While Disney games tend to be hit or miss, there are some really good ones out there, not to mention there are gamers out there who have a penchant for the movie and show linking games 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's current meme of choice Cory in the house DS climbs its way to the top of the Metacritic rankings, those who unironically enjoy Disney video games woke up to 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 Airplane
- Disney Winnie the Pooh
- Finding Nemo
- Clarity
- Phineas and Ferb: New Inventions
- Stunt Island
- The Princess and the Frog
- Toy Story Mania
Some of these games also seem to have been removed from GOG (such as Armed and dangerous) with Disney scrupulously scrubbing them from the internet.
Disney is unfortunately known for cherry-picking its content, a process that has led to some particularly frustrating game suspensions over the years. Pirates of the Caribbean online, Toontownand Club Penguin are some of the most popular Disney projects that were abandoned, although fan projects have kept a version of them going since official support ended. Unfortunately for any fans of the above titles, their single-player focus makes them unlikely to be revived as Toontown or Club Penguinso this sudden Steam removal is particularly problematic.
Which of Disney's removed Steam games are the biggest?
Of the 14 games removed are some of the standout original titles Afterlife and Armed and dangerous. The former was a 1996 Lucasfilm title where players were in charge of both Heaven and Hell, acting as a unique version of Sim City full of humorous disasters and interesting concepts. The latter isn't just what Bucky calls out 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 comedic third-person shooter released in 2003 that parodied both fantasy and sci-fi. In the comments on the above Reddit post by Dry-Albatross-4121, many seemed particularly upset that this game was removed, having no idea it was even on Steam and wishing 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 so choose, and Armed and dangerous Holding up pretty well for a game that's over 20 years old makes its removal even more tragic.
Comments also encourage players to purchase and download other outstanding Disney games, such as Split/Secondbefore they are also removed from Steam.
Of the licensed games, many seem to be fond of Hercules and sad to see it become essentially abandonware, locked behind piracy and old PS1 consoles. While the SEGA Genesis version of the Aladdin is notorious for being frustratingly harsh, Hercules is known to be one of the better Disney tie-in games ever released. The game shined because of its visuals, music, and voice acting, all of which matched the quality of the movie. It has successfully merged 16-bit and 32-bit games with its side-scrolling action, with collectibles also giving them a reason to explore the levels thoroughly. Unfortunately, this classic Disney game just became much less available.
As always, it's worth noting that players who already own these delisted Steam games can still access them, with only those hoping to purchase them following their removal. Still, for anyone who didn't already own these Disney games, it's a huge disappointment to see them removed from Steam without any warning to buy them before they're gone.
