The Lion King (Game Boy)

Development Info Prototype Info

Unused Text#

Present at 0x43EE is a snippet from the King James Version translation of Luke 18:16, which also made its way into the NES version.

Suffer little children to come unto me

Unused Graphics#

There are leftover graphics data for a removed debug stage, although it's possible they were used to display collision and such during development. They are repeated a couple of times near the end of the ROM. Similar graphics can be found in the NES version. These graphics can be seen in the July 13th, 1994 prototype.

The source label for this file is called CONTOURS.

Unused Level#

The missing level, "Be Prepared", can be accessed by changing the level value to 07. It uses the name "Jungle Caverns", which is the same name seen in early prototypes of the game, and plays the Hyena Lairs music.

The July 13th, 1994 prototype has preliminary data for this level, as well as some leftover assets, but in the final game everything besides the name string has been removed; the level itself is blank, and Simba will die instantly upon arrival.

Unused Music#

Almost a full third of the songs in the game are unused. None of these tracks are in the NES port.

Track #8 is a happy little fanfare that doesn't seem to be used in any of the other versions of the game.

Track #10 is the theme used for the "Simba's Exile" stage in the 16-bit versions of the game. Here, this stage uses "Under the Stars" as background music (which it shares with "Simba's Destiny"), a rather strange choice.

Track #12 is the song used for the Timon & Pumbaa's Bug Patrol minigame in other versions. In the Game Boy version, this minigame uses the same background music as whatever stage the player was last in.

Track #13 is Death Tag from other versions of the game. Here, dying or getting a Game Over doesn't change the background music at all.

Track #14 is King Tag from the Genesis version, which wasn't used there either!

Level Select#

Pause the game and press B, A, A, B, A, A to skip to the next level. This cheat is also mentioned in the source file READ.ME. Another cheat present in the source file is to press B, A, A, L to kill Simba.

References#