The game stars Buzz Lightyear in his quest to rescue Woody, who has been kidnapped by Al McWhiggin (of Al's Toy Barn fame) at a garage sale.
To progress through the game, Buzz has to collect Pizza Planet tokens, which can be obtained from completing challenges from his friends. There are five worlds, each having two action stages and one boss stage. Each action stage has five objectives to complete; Collect 50 coins for Hamm, find five objects or characters hidden across the level, participate in an event that involves either racing against someone or clearing a goal within a time limit, defeat a mini-boss located in the level, and clear a hidden objective, such as solving a puzzle.
Tropes featured in the game:
- Adaptational Badass:
- Buzz's lasers are actually functional here, allowing him to destroy every enemy on his path. He can also fly (albeit only when exiting a level) and fall from any distance without suffering Fall Damage, while movie Buzz pointedly couldn't fly and lost his arm from a single fall.
- Stinky Pete is immune to the above lasers and can create fissures with his pickaxe.
- Zurg is somehow capable of levitating himself.
- Adaptational Name Change: Utility Belt Buzz is now called the "Buzz Lightyear Buggy", after the vehicle he drives. Though his utility belt from the film is absent in the game, the only reason we know its the same character is because he says "I have a laser, and I will use it", which is a quote taken from the film that Utility Buzz says.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- For some reason, Rex, Hamm, Bullseye and the green men serve as enemies in the Game Boy Color version.
- In the movie, Utility Belt Buzz fought and defeated Buzz in a fight, but ultimately retained his heroic (albeit delusional) nature and helped the rest of the gang find Woody. In the game, he literally tries to kill Buzz, unlike in the film, where he only has Buzz imprisoned. He also only appears as part of a boss fight that Andy's Buzz wins and doesn't reappear afterwards.
- Adaptation Expansion: Many of the characters and locations in the game were created specifically for it and not shown in the movie.
- Andy's House has a fully explorable garage, attic and basement.
- Buzz goes through a construction site and several back alleys before arriving at Al's Toy Barn.
- The Buzz Lightyear aisle seen in Al's Toy Barn was expanded into a full space-themed section called Al's Space Land
- Stinky Pete now has two cronies in the Blacksmith and Gunslinger; all three team up to fight Buzz for the final stage of the game.
- Advertised Extra: Zurg is on the cover of the game suggesting he's the Big Bad, but he only features as a boss of a single level before the final quarter of levels.
- All There in the Manual: If you haven't watched the movie, you can read the game’s manual to understand why Stinky Pete is the Final Boss and dead-set on stopping Woody from leaving, as it sums up the story of the film for your convenience.
- Alternate Monochrome Version: The Game Boy Color version is one of the black cartridges, meaning it has an alternate monochrome palette to make it backwards compatible with the original Game Boy and the Super Game Boy accessory for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Buzz's charged Spin Attack is extremely powerful, but needs to be charged first and leaves Buzz dizzy and vulnerable for a few seconds after it ends.
- Back for the Finale: Stinky Pete, Gunslinger and Blacksmith all return as opponents for the final level, Prospector Showdown, where they all come after you at once on the plane where Woody is.
- Backtracking: Some objectives require the use of special power-ups that must first be unlocked on certain levels by retrieving one of Mr. Potato Head's missing body parts. Notably, the upper portion of “Alleys and Gulleys” is inaccessible until you get the grappling hook from a latter level. This means you can’t collect two of the missing ducks and also can’t defeat the Clown Top boss, meaning Buzz can only leave with three tokens at best from the level on a first try (Hamm’s coins, Slinky’s challenge, and the balloon puzzle are all accessible to complete).
- Battle in the Rain:
- In the fifth level, "Alleys and Gullies", Buzz fights the Clown Top on a rainy rooftop.
- In the sixth level, "Slime Time", Buzz fights the Slime Monster in a rainy alley.
- In the fourteenth level, "Tarmac Trouble", Buzz fights Blacksmith on top of a rainy control tower.
- Balloonacy: In "Allies and Gullies", Buzz must turn on a fan that will blow a balloon towards a Pizza Planet Token standing atop a trash can. Buzz can then ride the balloon towards the trash can.
- Big Storm Episode: "Alleys and Gullies", "Slime Time", and "Tarmac Trouble" all take place in rainy weather.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: In the final level, "Prospector Showdown", Blacksmith is the Big, Gunslinger is the Thin, and Stinky Pete is the short.
- Blob Monster: The boss of "Slime Time" is a slime monster who lives in a garbage can. To hit him, Buzz must fire his laser at him to shrink him. With every hit, he grows bigger, but during the final hit, the green laser power-up appears and helps out immensely.
- Boss-Only Level: Every third stage is a boss stage, which is completed when Buzz defeats the boss present. They are "Bombs Away!", "Slime Time", "Toy Barn Encounter", "The Evil Emperor Zurg", and "Prospector Showdown", in that respective order.
- Bottomless Pits: One of these is present in the Zurg boss fight — which takes place on the roof of an elevator cabin in a deep shaft — which takes off a life instantly if you fall into it. Given that nowhere else has one and that Fall Damage is not a thing otherwise, it can be jarring to suddenly start losing lives from falling off the level.
- Bottomless Magazines: Buzz's default wrist laser has unlimited ammunition, so he can use it indefinitely. Which is a good thing, considering all the other kinds of weapons he can shoot — namely, the Green Lasers, Disc Launcher and Grappling Hook — do require reloading.
- Camera Lock-On: When Buzz enters the first-person Visor Mode, he can lock onto certain enemies and targets, as well as use the Grappling Hook when he obtains it.
- Canon Foreigner:
- The game features numerous original characters either as enemies or allies, mostly as bosses or quest-givers.
- The zone of Al’s apartment features numerous enemy types with western vibes, and one boss, Gunslinger, later joins Prospector in the final level as a henchman. The Round-Up Gang and the critters were the only sapient characters in the show seen in the movie, suggesting that Gunslinger, Blacksmith, and the other enemy types are meant to be characters from the show as well.
- Charged Attack: Buzz's laser beam and wing spin attacks can both be charged up (by holding down and then releasing their respective button) to make them more powerful.
- Construction Zone Calamity: The fourth level, "Construction Yard" takes place at a construction site. The mini-boss of the level is a jackhammer, whom you defeat with a Disc Launcher you unlock in the same level.
- Cutting the Knot: You can win the race against RC in "Andy's Neighborhood" by either A) hunting down the Rocket Boots, and then backtracking to the level to race RC, or B) not getting the Rocket Boots, and instead getting in front of RC, and having him repeatedly bump into you.
- Dastardly Whiplash: Gunslinger, the mini-boss of "Al's Penthouse", who also later appears in "Prospector Showdown".
- Deadly Disc: The Disc Launcher is an unlockable weapon, collected by finding Mr. Potato Head's eye and returning it to him in the "Construction Yard" level. This weapon is essential for defeating the Jackhammer mini-boss in the same level, as well as for opening the cabinet drawers in the office to get a Pizza Planet Token in the "Al's Toy Barn" level.
- Deflector Shields: The Cosmic Shield, which is the first power-up item you can attain (by finding Mr. Potato Head's ear in "Andy's House"). Although it limits your ability to jump or attack, you won't take damage and can easily walk across dangerous surfaces (toxic green slime, etc.) for as long as it's active.
- Demoted to Extra:
- Most of Woody's plot from the movie is skipped over, and he doesn't make a physical appearance until the Final Boss. While this is justified in that he didn't have much to do gameplay-wise, Jessie and Bullseye actually do appear in person — offering a mission and a Pizza Planet Token each —in the Al's Penthouse level.
- Slinky is a member of the main cast who joins the rescue mission, but he only has three appearances in the game as the host of timed challenges. This is in comparison to Rex and Hamm, who appear in every level by virtue of having hints for the player and having the coin-collecting task respectively, and Mr. Potato Head who has five major appearances giving Buzz vital equipment needed to get Tokens — in return for finding his lost body parts first — in certain levels.
- Utility Belt Buzz only appears as part of a boss fight in Al's Toy Barn and doesn't join the toys in their journey to rescue Woody.
- Disney Villain Death: As in the movie, when you defeat Zurg, he falls down the elevator shaft, complete here with an added Mega Man-style explosion of pixels when he hits the bottom.
- Dual Boss: In the final boss level, three bosses are fought at once who had each appeared individually in previous levels as minibosses: Stinky Petenote , the Gunslingernote and the Blacksmith.note
- Double Jump: Buzz can do this by extending his wings while jumping, popping him further into the air.
- Energy Weapon: Buzz can attack enemies by firing his laser at them, though some deflect it. He can hold down his laser to charge it and make it more effective, and there is also a green laser power-up that provides the same effect for limited ammunition.
- Eternal Engine: "Elevator Hop", "The Evil Emperor Zurg", and "Airport Infiltration", which serve as the tenth, twelfth, and thirteenth levels, respectively. The first two take place in an elevator shaft, and the third takes place in a baggage handling system.
- Evil Overlooker: In a variation of this, the game's cover art depicts Emperor Zurg in the background as he looks down at Buzz from behind. Instead of an image though, he's directly there with him.
- Expy: One of the enemies in the game is a miniature flying saucer that fires a green laser at you. The design of said enemy is very clearly modeled after that of the martian ships from the 1953 movie adaptation of War Of The Worlds.
- Fake Shemp: Buzz speaks completely through reused voice clips from the first two Toy Story movies.
- Game-Breaking Bug: If you place Buzz in the doggy door between the living room and the garage in the "Andy's House" level, enter first-person mode, and then aim at the top of the doggy door and repeatedly fire his laser into it, a memory overflow occurs due to the repeated instances of the sprites of Buzz's laser colliding with the low ceiling and the resulting burn marks, resulting in the game going completely haywire and crashing
as the game begins indiscriminately deleting data from memory to make room for the repeated sprites. This glitch is only known to work on the original Nintendo 64 version of the game and not any other version of the game nor on emulators. - Giant Spider: The "Elevator Hop" level features the Spider Gunro boss, a particularly big spider that has a cannon on its back that can fire web balls and nasty gouts of flame.
- Gotta Catch Them All: There are 50 Pizza Planet tokens to collect. While only one is needed to clear a level, some levels require a certain number of Pizza Planet tokens to open and progress with the game.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: In the "Elevator Hop" level, Buzz can unlock the Grappling Hook by finding Mr. Potato Head’s foot and bringing it to him. To use it, Buzz can lock onto special targets in the visor view.
- Ground Pound: Buzz can perform a stomp move to activate switches and springs.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the GBC version, Hamm and Bullseye go from enemies in their introductory levels to allies in later appearances.
- King Mook: The boss of the ninth level, "Toy Barn Encounter" is a giant version of the laser-shooting UFO enemy.
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Licensed Game: The game is a tie in to Toy Story 2, merging the "sandbox-platformer" gameplay of Super Mario 64 and Spyro the Dragon. - Life Meter: Buzz's one takes the form of his own battery power, which can be recharged by finding fresh batteries.
- Monster Clown: One of the mini-bosses in the game is the Clown Top boss, a spinning top with the head of a clown, who appears in the fifth level of the game, Alleys and Gullies. Although he is incredibly easy to defeat, that doesn't make him any less creepy.
- Plot Coupon: The Pizza Planet Tokens.
- Pre-Rendered Graphics: The cutscenes are clips from the movie.
- Quad Damage: The Green Laser power-up, which massively upgrades Buzz's laser so that it can rapidly fire shots as powerful as his default one is when fully charged. It only has limited ammunition however (which is shown where the charge bar usually would be), and once that runs out, you're back to the basic red laser.
- Racing Minigame: The first two levels have missions where Buzz races RC. The first is in the garage of Andy's House, and the second is in the garden of Andy's Neighborhood.note There's also a race against a floating UFO toy in Al's Space Land, where Buzz rides across zip lines. All three of these races reward Buzz with a Pizza Planet Token if he wins.
- Sequence Breaking: As mentioned in Cutting the Knot, it's possible to beat RC's second race without needing the Rocket Boots that can only be obtained later; simply get directly in front of him early on and RC will keep bumping into you backwards and be unable to get past.
- Space Zone: "Al's Space Land", a space-themed toy aisle that serves as the eighth level.
- Spiders Are Scary: The mini-boss of the tenth level, "Elevator Hop" is the Spider Gunro, a cannon-wielding Giant Spider that's fought in the highest section of the elevator.
- Spin Attack: Buzz can attack enemies by spinning his wings at them and is the only way to beat the last few bosses (Emperor Zurg, The Prospector and the Blacksmith). He can also charge up and perform a super spin attack, which leaves him dizzy and vulnerable for a few moments afterwards.
- Suddenly Speaking: Downplayed example. Characters who don't talk in the movie — like RC and Bullseye — do here so they can give you missions, but only in the form of written text boxes.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Buzz can stay underwater indefinitely. Justified since he's a toy and has neither lungs nor the need to swim. He also sinks straight to the bottom and can walk and jump as normal, just more slowly.
- Terrible Trio: Stinky Pete, Gunslinger, and Blacksmith in the final level, "Prospector Showdown", all three of whom were fought individually as mini-bosses in previous levels.
- The Team: Even though you only play as Buzz, the toys who travelled with Buzz in the movie — Rex, Hamm, Mr. Potato Head, and Slinky — are clearly still accompanying him, as they're all seen in just about every level giving tasks to him or helping him acquire things.
- Timed Mission: There are a number of objectives that require Buzz to complete a challenge within a time limit to win a Pizza Planet token, such as collecting a number of items or reaching a certain point.
- Toy Time: Given the nature of the game's setting, every level has at least a little bit of this, but the toy theme is especially prominent in the third world, which takes place in Al's Toy Barn.
- Tricked-Out Shoes: The Rocket Shoes, which you can attain as a power-up item in "Al's Toy Barn" by finding and returning Mr. Potato Head's lost arm. They're essentially jet-propelled roller skates that launch Buzz forward at very high speed, allowing him to — with some practice, anyway — easily clear large gaps and gain the upper hand in racing or time trial-based events. The Hover Shoes (which you find in "Airport Infiltration") are another example, which let Buzz slowly float upward to reach high places he would otherwise be unable to access.
- Walk, Don't Swim: To go with Buzz's Super Not-Drowning Skills, he also has the ability to walk, jump and perform most of his usual moves underwater with no issues, besides being a bit slower.
- The Wild West: Al's Penthouse, which is filled with Woody's Roundup merchandise, and a western Leitmotif as the background music. The boss of the level is Gunslinger.
- Wolfpack Boss: The final boss fight is against the aforementioned Terrible Trio of Stinky Pete, Gunslinger, and Blacksmith, who all come after you at once.
- Zero-Effort Boss: All of the bosses in the game are incredibly easy to defeat. Though the Dinosaur boss, the aforementioned Gunslinger, and the Prospector are the most notable examples.
