A game lodged into my childhood memories is a decent platformer where you can play as Mickey Mouse. There's a lot of creativity in each level; dodging spiders in a massive spider-web, going upside down in the toy world, going into a giant jar of milk and jumping through a massive land of milk and cake, that sort of thing. It really shows the potential of a 16-bit Disney game. Each stage's gimmick seems to be contained to its own level, which is a little disappointing. It's also pretty short (RIP to anyone thinking "Rainbow Gems" means 7 levels), though with only two continues, I can't say this game is a breeze to just play through. I couldn't beat it as a kid, that's for sure.

A flagship title of the Genesis' early years, and understandably so. Looks much better and plays much smoother than many of the console's games at the time, and notably marks a step towards appealing to children with easier but still engaging games, which was surprisingly uncommon at the time. I would probably compare it closest to McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure, which I promise you is a much better game than it sounds like it would be. Would recommend both for quicker, more casual playthroughs.

Revi recentemente o vídeo do Sr. Sr. Wilson sobre o Castle e World of Illusion e fiquei mo afim de jogar. Peguei o Castle de maneira bem descompromissada e acabei zerando rapidinho.

Confesso que esse aqui não achei tão divertido, gostei do visual (tem fases muito bonitas) e as músicas são bacaninhas apesar de esquecíveis.

O que me irritou foram as fases, tinha algumas legais aqui e ali mas metade era ou chatona de se navegar, ou um amontoado de level design merda (a fase do castelo tmncccccc)

Enfim, espero que World of Illusion seja melhor (e também o remake do Castle, que não vou poder jogar agora porque não roda no meu pc infelizmente)

It's both similar and different to the Genesis version. Both follow the same plot and overall theming of the levels, but the mechanics, controls, bosses and level designs greatly differ. I would say that the music and sound design in the Master System version was a bit hit or miss. Makes sense since the Genesis one just has better sound and ost. The slippery controls were just as irksome as the slow and floaty controls of the Genesis if not more so at times, so sadly no improvement there. Having to use objects to throw around to use as a weapon, platform or for a puzzle was more fun than simply platforming like in the genesis. The bosses also feel well done but their ai were all over the place, so the Genesis bosses were a bit more balanced but less unique. The level designs were unique and great between each version but if I had to choose I very slightly preferred the levels in the Master System one. The Genesis levels feel more vibrant and pretty with many details and great design, but the Master System ones felt more explorative and expanded upon. Finally, the final boss was a bit different on both but I also liked the Master System's variant instead.

Sorry for the constant comparing, but I had just played this after beating the Genesis one so I couldn't help myself. Overall, both are amazing versions of the games, each with their small issues, but I feel like the Master System version slightly takes the cake on the one I liked the most.

Excellent little platformer. Ir doesn't do anything super revolutionary but I find the game to be very well polished and quite charming. The themes are pretty creative (especially for the time) with a candy level, a toy level and a library level. It seems Mickey is supposed to be tiny in this game as everything towers around him. The controls are super tight and precise. Mickey is a bit slow, but with the game level design I got used to it really fast. He can do a little butt bounce when hitting the jump button after jumping, and this is what a lot of the game is designed around. You can also throw various items you pick up as projectiles. There's really not much to fault here. Really solid game.

Castle of Illusion es un plataformero que lo hace bien en todos sus apartados, con una dificultad muy equilibrada. Podemos acabar con nuestros enemigos saltando encima de ellos (no todos) o lanzándoles manzanas (para Disney, en estos tiempos, el arma definitiva es la manzana) Esto último es interesante porque no son infinitas, las vamos recogiendo, y a veces es importante las manzanas que tengamos disponibles para superar partes mas fácilmente. Lo saltos son precisos, visualmente es genial, la música... Muy recomendable.

Gráficamente una delicia. Muy colorido y sobre todo mucha variedad de ambientación entre niveles. Variedad tambien en el recorrido que hay que hacer para superar los niveles, desde el tipico scroll lateral de A a B, pasando por escalar un nivel verticalmente para coger una llave y luego bajar a toda pastilla hasta la puerta de salida. Laberintos acuaticos, niveles bastante verticales, etc.
2 maneras de acabar con los enemigos, con proyectiles que vas recogiendo o saltándoles encima. Esta última manera es bastante satisfactoria, ya que si mantienes el botón de salto sales despedido muy arriba y se usa para el plataformeo.
Buenos jefes finales después de cada nivel.
Algún pico de dificultad, pero nada muy loco.
Como curiosidad, la bruja mala que secuestra a Minnie es de aspecto igual a la de Blancanieves (en sus dos formas)

This game is gorgeous even decades later. It does a great job of recreating the look of old Disney cartoons, and because of that it feels like more than your standard half-assed cash grab that many licensed games end up being.

Platforming is pretty fun, there's a creative variety of level themes and ideas that keep things interesting. Music is decent but not amazing.

This a bit too simple for me to consider a great game, but I'd still recommend it.

Never played this game growing up. Always see either held to high regards, especially since it's one of the earliest Genesis games. And man it certainly delivered. The level design, environments, music and graphics all blend together so well in true Disney gaming fashion. Disney platformers almost never disappoint and I understand the hype of this game now. The control of Mickey is where my issue lies. He's just a tad too slow and the floaty jumps really took some getting used to. Made some of the platforming a bit of a pain but the game was still really endearing and fun. It's both challenging and forgiving so it's a nice balance. Really loved this game. Gonna try the Master System version now and see if that will be just as good or better. Highly recommend

Cleared on April 26th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 6/160)
Review updated on May 14th, 2024.

Thinking back to my review of Castle of Illusion, I thought to myself that maybe it was too harsh because I played on the wrong difficulty. I accused it of being unfair, but when somebody said it was "easy". I thought it was strange to say, but then I remembered I played on Hard difficulty because when I accidentally set the game on practice, I thought you had to play Hard mode to get the full game experience, but now that I've gone back to play the game on Normal, I can say that the majority of the game's problems do not apply.

On Hard difficulty, the enemy placement was atrocious. I still remember that one bat that spawned right out of nowhere at the end of the Storm, all of those bats that kept gimping me on the flood, and just so many bats that it feels cluttered and undodgeable. To my surprise, that didn't even apply on Normal mode. There are still some level design nuisances like the falling block trap in The Castle that requires trial and error to know how to avoid because there is no indicator which one will fall and which one doesn't, but I think having three starting HP and not as many enemies to worry about throughout the levels do help give you more breathing room to figure that out. The bosses also go down much faster and by fast, I mean the tree boss took around 3 hits to beat, but on Hard mode? It reportedly takes 10 hits. Its attack pattern is also even faster.

I'm still indifferent to the slow movement speed, but it doesn't bother me as much as it used to, and after having played that god awful Fantasia game, I've come to better terms with how the jumping mechanic works.

Visually, I still love the well varied environments with an enchanted forest, a toyland, storming lands, candy land, library, and the castle itself. I still don't like the saccharine sprite for Mickey himself.

When I was replaying the game, I was expecting maybe a 2.5 stars at best, but this game managed to be an actually good game, and I can now see why people think positively of it. It still doesn't hold a candle to the remake, but I wouldn't going mind another round.

Moral of the story: Hard Mode sucks.