It's OK if you don't recall the movie "Happily Ever After", Filmation's sequel to Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", because it was a terrible flop. We guess people didn't really care for the life of Snow White after the perfect ending of the original tale. There was of course a video game being produced to go along with the movie, but thanks to the film's disastrous production and marketing - and despite showing up several times in magazine previews - it was quietly canned and moved from the NES onto more powerful hardware, namely the Super Nintendo.
And all was merry across the land until the hero Sean McGee stumbled upon a prototype cartridge of Happily Ever After just last year. Even better, it was the complete NES game that was found inside it! It has now been released and yet another game that was lost that will now be preserved for the ages. You can read on Nintendo Player how the whole magic affair came to unfold.
You play as Snow White in the game as she seeks the help of the seven Dwarfelles in order to rescue the Prince who was taken by Lord Malice (voiced in the movie by none other than Malcolm McDowell), brother of the currently deceased Evil Queen. Talk about role and gender reversal!
You might expect this game to be kid friendly and even aimed at little girls of the '90s; this is where you would be dead wrong. This game was developed by Japanese developer Sofel and it's as hardcore as they come. Precise jumping and striking skills are called for almost instantly as you make you way with Snow White and try to grab fruit before it disappears off the screen, aided by the power of the Seven Dwarfelles to navigate hazards. It is scary how fast you will die in the first level alone. Think "Castlevania", or even dare we say "Ninja Gaiden" territory here. It is also surprisingly far from standard licensed shovelware we all know and loath nowadays. As far as a NES game goes it has very good graphics, sound and controls. It's arguably better than the American developed Super Nintendo game.
It is a shame that so many games like Happily Ever After must still exist undiscovered, and even sadder how many of them are already lost or destroyed due to one or other unexpected event. We are happy to say that in this case and for the ages, Sofel's little platforming gem will now live (...are we really doing this? Well, ok)... happily ever after.
Comments 46
1.0- too much Disney
Even worse was a short-lived live action TV show years ago called The Charmings; the premise was that Snow White and the gang lived in the suburbs. It was as awful as it sounds.
As great as Filmation were (R.I.P Lou Scheimer!) this just looks like knockoff Disney!
WHY DO SO MANY GAMES HAVE SO MANY EFFIN BATS!
Cue the Runaway Brain jokes. Never seen the short? Here's a gag in one of its first scenes:
That's literally the first thing I thought about when reading "a surprisingly hardcore Snow White NES game". No kidding.
That doesn't look very good even accounting for it being 25 years old. Anybody spot the Pac-man lookalike rip-off enemy? I think it's supposed to be a snake in a pot but in certain frames it looks like the little yellow pill.
I'm sure that Pac-Man-ish enemy (1:55 in the video) didn't help the game's chances for release, either. Sad, because it looks very solid. Art design looks really good, too.
Nothing better than discovering lost prototypes. How many garages out there hold the next lost game?
This game has some sick beats too
yep weve been waiting for this game to surface for years.
this and ultimate journey for nes.
Oh god... Thanks for reminding me of that terrible movie!
"surprisingly hardcore snow white"
O_O
sorry where are we? I blacked out there for a moment
This looks great for an NES game.
The article can't possibly describe the game in question, which looks like a steaming pile of cat liver.
I might have avoided using the word "Hardcore" in the title of the story like that.
The map looks Castlevania 3 inspired.
Somehow reminds me of the Coleco Smurfs. I wish they'd given her an attack with a little more range, like a sword or something.
Game looks aight, but that music!!! Gonna be stuck in my head!!!
Looks like a Ninja Gaiden hack.
Snow White in Ninjavania should have been the title.
Unfortunately, I remember the movie.
It also seems the music from this game will be remembered. Arg, stuck in my head.
I read "Hardcore Snow White" very differently than intended.
"It is also surprisingly far from standard licensed shovelware we all know and loath nowadays."
I think the quality of licensed games back then (NES/SNES era) were generally better (that's not to say that there weren't bad ones). Three that come to mind are Toy Story, Animaniacs and Sylvester & Tweety Cagey Capers
Happily Ever After was my favorite movie as a kid. Still know Thunderella's song and many lines from it by heart. Hard to get a copy if it since it's so rare and expensive. It was cheesy in some ways, but the premise of "what happens after the happily ever after" was good
@shaneoh dude you forgot Ducktales
Ducktales' the bomb
@Braok
Didn't play Ducktales when I was younger, did play Quackshot though, another good one.
Oh wow, I remember this movie! It wasn't terrible; definitely an interesting watch. As for the game its unfortunate it never came out, it looks pretty okay.
Wow, wonder if we'll start seeing NES carts with this on ebay soon. I'd be happy to pay a small amount for a physical copy.
@shaneoh Quackshot was a great game.If I remember correctly I rented it for a weekend and loved it that much that my uncle bought it for me not long after.A much better game than Ducktales ever was If you ask me.
@PanicPuppet92 I found it on YouTube to give it another watch. Malcolm McDowell seems to be the only one enjoying his role. Then again, if I were asked to voice a villain, I'd give it my all, too.
@allav866 Yeah, definitely! His scenes were always my favorite parts. A fun villain can make a movie more watchable if you ask me.
When I saw the words "hardcore" and "Snow White" my mind started heading in a different direction. Rule 34 and all that.
But this is really interesting. Disney did have a period where it had seriously hardcore games being made.
@Churchy Note that this is from Filmation.
@ogo79 Oh yeah, would be awesome to see Ultimate Journey. Unlike most unreleased protos, that one seems like it might actually be fun to play.
I also really want to see NES Sim City, but I have my doubts about that ever happening.
@andrew20
Actually Happily Ever After wasn't made by Disney.
@ekreig
Mickey Mousecapade, both Duck Tales, Aladdin and Little Mermaid were easy as pie.
I must say the music for the game is surprisingly good. I figured that'd be the least polished part of it, honestly. Good stuff!
@Asaki
yeah ultimate journey is on my top wanted list.
if i ever come across it rest assure id get it dumped.
yeah sim city you never know
This looks somewhat like Shovel Knight.
you can now get this game on cart for those interested
Downloaded the ROM and been playing it for a while. The music is pretty good for a game of this type.
It takes some time to get used to the controls, as if you keep pressing B, it brings the powerup selector, so be sure to tap and release B quickly for attacking, otherwise you might end spinning until you select the powerup.
By the way, that's a generous idea from the owner to dump the ROM for everybody and to not just selfishly sell the card !
I'm glad this got dumped, but ultimately looks like a pretty generic platformer that just takes cheap shots and is "hard" for all the wrong reasons.
@samuelvictor That's awesome! Thanks for posting.
@samuelvictor Yes. I love old films and some of the low budget stuff. Some may find it to be just flat out bad but there is an art to it. Whether one likes it or not. This was dubbed but I would have watched it even if it wasn't. Thanks again!
@samuelvictor I remember watching old British films as a kid in the 80's. Whether good or bad. I live in the US so I just found them fascinating. It was like nothing else that was on tv here. It was always a plus if they had some off the wall British comedy too. My family and friends didn't understand it but I just couldn't get enough.
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