What is the Toy Story Retro Roundup?

Looking back on Disney’s history in the video game industry, the Toy Story series released several video games in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Developed by Travelers Tales (now known as TT Games), they adapted Woody, Buzz, and friends into high-quality platforming and racing adventures.

Following the stellar work from The Disney Afternoon Collection and Rayman 30th Anniversary, Atari and Digital Eclipse preserve the Toy Story games in one wild round-up. Is it a celebration of one of Disney’s greatest franchises? Or does this toy need its voice box fixed up? Like looking through a toybox of treasured childhood memories, this collection is a mighty fine roundup.

Publisher/Developer: Atari/Disney & Pixar Games, Digital Eclipse
Platforms: Nintendo Switch/Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC
Price: $29.99 for Digital, $39.99 as part of a Double Pack with Toy Story 3: Complete Edition
Release Date: October 15th, 2026
Reviewed On Nintendo Switch 2

A Story Worth Telling: What Is the Toy Story Retro Roundup! Collection?

The Toy Story Retro Roundup! collection celebrates Disney & Pixar’s Toy Story series venturing into the exciting realm of video games. Starting with the original Toy Story on the SEGA Genesis, moving beyond Andy’s House in Toy Story 2 (PS1), and even racing around the backyard in Toy Story Racer (PS1), it covers the series’ early years in gaming.

Before going into the collection’s engaging Behind Scenes content, why not open the toybox and revisit every game in the collection?

Toy Story (1995) – SNES & Genesis

Launching alongside the feature film, Toy Story (1995) was developed by Travelers Tales after impressing Disney Interactive higher-ups with Mickey Mania. Going from adapting Mickey’s iconic hand-drawn adventures to adapting ambitious 3D visuals from Pixar’s world and adapting that for 16-Bit hardware was a bold task.

But Travelers Tales accomplished this by offering varied gameplay experiences. While some levels have you running and jumping around as Woody in traditional platforming stages, others change the genre completely. One early highlight is driving around as RC in a top-down perspective and trying to crash into Buzz. Another ambitious level was a level set in first-person, taking inspiration from Doom.

The game is also quite challenging, with the collection’s infinite lives option handy during my playthrough after challenging platforming and boss encounters. Years later, Toy Story on the SNES and Genesis holds up for its technical ambition, solid gameplay, and level design.

Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! (1999) – PS1

After the success of the original Toy Story, it only makes sense for Travelers Tales to continue with Toy Story 2 on the PS1 in 1999. Of all the games in the collection, this is the one I have the most nostalgia for. Inspired by platformers like Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, Buzz ventures beyond Andy’s House to save his best friend Woody.

The toy space ranger can jump, double jump, and attack with his laser blaster and wings. These simple mechanics work well in conjunction with solid level design and play nicely with the concept of playing as a toy. This leads to really fun level design throughout the entire game.

Andy’s Room is a great opening level highlighting this, with Buzz exploring the entire house. This simple area, as seen in the movies, becomes larger than life, with fun set pieces like running through a basement with a large attic or racing RC in the garage. This extends to other areas, like the massive construction yard and Andy’s Backyard.

You are encouraged to see everything a level has to offer, with areas containing five Pizza Planet Tokens. These are the games ‘Stars’ needed to unlock access to levels/bosses. Collecting the tokens is enjoyable, with the game’s strong level design and impressive presentation keeping you engaged.

Even generations later, Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! holds up visually through lively animation work that brings the toys to life, well-realized locations, and a soundtrack that still stands as one of the PS1’s best. Revisiting this in the Retro Roundup! was, by far, my biggest highlight, playing this retro collection.

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000) – PS1

Taking the engine from Toy Story 2, Travelers Tales adapts the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command cartoon series into an on-foot racing/platformer. Not unlike the studio’s work on Sonic R, Buzz runs and jumps through race-course level design that combines 3D platforming elements to capture space criminals from the show.

Buzz feels decidedly heavier when compared to his snappy movements from Toy Story 2, reflecting that this is the actual Space Ranger rendition of him. To even the odds, Buzz can use weapons and hover cars to catch up, too.

While it’s a weaker gameplay experience when compared to Toy Story 2, it’s visually impressive for the era. Sporting cell-shaded graphics and more detailed animations, it’s a big leap from the studio’s work on Toy Story 2.

Toy Story Racer (2001) – PS1

Returning to toy-sized adventures with Woody and friends, Toy Story Racer has crew RC Racing across all corners of Andy’s home and more. Having only an accelerate and item button, the controls are deceptively simple. But this is a unique racing experience compared to Mario Kart or Crash Team Racing.

There is a distinct lack of weight to your racers, making careful driving that much more rewarding to nail. Using toy-themed items and having unlockable racers, it’s a wonderful way to round out the Travelers Tales history with the Toy Story franchise.

Bug Life (1998) – PS1

In between the original Toy Story and Toy Story 2, Pixar released A Bug’s Life. To coincide with the movie, Disney Interactive teams up with Travelers Tales again for one of their earliest 3D platformers. Taking control of Flick, you can jump, throw berries to attack, and ground-pound.

As a small ant, the game’s designed using a ‘larger-than-life’ approach. Specifically, Flick can plant various seeds to grow plants, reach higher ground, and solve minor puzzles. That, combined with impressive visuals for the era, laid the foundations that were later expanded in 1999’s Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue.

It’s an overall enjoyable 3D platformer with good level design, impressive visuals for the era, and responsive controls. Its inclusion in this collection is a great bonus, mainly to see where the foundation of Toy Story 2 originated.

Playtime on the Go – Handheld Games

Alongside the main console games, each title has its unique Game Boy/Game Boy Color version. Each one is impressive for its own unique reasons:

• Toy Story – Adapts the Genesis version’s animation and level themes, with the entire game focused on 2D platforming.
• Toy Story 2 – 2D Puzzle platformer that takes advantage of both the Game Boy and Game Boy Color hardware.
• A Bug’s Life – Adapts the PS1 version into a responsive 2D platformer.
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command – Takes the core gameplay ideas from the PS1 version and adapts them into a more arcade-focused shoot ’em up.
• Toy Story Racer – Adapts the PS1’s 3D racing gameplay and, similar to Sonic Drift, makes it work on a handheld platform.

Their inclusions are welcome for both game preservation and to see how far developers pushed the Game Boy hardware in the 90s.

Hand Crafted Hearts – Behind the Scenes Content

It wouldn’t be a retro collection from Digital Eclipse without high-quality behind-the-scenes content. Toy Story Retro Roundup! contains over an hour of video content detailing exciting development history for each game in the collection.

Learning how some of my personal childhood games were created, like Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue, and seeing how deep of a collaboration Travelers Tales had with Disney Interactive in the 90s was enlightening. Alongside the awesome video content, development documents like level design maps and conceptual art are part of the collection’s history section.

In addition, if you want to jam out to each game’s soundtracks, a music mode is featured. It even includes the PC OST for Toy Story, a version not playable in the collection.

A Helping Hand – Accessibility Options

But what if you never played these retro classics before? Or revisiting the games for the first time after several years? Digital Eclipse has you covered with several accessibility options.

Rex Cheat Codes can be used for every game in the collection, unlocking infinite lives & health, and access to all levels and characters. For games, specifically the Game Boy titles and the original Toy Story, having infinite health and lives can make them more inviting adventures.

But the most impressive quality-of-life feature is the option to let the game play levels for you and let you jump in right in the middle of the action when you are ready to play. It reminds me of the assist modes in Super Mario Galaxy 2 or Donkey Kong Country Returns; it shows players how to complete the stage. The best part is that if you want the raw original experience, you don’t need to use the feature.

These accessibility options are further supported with full controller remapping support. All of this makes Toy Story Retro Roundup the ideal way to play these 90s classics, for newcomers and veterans alike.

Cleaned Up Toy Box – Presentation & Performance

Toy Story Retro Roundup preserves the visuals for every game in the collection, while including welcome visual enhancements. For the 2D titles, the retro filters expected from a Digital Eclipse collection return, ensuring that each title looks as if it’s played on a PC screen or CRT display.

In addition, the PS1 era games in the collection leverage upscaling support while still maintaining their target frame rates. Between the visual filters and upscaling support, every game in the collection looks and runs flawlessly on Nintendo Switch 2.

Closing Thoughts on Toy Story Retro Roundup!

Revisiting these childhood adventures was a wonderful experience, and it highlights how great movie tie-in games can be enjoyable experiences. While retro collections of iconic franchises are always welcome, the movie game tie-in games should be preserved too.

With its wealth of quality fun for the whole family across a wide range of game genres, deep quality-of-life features to make each game an inviting experience, and a history section filled with amazing game development insight for those wanting to learn more about each title, Toy Story Retro Roundup is easily one of Digital Eclipse’s best retro collections on the market.

This game was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.