Gamer Tuesday
January 25, 2011
Pap the Disney Gamer's Highlights:
The Weirdest Disney Games
I LOVE weird games. Yes, I like my platforming adventures,
classic role
playing games and even the occasional war game. But if a
game is very unique, different, and wacky, I am there, day one.
To me, they represent those rare gaming moments that take you to
an event that you don't always get to partake in. I've played
everything from games about fish men to games where you do some
mundane tasks like pulling pants down, feeding the cat and
poking chickens... in less than 5 seconds.
The Disney gaming universe is also filled with its share of
weird games. Some are weird because they take a well known
Disney franchise and places it in a concept that is very
different and unexpected, others are weird because the license
itself its weird. These are some of the weirdest games you may
encounter when shopping around for games:
-
The Kingdom Hearts Series (PlayStation 2, Game Boy
Advance,
Nintendo DS, PSP)
Think about it. The franchise stars kids and teenagers with
really weird hair, they wear even weirder clothes, yield giant
keys as weapons, fight off enemies that have no hearts, Mickey,
Donald and Goofy often join the foray, and they get to travel to
other Disney worlds where they must not utter the fact that they
are from another universe. And in one of the games, you get to
summon
Bambi into battle! If you are not weirded out by that,
then
Kingdom Hearts is for you. But in all seriousness, the
Kingdom Hearts
franchise is actually one of the deepest and most popular
RPGs of recent times, thanks to a story all about friendship and
the magic of worlds. But when it was first announced, people
thought it was one of the weirdest crossover titles they had
ever seen. And yet, it all worked out, just like bacon and
chocolate...

-
The Little Mermaid Pinball Frenzy (Game Boy Color)
The Little Mermaid
tells the story of a young
mermaid whose only wish is to become human so she can win
the heart of a beautiful prince. But in order to do so she
sacrifices her voice to the sea witch Ursula, and must win his
love before the sun sets on the third day. Tell me, did any of
that make you think “PINBAAAAAALLL GAMEEEEEEEE� Well, that is
the basic premise behind the Little Mermaid Pinball Frenzy for
the
Game Boy Color. You have two pinball tables based on the
two Little Mermaid movies, and you must score as many points as
possible. It's not a bad game, nor is it very strange regardless
of what my ramblings say. But considering that the
Little Mermaid story is very romantic and about the
frailties of life, it is weird that they made a
pinball game
out of the movies.

-
Beauty and
the Beast: Board Game Adventure (Game
Boy Color)
Much like “The Little Mermaid Pinball Frenzyâ€, this game
takes a romantic concept and turns it into a lighthearted game.
The object of the game is to reach to the finish line of the
board game. You will be playing as the characters from the
movie. Each space you land on features a different mini-game,
such as fighting off wolves as the Beast and juggling logs with
Maurice. Again, it's not a surreal experience, but with the
story being more dramatic than usual it is surprising to see a
game like this was made.

-
Mickey's Speedway USA
(Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color)
One day,
Mickey Mouse decides to give
Pluto a
diamond studded dog collar, which catches the attention of the
weasels. They kidnap him, forcing Mickey to call all of his
friends up and go on a rescue mission...by participating in kart
races...across the United States of America. Did I mention the
game was developed by an English development house named Rare?
All kidding aside, Mickey's Speedway USA is a fun kart racing
game starring all of your favorite Mickey Mouse friends. It is
very weird, however, how all these different elements came
together to give life to this game. Definitely not the weirdest,
but it is certainly a little screwy.

-
Magical Quest: Starring
Mickey Mouse
(Super NES, Game Boy Advance)
This Super NES classic is more charmingly whimsical than
weird, but the story behind it is quite silly. One day while
playing catch, Pluto goes over the hill and disappears.
Mickey goes after him, and ends up in a different world
filled with magic. The game's appeal is that Mickey can use
different costumes to attack enemies and explore worlds. He
can be a magician, a mountain climber and a fireman. Yes, a
fireman! Seriously, how can you resist fireman Mickey?? Once
again, it isn't really that weird, but it certainly is
surreal to see Mickey defeating magical bats with his fire
hose.

Those are a sample of some weird Disney gaming moments. Not
all of them are completely weird, but it shows that no matter
the limitations, a developer will try and create a game out of
anything Disney has to offer.
Now, if you excuse me, I have to go back and continue working
on my own weird Disney game: It stars this weird Disney nerd who
gets trapped by the Evil Queen from
Snow White in an alternate universe where he must use a
magic wand as his weapon, and he has to sing and dance in order
to survive the hordes of the dancing mushrooms from Fantasia!
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