Zootopia - an obscure pc relic featuring weird cartoons and rapping

[ZekeySpaceyLizard]

The year is 1995. I'm 10 years old on Windows95 playing weird semi-educational stuff my parents bought for me.
One in particular is a game called ZOOTOPIA where a helicopter crashes on some magical talking animal zoo island.

The game delights my simple mind and I carry a few shattered memories of it for the next 15 years.


Skipping ahead.


The year is 2010. I'm 24 years old and still have the dusty old CD-ROM case. For shits and giggles I decide to look up the game online. Other than some very old licensing information, there is vaguely nothing. It is as if the game never existed. Disappointed I vow to one day reinstall the game and record my favorite bits and pieces and put them online.

The year is now 2011 and someone did all that for me.


Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you a strange educational pc game produced by the Good Housekeeping magazine company.


Here is my copy of the disc, freshly scanned.

The front cover is very close to what the ingame main menu resembled. Although those crudely drawn cartoon animals are not on the main menu. Perhaps my first brush with false advertising.

FYI the company that created this game still exists. Also I doubt even they remember making this game.


The game's intro which I found terrifying as a child.
Zootopia Beginning

A raven rapping edgar allen poe. By far my favorite part of the game. Not sure why its in this game as its not educational at all but who gives a shit.
Zootopia Raven

This game had alot of catchy music. And along with the cartoons were some live action bits and even this one puppet bit where a fire-bellied toad sings about how sad he is.
Zootopia Toad

Another great song lost in the sands of time. With perhaps the blackest swan ever.
Zootopia Swan

These prairie dogs have very creepy faces. But the song they sing is great. Why did games seem to have so much better music back then?
Zootopia Prairie Dog

This was considered good graphics back then. Despite being pre-rendered video.
Zootopia Train

YOU ARE A MAGGOT HATCHED FROM A MUTANT MAGGOT EGG
Zootopia Macaw

Yay epilepsy
Zootopia Cheetah

I would always avoid this next bit in the game. Simply because it wasn't very funny.
Zootopia Rhino

This lion reminds me of Red Green. The small lion reminds me of Bobby Hill.
Zootopia Lion

Ah subtle racism and cigarette jokes
Zootopia Camel

AWW YA DONT LOOK LIKE A GIBBON
Zootopia Gibbon

Jimmy Stewart the Hermit Crab
Zootopia Crab

the confused owl
Zootopia Owl

what gender is this thing
Zootopia Legless Lizard

If I recall this boat ride took you back to the helicopter and thus the end of the game.
Zootopia Boat

this thing's voice still haunts me when I sleep
Zootopia Bison

this tiger has like the best voice ever.
Zootopia Tiger

Sadly this is not everything from the game. But this is a large majority of it.



To end this topic here is perhaps the best lava animation I have ever seen.
Zootopia Volcano

[Pants, the terrible]

i see a zootopia MV collab coming up

[Pants, the terrible]

delicious buckets of cum

[Shida]

Ahaha wow this game is...erm quite something. I like to think that music in games from long ago are better because there was less pressure for games to be like interactive movies with orchestrated soundtracks and whatnot. I wish I had chance to play this as a kid!

Also that intro is really really odd for a kid's game intro.

[creamcorn]

A raven rapping edgar allen poe. By far my favorite part of the game. Not sure why its in this game as its not educational at all but who gives a shit.
Zootopia Raven

lmfaoo

[rtil]

that tiger/antelope segment was the best

was there any gameplay in this? or was it one of those click-on-static-objects-to-progress kind of games? i wouldnt be surprised since the animation is so bad. kinda weird that they mixed in 3d, too. all the games i had back then that were not pixel were hand-drawn with painted backgrounds, and if there was any 3d the whole game was 3d (in glorious 256 colors)

[Crabarms]

I could imagine that intro scaring the crap out of kids. Shit is just exploding everywhere and its so unnecessary.

That bison's voice is creepy.

Such a weird game thanks for sharing it was really odd and amazing.

[ZekeySpaceyLizard]

that tiger/antelope segment was the best

was there any gameplay in this? or was it one of those click-on-static-objects-to-progress kind of games? i wouldnt be surprised since the animation is so bad. kinda weird that they mixed in 3d, too. all the games i had back then that were not pixel were hand-drawn with painted backgrounds, and if there was any 3d the whole game was 3d (in glorious 256 colors)

It was like....they had a pre-rendered crappy 3d world (like you see in the train/boat) and wherever you clicked, you'd go. The screen would dissolve to the next area which would be where you had clicked.

Like Myst except really shitty. As you went along there were lots of little things to click on. Some would be just like those old pc-games-based-on-kids-books where you'd click somewhere and something akin to an animated gif would appear onscreen.

Some clickable things would just bring up text that gave you random facts about random animals.

And the BIG clickables would usually show you a cartoon or film clip.

You could go through the whole game without clicking anything but the path and never learn a thing.

[CVG]

HAHAHA I love the rapping Raven part. Great old game! It makes me want to SOMEHOW find and copy the bits to this old drawing game I had (it was interactive and had this crazy purple man).