Disney's The Little Mermaid II

Ok first off, this game is slightly false advertising as the story is a hybrid of both little mermaid films as opposed to it just being based off the second film, although that's arguably a good thing given how it doubles the length of the game given how short each storyline is during its runtime. Even with its shortened length, it would be far from the worst issue with the game as that comes from how boring it is to play through.

If anyone tells you that Ariel is a submissive damsel in distress who needs to become a girl boss to pander to young feminists in the world, point them to this game and tell them it came out in the early 00s as she is very overpowered here thanks to a spin attack that can defeat just about any enemy the game has to offer. Melody isn't as powerful even in her mermaid form due to being a little girl, however she does still know how to defend herself in this game even in human form where she has less ways in fighting off the predatory waters of the ocean as well as the surprisingly dangerous beach front her castle is situated in. Melody’s story does offer more variety than her mother’s as there's more mechanics added to her campaign which include stealth, a breathing mechanic when she's human and swimming in the water, and even has her fighting morgana in her human form in a boss fight. Speaking of boss fights Ariel fights Ursula in a boss fight in this game rather than Eric, a piss easy boss fight at that which further proves her girl boss credentials this game gave her long before fourth wave feminism declared her a bad role model for girls. Now obviously I'm not criticising this game of being fake empowerment to women as the purpose of these changes was to take the two films and create a game out of their respective campaigns, rather it just feels like it was made as little more than a power fantasy for those who felt Ariel and melody couldn't fight their own battles in the two films given how I doubt anyone would find any challenge in this game due to how overpowered they both are.

Aside from being far too easy to offer any challenge to even the most casual of gamers, there's not much to talk about here. The presentation is abysmal as it's essentially a side scroller that borrows heavily from Ecco the dolphin that was made eight years prior to this game, the graphics in particular are atrocious which is a huge crime given how well animated both films remain to this day. It at least did away with the superfluous collectibles save for the coins which serve as the only incentive to explore these desolate environments this game dares to call levels. There's somewhat of an inventory system, although its only purpose is to limit how many items both Ariel and melody can carry at a time during gameplay, meaning there's some levels you'll be travelling back and forward due to the item management. I don't think they even had flounder and Sebastian in mind when making this game as they're shoehorned in with the former being an irritating companion to our two heroes whilst the latter serves as a pointless tutorial in each level, making an already easy game that much simpler. They couldn't even be bothered including characters from the TV show which is a missed opportunity given how much the game embellishes on the story from both films as it is.

I guess if you want to see both Ariel and melody as girl bosses, this is fairly harmless as it's not like they put anyone around them down like most modern female characters. Admittedly this problem does go away if there was any challenge to the game whatsoever so it's not like them being overpowered is due to bad writing but rather due to how dead easy the game is.