Video summary
The video discusses the Super Nintendo game *Snow White: Happily Ever After*, clarifying immediately that it is not based on Disney's classic film but rather on the 1978 sequel produced by Filmation Associates, a struggling production company known for shows like *Star Trek* and *The Archie Show*. The movie itself was widely criticized as an inferior product compared to the original Disney version, leading to poor box office performance and eventual legal action from Disney. Despite this negative reputation surrounding its source material, the game exists as one of the few surviving titles from a canceled release plan that originally intended versions for both the NES and Sega Genesis before only the SNES cartridge was published in October 1994 by ImagiTek Design.
In terms of gameplay mechanics, the title functions as a standard side-scrolling platformer where players can choose to control either Snow White or Prince Charming, who has been transformed into a "shadow man." The game features two distinct storylines depending on the chosen character and offers 46 lives across eight levels without save points or passwords. While the core mechanics are typical for the genre with checkpoints guiding the player toward exits, the controls require some adjustment; specifically, jumping involves building momentum before leaping forward, which can be frustrating at first but becomes manageable over time. Additionally, players can utilize special abilities like tossing grenade apples and homing apples to defeat enemies, adding a layer of variety that somewhat compensates for the game's otherwise generic nature.
The production quality reflects its origins as a promotional tool rather than an artistic masterpiece, with sound effects described as jarringly loud and disconnected from the musical score, creating an auditory experience likened to pots banging in a kitchen. Despite these flaws and its basis on a cheap sequel movie, the reviewer argues that the game is not horrific or spectacularly awful enough to be memorable among the thousands of SNES titles released; instead, it occupies a middle ground similar to other obscure games like *Chester Cheetah*. Ultimately, while the game serves primarily as marketing for a low-quality film and lacks the polish of Disney's original adaptation, it is deemed better than its source material and tolerable enough that it does not warrant strong condemnation from fans.
Read the full video transcript
Snow
white snow struck
>> Many moons ago when I made a video that
covered every Disney Super Nintendo
game, I got some comments. Okay, maybe
two comments saying, "Hey, you forgot
this Snow White game." Well, as it turns
out, this Snow White game is not a
Disney game. It's not based on the
Disney movie. Hey, cool. So, it's
pulling from the original Brothers Grimm
story, right? Nope, it's based on the
sequel titled Happily Ever After. And if
you're like me, you might ask the same
question I did. What in the heck is this
movie? And yet, glance, it clearly isn't
Disney. Instead, it was a last-ditch
effort to [music] save the struggling
production company Filmation Associates,
who had previously released stuff
[music] like The Archie Show and the
Star Trek animated series back in the
'70s, as well as tons and tons of failed
TV projects like Lassie's Rescue Rangers
to give one example, to which Lassie's
co-creator Rudd Weatherwax said, "That's
not Lassie, that's trash." But the
criticism of Filmation's quality did not
deter young Jeffrey Schwaber, the COO of
Happily Ever After's film distributor.
First National Film Corporation, he's
quoted in an Orlando Sentinel article as
saying, "We're about to shock the world,
I'll tell you that. And I don't see many
parents who can afford denying their
children the opportunity to see the
sequel of Snow White." Hear that? You're
a terrible parent if you don't let your
kids see this movie. That's some quality
BS sales talk right there because it
ignores the simple problem with Happily
Ever After. It sucks.
>> [music]
>> It's a clearly inferior product to
Disney's Snow White in just about every
way, but most obviously in the art and
animation department. I mean, kids
aren't stupid. They're going to notice
the difference in quality the same as
anyone else would, especially when it
comes to a classic like Snow White. So,
as such, Happily Ever After was a
massive flop, making only 3.3 [music]
million at the box office despite a huge
$10 million ad campaign. And plus,
Disney ended up suing them, of course,
but not before a video game was made.
Ah, there's always a video game. Snow
White Happily Ever After was made by
ImagiTek Design and released in October
1994 for the Super Nintendo and both the
NES and Sega Genesis versions were
scheduled for release but canceled.
[music] So, we've only got the SNES game
here and this is usually the part where
I talk about how this game shouldn't
exist and whatever, but it's actually
not too terrible. It's better than the
movie at least, albeit barely. As you
can see, it's a side-scrolling
platformer and you can play as either
Snow White or as Prince Charming who's
been turned into what the movie refers
to as a shadow man. No, not that Shadow
Man, unfortunately. See, the witch from
the original Snow White may be dead, but
her brother Lord Malice is out for
revenge and to the game's credit, it
does tell two different stories based on
which character you choose. You get uh
46 lives to get through eight levels
split into a couple stages each with no
saves or passwords. Each stage has at
least one [music] checkpoint before the
game tells you to find the exit and you
just kind of jump around until you find
it. And if you can't, you just stand
still long enough and the game will
point you in the right direction. It's
standard stuff from a gameplay aspect as
you might expect, but you have to fix
the controls first. The original layout
has B to jump and A to attack, which
works fine for an NES game, but using
the SNES controller, it's annoying.
Thankfully, you can flip the control
scheme to have the Y button attack as
God intended. Be warned though, this is
one of those games where your jump
behaves differently depending on whether
you're moving forward or not.
>> [music]
>> It's tempting to play this one like any
other hop and bop platformer, but if you
do, you're in for a bad time. You have
to wind up your jump, so to speak,
building even the tiniest momentum
before jumping ahead, which is a pain in
the [music] neck at first, but it's
somewhat forgiving. I mean, it's a Snow
White game after all. Plus, I've played
way too many generic ass games over the
years that I feel immune to bad
controls. Only broken controls bother me
and this game isn't broken, so hooray.
This one really isn't that bad though.
Press the X button and your character
can toss grenade apples as well as
homing apples, which is pretty funny if
only because it makes me wish they'd
stick all the Contra weapon upgrades in
in game. But yeah, there's tons of stuff
to collect, including warp points that
put you in other places to collect other
stuff, which gives this game a
distinctly Amiga-ass vibe, or really
just more like a Western studio vibe.
You can always tell when a Western
studio designed the game because the
sound effects are so jarringly loud and
don't match the music at all. It sounds
like someone's toddler is wandering
around the kitchen banging on pots and
[music] pans.
>> [music]
>> So, yeah, Snow White isn't a Disney
game. Instead, it's based on the cheap
crappy sequel. But, it's really not as
horrific as you might think. I mean,
it's got nothing on Snow White and the
Seven Clever Boys. Ugh.
The Super Nintendo catalog has over
1,700 releases total, and that includes
717 releases in North America. And while
obviously not every game is going to
crack the top 50, or even in the top 300
in this case, it's also not
spectacularly awful enough to be
memorable. So, as such, it falls in that
500 to 600 sweet spot amongst all NES
games, right alongside stuff like the
Chester Cheetah games, or Kyle Petty's
No Fear Racing. It's just yet another
title used to promote a crappy product.
[music]
And that is all for now. I want to thank
you for watching, and I hope you have a
great rest of your day.
>> [music]
[music]