The Lion King V: Timon & Pumbaa

The Lion King V: Timon & Pumbaa
Title screen.
Publisher	Dragon Co.
Developer	Dragon Co.
Console	Famicom
Date	1998 (?)
Engine	TomSoft's Lion King III engine
Sound engine	Sunsoft
Alternate names/hacks	3-in-1, The Lion King 6: Timon & Pumbaa

The Lion King V: Timon & Pumbaa is a game released on the Famicom by Dragon Co. as a sequel to their first ever release, The Lion King III: Timon & Pumbaa.

Changes and gameplay

Simba's gameplay in the first level.

The game itself is very similar to its counterpart in terms of gameplay. Before starting the game, the player has to choose one of three playable characters: Simba, Timon and Pumbaa. Simba is balanced overall, but has no projectiles and can swim for only a limited amount of time. Timon has the slowest speed, but he can swim without an oxygen limit and uses tomatoes as his weapon. Pumbaa is heavy to control and can't hold on to cliffs, but has the fastest speed which can be used to ram the enemies.

The goal of each level is to find the boss and beat them to proceed to the next level. Such items as stars (extra points) and hearts (extra hit points) can be met on the way, as well as a lot of enemies like frogs, birds, etc. No more than nine lives are allowed to be held by the player; if a life is lost, the entire level has to be restarted from the beginning. If all lives are lost, the game is over and you have to start over, due to the lack of continues, although you can earn extra levels every 100,000 points.

Overall, the only real changes in the game come from its vastly improved graphics, music with the different sound engine and the fact it has new levels.

Infamy and reception

Edited screenshot depicting all three game overs.

Within the bootleg gaming community, this game is infamous for its unsettling game over screens, which depict Simba, Timon and Pumbaa committing suicide. Simba hangs himself, Timon buries himself alive, and Pumbaa willfully leaps into a boiling pot.

The game is generally considered to be as bad as the original due to, despite the cosmetic changes, the gameplay still being plagued by poor controls and physics.

Trivia

• According to Cah4e3, this game was developed without TomSoft, aka Tommy Xie's involvement.
• There's another version of this game named Lion King 6, which retains the title screen (apart from the 5 being replaced by a 6) and starts at a different level.