Recently, Disney applied to register "Castle of illusion" as a trademark. It got me thinking about the old Illusion series and what they could be planning to do with it. They are a large part of my childhood gaming regime and whether they are planning to do a rerelease on the consoles or add it into Epic Mickey 2 to some capacity, we won't know for a while but seriously... this is some Epic Mickey.
Way back in the early nineties, during their elongated search for a mascot that could stick, Sega managed to wrangle licenses for Disney’s most iconic characters. While Capcom had been successfully producing games based on Disney’s latest televised cartoons over on the Nintendo Entertainment system, the world’s most famous mouse had been ignored in favour of the more popular Duck clan. This was likely a reflection of Mickey’s move from lead to figurehead for Disney as he had generally seen a decline in appearances since his earlier shorts outside of general merchandising alongside the infamous cleaning up of his character that he received. The only game he had headlined in the period was the Hudson developed “Mickey Mousecapade”. This really wasn’t brilliant but at least he was out there.
Don’t rule the Mouse out as a bankable star just yet though. He still had plenty of adventuring left in him for this new decade.
Castle of Illusion (Mega Drive)
Probably the most well-known incarnation of Castle of Illusion is the one that started it all on the Mega Drive (or Genesis if you are so inclined). It tells of Mickey’s journey through an enchanted castle in a quest to collect gems so that he can take on the evil witch Mizrabel (Terrible pun, by the way) who has captured Minnie in order to steal her youth. Touch of the cliché, of course... especially after Banjo Kazooie delivered the same story with much more humour less than a decade later but... at the time, when story was mostly a manual thing nobody really cared too much. For the Mouse however, it would be the start of a larger adventure in a vast storybook world.It plays reasonably well and the controls are fairly tight. Mickey can perform jumping attacks to bounce off opponents with his trademark shorts but will take a hit if you simply jump onto an enemy. This requires you to push down on the directional pad or the B button while directly above an enemy. If you don’t feel like timing jumps, you can also find throwable items in each level (which are unique objects in each one such as apples in the forest stage and marbles in the toy world) in single units and bags of ten.
The graphics are nice for 1990 with multiple planes used for scrolling the background and foreground separately. The design for Mickey Mouse looks as you’d expect at the time too, with the titular Mouse looking great in motion.
Progression through the game is the standard level-by-level system found in most games. This is contrary to the later 8-bit version which allowed for a little more player interaction in proceedings. Though the levels are much larger in exchange, taking in multiple sections and screens with sometimes vastly different imagery included within. The first forest stage, for example, has a field section with magical trees and mushrooms, a cave network, a flight through the air on leaves and spider webs and a boss battle against a larger tree that throws acorns at you. This game also has post-level splash screens to report your progress.
Then came the requisite 8-bit conversion. In Europe, Sega were very adept at supporting their older hardware and the Master System would host a range of games well into 1994. The "Illusion" series would temporarily dig in there to hold out for a year or so.
Castle of Illusion (Master System)
The 8-bit rendition of Castle of Illusion followed on the Master System in 1991 and it obviously stripped back on the graphics. The main aesthetic differences are the reduction of resolution and the enlargement of the HUD. The individual levels are reduced in size from the multiple areas per level in the 16-bit version too. The splash screen point countdowns have been removed in favour of an in-level countdown and score update too. This is no Mickey-light however.
It still plays really well. You could even argue that it plays better than the more advanced game. The throwing mechanic has been scrapped in favour of just the butt-slam attack which can be triggered through a combination of the jump and action buttons. Mickey can however, grab rocks or chests from the environment to hurl at enemies in lieu of the level-specific collectibles that he found in all those marble bags previously.
The general feel of the game is more puzzle-platformer than the 16-bit game too and has a degree of non-linear progression. While in the Mega Drive version, Mickey was forced through the areas in order, here you can enter the levels in whichever order by selecting a door. Though, the doors available at any given time are determined by your progress. You can’t do the last level first, for example.
Comparison Screens:
Land of Illusion (Master System) (Old video review on the right - same as following text)
The player is put in direct control of Mickey Mouse in what is a rather interesting side-scrolling, platform-based dream. The first thing that you’ll probably notice is the graphics and animation, which are actually pretty damn good for the aging 8-bit system. Mickey has an almost hand-drawn quality and you'll notice that he uses his classic design again in the game - despite the boxart using his newer aesthetic.
Land of Illusion was one of the games that I received alongside my Master System in 1992 for a long-passed birthday. With me used to playing the likes of Jetpac and Mario brothers, this was a different direction for a while and I played it to death before I even booted up Alex Kidd. The sound of Mickey being hit still haunts me to this day...
It’s a sugar-sweet, role-model of an inoffensive title - almost offensively so. Reflecting the initially mischievous mouse's animation career in which he was mellowed out over time and usurped by that damn duck. To this end, Mickey's main form of attack and the most violent aspect of the game is to jump on the opponent's head. Though it isn't as typical as most platformers in this aspect. In order to make the kill, you have to butt-bash the opposition with a quick tap of the action button while airborne. Simply jumping on an opponent will get you hurt. The enemies fall from the screen comedically after defeat and are mostly inanimate objects brought to life by the dream world. The second way to attack is to pick up and launch items, such as blocks.
The other Disney characters are out in full-force. Firm-favourites Donald Duck, Goofy and Minnie Mouse play a part in Mickey's dream and not the actual characters as you'd believe, merely dream world equivalents. They are joined by almost forgotten anthros like Horace Horsecollar though. It's Daisy Duck that tells Mickey about a Princess in the north that might be able to help him and launches him into the game. In fact it's the knowledge of a Princess that spurs our rodent hero into actually helping the villagers out - the toothy little pervert.
There are items that expand Mickey's abilities, usually granted after defeating a boss. He can use a potion to shrink himself, rendering his attacks useless but allowing him to bounce along on opponents and be effectively carried by them. There's a rope that he can utilise to scale vertical walls and magical shoes that let him walk along clouds. There are more temporary items too: Cakes of various sizes restored health and Mickey Mouse ears would bestow an extra life. Both are found with the game's breakable chests.
Between levels you will traverse a simple map screen, Mario Brothers 3 style. From here you can see your currently acquired items, score - SO important in that decade... the amount of "tries" or lives Mickey had remaining and your power stars. The names of the stages appear in the top left when you move Mickey over them, but don't expect any Walt Disney-like imagination... the first level is quite literally named "FOREST STAGE" - No bullshit, I suppose... if you accidentally click on a level, you can oddly walk right back out again by running to the left instead of having to go off into the level proper.
It does however contain some imaginative level design and some rather fiendish puzzles or sections. The sand castle stage is quite brutal at drowning you for instance. There are some simple yet fun bosses to battle too, like a barrel battle with a crab underwater which imposes the strict sanction that you simultaneously balance your air supply.
If you should wish, Mickey can return to any previously completed level with his new abilities. This is useful if you should want to collect all of the game's power stars or if you need to look for an alternative exit to a level. These pick-ups are rare, with one hidden in each stage. Initially they would raise the Mouse’s durability one stage but after capping out, you can still scour the levels for them for the sake of completion. They also fully heal you and after capping out your health, grant an extra life. Collecting all of them rewards you with additional points on a special screen when you've beaten the game that shows how many stars you managed to obtain along the way. This gives the game a lot of replayability while you try to gather them all in those pre-internet days.
Each level has a strict time limit too. This can be annoying, particularly in the longer, more complex levels. Like Mario brothers, the tempo of the music increases when you have little time remaining, urging you toward the exit. Just don't stick around for too long!
Some of the levels have those accursed auto-scrolling sections that were almost a staple on the Master System, where one wrong step can get you locked in and ultimately crushed by the moving wall that makes up the left hand side of your television. They aren't too bad though, when you work out what you are doing.
But what is Mickey here for? Well, an arsehole named the "Phantom" has darkened the realm with something called "bad magic", the titular Mouse is forced to storm this rather tame-sounding villain's castle in the clouds - the final stage in the game in order to break the curse and return to the land of the living.
All things considered, Mickey is on to a winner here. It is certainly one of his better, more enjoyable experiences with the games industry. It’s the best of the 8-bit Mickeys and the one that formed the basis of the world of Illusion which would appear later on the Mega Drive.
I feel that the series peaked here in its traditional format. The next game would be a big crossover on the big brother console...
World of Illusion (Mega Drive)
The World of illusion took elements from Sega’s experience with the Mouse and a certain popular Duck. It is also the only “Illusion” game where Donald shares top billing. It is the logical conclusion to the pair who had previously taken their own popular paths through Sega’s machines. Deep Duck trouble would follow in 1993 on the Master System but for most people, this was the last hurrah for the pair.
In this game, you could play as Mickey or Donald who have been transported to the World of Illusion following a botched magic trick. The magician theme is constantly present through the whole thing as your main form of attack is a flourish using a cape. The biggest update for the series however, is the inclusion of an admirable co-op system. The levels cannot be fully explored without the aid of both characters as each character has their own route. While they play exactly the same in general, subtle differences block them from exploring sections designed for the other character. This mostly manifests as crawl spaces that Donald cannot clear without being dragged through by Mickey because of his larger posterior. The pair will also often find themselves dragging the other up to high platforms on ropes after triggering some mechanism together that sends only one character to the desired destination or by standing on each other's shoulders to get height. Around this time, co-op play was rarely this well handled, with successful systems being mostly in arcade brawlers.
The HUD is minimal. Health is displayed as cards – hearts for Mickey and Clubs for Donald – that become overturned as you take damage. Though you cannot upgrade your health like in the Master System games, you get more than enough generally to get by and cake and candy is fairly common. In multiplayer however, you can argue over the items amongst yourselves as either can collect.
The animation is once again very good. This time, it’s used to convey the differences between our two heroes’ personalities. Mickey in his hip-swinging, whimsical boy-scout phase is just that as he happily runs around. Donald is angry and impatient as usually depicted outside of his own comics continuity. There is also sampled speech in this one. This is most obvious when both have a magic word to say per level for that stage’s particular spell or gimmick.
Also of note is that Donald's own Sega-developed games were largely made by the same team and were also unusually good quality for licensed products. Feel free to check out "The Lucky Dime Caper", "Quackshot" and "Deep Duck Trouble" sometime too.
Legend of Illusion (Game Gear)
Legend was released in 1995 on the Game Gear. Mickey was a Janitor who had to try to save another Kingdom. Made King temporarily by Pete so he doesn’t have to do any work, he travels through new worlds to stop evil clouds. However, because he learns that if Mickey succeeds he will become the real king, Pete sets about causing trouble for him. This is kind of a batshit plan but whatever. It’s Pete.
Similar enough to the previous titles but shorter in feel. The animations are still an awesome point with things like Mickey’s dancing. It still follows the puzzle-platform structure too. Due to being on the handheld, the HUD was squished down into a tiny area and the world map wasn’t as large as the previous game. Mickey wears a tunic and hat in this one. Not as good as the previous games.
Mickey Mania also headlined on the Mega Drive and Mega CD but I will not be including that as it was developed by Travellers Tales and released across all available formats. The Illusion games may have had more than a little influence on this celebration of Mickey with the platforming and marble throwing but I consider it a different beast entirely. The same game even appeared on the fledgling PlayStation under a new title: "Mickey's Wild Adventure".
Mickey has had a big impact on popular culture but even on games. Having appeared in a good few of varying quality. Most recently, Epic Mickey which I talked about having high hopes for a couple of years ago. He also had a part in the creation of gaming's "Sonic the Hedgehog" as Sonic Team wanted something that would appeal to the most people. Is there a better place to start than Walt's beloved Mouse?
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