The Jungle Book is the second Game Boy Color game I ever owned. I bought it from a Media Play store. Remember those? They were like giant Game Stops with all types of media. And I still own it to this day. I would like to share why I think this game is so good, and I hope that it will gain a lot of recognition and popularity as it deserves to.

Graphics: It's the Game Boy folks. The quality of the graphics is very limited. Despite all of that, this game pulls it off pretty nicely. All of the sprites are clear. You can see the length of Mowgli's black hair even in night time areas. so everything is distinguishable. There are "Story book" cut scenes are slightly pixelated (I don't know if that's the right suffix), but they are very well drawn. I gave 9 Bagheeras out of 10

Sound: Have you ever wanted to here the 8-bit version of Bare Necessities or any other Jungle Book tunes? Well you've come to the right place. The music is never too soft or too loud, and it's so catchy that it makes the game twice as enjoyable. The sound effects are cool. They are definitely not annoying. Every sound serves its purpose loyally. I gave 9 Baloos out of 10.

Addictiveness: I my gosh! I beat this game in one sitting. And this is the first time I played it in like 5 years. That is how addictive this game is. All of the levels are fast-paced. Most of the in-game puzzles are based on how fast you can get from one point to another. Plus this game gives out lives like free candy. By the time I finished I had 82 lives. And you can go back to previous levels throughout the game so you can probably get 99 lives. maybe even 999 lives. I don't know how high it goes. So by the time the levels start to get difficult, dying is laughable. You will feel so powerful! My reaction everytime I died was "Oh no! I died! I only have 63 lives left! Whatever will I do? *laughter*". Just try it. I guarantee you will not regret it. I gave 10 King Louies out of 10.

Story: The whole game is based off of the famous Jungle Book Disney movie that was based off of a book that is now being made into a movie. It features all of the characters you know and love. Even the girl that Mowgli likes. All of the story events are told in Story book fashion. The scenes are drawings of the characters in certain situations, and the drawings are laid on top of an old worn out book page. As if it's an ancient book or something. It's very cool. At the beginning before the Start screen there is actually an animated cut scene based off part of the first story scene. I gave 10 Kaas out of 10.

Depth: The game is composed of five areas. All of them are in a jungle, obviously, but they have very different themes. For example, Area 3 is the Temple where Mowgli meets King Louie. And area 4 is in the tree tops, and it is centered around Kaa. There are at least four levels in each area. After the first two, there is either a tutorial level for a new move or a race between you and a monkey. After the last two there is a "boss" battle. The boss battles are basically races in which the animal character that the area is centered on will help you in some way.
For example. in area 1 you ride Bagheera's back and jump or duck to dodge obstacles while he constantly runs forward. (Like the 2D Grandfather of Temple Run) And in area 4 you have to ride on Kaa as he is moving through the treetops. If you fall, you will die. And the are short platforming sections between Kaa rides. The last boss is running away from Sheer Khan as he tries to eat you. And they are all very fun. Throughout the game there are collectibles that are coins with the face of the animal character that the area is centered on. If you collect all of them you unlock an extra area. This area includes 4 more monkey races that are both challenging and fun. One of the best aspects of this game is the move sets, and the smooth platforming. There are parts where you have to open a door via a switch that is far from it. Then you must dash and go through an obstacle course before the door closes. There are parts where you climb up rock walls. Mowgli can do a rolling move that is pretty much a spin dash, and he can burst through certain solid objects. He can climb vines, and slide down moss-covered vines at a very fun speed. He can also grab onto little knobs that stick out, swing on them, do a jump whilst somersaulting multiple times in mid-air, then land on the ground, and continue running at full speed. It's amazing!. In race levels, they have obstacles that make you use different special moves to make it through. And if you can pull it off, you can run through all of the obstacles seamlessly. It is shockingly similar to Sonic the Hedgehog in that aspect. For example, the level could have you dash roll through a wall, and then you have to jump before the ledge ends, and grab onto a knob, and then you can jump off the second you grab it, and do a multiple somersault move, into a climbing wall, and grab onto the wall in mid-air. Entire levels are filled with that kind of stuff. It is sooooo fun! I gave 10 Sheer Khans out of 10.

Difficulty: This game's difficulty is just right. Not to easy. Not to hard. But it does lean on the more challenging side. Most of the challenge is based on the speed-based platforming. A lot of the jumps, and other things require good timing and very precise movement. If you jump for a knob and miss it, you will most likely fall to your doom. That being said, there are no bottomless pits. Only spike traps and fire pits. There is almost always a way to get out before you die. Another challenge is that the enemies are rather small, and they require a precise jump on their noggin to be defeated. However some of them will jump up and down, making this difficult, and if you miss and land directly next to the enemy you will basically kill yourself by touch damage. But who cares, because as I said before, you get a plethora of lives in this game. The place I died the most was the final level where you have to run away from Sheer Khan. And that is to be expected since it is the final boss. It's difficult because you basically have to parkour through the jungle to get away from him. I feel that all of the deaths in this game are fair. They always give you enough space and time to analyze an enemies pattern. When you are in a door puzzle, you can never get stuck, and you can always scout ahead first to see how you are supposed to get to the door. You can even practice before you actually press the switch. There is no overall time limit. you can complete each level as quickly or slowly as you please. And the collectible coins are always in a practical place. You never have to go too far out of your way to find them. Some of them are even right on the main path. I assure you that you will be very happy that you played this game. I gave 6 Moglis out of 10 (Which equals 10 out of 10 on how well that difficulty works for the game).

Overall, I give this game 10 Jungle Books out of 10. There is so much more that I could tell you about this game, but I want to let you experience the rest by yourselves. It's part of the game. As I said before, I hope this review gains a lot of recognition for this totally underrated game. This game is fast-paced enough that you can probably do speed run competitions. This could be a featured game at the time that the Jungle Book movie comes out. Please help me bring this good game into the light. Thank you.

I believe this is the first review of yours I read, and I can't wait to read another one! It's well-structured and you give plenty of details as to why the game is so great. If you know, how does it compare to the SNES and Genesis versions of the game?

janus : This is in fact my very first review ever. The only other version I ever owned/played was the Genesis version. I like the game, and it is fun, but it gave me a very hard time. I only beat it once. Whenever I sit down to play my still-working Genesis, Jungle Book usually isn't the first game I want to play. I rarely play it anymore. I think that there were some cheap hits from enemies, like the snakes that shoot projectiles in one of the levels. And Kaa was crazy difficult even on low difficulty. The tree top stage is the most and only memorable part of that game for me.