March 1, 2011
Pap
the Disney Gamer's Highlights: Mickey Mania: The
Timeless Adventures of
Mickey Mouse
System: Super
Nintendo,
Sega Genesis, Sega CD
Developed by:
Traveler's Tales

With Mickey
Mouse being one of the most iconic
cultural icons the Disney company
has ever produced it would be silly
to NOT feature him in a video game
of sorts.
Mickey Mania is one of the
many attempts at bringing the mouse
and his legacy onto the
video game world. What's
unique about this game is that it
celebrates Mickey's film career in
the form of playable levels based
off of many of his movies and short
films, something that wouldn't be
done again until games like
Kingdom Hearts and
Epic Mickey came along. You
start with Mickey's first sound
short,
Steamboat Willie, and end
with Mickey's the
Prince and the Pauper, which
at the time of the game’s release it
was the latest short Mickey had
starred in.

What's
captivating about this game is how
the game presents this concept. All
of the character sprites were hand
drawn in order to capture the
vividness of Disney animation, and
the characters and worlds were
designed to resemble the featured
short. This means that you can meet
with black and white Mickey Mouse,
fly around a tornado with Band
Concert Mickey and even see
Beanstalk Mickey shoot out of a
champagne bottle. You can also see
other classic characters like Pluto
and Pete, and some of the lesser
known characters like the Mad Doctor
and the
Lonesome Ghosts.

The gameplay
in Mickey Mania is of the platformer
variety, much like
Nintendo's Super Mario series.
Mickey can defend himself by
shooting balls at his enemies.
Despite the friendliness of the main
character, Mickey Mania offers a
decent level of challenge thanks to
both clever level design and
unrelenting enemies. There were many
versions of the game release, each
one with different additions and
upgrades. For example, the Genesis
version added a bonus level based on
“The
Band Concertâ€, while the Sega
CD version featured vocal samples
for Mickey as well as a fully
orchestrated soundtrack.

This wouldn't
be the first and last game starring
Mickey Mouse, and while the gameplay
wasn't as polished as it should be
it is fondly remembered by gamers
thanks to how it takes advantage of
his unforgettable legacy, and in
stunning Disney animation to boot.

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