The Lion King III: Timon & Pumbaa is the first known Dragon Co. release, which is known mainly as a 'coding practice' game for Tommy Xie, Dragon Co.'s lead programmer. The game itself is not only loosely based on The Lion King full-length movie, but also an animated series spinoff, The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa.
Gameplay[]
Before starting the game, the player has to choose one of three playable characters: Simba, Timon, or Pumbaa. Simba is generally balanced, he attacks with his claws and can swim in water indefinitely (although the underwater sections are only found in two levels and are not required to complete). Timon can kick and throw apples, but his attacks are not effective on bosses. Timon jumps the highest, but cannot stay under water for long (there is a special oxygen scale for this). Pumbaa is heavy to control, can't dive into the water and can't hold on the cliffs, but has the fastest speed which can be used to ram enemies.
The goal of each level is to find the boss (in case of the second stage, two bosses) and beat them to activate the exit to the next level. The only pickups generally available on the stages are stars, for extra points, and hearts, for extra health. Barring a few exceptions, there are generally no checkpoints throughout the levels, and even when there is one, the player's obliged to fight the boss again every time they lose a life. Yet, it's possible to get an extra life every 100,000 points.
Trivia[]
- The game is completely playable as Simba, but there are problems with Timon and Pumbaa. The game cannot be completed as Pumbaa because of where the boss is located in level 6 (Pumbaa can defeat the boss, but cannot go back and jump over the abyss). It is impossible to complete the game as Timon because of his weak attacks, which have almost no effect on bosses (it is very difficult for Timon to defeat even the first boss).
- There are a couple of obvious references to an episode of The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa called Boara Boara: the design of straw huts in stage 1 closely resembles the tribe chief's residence from that episode. The tribe chief himself makes an appearance as stage 4's boss.
- This is one of two Dragon Co's NES games to feature a credit roll, the other being Felix the Cat (Dragon Co.)
- Unlike its follow-up, The Lion King V: Timon & Pumbaa, this game does, oddly enough, feature a pause screen.
- The melody of stage 6's theme would later be reused for The Lion King V: Timon & Pumbaa's title screen.
- The title screen hack, The Lion King IV, remains undumped. Its two follow-ups, however, were dumped, one being The Lion King 5: Timon & Pumbaa, and the other being its alternate version, The Lion King 6.
Gallery[]
| List of games by Dragon Co. |
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