Disney's Tarzan

Download Disney's Tarzan and join Tarzan on an unforgettable jungle adventure! Swing through the treetops, battle fearsome foes, and experience the magic of Disney's classic animated film. Unleash your wild side and play now!
a game by Eurocom, and Sony Computer Entertainment
Genre: Action
Platforms: Nintendo 64Nintendo 64 (1999), GameBoy Color, Playstation, PSX, GameGear, GameBoy
Mode Single-player
Setting Jungle environment, based on the Disney animated film "Tarzan"
Gameplay 2.5D side-scrolling platformer, with players controlling Tarzan through various stages
Graphics 2D hand-drawn sprites on 3D-rendered backgrounds
Soundtrack Original music composed by Steve Duckworth, inspired by the film's soundtrack
Editor Rating: 7.1/10, based on 7 reviews, 6 reviews are shown
User Rating: 7.4/10 - 138 votes
Rate this game:
See also: Disney Games, The Jungle Book Games
Disney's Tarzan
Disney's Tarzan
Disney's Tarzan

The famed vineswinger swings onto the Game Boy - and promptly splats right into a tree. There could've been tons of tropical fun in this concept, but weak controls nip it in the bud.

Crossing a Mine Line

Through six big levels, Tarzan must beat the clock as he searches for different items and battles a variety of jungle critters. Poachers, traps, and a fire further impede his exploration.

Although Tarzan's an action/adventure game, its pace is slow, requiring maze solving rather than heated combat. Unfortunately, the mazes become redundant, and with no passwords, you'll replay them often.

Even worse, the inaccurate controls often prevent you from jumping through the trees or reaching vines, forcing you to backtrack way too much. Tarzan can easily defend himself with his primitive weapons, but when he's on the move, get ready to crash.

Leaf Me Out

The average graphics serve up lots of small sprites and undefined backgrounds. Tarzan is more cartoony than the fierce box illustration suggests, and his world isn't nearly as dense with foliage.

The bland sounds add to the mediocrity. Some music, some typical sound effects, but you sure don't feel like you're in a jungle setting.

Tarzan's not bad, but it certainly doesn't rank as a thrilling game. It demands way too much patient replaying for the average fun it offers.

ProTips:

  • Do your swingin' from the bottom of the vine.
  • As you search tunnels for hidden flowers in Level One, watch out for breakaway bridges.
  • Don't jump into the Witch Doctor's lair until you've found all the flowers.

Download Disney's Tarzan

Nintendo 64

Minimal System Requirements:

  • OS: Windows 95
  • CPU: Intel Pentium 166 MHz
  • RAM: 24 MB
  • HDD: 50 MB
  • VRAM: 2 MB
  • DirectX: 6.1

System Requirements:

  • OS: Windows 2000
  • CPU: Intel Pentium 200 MHz
  • RAM: 32 MB
  • HDD: 50 MB
  • VRAM: 4 MB
  • DirectX: 6.1
GBC

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Playstation

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
PSX

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
GameGear

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Gameboy

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Game Reviews

If any character in the history of popular literature has ever deserved a video game based on his/her exploits, Tarzan would certainly head that list. He was the original Pitfall Harry and is one of the most obvious candidates for a platform adventure if there ever was one. "He could spring 20 feet across space at the dizzy height of the forest top and grab with unerring precision and without apparent jar, a limb waving wildly in the path of an approaching tornado," said Tarzan's creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs, in Tarzan of the Apes, first published 87 years ago in 1912. Well now the wait is over thanks to Sony Computer Entertainment and developer Eurocom.

Eurocom, who seem to be popping up all over the place these days (Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, Duke Nukem: Zero Hour, etc.) has created a 3D, Klonoa-esque platform game that evokes memories of the old Genesis game Aladdin. Featuring the same fluid animation as its neo-brethren, Tarzan romps across through his fully 3D environment with a grace one would expect in a Disney-inspired game. Although the majority of the game is played in a traditional side-scrolling format, there are plenty of 3D elements that pop up every now and again. While not as extensive as something like Klonoa, Tarzan must occasionally venture into or out of the foreground to retrieve certain items or power-ups. There are lots of things to find as well. Knives, fruits, Tarzan Tokens, spears, parasols (umbrellas to you) and sketches are just some things you'll find here in the jungle.

Being that this IS the jungle, Tarzan will have to watch out for all sorts of antagonistic animals and natural hazards. Thankfully, Tarzan has a wide array of attacks to help him in his adventures. He can attack with different kinds of fruit of varying power, attack with his knife (provided he finds one) or use his "ground pound"' to access hidden power-ups and items. If Tarzan finds the letters T-A-R-Z-A-N, through the course of each level, he can also unlock animated movies made by Disney themselves. Graphically, Tarzan is one of the most sumptuous games you'll ever play. Imagine the lush backgrounds of Crash Bandicoot, with a darker, more realistic feel and you're halfway there. Animals crawl all over the place, birds fly in and out of the background, waterfalls and other ambient effects all conspire to create one of the most convincing 3D backdrops you'll ever find. Fortunately, the game plays pretty good as well. Timed to coincide with the release of the motion picture, Tarzan could climb into many a gamers' collection this summer.

  • MANUFACTURER - Eurocom
  • THEME - ACTION
  • NUMBER OF PLAYERS - 1

People say:

6.5

Underneath Tarzan's level design and beautifully rendered graphics lies a straightforward--and sometimes fun--action game. Problems to watch for: Slowdown when too much stuff is going on, repetitive ungle-type levels and touchy control when jumping and swinging on vines. I do like being able to play as different characters depending on the level, but what you do in those levels as those other characters doesn't differ greatly from playing as Tarzan. But no doubt kids will enjoy playing as the characters from the movie--especially that Rosie O'Donnell gorilla...now she's funny. Note the sarcasm. Yes. Tarzan is a kid's game--a kid's game for kids who are pretty good at games. Sure, you might be caught off guard by the difficulty found in middle to later levels since the first few are easy. And yeah, you can finish the game without getting 100% (which makes you replay levels for maximum percentages), but most items are easy to obtain, and most levels aren't especially challenging. In fact, in one particular stage I must've been hit 25 times or so and still didn't die. Overall, kids will enjoy the simple game-play, FMV cutscenes straight from the movie and the game's Disney-like graphics. Hardcore gamers might think the game is decent, but certainly not involving enough a purchase or a rental.

6.5

Tarzan was a great movie, and not bad as a video game. It's got great animation and richly detailed graphics, but firing weapons is slow and clumsy. By the time you pull out your arsenal of fruit to throw at jungle beasts, they've already hit you a few times. It's a bit repetitive, but faithfully follows the plot of the movie. As an added bonus you can go back through the levels to find things you missed the first time round, and open up clips from the movie to watch anytime you want.

5.5

This may be a beautiful-looking game that captures the spirit and look of the movie perfectly, but what a shame the gameplay is so derivative and dull. It may be aimed at kids, but that's no excuse for a complete lack of innovation. Running around and jumping for icons gets old fast. Sure, you get to play different characters, and the game throws in a different-styled level from time to time, but it's formulaic. Not being able to jump on baddies is weird too.

6.5

Tarzan was a nice diversion from all the stuff I usually take very seriously (murder simulators, fighting games, etc.) so it was enjoyable on that level. But without that context, I'm not sure Tarzan would be my thing. The visuals are pure sugar-coating; they're good like a Crash Bandicoot. The gameplay, on the other hand, was definitely geared toward younger gamers. While I had no major "l-want-to-break-this-controller-in-half" impulses, it did feel a bit dummied down.

Activision and Disney Interactive team up to bring the swingingest cat in the jungle to GBC. Swim, jump, climb, swing and run through 15 levels of action, battling snakes, crocodiles and elephants to save your family from hunters. Tarzan is set to swing into stores this summer, simultaneously with the release of Disney's movie.

Overview

It seems like just about every year, Disney comes out with a new animated blockbuster movie. This year that movie happens to be the Disney take on the legendary man of the apes, Tarzan. Since I have no children, I was really not motivated to go see this movie so when the game arrived, I had very little knowledge of its storyline. Now that I have played for a while, I feel like I have seen most of the film.

Tarzan the game is your traditional semi-3D side scrolling platform game with a few different elements thrown in to break up the monotony of just trudging through level after level of the same old same old. As with all of the Disney movies-turned-videogames, you will see beautifully drawn graphics and gameplay that is geared towards the younger audiences. So if you have not collected enough tokens (coins, rings, etc) in your life, grab a vine and follow me into the jungle.

Gameplay

If there is one thing that Disney games have going for them is that they are consistent. This game borrows a lot from the last Disney movie-game, Hercules. You spend a majority of your time on a predetermined left to right path. All the while collecting tokens to give you an extra life. Throw in finding hidden letters that spell out T-A-R-Z-A-N (at least it is shorter than having to spell H-E-R-C-U-L-E-S again) and a couple of other hidden items and what you have is a game that you will feel that you have played before.

If you are a fan of the side scrolling platform games, this is not a terrible one. I will say that the younger kids may have some problems, which I will identify a bit later, but it should still be a very playable title for them. Even though I have not seen the movie, I can tell that the game does a great job of recreating the world of Tarzan. I have seen enough previews to know what it should look like. This should help the younger gamers really feel like they are a part of the Tarzan world.

In case you were not sure, you play the majority of this game as Tarzan. You start out as a young Tarzan and as the game progresses, so does your age. I thought this alone was a great idea. It was neat to play Tarzan as a boy and have him grow to a young man and then into a man. I don't know why more games don't use aging in them. You will also get to play one level as Terk, one of the apes that Tarzan hangs with (get it?). Sorry. Anyway, the game spans across 13 levels, not including bonus levels. I just could not shake the feeling that just about everything that I was seeing had been done in a game before.

A big part of Tarzan's quest to stay alive involved avoiding dangerous animals or throwing deadly fruit at them. Okay, I feel that I must say that I have never heard of throwing fruit at something to kill it, but hey, who am I? Anyway, there are different types of fruit that you can throw at the animals which do different amounts of damage. You have standard fruit that you have an unlimited supply of and you can also find fruit that has double the impact of standard fruit, fruit that splits to hit multiple enemies and fruit that kills all enemies in the vicinity. You will find yourself spending a lot of time throwing fruit at animals until they die and then moving along to the next one.

Throwing the fruit at the animals brings me to my complaints about this game. First and foremost, the buttons are very slow to react. Whether it be throwing fruit or jumping, I just felt like all of my button presses were delayed. Another big complaint was the difficulty of swinging on the vines. You know that is a bad thing since this game is Tarzan. Trust me, you will crash to your death more times than you will be able to count while trying to get a stupid vine to swing. Couple that with the slow to react button pushes to jump off of the vine and you will find yourself plummeting to your death quite often.

Graphics

Okay, so this is where the game shines. Sometimes the PSX looks dated and other times it still amazes me. The graphics in this game are surely topnotch and look every bit as good as an animated motion picture. The brilliant looking waterfalls are amazing. The colorful birds, flowers and animals will have you soaking up the environment more than playing through the game.

Bottom Line

If you are a fan of side scrolling platform games and you really like Disney, you should enjoy this game. Playing through I felt that there was not much that I had not seen before elsewhere (namely Disney’s own Hercules). The frustrating controls may turn off some of the younger gamers because it may be difficult for them to get past the first few levels. The game is actually pretty easy to play through but it takes more time than it should because of unnecessary deaths. But still, you can't argue that the game does not look great.

The anime hero, who is a spoof on Tarzan, swings onto the Game Boy scene. Tarzan, the not-too-brainy-but-plenty-brawny beast man, slugs it against a wicked group of poachers who are killing his animal friends for trophies.

Tarzan's goofy antics and beastly powers make him a prime-time TV favorite and a top-seller among Jump Magazine's stable of superstar manga artists. All of Tarchan's animal excesses have been faithfully captured by this Game Boy cart. He can trumpet like an elephant, punch with the ferocity of a lion, and even glide li e a flying squirrel by stretching the skin on his... (sorry, we are a family publication).

Check this game out to find out why this buff jocko is so popular in Japan. You'll have a swingin' time with Tarchan around.

Snapshots and Media

Playstation Screenshots

Nintendo 64/N64 Screenshots

GameBoy Color Screenshots

GameGear Screenshots

GameBoy Screenshots

See Also

Viewing games 1 to 12