Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
System: Genesis
Release Date: December 1990
Developer: Sega R&D6
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Action
Everyone’s favorite mascot is back with his 16-bit debut in Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse! Mizrabel has kidnapped Minnie Mouse in order to steal her beauty. If Mickey doesn’t go through five rooms in the Castle of Illusion and collect seven gems, Minnie will become as hideous as her captor. But the mouse with the most is on the case. Can you save Mickey’s girl?
Mickey can jump and he can attack by dropping his butt down on top of his enemies. He can also collect items in each stage that can be thrown at enemies or held on to for a big point bonus. Other than the throwing items, Mickey can find star icons that replenish his power orbs, of which you can have five. When you get hit, you lose one and when you lose them all you die… wait, the Mouse isn’t allowed to die and doesn’t have lives, but you do lose a try. Lose all of these and you can use a continue to try again. Extra tries can occasionally be found in levels, but more often are added by scoring 50,000 points.
While some levels are mostly straightforward left to right affairs, some of them take you vertical and even make you swim. Keep an eye out for illusionary walls hiding secrets. There are times that you have to time your jump and bounce on an enemy to make it. Hidden rooms are found in the miniature level that hold points and a gem! The last level is the most difficult to get through, as Mickey isn’t fast enough to get under these falling blocks without getting hit. Listen to this music and tell me Pokemon didn’t rip it off!
The end of each illusion room is a boss. These guys are relatively simple, but it may take a try or two to realize their pattern and how to get them before they get you. This is particularly true when you finally reach Mizrabel. She really ramps the difficulty up, and it took me several tries to figure out the timing to get a hit in without getting injured myself. Once I finally did, the gems did their job, Minnie was rescued, and the Castle of Illusion began to crumble without its lode-bearing boss.
Graphics: 3.0
Everything looks pleasant overall and the animations are pretty cool.
Sound: 3.0
The music takes advantage of what the Genesis does best.
Gameplay: 3.0
My only real complaint is that Mickey is slow and that makes gauging a few jumps more difficult than I’d like.
Difficulty: 3.0
Levels are fair, except for the flooded corridor. Bosses may take a try or two to get their pattern down.
Fun Factor: 3.0
This is a pretty fun, if simple, platformer that everyone in the family should enjoy.
Overall Rating: 3.0
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse earns a B. I would call this a must have game for an early Genesis collector. Wouldn’t hurt to play.