This is a classic platformer that I had always wanted to play, but never had the chance until I got the Genesis Mini. I knew it had great animation and fun controls, and it did. While not long, every level has quite a few secrets to discover and unique gameplay and obstacles to tackle; it's fairly bursting with great ideas all the way through. The game feels joyful to play from the start, and keeps that all the way through.

It's an interesting snapshot of the lifespan of the Genesis. This seems like one of the earliest titles to really start to show the promise of the system, in a way a prelude of the incredible action games that came in the next few years. As is, Castle of Illusion is a solid hop and bop platformer with beautiful animation and music, coming right before the true greats hit the system.

Played on Genesis Mini.