 Ssssssssss. That's drunk. When it comes to 16-bit Disney games, most people think of Aladdin, Mickey's Magical Quest, Goopedroop, Lion King, all the usual suspects, but one Disney game that seemingly never gets any mention at all is Pinocchio. This one was developed by Virgin Interactive for both the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis in 1996, with the Game Boy receiving a port later that same year. But what's strange is that the Super Nintendo edition is actually published by Nintendo. What? Granted, this game came very late in the Super Nintendo's lifespan, and most 5th generation consoles were already establishing themselves as the new norm, so a game like Pinocchio tends to get brushed aside no matter who worked on it or who published it. The thing is, though, I mean, geez, look at the sprite animation here, and the backgrounds, all the enemy sprite work. From a visual standpoint, this is an extremely well-made game. It's clear a ton of work went into this one. An Interactive also made Cool Spot and Demolition Man for Super Nintendo, but most famously, they also made the Genesis version of Aladdin, one of the very best-looking games on any system at the time. So yeah, Pinocchio was in good hands. And just like all the aforementioned Disney games, this one's a 2D side-scrolling platformer, for the most part anyway, but does it measure up to the standard of games like Aladdin and Mickey's Magical Quest? Eh, kinda sorta, not really, maybe, depending on how you feel that day. I mean, there's a reason this one isn't remembered as well as those games, and that's because it's just okay. You get four lives and four continues to get through nine levels with zero saves or passwords, so you gotta beat this one in one go-round, which is fine, because this is your typical platformer stuff here, only with some minigame levels thrown in for some variety. It's the usual B2Jump and Y2Attack, and that's it. But the minigames offer some extra stuff, like here you can press X to protect yourself from these bots swarming you, or here, using the A and B buttons to kick stuff to your left and right while you control the marionette with the X and Y buttons. To complete each platforming level, you have to find what are four different pieces of... what is that, construction paper? Each one's a different color, and you present them to the blue fairy at the end of the level so you can continue with the game. If you show up without all fours, she sends your sorry ass back to the level with a big bucket of nothing, so you essentially gotta start over. That sounds annoying, but it's really not hard to find these. It can be a little tricky, however, to understand how the heck you're supposed to reach certain places. Yep, this is another one of these games, just like Mickey Mania, where you gotta screw around with your surroundings and wander around till you find stuff. Most of the time, like in this first level, you just have to keep jumping on random objects until something happens, like these signs here that whip you around and send you flying onto rooftops. There's a lot of trial and error here, only unlike Mickey Mania, this game is much easier, with fewer enemies to deal with. It also helps that Pinocchio can take a ton of damage. Seriously, stick this dude in a doom game, those demons wouldn't stand a chance. In addition to platforming, you've also got mini games here, which are hit or miss. You have a dancing game where you copy what the computer does, there's a rollercoaster, there's a raft, you fight off mods as Jiminy Cricket. This one in particular is one of the best looking stages in any Super Nintendo game I've played. It's just frickin' gorgeous. Have I raved enough about the visuals yet? This game is among the best looking on the Super Nintendo period. I love how they even show Pinocchio in mid-transformation into a donkey. That's a great touch. The settings here follow the movie, traveling from Stromboli's Marionette Show to Pleasure Island and then into the sea, where he saves Gepetto from Inside Monstro and they escape. Spoiler alert on an 82 year old movie and a 139 year old children's book. I should mention quickly that yes, this is one of those games where the sprite animation can get in the way of regular gameplay. There is a tiny delay when doing certain actions, just because you gotta wait for the animation to wind up or wind down, but it's really nothing game breaking. It's pretty minor, but if you're playing this game with a wireless controller or on something that's not a CRT then it can get a little annoying, but otherwise it's fine because this game is so dang easy. What's going to be annoying for everyone that plays this game however is this rollercoaster minecart stage or whatever you wanna call it. I'm gonna call it a minecart stage because it falls in line with every other minecart stage like in Donkey Kong Country, Mario RPG, Young Merlin. Minecarts are almost always problematic and the controls here just suck. There's also a lot of blind jumps you gotta deal with just in general, but the minecart level in particular really gets annoying. But hey, overall Pinocchio is fine, it's another one of those games that falls firmly in the middle when it comes to the SNES library and the Genesis library for that matter since that version is nearly exactly the same game. It's not gonna sniff the top 100 games list or anything, but it's certainly not bad. What's interesting to look back on with this game is that it got bad reviews at the time. It was seen as yesterday's news, gaming magazines treated it like they'd already moved on, but hey, time keeps marching on so now we're able to see this game with a more clear perspective. This game is totally fine and it's got some great qualities going for it like the visuals. It's not gonna stand up to other Disney games like Goof Troop and Mickey's Magical Quest and such, but if you enjoy stuff like Lion King or Mickey Mania and if you dig easy breezy playthroughs, then you'll dig Pinocchio. Alright, I want to thank you for watching and hope you have a great rest of your day.