Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland for the Game Boy Color is a game that exists. I think this game is neat. It released almost 50 years after the original film's release, with EU version being closer to its anniversary, and it's published by Nintendo themselves and even features Game Boy Camera support. I don't think it's a terrible or even a bad game, but it's not amazing by any means. There are two distinct gameplay modes in the main story, the platforming where you can jump and run fast, and your goal is usually get to the end and/or collect something. The platforming is fairly simple, and there are a few enemies sprinkled in these platforming sections, so there is a little bit of challenge envolved. One issue I have with platforming is that the collision detection doesn't really match Alice's visual appearence and I usually fell off the moving platforms by simply turning around on the spot which was quite frustrating, and sometimes collecting bonuses or harming enemies can be finnicky as well. Speaking of moving platforms, at least they're not slow and boring this time around, unlike 102 Dalmatians, that released later... wait, huh? How did they screw that up? Anyway, the platforming is just kinda alright. The second gameplay mode is top down, you can run and jump just like before, but I didn't find jumping very useful. Supposedly, it's used for defeating enemies but once again it's not very reliable. Also, some enemies died when I walked into them at specific position without jumping, so something is clearly wrong here. When you get to the wonderland, the hub is in top-down perspective, but a few levels using this perspecive, and these are usually mazes where you have to find something, and it can be confusing navigating these, especially in one right before the queen of hearts where you have to paint all the roses and you're on a timer. There are several mechanics that I felt were janky or frustrating, like the bubbles in caterpillar forest or the ladder lizard section that's neat, but it's so aggrevating when you fall down and have to redo the section, and the mushroom that changes your size that I found more of a hindrance since you can't jump as high and it changes the pitch of the music when you're small. There is a good variety though to keep the game fresh, like a section where you fall down and have to glide down or when you're in a bottle and the currents boost you forward while avoiding tentacles. The visuals are pretty good, the characters, particularly Alice herself are fluidly animated, and there are also some neat visual effects, like the one level that had a moving background and a gradient behind it, a reflection in the water at the very beginning of the game along with detailed backgrounds. The music is pretty decent with a few tracks that I quite like. When the game released, it received decent reviews, and I feel like I'm holding back with this game's rating and I would've given it 3 stars, but I realize that even among 2.5 star games I can find some that are more engaging than this game, I wouldn't really want to replay this game, and the frustrating aspects sour on my experience. Despite that, I find this a neat curiocity in gaming history, and it's probably better than you can imagine.

Reviewed on Aug 18, 2022


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