Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the rescue

[TearForFear]

Remember this little gem?

 

 

Made by Traveller's Tales and Activision for Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Dreamcast and PC.

 

10 levels (actually 15 if you count the boss levels) that follows the plot of Toy Story 2 and the voyage of Buzz & co., from Andy's house to the Airport.

 

The gameplay has some Super Mario 64 vibes (with collectibles -Pizza Tokens instead of Stars- coins, mini-bosses etcetera), combined with incredible level design (after playing Andy's House and Al's Penthouse levels, for a while I started imagine my and other's houses as Toy Story 2 levels with unpredictable resaults) and a kickass soundtrack

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think of this videogame, guys?

[Teoskaven]

I always played the PlayStation version, and as a kid, it was one the best games i played along with other Disney Intractive titles.

Sadly, i got stucked at the second boss level (i think it was the slime in the garbage can) and only recently i picked up again the game and complete it.

If you didn't played it and have a PS3, it's on the PSN at a ridicolous prize: take it and you'll not regret it.

[Tara]

I had this game as a kid.  Twice, in fact.  One on Nintendo 64 and again when my mother mistakenly bought the Dreamcast version. XD - I was quite surprised at how genuinely fun it was.  The music was pretty good (nothing special, in my opinion, but still quite nice) and the missions were fun to do.  The bosses were also very well designed and could be quite difficult at times.

 

On the downside, the controls (while not bad) did have a "cheap" feel to them.  There was something that felt unstable about the game, but maybe that's just me.  It wasn't game-breaking mind, you but still a little bit wonky.  Sometimes the characters crying out for your help got a little annoying.  Lastly, even for the time, the graphics looked and felt kind of... bland and dated.

 

Still a great game, though.  One I wish I could find lying in my room, but sadly it was lost in a move ;~;

[Blue Wisp]

THIS MOTHERFUCKING GAME.

 

Best soundtrack from the 64 era. I remember playing it on an emulator when I was young. And I remember raging so HARD in a lot of the missions. Specially the construction and the alley levels. Those were /fucking annoying/ but god this game was awesome.

[JezMM]

I was always sort of curious about this game.  Would you folks say it's aged well if I was to ever see it at my local 2nd hand game place or play it on emulator?

[gala]

Oh man, I remember this on the PS1 back in the day. I loved this game, although I don't remember that much about it aside from the level which was Andy's house. I'll have to go back and replay this sometime

[Blue Wisp]

I was always sort of curious about this game.  Would you folks say it's aged well if I was to ever see it at my local 2nd hand game place or play it on emulator?

It's absolutely a must-play. For me it's an ageless game, but that's up to you to decide.

[Dr. Crusher]

One of my childhood games, and still a much loved game to this day... the PS1 version that is, although the N64 version doesn't seem too bad from what I've played of it. And the soundtrack is a fantastic one in my opinion. I especially love the theme for Airport Infiltration, the challenge theme, and - of course - the fan favourite theme, Alleys and Gullies.

 

It may be slightly dated, but in all honesty, I don't even care. I think it's a great little game, and definitely worth giving it a try. (And also, while it may be a more Love It Or Hate It-type game compared to this one, the PS1 A Bug's Life is another game that I hold very dear to me.)

 

Also, I laughed about the first link relating to Al Molloy. I love that guy's videos.

[Sean]

I was always sort of curious about this game.  Would you folks say it's aged well if I was to ever see it at my local 2nd hand game place or play it on emulator?

 

Hell no.

 

I tried it again recently on a PS1 emulator and it really isn't as fun as I remembered it to be. It's clunky as shit and missions can be a chore.

 

As a kid it was one of my favorite games, but it doesn't have much going for it other than pure nostalgia value. It's aged pretty badly.

[The Tenth Doctor]

This game was a big part of my childhood. It was the first game I ever raised my money up for and bought. Overall it is really fun. A bit clunky but still has a huge fun factor. The music is also remarkably catchy. I'd recommend the Zurg boss battle, it makes me feel great.

[Tornado]

I was always sort of curious about this game.  Would you folks say it's aged well if I was to ever see it at my local 2nd hand game place or play it on emulator?

 

It's aged a lot better than some of the bigger name games in the genre at the time. It luckily does not suffer from the problems most of the direct SM64 knockoffs did (the insidious "collect shit for the sake of collecting shit" garbage that permeated Rare's games the most) and it is very imaginative and impressively ambitious (the sheer scale of some of the levels and how "full" and detailed they are will likely surprise you, especially towards the halfway point); but it does suffer from lacking that final bit of polish that makes it play as good as, say, Spyro 2.

 

The shooting controls, for example, never really feel quite right even with analog control (even with the very generous autoaim in third person mode), and the game has a lot of shooting in it. As an example for comparison, think of how clunky the first Ratchet and Clank game controlled, then add to that a camera that isn't quite clever enough to keep up with your actions all the time no matter which mode you put it on. There is also repetition towards the end of the game, as the same missions you encountered early in the game just keep popping up in new levels, but play out almost identically.

[RustyRick]

I never managed to play this game at all, but if I can birefly go off-topic on this, I did play the SNES version of the first Toy Story video game adaption, which while pretty hard in some of the later stages, was a alright game. There was even a first-person maze crawler-kind of stage that was very reminiscent of Wolfenstein 3D from the looks of it to me where you had to pick up the toy aliens and bring them to the start point before time ran out.

[KrazyBean]

I remember playing this game...I don't remember the game itself.

[The Pit of Mystic Cave]

Oh WOW!!!! I remember this game so well. I also remember never being able to get past the Alley level, but even then, this was probably my most played game on the ps1 besides Crash Warped.

[VGamer]

 

Oh god, I used to get nightmares of this boss as a kid just because of how difficult it was for me to beat back then. Now I can take him down easily, but he was SO annoying back then!

 

I remember loving this game so much on PC, and I recently heard that it's actually on PSN, which means I have to get my hands on this gem. As a person who found the collectathon styles of SM64 and Banjo Kazooie really boring and repetitive, I always for some reason have loved this game. Maybe it's because I could relate to it after seeing the movie, or maybe just because the environments were more atmospheric to me, or whatever else, but this is by far my favorite of this type of game. I played this game somewhat recently in fact on my old disc, and in my opinion it still holds up.

 

Thank you for a wonderful reminder of this golden childhood nugget

[Tara]

I was always sort of curious about this game.  Would you folks say it's aged well if I was to ever see it at my local 2nd hand game place or play it on emulator?

In terms of gameplay, I'd say it's aged about as well as SA1.  I'm sure there's a better analogy but anything else is outside my current knowledge.  I'd say it's still a good game that's definitely playable to its fullest extent with little to no hassle, but it still lacks the fluidity and level design standards of a lot of modern games.  In short, it's a fun little game, but not timeless.  I doubt you'll find it ground-breaking or incredible, but if you can handle a bit of awkward control, then you'll not feel like you've wasted your time. ^^

[Jango]

I had the PSOne version, and I loved it. Toy Story was one of my favorite films when I was kid, I even had a Woody exactly like the real one (bought in Canada by my cousin).

Anyway, the game was really fun and really challenging too. I think it's still pretty hard to this days. Climbing to the top of tree in the second level was one of the hardest tasks in videogames ever. The controls aren't the best, but still.

My favorite memories are from Andy's Neighborhood level (especially the awesome music) and the Al's Toy Barn.

[The Disney Dork]

This was like, my favorite game as a kid. I was obsessed with Toy Story as a kid (well...still am ) and I used to play this all the time. It was a lot of fun...there's just something cool about the environment around you being huge from your character's perspective. I had it on the PS1, and haven't played it in years since I don't even know where my PSI is...but anyway, I remember the farthest I ever got was Al's Toy Barn...could never get past that darn level :/ I also remember never knowing how to get most of those "Buzz Lightyear accessories" which were essentially power ups. Andy's house was my favorite level and I honestly just enjoyed exploring it more than completing the actual goals. I loved racing R.C...the backyard level was fun, climbing the tree was annoying...the bosses used to scare me...and yeah, I could keep rambling but overall I love this game and definitely want to play it again in the future.

[-blank-]

Do I remember this game? Hell yeah I remember this game. Vaguely, but I do. Had the N64 version. Good game from what I do remember. =)