Licensed games have never had a great run in the videogame industry and this is especially so when it comes to games based on Disney movies. As with most movie tie-in games they are usually released by the publishers with the intention of cashing in on the popularity of the films.
Sadly, even with the developer’s best intentions they are often pushed for time and may be forced to rush a game's production to meet the demands of the publishers and the timing of the films. It seems, however, that movie tie-ins are no longer the guaranteed cash cows for publishers or great marketing tools that they used to be.
Disney is no longer producing games in-house and they even closed the development of their toys-to-life Disney Infinity franchise. For Disney fans, however, there are still a few gems out there to choose from, so let’s take a look at the best, according to Metacritic.
10 Tangled: The Videogame DS (Metascore 70)
Tangled: The Videogame was released on the Nintendo Wii, PC, and the Nintendo DS in 2010 to coincide with the release of the film. It was published by Disney Interactive Studios but was developed by the now-defunct Planet Moon Studios.
Tangled is a children’s videogame with gameplay where players take on the role of Rapunzel in 2D environments using the D-Pad and the stylus. In many ways, the game plays like an interactive Disney storybook for children with elements of a point and click adventure game.
9 Disney’s Chicken Little (Metascore 71)
Disney’s Chicken Little was released in 2005 on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC, Nintendo GameCube, and the Game Boy Advance. The game was released the same year as the movie and it retells the story from the film.
Voice actors Zach Braff, Garry Marshall, Steve Zahn, and others reprise their roles from the film. The player takes the role of Chicken Little in a 3D platforming adventure game that incorporates scenes from the film. It’s a surprisingly fun platformer that scored better on the PC at the time of release because of the hardware advantages over its console counterparts.
8 Disney’s Chicken Little: Ace In Action (Metascore 72)
Disney’s Chicken Little: Ace In Action was released in 2007 on the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and the PC. The game took inspiration from the Chicken Little superhero film based on his adventures.
It’s an action-adventure game with more than a little bit in common with the Ratchet & Clank and the classic Smash TV series. Ace in Action lacks the variety and complexities in the weapon choices but it’s an approachable and fun game based on the cartoon that children will enjoy.
7 Cars (Metascore 73)
Cars the videogame was released in 2006 on the PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance, and the PC. It was released around the same time as the film it is based on and features ten characters with all of the voice cast fully reprising their roles.
Car’s story picks up right from the end of the film and is set in an open-world version of the film’s fictional town of Radiator Springs. Players can pick up races and challenges in a similar manner to games like Midnight Run and to some extent the Forza Horizon series.
6 Disney’s Atlantis: Lost Empire (Metascore 73)
Disney’s Atlantis: Lost Empire was released on the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance and the Game Boy Color in 2001. It's a 3D platform game based on the film of the same name and features scenes from the movie as the game progresses or when unlockables are found.
In addition to the platforming, there are a lot of puzzles to solve as well as action elements. The different gameplay scenarios depend on each individual’s special abilities, allowing players to switch between characters.
5 Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear To The Rescue (Metascore 75)
Toy Story 2:Buzz Lightyear To The Rescue was released on the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, PC and the Sega Dreamcast in 1999. It is a 3D action-adventure game for children where the players take control of Buzz as he attempts to rescue Woody from Al McWhiggin.
The game is filled with collectibles to discover as the game progresses in order to unlock new power-ups like a shield barrier, rocket boots, and the disk launcher. Many of these unlockables are required to progress further in the game to access FMV sequences from Toy Story 2.
4 Toy Story Racer (Metascore 76)
Released in 2010 Toy Story: Racer is a Mario Kart inspired racing game for the PlayStation and the Game Boy Color. It features 12 characters from the first movie like Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Bo Peep, and others.
Toy Story: Racer has lots of collectibles in the form of small toy soldiers from the film. There are 200 to collect and most of the game’s characters can be unlocked by collecting them. It’s also packed with different race types such as regular racing, a tournament mode, Target mode, Smash mode, Smash Tag, and more.
3 Toy Story 3: The Videogame (Metascore 78)
Toy Story 3: The Videogame was released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and the PC in 2010. It was developed by Avalanche Software who also developed the Toys-to-Life series Disney Infinity.
The Toy Box mode in Toy Story 3 was the precursor to the Disney Infinity series and many of the same gameplay mechanics were retained for that series. The game is still considered to be one of the best movie tie-ins of all time and made players feel like they were participating in a Pixar movie.
2 Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and the Lion King (Metascore 78)
Disney Classic Games: Aladdin And The Lion King was released in 2019. It combined two of the most popular Disney videogames of all time and remastered them for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and the Nintendo Switch.
The games were originally released on the SNES and the Megadrive/Genesis in 1993 but they are based on the Sega version which featured improved animations and visuals. The package also contains the handheld versions of the games, selectable soundtracks, and a rewind feature.
1 Disney’s Lilo & Stitch (Metascore 80)
Disney’s Lilo & Stitch was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2002 and was based on the film of the same name. However, the game’s plot takes place after the events of the film after Lilo has been kidnapped by alien bounty hunters.
The player takes on the roles of both Stitch in a Metal Slug inspired shooter, and Lilo in a puzzle-based platformer that looks and plays like the 2D Prince of Persia games. Despite the limitations of the hardware the animation still looks very good and totally in line with the movie.