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Toy Story is a 2D Platform Game based on the Disney/Pixar movie of the same name, developed by Traveller's Tales and released by Disney Interactive for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995, and the PC in 1996. A stripped-down Game Boy port developed by Tiertex was also released, and there was also an odd bootleg Famicom version, which is a stripped down conversion of the original, only featuring the first few levels from the original game it was based upon.

The game stars the pull-string cowboy Woody, and its levels follow the movie's plot through Andy's room, Pizza Planet (including the Claw Machine), Sid's room and on the road chasing after the moving van.


Tropes featured in the game:

  • Adaptational Badass: When Buzz and Woody fight in the movie, Buzz mostly dominates the battle besides a few punches. In the game, the fight is a boss battle that Woody has to win in order to proceed.
  • Adaptational Heroism: Rex was already a good guy in the movies, but wanted to keep out of the other toys' vendetta with Woodynote . In the game, not only does he stick by Woody's side after Woody accidentally knocks Buzz out the window, he actually helps Woody escape the wrath of the other toys.
  • Adaptational Villainy: The mutant toys actually try to harm Woody and Buzz in "Attack of the Mutant Toys". Any time they run into you, you lose a health point. In the movie, they bear no ill will towards Woody or Buzz and in the scene that the game recreates, they don't do any real fighting back.
  • Adaptation Expansion: Though the game tries the best it can to be a Shot-for-Shot Remake of the movie's events, it does take a few liberties and adds a few extra set pieces. For example, instead of just climbing into the prize chute, Woody has to actually maneuver through the inner workings of the claw machine before reaching Buzz. Additionally, there's a level where Woody rides on Rex in an attempt to escape all the angry toys, and a level in which Woody has a nightmare involving a flying Buzz Lightyear, neither of which happen in the movie (though the latter is based on a deleted scene from the movie that was repurposed for the sequel).
  • Advancing Wall of Doom: Babyface Spider and Scud fulfill this mechanic during certain levels in Sid's House. Buzz also fills this role in a Pizza Planet level, with him following closely behind Woody and hurting him should Woody get too close.
  • Auto-Scrolling Level: There are three of these in the game — "Run, Rex, Run!", "Roller Bob", and the final level, "Rocket Man".
  • "Blind Idiot" Translation: The text in the bootleg NES version of the game, which includes such things as "Toy Sotry" written on gas pumps at the gas station and the text at the ending screen:
    "Congratulations! You are complete Woody's mission!"
  • Bonus Stage: Collect 200 tin stars over the course of the game and you get to play a bonus game called "Shooting Stars" on the Etch-a-Sketch. With perfect play, you can pick up 3 extra HP.
  • Continue Countdown: If the player loses all their lives but has at least one continue left in their inventory, they are sent to the continue screen, where they are given ten seconds to decide whether or not they want to continue the game as Woody hangs his head in shame. If the player presses Start before time runs out, Woody raises his head and shouts "Yee-haw!" before continuing, but if they don't, they are sent to the Game Over screen, where Woody pounds his fist in defeat.
  • Depth of Field: The already detailed graphics are improved by 3D effects that provide everything with a dept-of-field look.
  • Digitized Sprites: Based on the same CG models used in the film. For the Genesis, this was extremely impressive at the time. For the SNES, not so much, thanks to a certain other franchise using CG rendered graphics a full year before the game's release (and arguably more effectively, to boot).
  • Escort Mission: In the "Revenge of the Toys" level, Woody has to help Rex escape from Andy's bedroom after the toys get angry at Woody for knocking Buzz out the window. While Rex is able to get through the buckets that Woody can't, he can't get past the piles of blocks, which Woody has to knock away with his pull-string. Fortunately, Rex is invincible, so there's no need to worry about enemies attacking him.
  • Eternal Engine: "Inside the Claw Machine", which serves as the game's tenth level. This level takes place in the claw machine at Pizza Planet. As he tries to find Buzz, Woody must dodge hazards such as spinning blades, falling tokens, and exploding diodes.
  • Expy: Sheriff Woody's pull-string does the same thing as Earthworm Jim's head-whip.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: One level involves Woody having to race Buzz through Andy's room to prove he is just as good as Buzz. Since the plot of the story requires Buzz to win, there is no way for Woody to beat Buzz. Regardless of how well and fast the player navigates the level, Buzz will always be waiting for Woody at the finish.
  • Follow the Money: Tin Stars (as in, the kind of star a sheriff might wear on his vest).
  • Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: In the Boss Battle against the Claw, you, as Woody, have to toss LGMs up at the Claw to knock Buzz down until Sid runs out of quarters. Of course, since the movie has Sid capture Buzz and Woody anyway, the cutscene following this fight naturally has that happen. The most we get is the LG Ms telling Woody not to fight against the Claw.
  • Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: "Cowboy," "Deputy," "Sheriff," "Marshal," "Yahoo!" (seen in the speech bubble at the top of the options screen when you're deciding how many lives you want to start with).
  • I Owe You My Life: After Woody helps Rex out of Andy's bedroom in the "Revenge of the Toys" level, Rex returns the favor in the following level, "Run Rex, Run!" by letting Woody ride on his back as he guides him across a sea of hostile toys.
  • Killer Yo-Yo: Sid's room is filled with spiked yo-yos hanging from the ceiling.
  • Meaningless Lives: Averted in the SNES and Genesis versions, but played straight in the PC version, which has a save system that renders the addition of lives completely pointless. Then again, you might be playing a difficult level.
  • Mobile Shrubbery: Like in the movie, one level involves Buzz and Woody disguising themselves with a discarded burger box and milkshake cup to sneak into Pizza Planet. They have to stand still any time humans walk by, with failing to do so costing Woody some of his health.
  • Law of 200/300: Collecting 200 tin stars over the course of the game gives you a shot at a bonus game for some extra HP, while 300 gets you a continue. You can also get an extra HP by picking up 45 or more of the 50 tin stars in a level, or an extra life for all 50.
  • Nightmare Sequence: The first Boss Battle happens when Woody has a nightmare of being attacked by a flying, real-laser-shooting Buzz Lightyear. If he dies in the nightmare, he dies for real.
  • Numerical Hard: On the options screen, the section marked "Tries" is how you determine the difficulty of the game - namely, how many lives you start with (from one up to five).
  • 1-Up: Woody gets extra lives from picking up cowboy hats and collecting all 50 tin stars in a single level. Note, however, that there is a 9-life cap in play (in the Genesis version, anyway; not so in the SNES version). You will burn through most of them in Sid's house.
  • Password Save: The international releases of both console versions feature this, though the North American versions do not. The PC version foregoes it in favor of allowing the player to start a new game from any level they have reached, erring closer to a more practical save system.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: The scene of Buzz "falling with style" to establish his superiority over Woody is replaced in the game with a level where Buzz and Woody hold a race for the same purpose, presumably since a faithful recreation of the original scene would be a bit boring for the player.
  • Racing Game:
    • "Buzz Clip", "Day-toy-na" and "Light My Fire" involve Woody and Woody + Buzz respectively driving RC.
    • Subverted with "Ego Check," which presents itself as a "race" against Buzz but is really just a standard platforming level with Buzz bouncing around in the background. For the sake of plot, the level will always end with you losing the race.
  • Recycled Soundtrack: The PC version's renditions of "You've Got A Friend In Me" and "Strange Things" were previously used in Burger King's "Toy Story" tie-in commercials.
  • Silent Credits: On the SNES version. The Genesis and PC versions, however, avert this with their own remixes of "You've Got A Friend In Me".
  • Timed Mission:
    • The second level, "Red Alert" has a time limit, since it is based on the scene where the toys have to get back to their proper places before Andy enters the room. Woody has 150 seconds (two and a half minutes) to complete the level, and failing to do so before the timer runs out costs him a life.
    • In the eleventh level, "Really Inside the Claw Machine", Woody has 180 seconds (three minutes) to find all eight aliens hidden in the maze and return them to the Claw Machine.
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change:
    • "Really Inside The Claw Machine" switches to a first-person perspective reminiscent of Wolfenstein 3-D.
    • All three RC stages are driving sequences.
    • The final level is a flying level (okay, a falling with style level).

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