Together Retro February ‘21 - Mickey & Donald in 8- & 16-Bit

[Ziggy]

Fun games I’m sure, but they don’t fit the theme! 8- and 16-bit games only! Play Mickey Mousecapade - it’s tough! - and Magical Quest instead.

I know, but I gotta play games when the mood strikes or I end up playing nothing (which is actually why I rarely participate in TR). And I'm actually not quite in the mood for Epic Mickey right now, but I'm hoping playing all of these Mickey games will put me in the mood (it's already starting to). It's been on my to-do list for about 10 years now (unfinished games feel worse than unplayed games IMO). It'll feel good when I can finally cross it off my list. But I am focusing on 8 and 16-bit games right now. I'm just hoping that toward the end of the month I might feel up to finally giving Epic Mickey another go.

I forgot to mention about Castle of Illusion... I really liked the that it had a clock tower level. I was thinking, "When did this turn into a Castlevania game?"

I'm not sure which game I'm going to play next. I was messing around with World of Illusion and Quackshot to get a feel for them. From the few minutes I've spent with them, I feel like they're both superior to Castle of Illusion. These seems natural since they're both successors to Castle.

One complaint I had with Castle is that it feels a little sluggish at first, and I was wishing there was as run button. Well, Quackshot and World add a run button. But in Quackshot, the animation changes when you're running but it doesn't feel like you're actually going much faster. In World, you definitely move faster. Oh, and I love the run animation that Mickey has in World.

All three games (Castle, World and Quackshot) have very different attack mechanics, but I'm not sure which I prefer. Castle was the first of the three that I was aware of, and the butt stomp mechanic just seems natural. I've seen some videos before of World with the cape thing, and it just seemed weird. And when playing the game, it definitely feels very strange at first. But it works pretty well, and after just a minute of playing it seems like a normal attack. Quackshot is interesting because you don't seem to defeat enemies, just freeze them. This also seems very strange at first. I see that they also use this for level progression, you have to freeze moving platforms in order to advance.

The graphics of World and Quackshot are definitely improved over Castle. I especially love the sprite animation of the titular characters. The backgrounds, from what I've seen so far, are much nicer. And I like that World has some voice sampling, which sounds pretty good for the Genesis.

I'm still not sure which game I'm going to play next. I might poke around a bit more with the other games on my list. I've never played the Magical Quest games.

edit: Whoa, actually Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow looks awesome. I might have to check that one out next.

[prfsnl_gmr]

It took a few attempts, but I knocked out Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse for the Sega Genesis tonight. It is a solid, deliberately-paced platformer. It looks and sounds fine. Very early-period Sega Genesis, and the mechanics aren’t too different from what you’d find in a standard 8-bit platformer. (You jump and stomp on things, basically. There’s also a little bit of swimming.) The game probably gets a bit too tough for its target audience by the end, and keeping with tradition, the clock tower level is awful. Otherwise, though, it’s fine. I don’t think I’ll revisit it much, and the remake blows it out of the water. I am looking forward to the rest of the series, though, and strangely, I’m particularly looking forward to the 8-bit entries.

World of Illusion starring Mickey and Donald is up next!

[TheEagleXIII]

Finished Quackshot on Mega Drive today. The plunger-launcher is a really cool mechanic. You eventually upgrade it to shoot at walls to make your own platforms to progress over obstacles and up walls, which feels ahead of its time for a game from 1991.

I’m not a fan of it as a weapon. Except for bosses, firing it stuns enemies allowing you to pass through them. I get it’s Disney, but it odd not clearing them off the screen. Enemies can be cleared with the popcorn ammo which is few and far between or by collecting 5 chili’s to fill Donald’s ‘temper’ which sends him on a mini-rampage. I only remember seeing chilis in the first level or two - so it’s redundant for the rest of the game.

It’s pretty easy, but the difficulty is artificially cranked up with trial and error gameplay and beginners traps. Donald can also be a bit cumbersome to control at times. There’s endless continues, though. So it wouldn’t have been impossible for any kid back in 91 willing to persevere to complete.

There’s a couple decent tracks, but I found most of the music incredibly grating. It doesn’t help most of them are on a 20-30 second loop.

It didn’t live up to my expectations but I did enjoy it - it definitely has its moments and it’s not difficult to see why it would have been a stand-out title at the time. Big nicely detailed sprites and Donald’s animations are great. Most levels lead up to a tomb-like level (which gives me weird vibes of both Super Mario’s castles and the modern Tomb Raider’s tomb discoveries) which are the better levels. Levels can be tackled in any order, although you do have to collect items in a certain order to progress. On the plus side, when you get to the end of a level and don’t have the item to go further, Donald plants a flag and you can summon a plane to take you to a different level. Then when you return you restart at the checkpoint rather than being forced to redo the entire thing.

I’m looking forward to the 8-but entires too. Played a few of the Master System titles at my cousins as a kid. Think one of those might be up next!

[Syndicate]

...I'm still working on Okami from January, but this is a cool one. Even better I have a few of the games (Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion, Quackshot, and I may even try Fantasia) and most of these can be taken care of in a weekend.

[prfsnl_gmr]

...I'm still working on Okami from January, but this is a cool one. Even better I have a few of the games (Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion, Quackshot, and I may even try Fantasia) and most of these can be taken care of in a weekend.

Many of these can be knocked out after work! All of them could be knocked out in a weekend.

I just beat World of Illusion starring Mickey & Donald for the Sega Genesis. It is a really beautifully-animated platformer that just is not compelling from a gameplay perspective at all. You jump on stuff and you attack enemies. It moves really slowly, and it’s insanely easy. (Even as a kid, I would have felt ripped off if I’d purchased this game.) Again, though, it looks really great, and maybe it’s more fun with two people. Reading more about the game, it apparently has different slightly different content depending on whether you play through it as Mickey, Donald, or Mickey & Donald. That’s cool, especially for 1992, but I’m afraid the gameplay isn’t compelling enough for me to justify another spin through this game.

Now...I’m at a crossroads. Do I play through more Genesis games? Or, doI keep running through the Illusion series? Decisions, decisions...

[alienjesus]

...I'm still working on Okami from January, but this is a cool one. Even better I have a few of the games (Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion, Quackshot, and I may even try Fantasia) and most of these can be taken care of in a weekend.

Many of these can be knocked out after work! All of them could be knocked out in a weekend.

I just beat World of Illusion starring Mickey & Donald for the Sega Genesis. It is a really beautifully-animated platformer that just is not compelling from a gameplay perspective at all. You jump on stuff and you attack enemies. It moves really slowly, and it’s insanely easy. (Even as a kid, I would have felt ripped off if I’d purchased this game.) Again, though, it looks really great, and maybe it’s more fun with two people. Reading more about the game, it apparently has different slightly different content depending on whether you play through it as Mickey, Donald, or Mickey & Donald. That’s cool, especially for 1992, but I’m afraid the gameplay isn’t compelling enough for me to justify another spin through this game.

Now...I’m at a crossroads. Do I play through more Genesis games? Or, doI keep running through the Illusion series? Decisions, decisions...

I vote you do the 8 bit Illusion games to how the series kinda did it's own thing, then move on to the Sega Donald Duck trilogy (Lucky Dime Caper, Deep Duck Trouble, Quackshot) to round out a look at Sega's Disney titles.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Definitely. I tried Fantasia for a bit last night, and it’s dire. I’m going to continue with the Illusion series.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I made a run at Castle of Illusion for the Game Gear tonight. Made it to the second boss when my batteries died, perfectly replicating an authentic Game Gear experience!

I’ll charge up my little handheld emulation machine tonight, and I’ll make another run at it tomorrow. It is pretty apparent already, though, that:

Castle of Illusion (Game Gear) > Castle of Illusion (Genesis)

[Ziggy]

Castle of Illusion (Game Gear) > Castle of Illusion (Genesis)

Is the GG version the same or based off the SMS version?

[prfsnl_gmr]

Castle of Illusion (Game Gear) > Castle of Illusion (Genesis)

Is the GG version the same or based off the SMS version?

I’m sure there are a few changes for the smaller screen, but it’s the same game, as far as I can tell.