
Pap the Disney
Gamer's Highlights: Beauty and the
Beast Computer Game
System: DOS
Computers
Developed by:
Disney Software
Growing up, I had a speech
impediment due to a disease I had when I was
just three months old. Due to this, I had to
attend many therapies, speech therapy
included. This was my favorite thing to do
in the week as the teacher not only was
incredibly nice and wonderful, she had a
computer which we used to play games with.
She had such a great impact in me that it
lead me to becoming the internet and gaming
nerd I am today. What am I getting at with
this monologue of my life? After all, this
is the Disney Gamer's column, not the “Oh
please Pap continue boring us with the sad
story of your life†column! One of the games
we used to play was
Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Not
only that, it was my first exposure to what
may be one of my all-time favorite Disney
films. But now you may be wondering, how can
a romantic tale like
Beauty and the Beast be turned into a
video game? Well the folks at Disney
Software certainly knew what to do.

Loading the game up it
retells the first half of the events in the
film, with Belle being a captive at Beast's
castle. The enchanted objects, however,
decide to throw a ball in their honor. The
whole game is basically preparing the iconic
ballroom scene, and you do so by
participating in mini-games based off of the
characters and the movie.
Like I just mentioned, each
game deals with an aspect of the ball, such
as getting Belle's dress ready, picking the
flowers and preparing the dinner. Each
servant will be your guide through these
mini-games. For example, Cogsworth wants you
to compose the music for the festivities. In
order to do so you must remember the symbols
he presents to you, then you must select the
book with the correct symbol. As the game
progresses the symbols become harder to
remember and Cogsworth adds more to the
list.

Lumiere's mini-game has you
collecting cherries in a setting that is
straight out of the “Be our guest†musical
number. But, there are other enchanted
objects dancing, so you must be careful not
to bump into them. Fifi, Lumiere's
girlfriend, is the host of the flower
picking mini-game. In it you must dust away
the snow off the flowers and pick the
matching set in order to decorate the
ballroom. Wardrobe's mini-game is the
hardest of them all as you must collect
three pieces of matching color cloths before
she can give you Belle's dress. Finally,
Mrs. Potts hosts an egg collecting mini-game
where you must guide falling eggs onto the
pan by moving the pots and pans around.

For an early 90s computer
game,
Beauty and the Beast looks beautiful,
paying tribute to the gorgeous colors and
design of the feature film. The characters
all animate fluidly and look nearly
identical to their movie counterparts. The
game even has
stain glass for its menu system and
animation ripped right out of the film for a
presentation that is stunning. The music is
also fantastic. All of the mini-games
feature songs from the movie, like “Belle,"
“Be our guest,†and, of course, “Beauty and
the Beast."
All in all, the game wasn't
perfect as some of the mini-games dragged on
for too long, and some where really
challenging for the intended audience. But
it is a beautiful looking game that knows
how to use the movie's world and characters
very well, making it one of my beloved
gaming memories of my childhood.