Proto:The Lion King (Game Gear)

This page details one or more prototype versions of The Lion King (Game Gear).

August 3 1994

The earliest revision currently known. Whilst mostly complete in terms of level design and gameplay, there are still many noticeable changes.

General Differences

• Difficulty options are Easy, Normal, Hard and Flying. Final has the options written as Cub, Lion Prince and Lion King. Flying mode is removed completely.
• Cub levels continue past Stampede.
• Level select (Cheat Mode) on startup.
• Cheat Mode reveals version as 2.8.94.
• When choosing a level, the words 'Level Alpha' flash by underneath.
• No border around level intros.
• Timon is positioned differently in level intros.
• Simba's health is at the top of the screen, whilst his lives are at the bottom.
• Simba's life icon remains a cub throughout the game.
• 'Paws' is still 'Pause'.
• No 'death' animation for adult Simba when he falls off screen.
  • Death Tag music only plays a second when this happens.
• Early continue screen.
• Infinite continues (resets to 1 each time used).
• Losing all lives and choosing not to continue can sometimes cause the game to reload Simba's health and life icons in the screen, even as the main title is brought up again. They use random tiles once on the title screen.
• You can skip credits by pressing Start a few times.

• 

  Continue Screen

• 

  Life/health on the logo screens

• 

  Incorrect life/health tiles on title screen

• 

  Adult Simba with cub Simba icon

Game Intro

• Jumps straight to red sky backdrop.
• Red sky backdrop is slightly less detailed than final.
• The Lion King logo is also bigger and slightly different, and does not overlap the background.

Prototype	Final

Level Differences

Pride Rock (The Pridelands)

• Has the level title of 'It Starts...'
• Different shrubbery tiles.
• Different Diamond location.

Prototype	Final

Just Can't Wait (The Mane Event)

• Different Diamond location.
• No monkeys.
• No nesting birds.
  
• Tree graphics are a little scrambled in places.
• Slightly different level layout.
• If Simba walks in water, Death Tag does not play.

Prototype	Final

Elephant Graveyard

• Known as just 'Elephant Grave' in level select.
• No Diamond in level.

The Stampede

• Known as Wildebeast in level select.
• No sound plays on level.
• You cannot ride on the back of the wildebeasts, making this level extremely difficult.

Exile Pride Rock (Exile)

• If entering from Stampede level, the title screen colors will be slightly off.
• Strangely uses Can You Feel The Love Tonight as the music.

Willow Cascade (Hakuna Matata)

• Hippos have minor graphical errors.

Rafiki Chase... (Simba's Destiny)

• Misspelled 'Rafika Chase' on level select.

Jungle Caverns (Be Prepared)

• Also uses the track Can You Feel The Love Tonight.
• No end of level defined - Cannot be completed.

Hyena Lairs

• No insect powerups in level.
• Hyena at bottom right of the level falls off the screen upon approaching.
• No end of level defined - Cannot be completed.

Evil Scar Boss (Return to Pride Rock)

• Uses Pridelands tileset.
• More of the level can be seen.

Bonus Level

• Bonus level title shows garbled tiles.

Ending

• Screen displays the 'Evil Scar is vanquished' text with no image.
• Credits are much shorter - There are only 8 names as opposed to the 39 shown in the final.

Unused Text

Starting at 0x6B81 is some text that goes unused (with some used text in-between).

licensed  by  sega enterprises  ltd
not installed 
1994 WALT DISNEY COMPANY
1994 VIRGIN GAMES

It's worth noting that right next to 'not installed' is the 'level alpha' text which is used in the level select (albeit briefly). It's possible that this was used in earlier builds when a level did not exist.

Some leftover text from The Jungle Book, another game by Virgin, can be found at 6CF3.

the frog gives extra jump height
scene completed
gems  x 1000
time         0
score

Also, text that would wind up being used in the final at 0x67D7:

your final score
game completed
or is it! try a harder skill level to see more. 

August 10th Revision

The next revision contains a few more changes to the game.

General Differences

• Sega logo loads up first.
• Virgin copyright and logo also loads up, different to the final:

• Red sky is the same, logo changes slightly.
• Cheat Menu date reads as 11.8.94.
• Wildebeast now reads as Stampede in level select.
• Borders added.
• Pause screen now reads 'Paws' like in final.
• No infinite continues.

Level Differences

Pridelands

• Level title is The Pride Lands.
• Tiles given more detail.

The Mane Event

• Monkeys added.
• Level tiles cleaned up.

Stampede

• Music and sound now working.

Exile From Pride Rock

• Final level name added.

Hakuna Matata

• Final level name added.
• Hippo sprites corrected.

August 3rd	August 10th

Unused Graphics

A small section of the Virgin logo does not load with the rest of the logo:

August 13th Revision

Contains a couple of minor revisions.

Level Differences

The Pride Lands

• Diamond moved to final position.

The Mane Event

• Diamond moved to final position.

August 17th Revision (Ver.1)

A very near complete build.

General Differences

• Red sky now has the sun rise, and The Lion King logo appears on top of it. Fades out without showing the full logo as in the final.
• Press Start added to title screen.
• Options now read Cub, Lion Prince, Lion King, as in the final. Flying has been removed.
• Level Select removed from start up (can be accessed using the same code in the final, but does not require 'Down' to be pressed.
• All levels have final names (except The Pride Lands, which removes the second space in the final).
• Completing all levels under 'Cub' difficulty (Stampede plus all levels before) takes you straight to the credits, with no music playing.
• Continues added.
• You can no longer skip credits.

August 17th Revision (Ver.2)

Practically complete.

General Differences

• Uses the Virgin logo seen in the final.
• Red sky has the sun rise, with the logo overlapping. Logo then changes from black to red, but does not increase in size.
• Early halfway marker icon:

• Music still does not change when the hyena appears in The Pridelands.