We were just kids when we watched the first Toy Story movie, and over the years, we’ve enjoyed every other movie featuring Woody and Buzz. Even though we watched the later ones as grown-ups, they still managed to wake up the children in us and make us giddy all over again. We were beyond happy to discover that those good old games are back, now bundled together in a collection from the days when movie adaptations were everywhere and even saving your progress could be an adventure of its own. Disney/Pixar Toy Story: Retro Roundup! brings several of those releases to modern hardware, adds useful gameplay options and, as we’d expect from the talented team at Digital Eclipse, includes an impressive amount of behind-the-scenes material. Join us after the trailer as we explain why you, too, might enjoy revisiting this corner of Pixar history, even if, alas, a few of its toys are showing their age.
Familiar Faces, Very Different Games
Digital Eclipse has gathered five classic games spanning 1995 to 2001. There are 11 console and handheld versions in total, and you’ll be able to jump between Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Toy Story Racer. The Game Boy Color version of Toy Story 2 is presented as a separate entry because, well, it’s a different game from its PlayStation counterpart. There’s quite a bit of variety here, with enough platforming, exploration, combat and racing to let you play your heart out!
The original Toy Story was our first go-to destination, following Woody through side-scrolling levels inspired by the film. He jumps across furniture, avoids hazards and uses his pull-string to deal with enemies. Objectives change between stages, and the familiar settings are wonderfully recreated, although, truth be told, the platforming can be rather demanding. Toy Story 2 on PlayStation, on the other hand, takes a different approach, letting us play as Buzz while exploring 3D environments where desks, shelves and ordinary household objects tower over us. We were reminded of how much fun it is to collect those damn Pizza Planet tokens, fight enemies using Buzz’s laser and tackle platforming challenges. It still has a charming sense of scale, even if its camera controls belong firmly to another era.
Toy Story Racer lets us enjoy competitive kart racing, with different challenges and tracks inspired by the films. A Bug’s Life offers another 3D adventure, following Flik through environments filled with oversized plants and insects. Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is perhaps the oddest entry, combining shooting, platforming and races against villains. There are so many things to try and so many good old memories to rekindle, although the handheld versions are generally more limited in scope than their console counterparts.
The older 3D cameras can make lining up jumps unnecessarily troublesome, while the controls aren’t always as responsive as we’d like. The original Toy Story is also notorious for its unforgiving difficulty. For us, and as we’ve seen mentioned by other reviewers, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command felt like one of the weaker entries, particularly because of its awkward handling. It’s important to keep in mind that Digital Eclipse has preserved these games rather than rebuilt them, so their original limitations remain, for better or worse. But it’s not all doom and gloom.
You can rewind to undo a missed jump or a badly timed encounter, while save states remove much of the pressure associated with the original checkpoint systems. Rex’s Cheat Codes can provide unlimited lives, invincibility and access to locked content, depending on the game. Enhanced instructions and Practice Mode also help us understand mechanics that older games didn’t always explain very well.
We sure as hell appreciated having these options available because the original challenge seemed way too hard to tackle without them. Again, the games haven’t received extensive graphical overhauls, and they retain the distinctive presentation of their original releases.
Opening the Pixar Scrapbook
One of our favourite aspects of Retro Roundup! is its virtual museum. Digital Eclipse has assembled original instruction manuals, design documents, development photographs and other archival material, alongside new interviews with people connected to Pixar and these games. We ate plenty of popcorn while watching interviews with Jim Hanks, Jon Burton, Jason Katz and Luigi Priore, who offered an interesting look at how familiar characters and locations were adapted for the considerably more limited gaming hardware of the 1990s. What a stark difference compared with today! There’s also a dedicated Music Player, allowing us to listen to the original soundtracks without launching each game. It’s hard not to appreciate the attention paid to the history of these releases, especially since the collection is almost as interesting to browse as it is to play. The colourful worlds, familiar characters and old-fashioned audiovisual presentation are lovely reminders of an earlier era of gaming.
Still Worth Taking Out of the Box
Sure, Disney/Pixar Toy Story: Retro Roundup! has its share of outdated mechanics and weaker entries, but we’re pleased with the collection as a whole. The historical material, wonderful Pixar atmosphere and thoughtful quality-of-life improvements make revisiting these old adventures considerably more enjoyable. We’re sure that longtime fans, or anyone interested in the history of licensed video games, for that matter, will appreciate everything this collection has to offer.
- Game: Disney/Pixar Toy Story: Retro Roundup!
- Developer: Digital Eclipse
- Publisher: Atari / Digital Eclipse
- Release date: October 15, 2026
- Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
- Genre: Retro collection / Platforming / Action / Racing
- Modes: Single-player / Local multiplayer (supported games)
- Reviewed on: PS5 / PS5 Pro
- Time played: 3–5 hours
- Played: Solo
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