Growing up, I watched just as many "classic" cartoons as I did new stuff. I was well fed on a diet of Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, and of course there was plenty of Disney shorts on my plate, too. I occasionally throw on compilations of old Looney Tunes and Disney cartoons, and in particular I like checking out wartime shorts. It's interesting to go back and see how blatant the propagandizing was. You gotta buy war bonds, the most important thing is you buy war bonds... unless you're a Commie! Uh, also if you sign up for service in the military you will totally be able to afford a house and retire young, trust me on this.

Different times.

As a 7-year-old, the concept of a game that adapts Mickey Mouse's most famous cartoons was appealing to me because I was so into the material. As an adult who has a more "time capsule" approach to enjoying them, I think the way Traveller's Tales presents these olds cartoons is engaging and well executed, and I believe it holds up. Yeah, I said it. Ya'll out here giving this a 3.0 average, but I'm about to mess the whole thing up by bringing it to a 3.1!

Each level represents a different Mickey Mouse cartoon, starting with Steamboat Willy and ending with The Prince and the Pauper, which was (I believe) the most current Mickey Mouse featurette at the time. Gameplay is primarily focused on platforming, though it is often interspersed with set pieces that are used to convey key moments from each cartoon. One particular stand out is the moose chase sequence, which features Mickey running towards the screen and dodging obstacles, with the ground animating in such a way that it creates a convincing illusion of being a 3D cylindrical object. I swear to God I've seen this pop up in more than one Sonic ROM hack, of all things. For good reason too, because it is impressively done, but that's also something you could just expect from a Traveller's Tales game. Those guys knew how to push the Genesis' hardware, even if they weren't exactly the best at designing games that are actually fun to play. Thankfully, Mickey Mania's stage design, its set pieces, and its controls all feel satisfying to interact with, and there's a lot of charm in its visual and sound design. I do, however, find it a little weird that Traveller's Tales (whether by mandate or their own volition) mostly picked cartoons from the 1930s to adapt, and outside of a stray 40s featurette ("Lonesome Ghosts"), Mania totally skips over cartoons from the 1950s through 80s.

This game has also earned a reputation for being hard, and while I certainly would've agreed when I was a child, nowadays I think it's just challenging enough to be engaging without being needlessly difficult. At least until the last level. Pete's castle is a mess, man. Sloppy enemy placement and extremely tight platforming pretty much ruin any momentum the rest of the game builds, and the final boss somehow manages to feel bullshit and boring simultaneously, but I feel like the pacing up to that point is solid. That said, it's no cakewalk like Magical Quest, Great Circus Mystery, or the Illusion series. Mickey Mania is one of those games that beat me down as a kid, but I can come back to it endlessly as an adult. Truly it is a Timeless adventure. Or maybe I'm a sicko. I don't know, I feel at this point it really could be either or.

Obviously, I think this is a game well worth checking out, though I do question whether having played this a ridiculous amount in the 90s plays a factor in how much I enjoy it now. I am also unsure how much mileage someone would get out of this game if they don't have any familiarity or appreciation for the cartoons the game is referencing. Maybe that's just me putting a big fat asterisk on a game I'm giving a 4.5/5 so I can avoid any backlash over undue praise, but it's that kind of next level thinking that's going to get my head put in a cryogenic capsule so my genius can be preserved for the benefit of future generations.