The game provides a middling level of challenge and length, similar to the Genesis original. This all makes traversal and precision jumping much more difficult than it should be. The framerate drops even more when there are lots of objects on-screen, which is a big hit to its perceived quality, reflecting on its overall lack of optimization.Ĭontrols are also borderline awful, with loose jumping physics, vague hit detection, near-nonexistent feedback when you take damage, and movement that makes it difficult to tell where you are in 3D space. Running at about 30 fps, Castle of Illusion simply doesn’t look as polished as it should. Unfortunately, this update suffers from a very average framerate. Some key story segments are presented through semi-animated, storyboard-like sequences, which have nice art, but I think those would have been better fully animated via the game’s engine. These are nice touches that one would expect of a game starring one of the world’s most recognizable icons. The game also has plentiful, context-based narration, which adds to its movie-like feel, as well as good voice acting throughout. The music - which includes both classic and modern soundtracks - is very familiar, and made me feel right at home. Their new 3D structure means that Mickey can now move in and out of the backgrounds, with some stages switching from side-scrolling to fully 3D on the fly. Many of them are sprawling, and like the original, have hidden paths to explore and hidden items to find.
The characters are animated well, and the levels are beautifully constructed and painted. I enjoyed how it stayed true to its vision of re-imagining the 1990 classic on modern hardware. On the other hand, the 2013 version developed by the late Sega Studios Australia, is more of a mixed bag. I also need to give proper respect to M2 here, who did an excellent job porting the game to PS3, with perfect emulation and a decent range of tweaks and options. Overall, this is still as fun today as it was nearly 24 years ago. I got used to them by the end of the first level, but I still died a lot later in the game, where certain levels require precision platforming, else Mickey falls to his doom. I struggled with the controls at first, which is a common problem for games that old, even the historically infallible Super Mario World. Each level is distinct, full of gorgeous color, parallax scrolling, and the soundtrack is one of the all-time greats, with bright, original instrumentation and melodies. My memory of it was that of a simple, linear game, but there is a surprising amount of variety to be had here. I forgot how big these levels were too, with lots of hidden areas and multiple paths to explore. His overall look remains one of my all-time favorites, and it brought a big smile to my face today. His walk is particularly good, and so different from the more mechanical walking animations in games back then.
He is so full of life, and I was immediately transported back 1991, where I would obsessively study his various animation cycles and perfect sprite work. Playing through it in its entirety again today, I was reminded of all the things I loved about it, most notably the lovely animation found on Mickey Mouse himself. Sega and its developers got good at developing for it quickly, and Castle of Illusion is no exception. The original game is considered one of the standouts from the early Genesis years, following some of my favorites from 1989, including Ghouls’n Ghosts, Thunder Force II, and The Revenge of Shinobi. Today, I decided to play through each of them to see how they compared (and to relive my youth). Last month, Sony released both this and the updated PS3 version from 2013 via their PlayStation Plus service. It was one of the first examples of a licensed videogame done the right way. Its animation, music, and colorful levels made a huge impression on me, possessing all the qualities of a Disney animated feature.
I played it for the first time at my cousins’ house around Christmas of 1990, and I sat there completely blown away by what I was seeing and hearing coming out of their Genesis. I remember Sega’s Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse like it was yesterday.
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