Throughout the late 80’s and early to mid 90’s, Capcom had a pretty good relationship going with Disney. For many years, they would be the primary developer for a lot of licensed games based on both Disney characters are popular movies and shows at the time, leading to what many consider to be some of the best licensed games of the NES-SNES eras, such as with DuckTales, Goof Troop, and the SNES version of Aladdin. Sure, not all of Disney’s games back in the day were made exclusively by them, but when it came to sorting out the good from the mediocre-bad games, you would just need to see if it was made by Capcom, and you could just go from there… even if their logo didn’t always guarantee a worthwhile product. Looking at you, Adventures in the Magic Kingdom. But either way, when it came to the Disney properties they tackled, they also had a fair amount of shots at giving the big mouse himself his own lineup of titles, including a successful attempt with The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse.
At this point, Mickey Mouse was no stranger when it came to video games, not only getting a few standalone titles at this point like Mickey Mousecapade, but also a set of successful Sega games known as Castle of Illusion. However, some of those earlier titles like Mickey Mousecapade were of the usual quality that you would expect from a licensed game, with the exception of the Castle of Illusion series, which I have yet to play, so I can’t give it my clearly 100% accurate gaming critique yet. So, it was pleasant to find that this first Mickey Mouse title for the SNES was actually a pretty good game. It is pretty standard for what it is, and it isn’t one of the best platformers on the SNES, but for being the first SNES game for Mickey Mouse, it is a great start all around.
The story is pretty simple, about Mickey needing to rescue Pluto from the Big Bad Pete, which is enough to get you going on your way, because you don’t wanna see anything bad happen to Pluto, the graphics are really good, being very bright, colorful, and charming for a Mickey Mouse game, and speaking of which, Mickey himself and all of the other characters and enemies look pretty good, and accurate to the designs we all know and love, the music is very enjoyable, giving off that distinct Capcom vibe, and there are plenty of good tracks to listen to throughout, with my favorite being the one in Stage 3, the control is mostly pretty solid, feeling very smooth most of the time, but some of the actions can be kinda finicky, such as with grabbing objects and using some powerups, and the gameplay is typical of the genre, but it does introduce some features that gives that extra boost of quality that makes it fun.
The game is your typical 2D platformer, where you take control of Mickey Mouse, take on a set of six stages across many different fantastical settings, stomp on many different enemies you will encounter along the way, as well as using plenty of different items to throw at enemies to get an advantage over them, gather plenty of coins, hearts, and powerups to help you out along the way, and take on plenty of appropriately cartoony bosses that will actually provide a good amount of challenge if you aren’t careful. As a platformer on its own, it isn’t anything too special, all things considered, but when it comes to being a Mickey Mouse game, it is pretty well done. The game is challenging enough to where you need to keep on your toes, while also providing plenty of assistance when needed, and any skilled player would be able to have a pleasant enough time with.
One of the things that make this game stand out from other Mickey Mouse games is the use of the various outfits in the game. Upon entering a new stage, Mickey will sometimes gain a brand new outfit that he can swap in and out of anytime, with these items being very useful, which consist of the magician outfit, which lets him shoot out magic projectiles, the firefighter outfit, which lets him shoot water at enemies and other objects, and the mountain-climber outfit, which gives you grappling hook to use to your advantage. What makes these outfits pretty useful aside from the additional firepower was that they also are essential to making progress in the game, such as in instances where you have to put out fires with the firefighter outfit, you have to activate magic carpets with the magician outfit, and you could use the grappling hooks to get over plenty of dangerous gaps and grapple onto plenty of platforms. While the outfits themselves aren’t that exciting, they are extremely helpful in many different instances, and I did like swapping between all of them to my advantage throughout the journey.
Aside from all that though, the game itself doesn’t have that much else going for it. It is still a very typical SNES era platformer, one that does have a good amount to do, but it doesn’t really bring anything new to the genre. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, seeing as it is just a Mickey Mouse game, but it isn’t really doing that much different from other similar games, or even similar licensed games of that time. And of course, since I can never be pleased, there has to be something that bothers me, and for this game, that would be the boss rush in the last stage. Granted, this is one of the least offensive boss rushes I have seen so far, as there are only a few bosses rehashed, and you can pretty much just ignore them and head straight to the final boss, but of course, for first time players, you aren’t going to know which door is a recycled boss and which one isn’t, so have fun with that.
Overall, despite a lack of originality and repeated bosses here and there, this is still one of the better Mickey Mouse games that you can find, and one of the better licensed games to come from Disney and from the SNES era. I would definitely recommend it for those of you who are big fans of Mickey Mouse, as well as those who were a fan of Capcom’s other Disney games, but for everyone else, there are arguably better Disney licensed games out there, and better Mickey Mouse games even. Also, quick little spoiler for the end of the game, but at the end of it all, it turns out that Mickey Mouse was just dreaming the entire time, and Pluto never really got kidnapped. Never thought I would get Mario 2’d by Micheal Fucking Rat, but I guess there is a first time for everything.
Game #383
At this point, Mickey Mouse was no stranger when it came to video games, not only getting a few standalone titles at this point like Mickey Mousecapade, but also a set of successful Sega games known as Castle of Illusion. However, some of those earlier titles like Mickey Mousecapade were of the usual quality that you would expect from a licensed game, with the exception of the Castle of Illusion series, which I have yet to play, so I can’t give it my clearly 100% accurate gaming critique yet. So, it was pleasant to find that this first Mickey Mouse title for the SNES was actually a pretty good game. It is pretty standard for what it is, and it isn’t one of the best platformers on the SNES, but for being the first SNES game for Mickey Mouse, it is a great start all around.
The story is pretty simple, about Mickey needing to rescue Pluto from the Big Bad Pete, which is enough to get you going on your way, because you don’t wanna see anything bad happen to Pluto, the graphics are really good, being very bright, colorful, and charming for a Mickey Mouse game, and speaking of which, Mickey himself and all of the other characters and enemies look pretty good, and accurate to the designs we all know and love, the music is very enjoyable, giving off that distinct Capcom vibe, and there are plenty of good tracks to listen to throughout, with my favorite being the one in Stage 3, the control is mostly pretty solid, feeling very smooth most of the time, but some of the actions can be kinda finicky, such as with grabbing objects and using some powerups, and the gameplay is typical of the genre, but it does introduce some features that gives that extra boost of quality that makes it fun.
The game is your typical 2D platformer, where you take control of Mickey Mouse, take on a set of six stages across many different fantastical settings, stomp on many different enemies you will encounter along the way, as well as using plenty of different items to throw at enemies to get an advantage over them, gather plenty of coins, hearts, and powerups to help you out along the way, and take on plenty of appropriately cartoony bosses that will actually provide a good amount of challenge if you aren’t careful. As a platformer on its own, it isn’t anything too special, all things considered, but when it comes to being a Mickey Mouse game, it is pretty well done. The game is challenging enough to where you need to keep on your toes, while also providing plenty of assistance when needed, and any skilled player would be able to have a pleasant enough time with.
One of the things that make this game stand out from other Mickey Mouse games is the use of the various outfits in the game. Upon entering a new stage, Mickey will sometimes gain a brand new outfit that he can swap in and out of anytime, with these items being very useful, which consist of the magician outfit, which lets him shoot out magic projectiles, the firefighter outfit, which lets him shoot water at enemies and other objects, and the mountain-climber outfit, which gives you grappling hook to use to your advantage. What makes these outfits pretty useful aside from the additional firepower was that they also are essential to making progress in the game, such as in instances where you have to put out fires with the firefighter outfit, you have to activate magic carpets with the magician outfit, and you could use the grappling hooks to get over plenty of dangerous gaps and grapple onto plenty of platforms. While the outfits themselves aren’t that exciting, they are extremely helpful in many different instances, and I did like swapping between all of them to my advantage throughout the journey.
Aside from all that though, the game itself doesn’t have that much else going for it. It is still a very typical SNES era platformer, one that does have a good amount to do, but it doesn’t really bring anything new to the genre. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, seeing as it is just a Mickey Mouse game, but it isn’t really doing that much different from other similar games, or even similar licensed games of that time. And of course, since I can never be pleased, there has to be something that bothers me, and for this game, that would be the boss rush in the last stage. Granted, this is one of the least offensive boss rushes I have seen so far, as there are only a few bosses rehashed, and you can pretty much just ignore them and head straight to the final boss, but of course, for first time players, you aren’t going to know which door is a recycled boss and which one isn’t, so have fun with that.
Overall, despite a lack of originality and repeated bosses here and there, this is still one of the better Mickey Mouse games that you can find, and one of the better licensed games to come from Disney and from the SNES era. I would definitely recommend it for those of you who are big fans of Mickey Mouse, as well as those who were a fan of Capcom’s other Disney games, but for everyone else, there are arguably better Disney licensed games out there, and better Mickey Mouse games even. Also, quick little spoiler for the end of the game, but at the end of it all, it turns out that Mickey Mouse was just dreaming the entire time, and Pluto never really got kidnapped. Never thought I would get Mario 2’d by Micheal Fucking Rat, but I guess there is a first time for everything.
Game #383