[Playing…] The Jungle Book

Reading time: 5 minutes

Qualification

The Jungle Book

Platform

super nintendo

Developer

Eurocom/Virgin

Posted by

Virgin Interactive

Gender

Platforms and action

Launch

1994

During the 90s many of Disney's classic animated films had a second youth due to their release on VHS home video format. Many children were able to enjoy old movies like Pinocchio either The jungle book and the video game market saw the moment as a golden opportunity to launch products based on said films.

Although I have a hard time deciding, I would say that my favorite Disney animated film is probably The jungle book and because of that I always felt attracted to try their different games, because although this article is focused on the version of super nintendo, Mowgli also came to the NES, Game Boy, Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, PC, and Game Gear.

[Playing…] The Jungle Book — The introduction will tell us the story of the film

I remember renting The jungle book (The Jungle Book) for Super Nintendo and see how difficult it was, it had difficulty modes, but if you played on the easiest one, only the first phases came out and you couldn't see the end of the game. The first time I played it seriously it didn't go beyond the third phase because he did not know how to avoid the homing waves of the serpent Kaa. Years later they let me play the game and I managed to see the rest of the levels, but using tricks, since the difficulty increased significantly in some of them.

I bought this game about a year ago and recently decided it was time to complete it from start to finish, no cheats, just with skill and patience and the truth is that both things are very necessary if you want to see the end.

Like most games of the time, The Jungle Book It is a platform game, where we will jump from one side to another, we will swing using vines, we will move stones to reach higher places and we will eliminate enemies by jumping on them, shooting bananas at them or any of the secondary weapons that Mowgli can use and that we find in a fairly limited number.

Exploring the scenarios is risky but has a reward, not only because we will find more secondary weapons, but they will also reward us with extra lives and diamonds (the red ones will give us continuations and the green ones will allow us to participate in Bonus levels).

The jungle environment is well brought to the game, but it is also consciously used to increase the difficulty, as there are many levels where they try to confuse us with the decoration so that we do not find the areas with the best items or so that we lose a life due to disorientation. At some moments we will find an item that is like a bright flash, if we touch it we will activate something on the stage (for example, a stone appears, a trapdoor opens or an insect wakes up to climb on) which in many cases will facilitate access to areas with juicy items.

A key moment of the game is the boss fights, which are rare but quite hateful.

The Kaa snake is the first boss, and although it seems easy to eliminate, we have to be very careful with the remote-controlled shots (avoid them at the edge of the stage and they will disappear, otherwise they will always come back for you).

We will face King Louie twice, in the first fight we can distract him by having his musicians play, causing the orangutan to start dancing (at which point he will be defenseless). In the second fight we will not have the help of the musicians, Louie will also vary his attacks more and pieces of stone will rain from the sky. This second fight It is the longest and most difficult in the game, by far.

The final confrontation with Shere Khan is not that complicated, but we cannot trust ourselves because the tiger can eliminate us in seconds. The good thing is that this time we can use the most powerful secondary weapon of all (fire) and that will make our task easier.

To defeat the bosses it is highly recommended (almost mandatory) that accumulate all the secondary weapons you can, but be careful, if you use them in a life you will run out of the ones you have accumulated and if you continue or complete the phase, too.

To complete this game I had to play it daily for a week, so it is the typical game that requires learning and effort. Of its eleven phases, I would say that the most difficult is the eighth, once you have overcome that the game is yours.

Its difficulty may put more than one person back, but the truth is that The jungle book It has quite a charm and effectively transports us to the film, gracias a la música, los coloridos escenarios y las divertidas animaciones de sus personajes.