Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
Reviewed by Michael LoCascio
Most of us veteran gamers can look back at our "wonder
years" and identify a few select titles that, for some
reason or another, will remain in our memories forever (I
feel like Kevin Arnold here). One of those momentous carts
for me is Castle of Illusion, a side-scrolling platform game
starring none other than the legendary Mickey Mouse. Well,
at the time that Sega released the game for the Genesis, I
wasn't exactly the biggest fan of run-and-jump Mario-type
games, and I certainly wasn't into Mickey Mouse (why would I
like some puny mouse when there were ninja turtles available
to root for?). No, Castle of Illusion didn't appeal to me
right off the bat, but it did captivate someone: my little sister.
She played this game for hours on end every single day (this
somewhat explains why I have so many Turbografx-16 reviews
posted on this site; the Genesis was never available to be
played in my house). I still vividly remember the music in
level one that greeted me every day when I got home from
school. "Do dum deedly-do, do dum dum" would have been the
most popular song in America had my sister had her way.
While the game was constantly being played, I vowed that it
would be a dark, cold day when I would give in and give it a
chance. Mickey Mouse was no Samus Aran, and I didn't think
that Mickey would have any machine guns or katana blades at
his disposal (which were my deadly weapons of choice at the
time). The worst part of the whole experience was that I had
to listen to that awful level one music non-stop (you didn't
think that she ever got to level two, did you?). In any
event, a dark, cold day eventually did roll around, and
there was no one playing the Genesis at the time (she must
have been grounded or something), so I decided to give
Castle of Illusion a try.
Well surprise, surprise. I'm sure you can guess how this
story turned out, but indulge me anyway - Castle of Illusion
turned out to be one brilliant little adventure game. As
mentioned above, you play Mickey Mouse, and your goal is to
thwart the evil plans of Mizrabel the witch (I'll give you
one chance to guess who she's kidnapped). Mizrabel makes her
home in the mysterious Castle of Illusion. As you make your
way through the castle, you also must find seven gems, each
one representing a different color of the rainbow. Most of
the gems magically fall from the sky after you defeat a
boss. I'm not quite sure why they're so significant, but
they do form a little rainbow bridge near the end of the
game that allows Mickey to cross over to the tower that
Mizrabel resides in. Of course, the gap in between you and
the tower is so small that Mickey probably could have just
jumped right over it, but I guess that they wanted to add
another element to the typical "save the girl" story.
Most of the enemies that Mickey comes across can easily be
defeated by jumping on top of them. You do have to press the
jump button again while Mickey is in the air just to make
sure that he plants his butt right square on their noggins -
simply falling on top of them Mario-style won't work. You
can also collect various items such as apples and marbles
that can be thrown at enemies that are far away.
Castle of Illusion is just as much fun to play as any other
run-and-jump game that was ever released for the Genesis
(I'd take this title over Sonic the Hedgehog in a
heartbeat). Mickey controls extremely well - even jumping
from vine to vine is a cinch in this game (I can think of
plenty of platformers that could have learned a few lessons
from this title). Swimming can be a bit of a problem, mainly
because you usually have so little room to maneuver during
the underwater sections. But there are very few instances
where Mickey is actually required to get himself wet; put
him on dry land and he'll respond to your every command.
As much fun as it is to play, what really makes Castle of
Illusion a special video game are its visuals. Almost every
level is incredibly colorful and beautifully drawn, and the
game makes particularly good use of multilayer scrolling,
which is what the Genesis specialized in. I'm not kidding
when I say that the graphics in this game will blow you
away, even if you've been spoiled by your technologically
advanced Playstation and N64 systems.
There's plenty of beautiful scenery to look at during your
quest to save Minnie. Even though the game is only five
stages long, you'll traverse a wide variety of locales along
the way. Mickey will have the opportunity to explore ancient
ruins, a large library, a beautiful forest, and even a
delicious-looking candyland. Each levels concludes with a
boss fight, and while the game is basically very cute and
tame, these big guys don't mess around. Mr. Evil Log will go
down easily, but Bouncing Clown Man can pack a huge wallop.
The quick little Frogmen can be a nuisance until you time
your item throws just right, and the big goofy dragon in
candyland will cost you a number of lives unless you are
adept at using your jump attack.
Unfortunately, with the possible exception of the boss
encounters, Castle of Illusion is an incredibly easy game to
get through. Most players won't even feel challenged until
the very last level. The game grants you two continues, but
once you figure out all of the various secrets and enemy
attack patterns, you probably won't need them (unless, of
course, you're a little sister, in which case you will never
get past level one and you will constantly torture the rest
of the people living in your household with that
"deedly-dum" music).
Despite its low level of difficulty, you'll probably play
through the game a number of times before you finally get
tired of it. I recently played through it in preparation for
this review, and I found it to be just as enjoyable (and
visually impressive) as ever. Castle of Illusion will make a
fine addition to your library of video games - but do
yourself a favor and hide it from your little sister.
Overall: 9 / 10
OR
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