I've always been a sucker for Mickey games that take him out of his element and into more Wonderland inspired worlds, and this is no exception, though I think it's kinda undermined by it's own ambition. It's an obvious attempt at ribbing Castle of Illusion's themes, but with more involved gameplay systems and stage gimmicks. It works, but it's a weird mix of 'underdeveloped' and 'overdesigned'.
Magical Quest sets itself apart from Illusion by extending the game's brand of fantasy closer to fairytale than Illusion's glassy dreaminess, with worlds that convey a sense of adventure akin to Ghouls n Ghosts and such. It's mostly standard castles and beanstalks, but then there's some really fucked up places like the tree with living intestines and a fire world that is really just a hybrid of GnG's 2nd and 3rd stages. Good stuff. The enemy design is where it feels least polished, though: The bosses for the first two worlds are all clearly Pete-inspired, but that tapers off as you get into worlds 3-5, with regular-ass hawks and shit. And then world 5's boss is just, Pete in snowboarding gear?? It's funny as fuck, but like, so confusing. How many of these enemies are just regular dudes under Pete's control? How many are just Pete himself? I don't get it. I'm a little more partial to Illusion, where the enemies are their own thing but sometimes copy designs from random movies, like Alice in Wonderland, Pete's Dragon, Pinocchio, etc
Can't say I felt for the music very much - fine compositions, but Capcom's soundfont is very raspy and farty to the ears. Just kinda stock SNES vibes to me, perfectly fine but not very resonant.
Much of the difficulty curve can feel haphazard, as can the quality of the level design. 3 hits before death never feels like enough of a safeguard, and when that's not screwing you over, it's the plethora of Capcom-certified bottomless pits. Bosses were the part of the game I liked the least, honestly: They all have way too much health, weird collisions, and cumbersome arenas. Ironically, the one boss I really liked was the final Emperor Pete fight.
It's solid and very high-concept for a '92 licensed game, but also kind of a mess of ideas that make for a more frustrating time than expected.
Magical Quest sets itself apart from Illusion by extending the game's brand of fantasy closer to fairytale than Illusion's glassy dreaminess, with worlds that convey a sense of adventure akin to Ghouls n Ghosts and such. It's mostly standard castles and beanstalks, but then there's some really fucked up places like the tree with living intestines and a fire world that is really just a hybrid of GnG's 2nd and 3rd stages. Good stuff. The enemy design is where it feels least polished, though: The bosses for the first two worlds are all clearly Pete-inspired, but that tapers off as you get into worlds 3-5, with regular-ass hawks and shit. And then world 5's boss is just, Pete in snowboarding gear?? It's funny as fuck, but like, so confusing. How many of these enemies are just regular dudes under Pete's control? How many are just Pete himself? I don't get it. I'm a little more partial to Illusion, where the enemies are their own thing but sometimes copy designs from random movies, like Alice in Wonderland, Pete's Dragon, Pinocchio, etc
Can't say I felt for the music very much - fine compositions, but Capcom's soundfont is very raspy and farty to the ears. Just kinda stock SNES vibes to me, perfectly fine but not very resonant.
Much of the difficulty curve can feel haphazard, as can the quality of the level design. 3 hits before death never feels like enough of a safeguard, and when that's not screwing you over, it's the plethora of Capcom-certified bottomless pits. Bosses were the part of the game I liked the least, honestly: They all have way too much health, weird collisions, and cumbersome arenas. Ironically, the one boss I really liked was the final Emperor Pete fight.
It's solid and very high-concept for a '92 licensed game, but also kind of a mess of ideas that make for a more frustrating time than expected.