Mickey mouse review 2023
I'm here to talk about retro video games today I'm taking a look at one of the early Genesis platformers it's not Sonic it's Castle of illusion starring Mickey Mouse Castle of illusion was developed by Sega and released on the genesis in 1990.
The evil witch mizrabel has captured Minnie Mouse in order to steal her youth and beauty Mickey has to travel through various worlds of illusion to gather seven magical gems in order to defeat the Witch and save many from becoming less attractive when I first put this game on I was struck by two things first it's beautiful the levels are gorgeous and colorful and the sprites are really well animated second Mickey doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry to help Minnie at first I was convinced there was a Run button I was missing but this is the pace thing stay at a nice confident saunter the gameplay mechanics are quite simple.
you can jump and you can throw the limited use items you come across in each level or you can but bash things by jumping then pressing down to defeat enemies or bounce off them for extra height I never would have taken the Disney mascot for a mouse who would use his rear end to commit violence use his vast fortunes to lobby for copyright extensions that would prevent his likeness from ever entering the public domain while building an empire by plundering the expired ip's of others sure but not backside brutality the UI at the bottom of the screen shows your power which would more accurately be called health you can have up to 5 hit points though unless you're playing on practice mode you won't start with a full 5 picking up stars will replenish these points your tries how many lives.
you have left before you get a game over and you can get extra by picking up Mickey Mouse ears items are the things you can throw at enemies these can be apples candles or marbles depending on the level but they all work the same there are three difficulties practice normal and hard but this really just impacts how much health you start each level with and how many continues you get Castle of illusion is quite short with only five different worlds to explore almost every 80s or 90s platformer starts in some kind of forest and this is no exception each level is split into a few segments and they all look fantastic you'll face enemies as well as obstacles like falling platforms and swinging ropes besides the forest you'll also visit a world made of toys a dangerous cliff that features some underwater passages and of course a castle the most impressive level to me was the library where Mickey would run across hardcover books fight book worms and letters that have come to life and even end up in a cup of tea levels aren't strictly linear there are often side paths where you can find bonus items and you might have to do a little exploring to find the way to the exit Mickey's moveset throughout is quite small there's really no new abilities you gain or new mechanics introduced however each level does have some unique challenges to shake things up a bit in the middle of the Enchanted Forest there's a segment where you will be riding moving leaves through spiderwebs part of Thailand has switches which will flip the world upside down and the storm level has places where rising water will wash you away if you're not careful the seven gems you need to collect come from the bosses you'll fight throughout the game in terms of design and the patterns they use to attack they're all quite different from each other I really liked fighting a dragon in a bottle of milk in the library world and the final boss was an impressive spectacle as well though the mechanics of the game are simple.
I wouldn't call it easy the later levels do have some precision platforming and tight timing and the bosses can take a few tries before you pick up on what you need to do the boss from the storm level was the hardest for me as he just seemed to move so much quicker than Mickey it's no ghouls and ghosts but there is some challenge to be found here for such an early genesis title the art and animation and castle of illusion is really quite remarkable the art team studied Disney's animated movies to get Mickey's movement just right he has more frames of animation than most platforming heroes do really bringing him to life I love the expressions Mickey makes when he's teetering close to the edge of a platform and his happy-go-lucky idle animation is very cute due to the extra animation frames he can also jump much further than you'd expect game director Emeco Yamamoto really wanted to embody Disney with this game not by monopolizing all entertainment media but by drawing on all the lore created through decades of movies and creating a positive world of Dreams peace and imagination I can definitely see some influences from other Disney properties in this the witch mizrabel looks very similar to Snow White's Evil Queen in both her forms I get some it's a small world vibes from the enemies and backgrounds found in Toyland the game was certainly successful in creating a pastiche of Disney style the soundtrack also fits well it's not what I would listen to outside the game but it does what it needs to do Yamamoto would stick with the mouse and go on to direct the other games in the illusion series for sega in the mid-90s she joined Disney Interactive where she would eventually go on to produce the Kingdom Hearts games she was even involved in the remake of Castle of illusion which released in 2013 that game had some licensing issues which caused it to be taken down from storefronts but as of the making of this video it is available again Castle of illusion is very impressive from a visual standpoint it looks amazing for such an early 16-bit title and all the worlds are fun to explore because of this in terms of gameplay it is a little on the simple side I did enjoy my time through it but it's probably not something I'd find myself going back to often still if you're a fan of Disney or platformers that don't ask too much of you I think it's worth a shot if you want to see a review of another fun genesis platformer check out my video on Aladdin if you want to see a less positive review check out my video on kid chameleon
