Pocahontas

From Sega Retro

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Pocahontas title.png

Pocahontas
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Disney Interactive, Sega
Developer:
Supporting companies:
Distributor: Halifax (Italy)
Licensor: The Walt Disney Company
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Action

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
US
T-239036
ESRB: Kids to Adults
Sega Mega Drive
EU
MK1194-50
ELSPA: 3+ OK
Sega Mega Drive
PT
MDJSE0132
Sega Mega Drive
UK
£44.9944.99[2] MK1194-50
ELSPA: 3+ OK
Sega Mega Drive
IT
Sega Mega Drive
BR
051090
Tectoy: Todas as Idades

Pocahontas is a side-scrolling action game for the Sega Mega Drive based on the 1995 Disney film with the same name.

Story

The game follows the plot of the film on which it is based, a heavily fictionalized and romanticized version of historical events. It takes place during the early 17th century in what is now Virginia. Pocahontas, the daughter of Chief Powhatan, has been pledged to marry the village's greatest warrior, but she believes her destiny leads her elsewhere. Meanwhile, an expedition led by Governor Ratcliffe is arriving from England in hopes of finding riches to plunder in the New World. Pocahontas meets the English explorer, Captain John Smith, and the two fall in love but find themselves caught between the two factions on the brink of war. The plot is progressed during the game through the stages and cutscenes.

Gameplay

Pocahontas is a cinematic platform game similar to Prince of Persia and Flashback. Pocahontas and her raccoon companion Meeko explore the stages together. The player can control either and switches between them with C. Many puzzles in the game require using both characters to help each other in order to progress (similar to The Lost Vikings). Each character is moved around with Left and Right and can jump with B. Up and Down are used to look up and down.

If Pocahontas jumps onto a rock ledge (or presses Up or B while standing next to one if the ledge is at her height), she clings to it and pulls herself up. She crouches with Down. She can push and pull boulders, logs, and other objects by positioning herself next to them and pressing Left or Right. She can wade through water. Throughout the stages, Pocahontas encounters animals in the forest. If Pocahontas helps the animal or completes a challenge, the animal gives her its spirit, which endows her with new abilities. It is necessary to collect all of the animal spirits except the Fish to complete the game.

Meeko is small and agile. He moves more quickly than Pocahontas. He can also push boulders and other objects. He can collect berries and climb certain trees. He can enter small holes and access areas that Pocahontas cannot. He can jump onto the arms of Pocahontas to reach higher places. He is also able to stand on things that cannot hold Pocahontas, such as lily pads in the water and certain logs. He cannot swim, however. He returns to the nearest surface when he falls in water and is reliant on Pocahontas to help him cross.

Pocahontas has five leaves that represent her health. She loses one leaf if she falls from a great height. She dies instantly if she is attacked by a settler. There are also certain drops that can instantly kill her. She is revived at a checkpoint or the beginning of the level if she dies. The game has no life system, and the player can try again as many times as desired. It is not possible to die as Meeko since high falls do not harm him and settlers ignore him. The hummingbird Flit rescues him if he falls down a bottomless pit. Flit also appears if the player is idle and makes an arrow indicating the direction to travel.

The game has a password system for continuing at the beginning of a stage.

Animal Spirits

Pocahontas collects animal spirits by helping animals. These spirits expand her capabilities. Press  START  while Pocahontas is selected to see which animal spirits she currently has.

Pocahontas MD Passwords.png
Deer Spirit
Pocahontas gains the ability to run by pressing A after starting to walk with Left or Right.
Pocahontas MD Passwords.png
Otter Spirit
Pocahontas gains the ability to swim. Press Down on the surface of the water to plunge and then control her movement with the D-Pad. She can also dive off cliffs into water by walking off the edge.
Pocahontas MD Passwords.png
Bird Spirit
Allows Pocahontas to fall from great heights without being harmed. This ability expends a Feather each time it is used. Feathers can be found within the stages, and Pocahontas can hold as many as four Feathers at a time.
Pocahontas MD Passwords.png
Squirrel Spirit
Pocahontas gains the ability to climb trees. She can grab and climb branches in a similar manner to how she pulls herself up on ledges: jump onto a branch with B and then pull up on it with Up.
Pocahontas MD Passwords.png
Fish Spirit
Allows Pocahontas to swim faster by pressing A while swimming in any direction, similar to running.
Pocahontas MD Passwords.png
Wolf Spirit
Pocahontas gains the ability to sneak by pressing Down-left or Down-right. Sneaking allows her to fit through smaller spaces as well as evade guards.
Pocahontas MD Passwords.png
Bear Spirit
Pocahontas gains the ability to frighten settlers by approaching them and pressing A to summon the spirit of the bear. Only works against the skinny guards.
Pocahontas MD Passwords.png
Owl Spirit
Allows Pocahontas to see better in the dark.
Pocahontas MD Passwords.png
Eagle Spirit
Gives Pocahontas the ability to jump higher and farther by pressing A while running and jumping.

Items

Pocahontas, Items, Berries.png
Berries
Collectible. Can only be gathered by Meeko. There are 60 in total to collect.
Pocahontas, Items, Necklace.png
Necklace
Collectible. Can be gathered by Pocahontas or Meeko. There are 5 in total to collect.
Pocahontas, Items, Feather.png
Feather
Expended when the Spirit of the Bird is used to protect Pocahontas from a high fall. Pocahontas can hold up to four at a time.
Pocahontas, Items, Pile of Leaves.png
Pile of Leaves
Checkpoint where Pocahontas is revived if she loses a life.

Stages

Pocahontas, Stage 1-1.png

Pocahontas, Stage 1-2.png

Pocahontas, Stage 1-3.png

Pocahontas, Stage 1-4.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 1-1.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 1-2.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 1-3.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 1-4.png

Stage 1
Pocahontas explores the forest with her pet raccoon Meeko. She eventually returns to her village and finds her father, Chief Powhatan.

Pocahontas, Stage 2-1.png

Pocahontas, Stage 2-2.png

Pocahontas, Stage 2-3.png

Pocahontas, Stage 2-4.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 2-1.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 2-2.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 2-3.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 2-4.png

Stage 2
Chief Powhatan tells Pocahontas that the warrior Kocoum wants to marry her, but she is hesitant. She visits Grandmother Willow, who informs her that strangers have entered their land. She finds the English explorer John Smith at the waterfall.

Pocahontas, Stage 3-1.png

Pocahontas, Stage 3-2.png

Pocahontas, Stage 3-3.png

Pocahontas, Stage 3-4.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 3-1.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 3-2.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 3-3.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 3-4.png

Stage 3
The natives and the settlers are suspicious of each other and eventually become openly hostile. Pocahontas and John Smith sneak away to meet each other, but Kocoum attacks John Smith and is killed by another settler.

Pocahontas, Stage 4-1.png

Pocahontas, Stage 4-2.png

Pocahontas, Stage 4-3.png

Pocahontas, Stage 4-4.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 4-1.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 4-2.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 4-3.png

  • Pocahontas, Stage 4-4.png

Stage 4
Pocahontas must use all of her animal skills to race to save John Smith, who is to be executed by Chief Powhatan at sunrise.

Production credits

Disney Interactive
  • Senior Producer: Patrick Gilmore
  • Associate Producer: Leila Chang
  • Project Manager: Chip Vollers
  • Lead Artists: Christina Vann, Lin Shen
  • Lead Animation Artist: Oliver Wade
  • Art and Animation: Shanna Ophus, Carrie Meade, Jennifer Dixon, Nancy Ramirez, Tamara Holcomb, Shelli L Droe, Brian Horton, Alex Schaefer, Paige Pooler
  • Art Support: Arden Ishimaru, Dao Le
  • Music and Sound Effects: Patrick Collins
  • Voice Talent: Irene Bedard, Jim Cummings, Danny Mann
  • Software Prod. Administrator: James Mellott
  • Production Support: Cary Hara, David Javelosa, John Fiorito
  • Product Evaluation Supervisor: Jeffrey W Blattner
  • Lead Testers: Toby Espiritu, Peter Sison
  • Testers: Bob Torning, Kristie Tolentino, Victor Schwartz
Funcom
  • Producer: Gaute Godager
  • Project Manager: Christian Almskog
  • Lead Programmer: Carl-Henrik Skårstedt
  • Lead Graphic Artist: Ole-Petter Rosenlund
  • Programmers: Anders Dybdahl, Jesper Hansen
  • Additional Programming: Henrik Holmdahl, Stein Pedersen, Roar Flølo, Tommy Svensson, Dag Erlandsen, Daniel Hansson
  • Graphic Artists: Joachim Barrum, Sigurd Kristiansen
  • Additional Graphic Artists: Tore Blystad, Mikael Noguchi
  • Character Rendering: Mikael Noguchi, Glenn Kristoffersen, Karsten Hammer Hansen, Tommy Svensson
  • Background Editing: Jack Kristoffersen
  • Sprite Editing: Tommy Svensson, Karsten Hammer Hansen
  • Tools Programming: Eivind Eklund, Andre Johansen, Svein Aandahl
  • Additional Tools: Erlend Simonsen, Morten B Ofstad, Jesper Hansen, Blue House Productions
  • Engine 2 Design and Coding: Carl-Henrik Skårstedt, Morten B Ofstad
  • Music and Sound Support: Tomas Danko, Kim M Sensen, Tomas Petersen
  • Lead Quality Assurance: Alf Yngue
  • Paper Design: Gaute Godager, Joachim Barrum
Feature Animation: Animation Services - Florida
  • Producer: Paul Curasi
  • Associate Producer: Chuck Williams
  • Supervising Animators: Chris Bradley, Paul Chung, Uli Meyer
  • Character Design and Development: Seung Kim, Jim Story, Chuck Williams
  • Animators: Michael Benet, Chris Bradley, Gary Dunn, Anthony Grey, Jurgen Gross, Tim Massa, Emil Simeonov, Bob Spang, Tony Stanley, Vladimir Todorov, Andreas Von Andrian, Andreas Wessel-Therhorn, Mark Williams
  • Assistant Animators: Merritt Andrews, Arden Chan, Caroline Clifford, Craig Grasso, Kevin Proctor, Kim Torpey
  • Inbetweeners: J Annand, AJ Burkhardt, Chris Clarke, Stuart Evans, Gerald Forder, Nathalie Gavet, Tom Lock, Katrina Manolessou, Chloe Mauro, Janet McKay, Dawn Pearce, Michele Yim
  • Effects Animator: Jon Brooks, Jon Jilland
  • Image Processing: Pam Darley, Jacqui Hooks, Heather Pritchett, Cyndi Sager, Kathy Schoeppner, Jay Shindell
  • Editing: Jeff Draheim
  • Post Production Associate: Gary Blair
  • Production Manager: Cammie Cavallin
  • Production Coordinators: Bruce Anderson, Julie Pye, Laura Roberson, Daniella Topham
  • Production Assistants: Ron Betta, Jeff Hand, Barney North, Ben Williams
  • Assistant Prod. Supervisor: Tamara Boutcher
  • Personnel Administrator: Jan Sekata
  • Business Manager: Cindy Beltz
  • Production Accountant: Stephanie Thrift
Source:
In-game credits
Pocahontas MD credits.pdf
[4]

Photo gallery

Magazine articles

Main article: Pocahontas/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Advertisement from A Goofy Movie US VHS
Pocahontas advert MD SA.jpg
Advert from the magazine Madinat Albat
Pocahontas advert MD SA.jpg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Velikiy Drakon (RU) #60 (2002-09-05)
also published in:
  • Velikiy Drakon (RU) #61 (2003-02-07)[6]
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
70
[7]
576 KByte (HU)
82
[8]
Cool Gamer (RU)
70
[9]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
70
[10]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU)
70
[11]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 3 (RU)
80
[12]
Freak (IL)
85
[13]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
70
[14]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
85
[2]
Player One (FR)
78
[15]
Sonic the Comic (UK) PAL
85
[16]
Tricks (RU)
70
[17]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
73
[18]
Video Games (DE) NTSC-U
65
[19]
Sega Mega Drive
75
Based on
14 reviews

Pocahontas

Mega Drive, US
Pocahontas MD US Box.jpg
Cover
Pocahontas MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, EU
Pocahontas MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
Pocahontas MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Pocahontas MD EU Manual.jpg
Manual
Mega Drive, IT
Pocahontas MD IT cover.jpg
Cover
Mega Drive, PT
Pocahontas MD PT cover.jpg
Cover
Mega Drive, PT (alt)
Pocahontas MD PT alt cover.jpg
Cover
Mega Drive, BR
Pocahontas MD BR cover.jpg
Cover
Pocahontas MD BR Cart.jpg
Cart

Technical information

Main article: Pocahontas/Technical information.

References

  1. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "March 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 74
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Mean Machines Sega, "October 1996" (UK; 1996-09-03), page 69
  3. Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1996-09-09), page 97
  4. File:Pocahontas MD credits.pdf
  5. http://www.funcom.com/corporate/pocteam.html (Wayback Machine: 1998-01-20 02:17)
  6. Velikiy Drakon, "" (RU; 2003-02-07), page 68
  7. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 177
  8. 576 KByte, "Október 1996" (HU; 1996-xx-xx), page 21
  9. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 158
  10. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "March 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 28
  11. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 347
  12. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 3, "" (RU; 2000-xx-xx), page 233
  13. Freak, "4/96" (IL; 1996-xx-xx), page 1
  14. GamePro, "May 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 74
  15. Player One, "Septembre 1996" (FR; 1996-08-29), page 125
  16. Sonic the Comic, "26 November 1996" (UK; 1996-11-13), page 10
  17. Tricks, "Vypusk 7" (RU; 1996-xx-xx), page 28
  18. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 137
  19. Video Games, "7/96" (DE; 1996-06-26), page 97


Pocahontas

Pocahontas title.png

Main page | Maps | Hidden content | Magazine articles | Video coverage | Reception | Region coding | Technical information | Bootlegs


Books: Disney's Pocahontas Official Game Guide (1995)

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Games based on Disney animated films for Sega systems
Sega Mega Drive
Fantasia (1991) | Ariel the Little Mermaid (1992) | Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Quest (1993) | Beauty and the Beast: Roar of the Beast (1993) | Disney's Aladdin (1993) | The Jungle Book (1994) | The Lion King (1994) | Pocahontas (1996) | Pinocchio (1996) | Hercules (unreleased)
Sega Game Gear
Ariel the Little Mermaid (1992) | The Jungle Book (1994) | Disney's Aladdin (1994) | The Lion King (1994) | Hercules (unreleased)
Sega Master System
The Jungle Book (1993) | Disney's Aladdin (1994) | The Lion King (1994) | Ariel the Little Mermaid (1996)
Sega Pico
Math Antics with Disney's 101 Dalmatians (1994) | Pocahontas Riverbend Adventures (1995) | The Lion King: Adventures at Pride Rock (1995) | Nurie Daisuki! Dumbo no Waku Waku Circus! (1997) | Peter Pan Neverland e Ikou! (1997) | Shirayukihime (1999) | Disney Princesses: Princess ni Naritai (2003) | Disney Princesses: Ariel (2004) | Disney Princesses: Suteki ni Lesson! Hiragana-Katakana (2004) | Hercules (unreleased) | Pinocchio (unreleased)
Sega Dreamcast
Disney's Dinosaur (2000)
Unlicensed games based on Disney animated films for Sega systems
Sega Mega Drive
The Lion King II (1996?) | The Lion King 3 (1997?) | Hua Mu Lan: Mulan (1998) | Aladdin II (1998?) | Hercules 2 (1999) | Aladdin 2001 (2001)