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A Bug's Life: The Video Game is a video-game based on the Pixar movie, A Bug's Life. The game was released in November 1998, on PlayStation, PC, Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color.

Plot[]

(Taken from the UK PlayStation Manual)

"Every year on Ant Island, the Ant Colony, under the rule of the Queen Ant and Princess Atta who is training to succeed her aged Mother, works tirelessly gathering Food for the Winter. And every year, cold-hearted Hopper and his hungry horde of unruly Grasshoppers ride through and extort Food from the timid Ant Colony.

It's not only terrifying for the Ants; it's downright humiliating! Flik, a klutzy but inventive worker, has built a Harvesting Contraption to increase Food Production. Instead, it runs out of control and destroys the the Ants' Food Offering to the Grasshoppers.

When the Grasshoppers arrive, Hopper is furious with the Colony's apparent lack of progress. Unwilling to listen to an explanation, Hopper demands "Twice the Food."

"We'll be back by the end of the Season," Hopper intones, "When the last Leaf falls."

Flik is put on trial for his colossal mistake and brought before Princess Atta and the Ant Council. During the proceedings, Flik, unable to contain his thoughts and ideas, suggests that they find Bigger Bugs to help defend the Colony against the Grasshoppers. Flik even volunteers to find them himself. Surprisingly Princess Atta grants his request to go search for the Bugs, secretly hoping that it will keep the jinxed Flik out of the way, allowing the Colony to meet Hopper's demands without interruption.

Now Flik will leave the Island in search of Tough Bugs, oblivious to the fact that the Colony is more than happy to see him go. Once he gets to the Big World outside, the adventures awaiting Flik will change him and Ant Island Forever!"

ABG Video game Ant Island

Flik in the game (PlayStation Version).

Gameplay[]

The player plays as Flik, the protagonist of the movie. He had several moves which were running, jumping, attacking with berries, picking up things (such as seeds), growing plants, throwing plants, using a grain harvester, kicking, spinning, butt-bouncing, swinging and sliding.

Main Goals in the Game[]

As well as exploring and destroying Enemies, there were three main tasks in each level that you had to complete to truly reach 100% in the form of Tokens, if you got all three you were rewarded with a Movie Clip that you could view in your Movie Viewer and if got all forty-eight by the end of the game you would receive a very special Clip, these were as follows:

  • Grain Token: Obtain all fifty pieces of Grain, if successful your health was restored to full.
  • Flik Token: Collect all the letters F.L.I.K, if successful, you would gain a new Life.
  • Enemy Token: Eliminate all the Enemies in the Level, which even sometimes included the Boss.

Trivia[]

. This game was the highest rated 3D Platformer in 1999 by IGN, slating it's gameplay as "redifining for it's age and a milestone in technology and innovation"

. Despite rave reviews, the game has since over the years been claimed as a cult classic by the now marginalised "A Bugs Life" community.

. Although the video game is based off of the movie, the plot follows a somewhat transformation of the original writing, telling an individual story that may or may not be contained in the lore, as the same writers for the movie played a large part in writing the story for the game.

. Twitch streamer "Mitch Jones" recently showed great interest in the game while playing it on his stream and showing heavy support.

*The PS3 version as a glitch that several soundtracks will play outside their respective levels.

Berries[]

The Berries were Flik's main form of defense, they came in five different colours. You could either get them on their own or from growing a Purple Plant:

  • Red Berry: Standard Berry that is available to you at the beginning of every level, but has no effect on Grasshoppers, roaches, Earth-Worms, Armor Plated Beetles, Centipedes and bosses.
  • Super Berry: A more powerful Blue Berry that can even take out every enemy that the red berry can't.
  • Homing Berry: A Green Berry that homes in on Enemies that are at a distance and can take as many enemies as the Super Berry.
  • Mega Homing Berry: A Purple Berry with increased homing ability.
  • Gold Berry: The most powerful Berry of all that eliminates your Enemies permanently and helps you obtain the Enemy Token. NOTE: You could also do this with the Grain Harvester or Mine Plant, but the amount of Enemies was limited to the Grain Harvester, being able of killing as many enemies as the Red Berry.

Seeds and Plants[]

The main source of exploration were the seeds that grew various Plants. Some helped you gain access for hard to reach places, while others gave you special Power Ups or Items that came in useful for that particular level. In order to obtain these different plants, you had to obtain special colored Tokens that were scattered around the levels. The more Tokens you got the more Plants you could grow such as obtaining four Brown Tokens gave you the ability to grow four different Plants. Some Seeds you could change color, lift and place in any area you wanted, while others were stuck in the ground or stuck as the same color. You could grab onto a seed, throw it and crack it open by Bouncing on it. If you wanted to grow something different, you just picked up the Plant and threw it away:

Brown Tokens (Brown Seed)

  • 1 Token gave you a Mushroom to Bounce on.
  • 2 Tokens gave you a Propellor Plant which could lift you up, help you place more seeds on a ledge, lift you higher if you were on a Dandelion, spin, causing you to move faster and killing enemies that could also be killed with the red berry, but you have little to no control over your walking. The plant also works as a Dandelion, if you pick it from the ground and falls to a lower ground.
  • 3 Tokens gave you a Dandelion Plant for use of Flying.
  • 4 Tokens gave you a Cannon Plant, which could shoot you up to great heights. If you enter the Cannon Plant while in the Dandelion, you will be shot up real high and still can fly with the Dandelion until you land somewhere.

Green Tokens (Green Seed)-Each Token gave you Plants with lots of Leaves, the more you obtained, the higher you could go.

  • 1 Token gave you a small leaf platform that Flik can jump on easily but cannot bounce on.
  • 2 Tokens gave you a tall leaf platform that is too high for Flik to jump on but can be reached through either a mushroom or small ledge.
  • 3 Tokens gave you a tall stem with three leaves for Flik to jump on.
  • 4 Tokens gave you a rose, which has four leaf platforms.

Blue Tokens (Blue Seed)-With the exception of the Bubble Shield, the Blue Token plants will grow into a small tomato to spew out a power-up. Be careful, as the plant can also spew out small green spike balls that will hurt Flik if he touches them.

  • 1 Token gave you a limited Invincibility power-up.
  • 2 Tokens gave you a Health Leaf producing Plant with Leaves to restore your Health.
  • 3 Tokens gave you a Bubble Shield to protect you from enemies.
  • 4 Tokens gave you Super Jump that increased the height of your jumping.

Purple Tokens (Purple Seed)

  • 1 Token gave you the Blue Super Berry.
  • 2 Tokens gave you the Green Homing Berry.
  • 3 Tokens gave you the Purple Mega Homing Berry.
  • 4 Tokens gave you the Gold Berry.

Yellow Tokens (Yellow Seed)

  • 1 Token gave you a Blue Berry Shooter that attacked Enemies and airborne grasshoppers who are holding seeds.
  • 2 Tokens gave you a Purple Homing Berry Shooter that home in on your enemies and Grasshoppers.
  • 3 Tokens gave you a Mine Plant, which worked the same way as the Gold Berry and Grain Harvester, permanently eliminating your enemies. Unlike most of the plants, you can throw it in enemies like grasshoppers and earthworms and harm them. Be careful, if the mine goes off while Flik is carrying it, he takes damage.

Secret Movements[]

Kicking: In the Playstation version, the player can kick enemies standing in the front by pressing R2 + Square. It only works on enemies that can also be killed by red berries.

Spinning: The player can spin without necessary using a Propellor Plant. Just press the directional buttons of the control from the lest to the right, in clock-wise order.

The Lands of Bugdom[]

Flik had to travel to five Worlds each with two levels and a Boss Stage:

Training: Training Level- Led by Mr. Soil, this level gives you an understanding of Flik's moves and items in the game.

World 1: Ant Island

  • Anthill: Level One: Welcome to Ant Island- Flik has to reach the entrance of the anthill with guidance from Dot.
  • Tunnels: Level Two: Tunnel Run- Flik needs to reach the council chamber entrance while avoiding falling rocks and grasshoppers that enter through the ceiling of the tunnels. This level introduces gates that require a certain number of grains to open.
  • Council Chamber: Level Three: They call him Thumper (Boss: Thumper)- Flik has entered the Council Chamber and must defeat Thumper in order to save Dot and prove that he can find some warrior bugs off Ant Island.

World 2: Leaving Ant Island

  • Cliffside: Level Four: Dandelion Flight- Flik must reach the riverbed canyon entrance using the dandelion puff for flying. There is a catch to this level- if Flik touches the riverbed floor before passing the thorn plants, he automatically gets killed by the bird that is flying above the area.
  • Riverbed Canyon: Level Five: Riverbed Run- Now that Flik is in the Riverbed Canyon, he must find his way out of the canyon maze, while dodging enemies and raining spike balls.
  • Bird Nest: Level Six: Bird Bait (Boss: Bird)-The City is near, but for Flik to reach the city, he must scare away the bird that is preventing him from gaining entry.

World 3: Little Bug, Big City

  • City Entrance: Level Seven: Little Ant, Big City- Flik has arrived in the big city and must dodge traffic, poisonous green goo, and enemies to find the first group of "warrior bugs"- Heimlich, Slim and Francis. In this level, each enemy when killed with a berry drops a piece of grain for you to quickly pick up before it vanishes.
  • City Square: Level Eight: Meet the Circus Troupe- Flik needs to find the rest of the "warrior bugs"-Manny, Gypsy, Rosie, Dim, Tuck and Roll. There are arrows found throughout the level which point to their whereabouts.
  • Bug Bar: Level Nine: Horsefly Mayhem (Boss: Thud)- Flik has entered the Bug Bar but it is rolling. In order to leave the city and return home to Ant Island with the circus bugs, he must defeat Thud while dodging obstacles along the way.

World 4: Return to Ant Island

  • Clover Forest: Level Ten: Assemble the Bird- In order to scare away the grasshoppers for good, Flik must find five pieces of the bird for his plan to work. He needs to use the Cannon Plant in this level to reach areas and one of the bird pieces to complete.
  • The Tree: Level Eleven: Blueberry Scouts to the Rescue- Now that Flik has the bird assembled, he must climb up the tree and find the Blueberry Scouts on the branches, while avoiding rolling acorns and swinging on vines and webs to clear gaps. Once that is done, he must find Dot to put the plan into action.
  • Battle Arena Level Twelve: Lead the Revolt (Boss: Molt)- The bird plan did not work so Flik must defeat Molt. The crowd, thinking they are helping Flik, throw red berries into the boss arena.

World 5: Grasshopper War

  • Anthill, Part 2: Level Thirteen: Grasshoppers Leave- Hopper has kidnapped Atta and Flik must save her. Flik needs to grow a berry shooter to force Hopper into releasing Atta as there are no berries or berry tokens to collect in this level.
  • Riverbed Flight: Level Fourteen: Atta Flight- Hopper is furious! He chases both Atta and Flik throughout the Riverbed. Flik and Atta must lure Hopper into the area where the bird's nest is located while avoiding various enemies along the way.
  • Canyon Showdown: Level Fifteen: Save the Colony (Boss: Hopper)- For Flik to save the ant colony, he has to fight and lure Hopper to the bird nest. Once Hopper loses all his health, he gets eaten alive by the bird's newly hatched chicks.

Bonus Levels: If you did a certain task in a particular level, you would be transported to a hidden Bonus level that had a Bonus Movie Clip, three stages had these, they were as follows:

  • Training Level: Butt-Bounce on all four Spiders in a row.
  • Level Two: Hit five Grasshoppers in a row with the Super Berry without missing any shoot.
  • Level Ten: Line up five brown seeds in a row, then grow them all as Mushrooms. Afterwards bounce to each one in a row. NOTE: The Bonus level for this one had a glitch that froze the game and removed your data.

Characters[]

Enemies[]

  • Grasshoppers- These are the main antagonistic force. In the tunnel level, they spawn out of the hole in the ceiling they make. In later levels, they spawn out of the sky and some are flying carrying portable seeds. They cannot be hurt by red berries or harvesters. There is a bonus level challenge where you have to kill five grasshoppers using a Super Berry and not miss a shot.
  • Spiders- The most common enemies Flik faces in the game. They pop out of the ground to try and take a bite out of him. There is a challenge where you have to butt bounce four spiders in a row to unlock a bonus level.
  • Mosquitoes-One of the most common enemies in the game alongside the spiders. They can either fly or walk around to poke Flik with their proboscis.
  • Flies- Found in "Riverbed Run" and the City levels. The flies attack by flying close to Flik
  • Cockroaches- There are two variations of the cockroaches in the City levels. The yellow ones in level 7 function like taxis that will try and ram Flik. The red ones found in level 8 are just obstacles that will hurt Flik if he bumps into them. They cannot be hurt by red berries or harvesters.
  • Wasps- These insects fly over Flik and try to sting him.
  • Mites- They have sharp noses to poke Flik. Only appear in the Riverbed levels.
  • Grubs- Only found in the Tunnel level and are the weakest enemy in the game, as they get killed by a red berry in one hit.
  • Earthworms- They loom out of their hiding spots underground to hurt Flik. They are immune to red berries and the grain harvester.
  • Centipedes- These creatures pop out of walls to take a bite out of Flik. They are immune to red berries and the grain harvester.
  • Dragonflies- While not as aggressive like the wasps, these aerial attackers will bite Flik if he touches them.
  • Armour Plated Beetles- These beetles retreat in their protective shells to prevent themselves from getting hit by the berries or harvester.
  • Daddy Long Legs- They attack by spinning around throwing webs at Flik at a long distance. Only appear in "Riverbed Run" and the City levels.

Bosses[]

  • Thumper (Boss of Level 3)-In the council chamber level, Thumper attacks Flik by flying around the hill area while throwing two mosquito projectiles at Flik. The mosquitos will disappear if they either get killed by Flik or poke Flik.
  • The Bird (Boss of Level 6)-The bird will attack Flik with its talons. However, if Flik grabs the gold berry, the bird retreats until it's out of Flik's reach. Flik needs to grow a berry shooter to bring the bird back down in order to scare the bird away. It also appears in Level 4 as a hazard where it flies in the air and kills Flik if he touches the riverbed floor before passing the thorn plants as well as in Level 15, where Flik must lure Hopper to the bird nest allowing the bird to kill him.
  • Thud (Boss of Level 9)-In the movie, Flik never met Thud. Here, in the game, Thud flies around the rolling Bug Bar throwing Super Berries at Flik, as well as a Super Berry power-up in an attempt to cancel out your Gold Berry achievement. Wait until Thud has one hit point left, grab the Gold Berry and finish him off.
  • Molt (Boss of Level 12)-In the movie, Molt reforms and joins the circus troupe. Here, he attacks Flik by charging at him while guarding a portion of the combat arena containing some grain and a seed token.
  • Hopper (Boss of Level 15)-The main villain of the game. He attacks Flik by throwing White Berries at him. Flik needs to damage Hopper enough forcing him to retreat until the two reach the bird nest. Once Hopper loses all his health, the bird comes in to feed Hopper to its chicks.

Versions[]

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