Some games wind up being forgotten. Many of these games deserve to be forgotten, but many are incredibly fun games that should be played by all gamers whether they enjoy Disney movies or not. This list includes both types. At first thought, it might seem strange for anything with the Disney name on it to ever be forgotten.
The thing is, The Walt Disney Company has been around for almost 100 years. There's way more Disney material that's been forgotten than what is commonly remembered. This list identifies eight Disney games that have become forgotten games, many of which do not deserve this status.
8 Gargoyles – Sega Genesis
Gargoyles is an often forgotten Disney cartoon that aired in the afternoon in the 1990s. The Sega Genesis Gargoyles game is a hidden gem, just like the cartoon. The cartoon is about a group of gargoyles that awaken from a thousand-year sleep and use their supernatural abilities to protect New York.
In the Genesis game, the player controls the leader of the gargoyles, Goliath, in a quest to destroy an evil relic called the Eye of Odin. This game is also known for exploiting a bug in the Genesis memory, which made this game unplayable on early Genesis emulators; which helped cement its forgotten status.
7 Toy Story Racer – PlayStation
There was a time when kart racers were everywhere. During the PS1 era of gaming, it seemed like every game franchise got a kart racer. Many of them were garbage, but occasionally one would come along that was actually fun. Toy Story Racer was one of the good ones; sadly, it seems like this title is being forgotten more and more as time rolls on.
All the famous characters from Toy Story are playable in Toy Story Racer —though, some of them must be unlocked first. Keeping with the theme of the animated movie, the characters are confined to the house and its immediate area. Being a kart racer there are weapons that can be acquired mid-race to use on opponents.
6 Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow – SNES
This is a SNES (and Genesis) game that hardly anyone played. The reason for this is that it came out very late in the SNES's life. Many gamers had moved on to the next generation consoles. Because of this, Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow sold poorly; which is why this is one of the more valuable SNES carts.
In this game, the player controls detective Maui Mallard (Donald Duck) who is trying to find the missing Shabuhm Shabuhm idol on a tropical island. Maui can turn into the ninja named Cold Shadow, whose combat abilities far exceed those of Maui. The graphics in this game are superb and easily as good as many of the 32-bit games that it was competing with back in 1997.
5 Cars 3: Driven To Win – PS4
Car 3: Driven To Win is an interesting racing game. It looks as good as the Pixar movie due to using assets from Pixar themselves. In terms of gameplay, it's somewhere between Mario Kart and Burnout - with a little bit of Blur thrown in for good measure. The graphics are vibrant and colorful, and the controls are responsive.
There are 23 playable characters (cars) and seven different game modes in which to compete. Additionally, there is a ton of unlockable content that keeps the player coming back. Cars 3 doesn't provide a hardcore challenge but is meant for a more casual type of gamer. This was released on several consoles: PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, and Switch
4 Disney's Bonkers – SNES
Forget about being forgotten, many gamers don't even know this game exists. Bonkers is based on a Disney Cartoon from the early 1990s about a bobcat that leaves show business to become a cop. It was the stereotypical Disney television cartoon.
The game, despite being published by Capcom, is a fairly standard side-scrolling platformer. Disney fans might like playing this forgotten game, but it doesn't stack up well against games like Sonic or Mario World. It's not a bad game, but not a good one either. There's a Bonkers game for the Sega Genesis, but that title was developed by Sega and is considered the lesser of the two.
3 Epic Mickey – Wii
Epic Mickey was a Nintendo Wii exclusive and is sadly not as well remembered as it should be. This is a departure from most Disney games; it has a morality meter. If the player wishes they can turn Mickey over to the Dark Side. Sort of anyway, it's still a Disney game, so the whimsy factor is in play, but this game has a rather sinister tone for a Disney product.
In Epic Mickey the player controls Mickey Mouse on a quest to defeat an evil creature of his own creation and save a realm known as Wasteland. Mickey can either draw or erase objects with his magic paintbrush. Rewards are given based on Mickey's moral meter, which is a reflection of how many beings Mickey erases and saves (via drawing). This game is definitely worth a playthrough.
2 Disney's Hercules – PlayStation
This game is not only forgotten but possibly the best game on this list - certainly within the top three. This game is based on Disney's Hercules movie from 1997 and puts the player in control of Hercules. The game is a hybrid platformer; the player can switch to a background and foreground area as they run through the stages.
Disney's Hercules also has stages where the player controls Hercules as he runs away from the camera and must avoid hazards. These stages are very similar to the Crash Bandicoot games. The graphics are good, the animation is fluid, and the controls are responsive.
1 Pocahontas – Sega Genesis
Pocahontas is a side-scrolling platformer that includes a lot of puzzle-solving. As usual for Disney games on the Genesis, the in-game characters look like they were lifted from the movies. This isn't your average side-scrolling action platformer. First off, the controls are similar to games like Prince of Persia or Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, where the character moves along an invisible grid.
There are times when the player needs to control Pocahontas' raccoon friend, Meeko, in order to solve a puzzle. As Pocahontas completes tasks she is given access to spirit animals. These animal spirits give Pocahontas new abilities. This would have been a great addition to the Genesis Mini; nobody would have minded if they left out Vectorman to include Pocahontas.