Pocahontas- Sega Genesis Review

Based on the 1995 Disney film, Pocahontas was a cinematic platformer with incredible animation. But was it any good?

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Opening "Sega" jingle is from Astal for the Sega Saturn.

Ending Music during the credits is from Batman for the Sega Genesis.

SLX Logo
By: Jan Neves

Intro by Evan S.

Episode Notes:

1. Captured on the Mega SG.

2. The Disney film the game is based on received quite a bit of criticism about its historical accuracy. Being a Virginia-born native myself, the real story of Pocahontas is well known and was anything but a fairy tale. Portrayed as a young woman here, she actually died at just 21 years of age from an unknown illness. John Smith's account of their meeting and the events that followed have always been called into question and there is no known romance to have happened between the two, particularly since she was just 10 years old when they met.

3. This was scheduled for release on the SNES but never made it to retail.

4. The developers of this, Funcom, also did the incredible port of NBA Hangtime for the Genesis.

5. I would not play through this until years after its release. When it landed in 1996, I was fully wrapped up in Saturn and Playstation games.

[tylerwerrin]

Ha man, this was one of my faves as a kid - even if it was girl oriented - loved the sense of progression and the unique format of the world.

[segaboy]

Why am I not surprised you would take the time to review Pocahontas. You are truly prolific!

[Andrew_TS]

Beat this on PSP a few years ago. Kind of feels like a modern indie game. Breezy, simple puzzle platformer but looks great for the time/hardware.

[IMDLEGEND]

This game is a great showpiece for the Sega Genesis. Fantastic Animation. I like how they used the parallax scrolling to simulate the depth of the forest.

[roberto]

I wouldn't expect any gaming magazine to give high praise to any 16-bit game from 1996 onwards. In all honesty, as far as cinematic platforms go, Out of this World, Flasback and even Shadow of the Beast 2, Pocahontas is a great addition to the Genesis, and it's really one of the best looking and animated games on the platform. If only memory and cart costs were really cheap back then, that would be great for arcade ports and exclusives with much more quality.

[jeremygregorio]

It's so weird to see so much effort going to a licensed game. The animations beautiful and they really put effort into the gameplay and making it something other than a dumb platformer

[acertainshape]

It's a gorgeous game graphically and I like how non-violent it is. A similar experience nowadays would be Abzu. Just very chill and no guns or explosions (not that there's anything wrong with that).

[Guernicaman]

Allegedly there were originally bonus stages where you played as the humming bird & I even believe they did some assets for it. Unfortunately, they either ran out of time, budget, memory ir all 3, so the bonus stages had to be cut from the final game. Never the less, it's interesting to note, Pocahontas on SEGA Genesis was originally meant to be a bit longer than what we eventually got in the final game.

[maxadocious]

oh man! the graphics here are so beautiful.
it breaks my heart that this movie has been confined to the dustbin of history. watching it still breaks my heart and has a lot more than most disney movies in my oninion.

i'm glad that the game is good too :)

[Marc_Araujo]

The Jungle Book on Genesis was really good too. I put it up there with Aladdin and the Lion King.

[Aaronwilliam]

This might be weird to hear but I would say this is arguably one of your best videos yet. Just a great balanced take, a real polished job, congrats!

[jpesicka]

It's not a rare game but it is uncommon and definitely a hidden gem.

[thecunninlynguist]

Honestly never knew pocahontas got a console game. Reminds me of prince of persia

[Yuuretsu]

This game probably got a lot less recognition than it deserved with it being released in 1996 for a 16 bit platform. I didn't hear of this game myself until a few years ago. Tanglewood is a 2018 Megadrive game that I feel comes closest to this game's overall gameplay and atmosphere. I'd recommend checking that out to anyone who likes this game.

[lightspeedmurphy]

I remember seeing the promo for this game from the vhs copy of A Goofy Movie that I used to watch a lot as a kid and was always curious about it. And I have been meaning to watch Pocahontas for the first time hopefully this year and I may check out the game soon after.

[ADTribalChild]

I seen some diamonds-in-the-rough in gaming before, and you might have found a hidden gem. Even as someone who had a Genesis during its shelf life, it went completely under my radar. The visual really sells, probably even better on a CRT-TV. Flaws are understandable because licensed game can only have so much content because it's the 90s. Great episode.

[Zahir]

That game was a breathe of fresh air to play from all the action on the Genesis. The Colors of the Wind OST you played at the beginning of your review is a very nice touch.

[dustinpaulson]

So basically, Pocahontas was the first Captain Planet.

"By your animal powers combined, I am Pocahontas!"

[johnnykk]

Pocahontas was my absolute fav game among 100 of Sega games! I have completed it 40 times if not more! A masterpiece with fantastic music!

[mcasias]

This was the last "kid" game I bought before moving on to more mature titles. The graphics were truly special for the Genesis.