Ariel: The Little Mermaid

"Short but sweet!"

This delightful little game is always a treat to play. While it's a short game, it has an endearing charm that always brings a smile to my face. This is probably one of the most overlooked gems on the Game Gear. I'm usually not much of a fan of Disney movies (or games based on Disney movies), but I like The Little Mermaid for some strange reason. In the typical tradition of Disney movies translated into games, this is a light hearted, cartoony romp.

The entire game takes place below the rolling waves of the ocean, much like Ecco The Dolphin. Ursula the octopus witch has captured all of the merpeople and magically transformed them into little polyps. She's also enchanted peaceful sea creatures, setting them on a path of destruction through the ocean. Ariel, the little mermaid, has to embark on a quest to rescue her friends and confront Ursula.

You can play as Ariel or King Triton. Ariel uses her beautiful singing voice as a form of attack, sending out sparkly musical notes to undo Ursula's spell and return sea creatures back to their former selves. She can also attack with magical stars, which she has a limited supply of. Triton hurls magic bolts and fireballs.

In addition, Ariel has three friends that she can call on to help her out in various situations. Sebastian the crab will go after enemy sea creatures and scare them off. Flounder the fish can push rocks out of the way, opening up underwater passageways. And the swordfish will dig in certain spots at the bottom of the ocean, sometimes unearthing buried treasure. Ariel can call on each friend a limited number of times. The character will come on screen, do his thing, and then depart.

The game spans four levels that take our heroine through coral reef areas, a sunken sailing ship, ruins of Atlantis, and underwater caves. While rather small in size, the levels are appropriately labyrinthine, offering us some moderate exploration. Each level has a map you can access if you get lost. Enemy sea creatures include eels, electric eels, clams, sharks, and pirate skeletons. Sometimes the clams leave a pearl behind when defeated. When an enemy sea creature touches Ariel, she loses some health. When she loses all of her health, she loses a life (but nothing bad happens like having to restart the level; you can just continue onward with no break in the action). Actually, Ariel's extra lives work as one large health gauge. If you lose all of your extra lives, you have the option to continue the game, but you have to restart the current level at the beginning.

As Ariel progresses through the underwater world, she can collect keys, which are used to open treasure chests. Treasure takes the form of coins, gems, and pearls, each of which gives a different amount of treasure. Each level has a shop that is tended by a cute seagull. At the shop, Ariel can trade in her treasure for magic stars, keys, extra lives, and additional uses of her animal friends (gives an additional ability to call on Sebastian, Flounder, or the swordfish). Ariel can hold nine of each at a time.

The goal of each level is to find and rescue all of the trapped merpeople and then square off with a boss character. Naturally, Ursula the octopus witch makes an appearance at the end.

The controls are pretty good. Ariel can swim in eight directions. Button 1 is used to attack with a musical note or magic star (magic bolt or fireball if you're playing as Triton). Button 2 is used in combination with the directional pad to change from musical notes to magic stars and call upon fish friends. The start button shows Ariel's inventory and brings up the level map. There's nothing complicated here, and everything works well.

Visually, the game is very good. Colorful environments, well animated characters. Ariel's fish tail swishes back and forth as she swims. All of her fish friends look good. When eels, sharks, and other enemy characters are defeated, they rapidly swim off screen. This is one of those games where the enemy characters reappear when you leave an area and come back. As far as the Game Gear is concerned, these are solid graphics. Everything is colorful and clear.

Background music is cheerful, setting an appropriate light hearted mood. There are no sound effects here, which I find rather fitting. Better to have no effects than bad effects. The sound department is simply a matter of cheerful music playing as our heroine explores the underwater world. The musical themes are nicely done, and at no point do they become annoying or tiresome.

The game has three difficulty settings, and even the hardest one isn't all that bad. On the whole, it's not too easy but not too hard either.

This is a fun little game. Short but sweet while it lasts. I like to describe it as "Ecco the Dolphin without the annoying air supply to worry about". Mermaids can remain underwater for as long as they like. Fending off sharks and collecting treasure is a lot of fun, and Ariel's fish friends add to the appeal. There are places where each friend is useful. This game's only fault is that it's too short. Would've been a bit nicer if the levels were larger and the game longer. As it stands, Ariel: The Little Mermaid is a great game. One of my favorites on the Game Gear.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/24/05