
Based on the animated film, your mission is to control the young cub Simba in a journey to defeat his evil uncle Scar and reclaim your Kingdom! That can only be succeeded when Simba becomes an adult….a truly big…lion! To survive and grow into a powerful adult lion you must perfect your savage pounce reckless roar and master fighting with all four paws. If you survive the challenge you'll grow into a strong ferocious adult lion.
Stages are full of hyenas and other nasties (birds, spiders etc) willing to take your energy out. You may defeat enemies by just jumping on them (like Super Mario…) or even by roar to stun them and make them vulnerable! Simba will lose a life if he runs out of health or encounters an instant-death obstacle, such as when falling into deadly pits or a rolling boulders. But by collecting bugs (!) your health will replenished and even your roar meters increase.
Simba can jump all the way up and down in various platforms, roaming in all 8 directions on screen. This is a bit tricky at times, and easily falling into a deadly pit or an incoming enemy, and this will take some time for you to master.
There are several puzzles to solve too; some of them initiated with….roaring in certain time and direction! As long as you progress, Simba becomes an adult and gains access to various combat moves such as scratching, mauling, and throws.
Note that there are various hidden places in certain levels, offering some bonus levels in which you play as either Timon or Pumbaa to earn extra lives and continues. Well, that is all then about. Overall, a great arcade platform game, with various puzzles to cope with.
Graphics are great here. Ok, it may not be technically as good as the original (SNES, Megadrive/Genesis versions) but, this is one of the best ports for the 8bit Game Gear in terms of details, colors and sprite animations. Everything is well animated and scrolling is fluid. A truly masterpiece for the Game Gear!
Sound is great too, offering some catchy tunes from the original, along with several in-game SFX (but not sampled).