TECHNOLOGY : Will ‘Beauty, Beast’ Video Games Sell Happily Ever After?

If you haven’t had enough of the movie, get ready for the “Beauty and Beast” video games for Sega Genesis machines, due this November from Sunsoft of America.

“Belle’s Quest” targets girls who are video fans and is based on a romantic story line from the heroine’s point of view. “The Roar of the Beast” is for boys, with plenty of action from the Beast’s perspective. The games include a fully animated ballroom sequence in which Beauty and the Beast dance together.

“Like any love story, there is a man’s view and a woman’s view,” says David Siller, director of product development for the Cypress-based company.

Rita Zimmerer, executive vice president, says the project is close to her heart since there aren’t many female executives in the video game industry and there are few titles that appeal to both sexes.

“A lot of people did not think something like this would be marketable,” she said. “We realized this project involved something special.”

The company will find out soon enough. It is introducing the games at the Consumer Electronics Show next week in Chicago. The pair of games sell for $99.95 in a packaged set.

Siller said the company is also preparing to release games based on its own cartoon character, Aero the Acro-Bat, a bat character who protects a circus from an evil industrialist.

Sunsoft was founded in 1986 and is a subsidiary of Japan-based computer and electronics manufacturer Sun Corp. The company says it is the fourth-largest third-party video game company developing games for Nintendo and Sega Genesis.