Developer: DokiDenki Studio Publisher: NewKidCo

Released: November 1, 2000 Rated: E 4/10

Man, those Hundred Acre Wood folk can throw one helluva party! It’s Tigger’s job to scrounge for “hunny pots” along all of the 2D planes in the forest and bring back as much as he can find. Reminds me of the Christmas episode of The Office where Michael rolls in with two cases of vodka because he doesn’t know how much it takes to get the whole place loaded. Anyway, we’re here to talk about the journey, not the destination. Tigger’s Honey Hunt, you may be surprised to learn, is not a nothing game. I was considering how much I’d have to preface talking about this game along the same lines as the Elmo games (also published by NewKidCo) – if I am explicitly not the target audience, I may as well throw an “N/A” up there on the score, because even reviewing it in the context of it as an educational game for young children isn’t easy. 

Turns out, though, that aside from a very young target audience, there still isn’t all that completely different from other 2D platformers. It’s just got the difficulty meter dialed way back and a license that ensures you don’t pick it up by mistake and judge it too harshly. Think of Tigger’s Honey Hunt like your toddler’s first interaction with a Donkey Kong Country, or better yet, Tarzan – another Disney platformer with 3D models on a 2D plane. Tigger controls perfectly fine, as players will find themselves using his wide moveset to jump, bounce, hop, bound, and leap across levels. Again, it’s simple and that’s how it should be, it’s only a shame because you actually do start getting more moves, like flapping Tigger’s arms to stay up in the air across long gaps, or building up tension in his tail to launch him high up. But then as soon as you think you’re in for a nice, steadily curving, well-paced adventure, the game is over. It’s seriously only like 90 minutes of gameplay, tops. There are three mini games you’ll encounter that can also be played in multiplayer that, again, are decent for teaching motor skills and thinking to younger players, but the entirety of the content in the game is that and, like, eight levels.

I actually was getting to the end of the very last level in the game, thinking I was at the 25% mark of the single player, running back and forth ad nauseam looking for the very last handful of honey pots (the only collectible aside from an item belonging to each of the other characters) before I’d be allowed to exit the level, only to realize when I was done that it was the very end of the game! Even the menu screens had made it seem like the overall adventure was divided up by the four seasons, when it was actually just four save slots. 

I was actually appalled, because other than this shocking transgression, there was actually a lot of positives to point out, with the introduction of new mechanics showing the trappings of actual good game design, and the presentation based on the Winnie the Pooh cartoons and books from Disney being really solid. Although used sparingly and mostly just in the far backgrounds, I thought it was nice when I would see textures that used the watercolor style the picture books and stories are known for, and the character models are solid across the board as well. The soundtrack isn’t loaded with killer tracks, but it’s light and dainty and carries a really solid vibe that fits the Hundred Acre Wood nicely, very pleasant to listen to. The only real drawback to it is that, as is often the case, the CD-based versions of the game boast full video clips, which isn’t always a big deal, but in the context of Tigger’s Honey Hunt, is going to make a big difference when being played by actual children. The unskippable text-only interactions between characters might still have some merit by forcing them to read, but the entertainment value of the actual cartoons telling the story (including Jim Cummings’ voice acting) is gonna be huge. 

Really, it’s sad how much you can say about Tigger’s Honey Hunt that’s a real positive, both for the sake of giving it credit as an actual game, and a good option for the youngsters who would be playing it as an introduction to gaming, only for it to be completely undone by having next to no actual content. And none of this addresses the true elephant in the room, which is that you don’t need a cheap, licensed, middle-of-the-pack game to get your kids into gaming, not even on the N64 – there’s really nothing keeping Super Mario 64, Yoshi’s Story, or yeah, Tarzan and Toy Story 2 from getting the job done in a package that kids under six years old or so can still probably handle.

Continuing Legacy

I really just want to bring up the fact that Winnie the Pooh ended up with two games in the next console generation, Piglet’s Big Game and Winnie the Pooh’s Rumbly Tumbly Adventure. But Pooh and friends’ biggest video game appearance on the PlayStation 2 and beyond? Kingdom Hearts, of course! The Hundred Acre Wood actually seems to be one of the most prolific worlds in the entire series, having appeared in all three main-numbered entries, which is weirdly funny to me personally, as someone who is not familiar with the franchise at all.

Additional Information

Saves: Cartridge or Controller Pak

Players: 1 in campaign, 2 in mini-games

Compatible with: Rumble Pak

Print Guides: None

Aggregate Critical Reception (GameRankings): 74.50%, based on 2 reviews

Other releases: EU, December 8, 2000

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Featured in Nintendo Power Volume 137 (October 2000)