A colourful Disney platformer with Ariel swimming through marine levels. Visually charming, but the gameplay stays light and is clearly aimed at younger players.
Your verdict
Category
Platformer1 player3+
Description
Ariel the Little Mermaid explores the ocean floor collecting items to live in the human world in this Sega platformer. Published by Sega, released in the United States in June 1992. Platformer with Ariel swimming underwater, varied marine enemies and colourful levels inspired by the Disney film.
Ariel - The Little Mermaid review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
The seabed is treated in gradients of blue and turquoise, with corals, anemones and shoals of fish animating every plane. Ariel swims with a continuous undulation of the fin, and her animal companions faithfully take up the line of the Disney film, round outlines and bold colours.
The film's themes are rearranged in a gentle register, with timbres close to harp and chime to evoke water. The tempo stays slow, the melodies sing more than they drive, and the danger passages merely darken the harmony without ever breaking the overall softness.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first minutes"
Addictiveness
"Engaging"
Difficulty
"Easy"
Lifespan
"Average"
Technical info
💾0,29 MB📅01/06/1992
Published by Sega
Ariel - The Little Mermaid (Mega Drive) price, value & rarity
A Disney adaptation from Sega, Ariel is a back-catalog title whose wide distribution keeps loose and CIB prices modest. Its collecting interest rests mainly on the high value of sealed copies, a result of a platformer seldom replayed and thus rarely kept shrinkwrapped. A North American release with no notable variant quirk, sealed stock is the only genuinely distinguishing axis.
Is Ariel - The Little Mermaid still worth playing in 2026?
Ariel - The Little Mermaid is a Sega platformer adapted from the Disney film, in which Ariel moves through the seabed by swimming freely and repelling enemies with bubbles. The free aquatic movement and the colorful mood faithful to the cartoon bring a pleasant gentleness, accessible to a young audience. The gameplay stays simple and the difficulty low. For fans of retro Disney platformers and family Mega Drive games, it is a charming and relaxing adventure, mainly aimed at younger players.
