Never did I think that Mickey Mouse and
Bionic Commando would have something in common. And yet, here we are. Back in 80s and 90s, before Capcom was known for charging exorbitant prices for content that was already on your disc, it was known for excellent licensed games based on Disney characters (except for
Mickey Mouse Capade; that game just sucks). For the NES, they published highly regarded games such as
Duck Tales,
Darkwing Duck, and
The Little Mermaid. As one of their first forays in the SNES era, Capcom published The Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse in 1992. It is a bit of a departure from their previous games since it had very diverse gameplay for a side-scroller of the time. It would eventually be followed by two sequels, but none matched the charm of the first one.
StoryAt the beginning of The Magical Quest, we see Mickey, Goofy, and Donald playing ball while Pluto runs around. Goofy throws a long one which bumps off Mickey’s head. Pluto goes off to find the ball and gets lost. Goofy then goes off to find Pluto, telling Mickey not to worry about a thing. Knowing Goofy, however, Mickey worries even more and sets off to find Pluto, himself. Mickey then falls off a cliff and lands on a strange land with weird creatures and magic. He runs into a wizard who tells him that Pluto was captured by Emperor Pete, the ruler of this world. He warns Mickey against going any further because Emperor Pete’s Magic has never been beaten. Mickey, reluctant to lose his friend, presses on. The wizard then agrees to help him on his Magical Quest by scattering useful boxes across the land.
Is that Pluto in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?GraphicsThe graphics in this game are great. Mickey looks really cute. He actually looks a lot like his Epic Mickey counterpart, except that his eyes are bigger in this game. The game is very colorful, and the art design is beautiful. In fact, this is one of the most beautiful games to ever grace the SNES. The characters also look very cartoony, which is great given that the property is based off of a cartoon character. The characters aren’t animated as smoothly as other cartoon based games of the era, such as Aladdin on the Genesis, but the animations are still nice. For example, when Mickey is drowning he really looks like he’s in mortal fear. One of the coolest animations in the game is the
leaf creatures that float softy to the ground and then get up and walk. Monsters also look very nice but, unfortunately, most of them look like Pete, so it gets a bit monotonous.
Pete Snake BossSoundThis game has a very fitting soundtrack. It sounds very Disneyish without actually using any Disney tracks. It can be epic or whimsical when need be. Some of my favorite tracks include the music from the
Dark Forest and from
Snowy Valley.
There’s nothing really special about the sound design, but it is appropriate for the game. Mickey makes a cute little squirm whenever he is hit, magical shots sound very whimsical, and enemies make funny farting noises when they get hit on the head.
GameplayWhere the game really shines is in its gameplay. The game starts off simple enough with Mickey being able to walk, run, jump, and grab things. Soon enough, you’ll realize that there’s more to the game than meets the eye. On your quest, you’ll run across magical floating yellow boxes which you will be able to grab and throw at enemies. Sometimes, when you grab a box, stuff will fall out from it. Some of these things are Heart Containers (give you an additional life heart) and Coins (allow you to buy stuff in the stores). Bigger boxes will give you additional coins, apples (points), and even Mickey Dolls (1ups). There’s also another variety of boxes which is red. These boxes reappear as soon as you grab them from the air. You can also pick tomatoes and propeller boxes. Both will allow you to travel to greater heights. Finally, chickens will drop a single coin whenever you “pluck” them.
That guard is about to get a splitting headache.Speaking of coins, they are used to buy stuff from stores hidden throughout the land. These stores sell: Half Magic (halves the magic used), Half Hydrant (halves the water used), Magic Lanterns (fill up your magic), Fire Hydrants (fill up your water), Hearts (fill up your hearts), and Heart Containers (give you an additional life heart).
“You want to return your items? Do you have a receipt?”The coolest aspect of the game is the costumes. There are three costumes that you will acquire throughout your adventure. These are:
Magician outfit: Allows you to breathe underwater and shoot magic. There are three levels of magical strength (hold down the fire button). You can replenish your magic by picking up magic lanterns. I wonder why Capcom/Disney didn't use Mickey's Sorcerer outfit for this.
Fireman Suit: Allows you to destroy yellow blocks with a stream of water, move gray blocks and boulders, and put out fires. You can replenish your water supply by picking up fire hydrants.
Climbing Suit: Allows you to grab yellow and red blocks, take away shields from enemies, climb up mountains, grab onto grey blocks, and grab and swing from swing points. Radd Spencer, eat your heart out!
The Magician’s Outfit, Fireman Suit, and Climbing Suit.The suits are absolutely necessary for completing the levels. There are six levels in all and they are all completely different. There’s Tree Tops, a Dark Forest, a Fire Grotto, Mountains, Snowy Mountains, and Pete’s Castle. Most are stunning, especially the Snowy Mountain level which features an Aurora Borealis type formation in the background and very soothing music.
It looks a lot better in person. Seriously.Each level features a mini-boss and an end level boss. Most of the bosses are pretty cool and require use of your costumes. There’s a pretty cool boss sequence were you have to defeat a bird by hanging from swing points, grabbing eggs with your hook shot, and throwing them at the bird. The only downside to the mini-bosses and bosses is that most of them look like Pete, which kind of kills variety.
The best boss fight in the game.ConclusionThe Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse is a great game from an era long gone. Now adays, licensed games are usually quick cash-ins that clever gamers have learned to avoid. Perhaps, the upcoming
Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion for the 3DS will allow us to relieve those days.
TriviaThe game was remade for the Game Boy Advance in 2002 under the title Disney's Magical Quest Starring Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Published by Nintendo, the GBA version adds Minnie to the game as a playable character who is identical to Mickey in terms of gameplay. The GBA port also introduced a save feature and a character select screen similar to that of the SNES version of the second game in the series.
Unlike its sequels, the first game in the series lacks the ability to save or load progress (which means players would have to the beat the game in a single sitting), and although it supports two players, they cannot play simultaneously; a player only gains control when the other dies.
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