
on the hardware.
And then there are the special effects.
Every book shelf, chair, desk and arcade machine, all have sides.
When you walk past them, you can see the edges of said items.
Combine this with the awesome line scrolling found on the floors, and Toy Story delivers
levels with a real sense of depth.
The sound is also pretty good.
The voice samples are crisp and clear, at least by Genesis standards and I also enjoy
the soundtrack.
'You’ve Got a Friend In Me' is prominently featured between levels which is nice, but
each level also features unique music helping the varied set pieces feel even more distinct.
Be it the bouncy beats in Andy’s room, the alien sounds during the pizza planet levels,
and the dark music found in Sid’s room, everything has a very clean sound with lengthy
compositions and crisp synthesized instruments.
I’m not saying this is on the same level as the Sonic games by any stretch, but as
far as Genesis music goes, Toy Story is way above average.
So, with all of that out of the way, we arrive back at the question asked at the beginning
of the video.
Is Toy Story still good?
Toy Story is a good game for sure, but I can’t help but feel the game could have been ever
better.
My biggest issue is with the non-platforming levels.
‘Roller Bob’ and ‘Run Rex, Run!’
just aren’t very fun to play.
Rex and Roller-Bob are far too big for the screen, making dodging the obstacles a lot
more frustrating than they really need to be.
These could have been a lot less tedious had the developers just slowed things down a bit.
I get Traveller’s Tales wanted to show off their programming chops, but the speed in
which stuff flies across the screen is excessive, adding confusion to these levels.
Something about them feels very unfair, which is not a very good feeling to have.
Instead, these just serve as quick ways to reach a game over screen.
If there were unlimited continues, or a better way to rack up some extra lives, perhaps I
could be more forgiving of these tough auto-scroll levels.
The bottom line is, if you’re going to force trial-and-error gameplay upon me, at least
allow me an appropriate number of tries to memorize a level.
Now, some of you might remember Toy Story having a password feature, negating the rant
I just went on.
And you’d be right, if you lived in Europe.
Yeah, the American version of Toy Story removed the password feature altogether.
Perhaps the password feature was removed to increase the rental business, as was the case
with other games of the time, I’m not sure.
Perhaps my problems with the speed of a few levels would also be resolved if playing the
PAL version.
But I can only review what I have, and what I have is a game with a much needed password
system removed entirely.
I also feel Toy Story would be better off without the overhead driving sections.
While these aren’t likely to frustrate anyone, they really aren’t engaging either, and
only serve to remind you how good the platforming is.
You see, the platforming levels in Toy Story are pretty awesome.
If you strip away all the other stuff, you’re left with a very strong game.
The running and jumping mechanics work great, and the designers did an awesome job creating
fun platforming levels for Woody to run through and explore.
There are no blind jumps, enemy patterns can be tough, but match Woody's capabilities and
size, and there is a ton of variety.
Be it locating specific goals, cleverly marked with an etch-a-sketch in the corner letting
you know what to do, removing obstacles for other characters, using Buzz as a weapon,
running around on fire, or hiding in a drunk cup, the platforming stages themselves offer
up plenty of unique challenges, further negating the need for the other gameplay styles.
Perhaps if they were executed at the same level as the platforming stages, I would be
more forgiving.
At the end of the day, Toy Story is at times a really great game.
With the removal of a few unnecessary levels, tweaking some of the design choices, like
your hit points not resetting between levels, and restoring the password system, Toy Story
could have been one of the very best third party platformers released in the 1990’s.
Instead, we are left with a technical showpiece wrapped into an inconsistent package.
Toy Story is good for sure, but not quite as great as it was 20 years ago.