While Disney games tend to be hit or miss, there are some truly great ones out there, not to mention that there are gamers who have a penchant for movies and show tie-ins that can be found on platforms like Steam. Unfortunately, the selection of Disney games on Steam just took a drastic hit, with 14 games pulled from the market on January 15th.
While the internet is the current meme of choice Cory in the House DS climbs to the top of the Metacritic charts, those who enjoy Disney video games without irony woke up to a disappointment today. The 14 games removed from Steam are as follows:
- Afterlife
- Armed and dangerous
- Cars Radiator Springs Adventures
- Chicken little ace in action
- Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell's Adventure
- Disney's Hercules
- Disney planes
- Disney Winnie the Pooh
- Finding Nemo
- Brightness
- Phineas and Ferb: New Inventions
- Stunt island
- The Princess and the Frog
- Toy Story Mania
Some of these games have seemingly been removed from GOG as well (e.g Armed and dangerous) with Disney purging them thoroughly from the Internet.
Unfortunately, Disney is known for vaulting its content, a process that has led to some particularly frustrating game downtime over the years. Pirates of the Caribbean online, Toontownand Club Penguin are some of the most popular Disney projects that have been abandoned, although fan projects have kept their version running since official support ended. Unfortunately for all fans of the above titles, they are unlikely to be revived due to their single-player focus Toontown or Club Penguinso this sudden Steam removal is particularly problematic.
Which of Disney's removed Steam games are the biggest disappointments?
Out of the 14 games picked up, there are some standout original titles like Afterlife and Armed and dangerous. The former was a 1996 Lucasfilm title where players were in charge of both Heaven and Hell, serving as a unique take on Sim City full of humorous disasters and interesting concepts. The latter isn't just what Bucky yells when he uses his ultimate in Marvel Rivals; Armed and dangerous was a game also handled by Lucasfilm (as well as Planet Moon Studios) and was a comedy third-person shooter released in 2003 that parodied both fantasy and science fiction. In the comments on Dry-Albatross-4121's Reddit post above, it seemed that many were particularly upset that the game was removed because they had no idea it was even on Steam and wished they could experience its unique weapons and characters again. While Afterlife has certainly shown its age, city builder fans should still be able to play it if they wish, and Armed and dangerous holding on to a game that is over 20 years old makes its removal even more tragic.
Commenters also encourage players to purchase and download other excellent Disney games such as Split/Secondbefore they are also removed from Steam.
Of the licensed games, many seem to like it Hercules and it's sad to see it basically become abandonware, locked behind piracy and old PS1 consoles. While the SEGA Genesis version Aladdin is notorious for being frustratingly tough, Hercules is known for being one of the best Disney tie-in games ever released. The game shined with its visuals, music and voice acting, all of which matched the quality of the film. It successfully merged 16-bit and 32-bit games with its side-scrolling action, while the collectibles also give them a reason to thoroughly explore the levels. Sadly, this classic Disney game has become much less available.
As always, it's worth noting that players who already own these removed games on Steam still have access to them, only those hoping to purchase them after they've been removed will be affected. Still, for anyone who didn't already own these Disney games, it's a huge disappointment to see them pulled from Steam without any warning to buy them before they're gone.
