What it was
You play Woody, and the stages walk through the whole film: Andy's room, the gas station, Pizza Planet, Sid's house, the chase after the moving truck. Woody can't kill anything. His pullstring whip ties enemies up for a moment so you can slip past, and it latches onto hooks so you can swing over a drop. It's a platformer about getting by, not smashing.
The fun bit is that it keeps changing the game on you. Two stages are overhead races in the R.C. car, with batteries draining the whole way. Another is a first-person maze inside the claw machine, hunting for lost alien toys against a clock. The SNES cartridge has 17 levels, one fewer than the Genesis.
Where it sits in history
Traveller's Tales made it and Disney Interactive published it. The Genesis version was the lead one and came out in the States on 21 November 1995, a day before the film. The SNES version followed shortly after. Jon Burton, who founded the studio, was both designer and programmer.
Pixar handed over the animations for Woody and Scud only two weeks before the game went to Sega for approval, so the team rendered its own Woody as a backup. Burton says he also dressed glitches up as a bonus minigame so Sega's testers wouldn't bounce the game. Disney Interactive called the SNES and Genesis versions tremendous successes, though a chip shortage meant they couldn't make as many SNES copies as they reckoned they could sell. The video software dealers' association nominated it for 1995 Video Game of the Year, and it lost to Donkey Kong Country 2.
How it plays today
The visuals went down best on the Genesis, because 3D-rendered graphics were brand new there. On the SNES it's less of a shock, and Super Play's Roger Burchill said the SNES version can't escape comparison with Donkey Kong Country 2, and loses it. Fair.
Reviewers also knocked the controls and a difficulty curve that bites hard for the young crowd it was aimed at. Expect to die in the odd stage that looks harmless. The variety still carries it. You never get to be bored for long.
Compared with
Why it matters
Toy Story is about toys who want to be played with. The game is a kid's version of that same wish: you're handed Andy's room and the whole film, and you get to stand in it. Research on nostalgia finds it's mostly a warm feeling that often features other people and leaves us feeling more connected. For plenty of players, this cartridge is a rainy Saturday with a sibling on the couch.
It also shows how a tie-in can be a doorway. The game never gets close to the film's quality, but it lets you in. Being able to step inside a story you love, even badly, is a real pleasure.
Read: Why old games feel like home →
- Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Arndt, J., & Routledge, C. (2006). Nostalgia: Content, triggers, functions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(5), 975-993. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.5.975
What you're levelling up
You have been training these without noticing. Here is how to do it on purpose, and where it pays off away from the couch. All the skills games teach →
Keeping your cool
In the game. Racing the R.C. car with batteries draining, or hunting aliens in the claw machine against the clock, rewards a steady hand.
Do it on purpose. Pick the timed stage you hate and do it three times, breathing out before each run.
Off the couch. Staying calm when the deadline's close and everyone's looking at you. Whoever breathes out and gets on with it is who people want in charge next time.
Problem solving
In the game. Woody can't kill enemies, so you work out how to tie them up and slip past, or swing over on a hook.
Do it on purpose. Next time you're stuck, ask what the whip does here before you reach for anything else.
Off the couch. Not every problem needs beating. Sometimes you just need to get past it, like the awkward ex at a party: be polite for a minute and walk on.
Spatial thinking
In the game. The claw-machine stage is a first-person maze where you have to remember where you've been.
Do it on purpose. Draw the maze from memory after you finish it.
Off the couch. Finding your way around a new city, or a stranger's party, without checking your phone. Knowing where the exits and the snacks are is a quiet superpower.
Verdict · 6/10
A film tie-in that tries something different every few minutes, and mostly gets away with it. Nowhere near the best platformer on the system, but it has a lot of heart.
