"Help Pinocchio become a real boy..."

The Sega Genesis and the SNES seemed to be the platforms of choice for Disney game back then, as pretty much all Disney movies have had a game based on them on either systems. The Disney games at this time were not what they are today (i.e. kiddy), they were actually pretty good and fun (minus the Beauty and Beast games), any old-school gamer could tell it. This brings me to talk about the Pinocchio game, released in 1996.

You've certainly already seen Disney's Pinocchio movie, so I suppose there is no point in telling you what it's about. As in the movie, you're following Pinocchio's quest to become a real boy. In the game, you need to help him find 3 badges (truth, courage and unselfishness) during his adventure. The game takes you to all the places from the movie in the exact same order, and they even thought of giving Pinocchio the donkey tail and ears that grow during the adventure! After you visit Pleasure Island, you can actually see the donkey parts growing more in each new level. It's a really neat idea.

You're given the first badge at the start of the game by the fairy, so you're then left with only 2 badges to find, a bad sign the game is going to be really short. The game is fortunately very varied; you can be doing some basic platforming in the first level, then in the second one doing a bit of beat 'em up. There is also a fun stage in the theater that plays a bit like a memory game where you have to memorize the moves of a puppet next to you, and then reproduce them in the right order. You also get to play as Jimini Cricket, fly using balloons, ride roller coasters, do a bit of collecting in the whale's belly, walk upside down underwater and escape from the whale on a boat. As you can see, it's really not a generic platformer, you're never doing the same thing.

Thankfully Pinocchino controls like a charm; he can jump, run, spin kick, grab ledges and plenty of other things depending on the level. It's just too bad there is not a single boss in the entire game, and that the game is extremely short. At least you get to choose between Easy, Normal and Hard mode, so you could always replay the game a second time. Especially since it's fun no matter what. There are a few tunes from the movie, each well composed and pretty neat graphics for a Genesis game. There are a lot of small details and the animation is extremely well done, just seeing the way Pinocchio really moves like a real puppet.

Tu sum up things, Pinocchio is a great game you shouldn't miss if you like old-school platform games. Sure it's very short, but at least you don't have time to get bored with it that way.

Gameplay 7/10
Music 8/10
Graphics 8/10
Overall 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/03, Updated 10/14/05