Ariel the Little Mermaid

n/a

Mega Drive Game Gear Master System
Ariel the Little Mermaid
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Sega Tec Toy
Developer: BlueSky Software, Disney Software
Distributor: Majesco Sales (US re-release)
Licensor: The Walt Disney Company
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1992-12 1041 EU 1992-12-14 1041 DE 1993-02 DM 99.9599.95 1041 UK 1992-12-14 £34.9934.99 1041 SE (Rental) 199x AU 199x BR 199x 043030 KR 199x GM93026JG AS 199x US 1993-02 2411 EU 1992-12-26 2411 UK 1992-12-26 £29.9929.99 2411 BR 199x 075260 BR 1996-01 R$36.9936.99 026350

Ariel the Little Mermaid is an action game for the Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear based on the movie with the same name. The Master System version was exclusive to Brazil.

Story

The game's story has very little to do with the plot of the film. The evil Sea Witch, Ursula, has attempted to conquer the seven seas, turning legions of merpeople into polyps and bewitching various sea creatures. She also kidnaps an important member of the royal family of Atlantica (King Triton if playing as Ariel, and vice versa). It is up to either Ariel or King Triton (depending on the player's choice) to defeat Ursula and restore order to the seas.

Gameplay

The player controls either Ariel or King Triton, who both have a normal weapon with unlimited uses and a limited-use super weapon. By default, the Mega Drive version maps the normal weapon to and the super weapon to , while the Game Gear and Master System versions map both weapons to , with + being used to switch between weapon types. The D-Pad is used to make Ariel/Triton change direction and swim in the direction pressed.

The objective of the game is to locate the polyps in each level and restore them to merpeople by either touching them directly or shooting them with the normal weapon. Every polyp must be found in order to access the level's boss whose entrance is hidden somewhere in the level. As the levels are labyrinthe in design, there is a map system that can be accessed by pausing the game. The flashing dots on the map indicate polyps that the player needs to locate, and the red X indicates the boss's location (only marked on the map on Medium difficulty). Also located somewhere in each level is Scuttle's Magical Collection, which is a shop screen where the player can spend collected treasure on various items and Fish Friends.

If the player's health meter is drained completely, one try is used to refill it. If there are no more tries left, the game ends. The player gets four Continues in an Easy game, two in a Medium game, and only one in a Difficult game.

The gameplay suffers from frequent slowdown, particularly when there are a lot of sprites on screen at any point.

Fish Friends

Fish Friends are characters who can be summoned to aid the player with specific obstacles. In the Mega Drive version, the player must press , or on the map screen to select a Fish Friend, then press during gameplay to summon the selected friend. In the Game Gear and Master System versions, button combinations need to be pressed to select and summon Fish Friends.

	Flounder
	Can be summoned to push rocks out of the way. In the Game Gear and Master System versions, press + to select him, then release while holding to summon him.
	Sebastian
	Can be summoned to scare away sea creatures. In the Game Gear and Master System versions, press + to select him, then release while holding to summon him.
	Digger fish
	Can be summoned to dig up items from soft mounds of sand. In the Game Gear and Master System versions, press + to select it, then release while holding to summon it.

Items

The items listed here can either be found in the open, inside treasure chests, or purchased from Scuttle's Magical Collection:

	Key
	Used to open treasure chests.
	Treasure Chest
	Contains items, but requires a key to unlock. Float above a chest to open it. This uses up one key.
	Little Heart
	Slightly restores the player's health.
	Big Heart
	Completely restores the player's health.
	Sparkle
	Awards an extra try.
	Star
	Gives the player another super weapon shot.
	Gem
	Adds to the player's treasure count.
	Coin
	Adds the player's treasure count.

Levels

	The Reef
	The Sunken Ship
	Atlantis
	The Cave

Production credits

Mega Drive version

• Game Design: Barbara Michalec

Sega Credits

• Producer: Stewart Kosoy
• Lead Tester: Unni Pillai
• Testers: Marianne Arotzarena, Michael Baldwin, Tom Bryne, Brenda Daverin, Alex Fairchild, Ivan Foong, Richie Hideshima, Lawrence Jeung, Tony Lynch, Matt Macchia, Julio Martinez, Heather Meigs, Jon Van, Gabriel Watts
• Test Manager: Steve Apour
• Assistant Product Manager: France Tantiado

Disney Credit

• Producer: Patrick Gilmore
• Account Executive: Cathy G, Fortier

BlueSky Software Credits

• Programmers: Barbara Michaelec, Karl Robillard, Ron Thompson
• Artists: Dana Christianson, Geoff Knoble, Tom Moon
• Animation: John Roy
• Manual by: Ruth Zultner Writing Services and Arcadian Design

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Ariel the Little Mermaid/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

FI advert (1993)

Mega Drive print advert in Mega Force (ES) #8: "Diciembre 1992" (1992-xx-xx)

Mega Drive print advert in Mega Force (ES) #9: "Enero 1993" (199x-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Hobby Consolas (ES) #16: "Enero 1993" (199x-xx-xx)

Game Gear print advert in Mega Force (ES) #12: "Abril 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Hobby Consolas (ES) #19: "Abril 1993" (1993-xx-xx)

Game Gear print advert in Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) #58: "Marzo 1993" (1993-0x-xx)
also published in:

• Todo Sega (ES) #1: "Abril 1993" (1993-03-15)

Mega Drive/Game Gear print advert in Ação Games (BR) #36: "Junho 1993" (1993-06-01)

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 Alaab Alcomputtar (SA) 85 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 52 Consoles + (FR) 43 Cool Gamer (RU) 60 Computer & Video Games (UK) 46 Game Power (IT) 72 Joypad (FR) PAL 69 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 61 Mega (UK) NTSC-U 44 MegaTech (UK) PAL 57 Player One (FR) 53 Play Time (DE) 68 Power Up! (UK) 72 Power Play (DE) 40 Score (CZ) 35 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U 18 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 72 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 79 Sega Force (SE) 65 Sega Force (UK) 80 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 61 Video Games (DE) 36

	58
Based on 23 reviews

Ariel the Little Mermaid

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual Cart (alt)

Mega Drive, US (cardboard)
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, SE (rental)
Cover

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, Asia
Cover
Cart Manual

Master System version

Master System, BR
Cover
Cart

Game Gear version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Consoles + (FR) PAL 45 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 24 Gamers (DE) 53 Joypad (FR) 73 Mega Byte (UK) PAL 61 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 43 Player One (FR) 65 Sega Power (UK) PAL 23 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 71 Sega Zone (UK) PAL 65 Sega Force (UK) PAL 65 Supergame (BR) 73

	55
Based on 12 reviews

Ariel the Little Mermaid

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, BR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 58e297df MD5 4916ade6b213b1f56864239db56fef0d SHA-1 201105569535b7c8f11bd97b93cbee884c7845c4	512kB	1992-10	Cartridge (US/EU)
?	CRC32 f4b3a7bd MD5 9efdf5a7123f5a52967199381e93759d SHA-1 77a35c0b622786183d6703a5d7546728db44b68d	256kB		Cartridge (BR)
?	CRC32 97e3a18c MD5 e786fb76fb3808a7b4906aa3ba9ff1a7 SHA-1 d2f1b95a6d0a2cacd93ed307a5a6576f954a7d56	256kB		Cartridge (US/EU)