The Lion King (franchise) of five games. It features the characters Rafiki, Timon and Pumbaa. A game called "The Lion King 1½" was published in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance, based on the direct-to-video film and featuring Timon and Pumbaa as the playable characters. Some of the film's characters are playable in "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure", a spin-off of the Tony Hawk games. In the Disney Interactive Studios and Square Enix video game "Kingdom Hearts", Simba appears as an ally that Sora can summon during battles. He also appears again as a summon character in "". In "Kingdom Hearts II", the Pride Lands
The Lion King Disney's own "Bambi" as being their model during development. The 1994 release of "The Lion King" drew a protest in Japan, where "Kimba" and its creator Osamu Tezuka are cultural icons. 488 Japanese cartoonists and animators, led by manga author Machiko Satonaka, signed a petition accusing Disney of plagiarism and demanding that they give due credit to Tezuka. The controversy surrounding "Kimba" and "The Lion King" was parodied in a 1995 episode of "The Simpsons", where a lion appearing in the clouds is saying, "You must avenge my death, Kimba... I mean, Simba." Protests were raised against one scene where