Contents
The Intro
Title: Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
Release year: 2013
Developed by: Sega Studios Australia
Genre: Platformer
Platform replayed on: PC
Short, but not so sweet.
Mickey’s romp through Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse isn’t a long one. But don’t let Mickey’s cheery demeanor or the picturesque levels deceive you—there’s a deceptively difficult platformer hidden within the evil witch Mizrabel’s Castle of Illusion.
The 2013 release of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse is a remake of the 1990 game on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.
I have memories of playing this as a kid, but not many. I remember the Toyland levels, and I remember Mickey goofily swaying his hips when he’s left to idle…
I’ve featured platformers here on Present Perfect Gaming before, and I’ve been clear that it’s not my favourite genre of video game. But after my previous retro replay with the emotional heavyweight that is Bioshock, I needed something a little lighter to take on.
I had completed the remake of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse once before, several years ago, and I remembered the challenge, particularly the final showdown with Mizrabel.
Will I be able to vanquish Mizrabel again?
Let’s join Mickey as he enters the Castle of Illusion…
The Game
But how did Mickey end up in this mess, exploring the mysterious levels of Mizrabel’s magical castle?
In a word: jealousy. Mizrabel, being jealous of Minnie’s beauty, captures her and whisks her away to the Castle of Illusion. Yes, it’s that classic “damsel in distress” story, motivating Mickey to brave the dangers lurking within the Castle of Illusion to rescue his one true love.
Mizrabel has Minnie hidden away in a tower, inaccessible to Mickey in the beginning.
The only way to reach Minnie is to build a rainbow bridge (naturally).
But how does one build a rainbow bridge, you might ask? Well, you need to find the seven rainbow gems of course.
Dare I say a good platformer never lets a good story get in the way of good gameplay, and Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse is no exception.
It’s all about finding those rainbow gems within the levels of the Castle.
Mickey will need to jump, run, duck, and throw projectiles to survive the enemies and obstacles throughout the various levels.
Levels are themed, with Mickey exploring areas such as The Enchanted Forest, Toyland, and The Library.
After a couple of levels in each area, a boss battle ensues, with victory bringing with it (you guessed it) a rainbow gem.
Mickey attacks enemies either by jumping on top of them (in most cases), or by throwing projectiles at them.
Platforming sections often involve needing to bounce Mickey off of enemies to reach platforms or higher areas.
There are also underwater sections, requiring navigating Mickey with the rising and sinking tides.
Speed sections also feature, with Mickey racing downhill through levels (reminding me of Sonic the Hedgehog—even though Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse originally released about six months prior).
Sometimes, Mickey is even being pursued downhill…
While just getting to the end of certain later levels can be challenging enough, for completionists there are collectibles throughout each level.
I had just one goal though: get to the end of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse.
I recalled from my first playthrough, the difficulty ascending the tower and the final battle with Mizrabel.
With that said, it’s time to start exploring Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse.
The Replay
First off, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse looks great. Mickey has a variety of poses and movements as you control him through the 2.5D levels.
The motion in the backgrounds is what gives the levels their 3D feel.
There’s a short tutorial as Mickey advances towards the castle, but it’s not long before the drawbridge drops and the quest begins.
The first levels are in the Enchanted Forest, and it’s here you learn how important it is in Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse to bounce off of enemies, and to grab onto swinging ropes.
You also need to duck, and navigate moving and disappearing platforms.
Early on, it’s easy to see that to be successful in Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, mastery of the environment is crucial—it’s not just about making jumps across static platforms or defeating enemies.
The first level concludes with a daring downhill escape from a giant apple.
The second level ends with a more leisurely approach, with a forest maze providing a light-puzzle element to navigate.
The final boss for the Enchanted Forest provides a scare for Mickey, but little challenge in avoiding the attacks, especially once you recognise the patterns.
Toyland provides a step up in the difficulty, both in terms of enemy avoidance and platforming.
There are sublevels in Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, which are not necessary to complete, but which offer you the chance to pick up those elusive collectibles.
In Toyland, a disappearing-platform section over playing cards provides a visually impressive interlude. I managed to complete this one after memorising the pattern and optimal route.
Once reaching the top of a toy tower, having left the locked exit down at the bottom, there was a quick descent. This time, there was no pressure from behind, and upon completing the descent the exit beckoned.
In the second Toyland level, the puzzle elements come to the fore. There is the reversible section, flipping the level upside down:
A section featuring destructible blocks:
And a clever platform section featuring a mirror:
I enjoyed these sections, and didn’t mind spending some extra time figuring out how to best navigate them where there was a collectible involved.
The jack-in-the-box final boss in Toyland seemed at first more threatening than the final boss from the first level.
But in Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, figuring out when and how you can strike final bosses is the key to conquering them. In Toyland, discovering this weakness made defeating the jack-in-the-box easy.
Mickey gets wet in the next set of levels, either fully submerged, or avoiding the rising tides.
The underwater levels are reminiscent of similar levels across the Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. series.
The next two areas are intertwined, with the entrance to the Dessert Factory found within the Library.
I found the difficulty noticeably more difficult, both in the platforming and with the boss battle.
I enjoyed the narrative that goes along with these two areas, with Mickey’s shadow showing up to steal the rainbow gem.
It’s a comical section, with Mickey’s shadow taunting him as he chases after it.
The final boss battle in the Dessert Factory proved to be the most challenging of the final bosses in Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, aside from the Mizrabel battle at the end.
With small platforms, and little room for error, I needed several attempts before I could claim victory and claim the all-important rainbow gem.
The final two rainbow gems lay within the Castle levels. To successfully navigate Mickey through these requires avoiding aggressive enemies, scaling timed platform sections, and climbing the clock tower to overcome the Oafish Clockmaker.
Where the Library and Dessert Factory levels felt more about precision platforming, the Castle levels presented a challenge more in patience, with the observation and memorising of sections providing the better payoff.
The boss battle follows this pattern, with a repetitive and lengthy encounter rewarding calmness and composure more than requiring absolute accuracy.
It was satisfying to build the rainbow bridge using the complete set of rainbow gems, but I knew the greatest challenge was still to come. The finale to Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse features two parts. The first part is scaling the tower where Minnie is being held captive.
The second part is the showdown with Mizrabel.
I recalled from my original playthrough that scaling the tower perfectly with full health meant that you could afford some mistakes in the boss battle with Mizrabel.
This was easier said than done though, as the tower ascent is the trickiest platforming section in the game. It demands near-perfect timing, accurate jumping, and memorisation that only comes with some trial and error.
This time around, I managed to reach the top with full health on my second attempt.
Entering the top of the tower, Mickey finds Minnie, with only Mizrabel standing in their way of a happily ever after ending.
The final battle sees Mizrabel using her magical energy to attack Mickey in a variety of ways. The first couple of rounds, these attacks are easily avoided by jumping or moving.
From the third round of attacks, the speed of the attacks increases, and the floor starts to crumble away, leaving hazardous pitfalls to avoid.
After each round, you need to jump attack Mizrabel to do damage. While not difficult, you do need to jump onto a platform first to reach Mizrabel, which can be tricky in the 3D space the final battle takes place in.
In the fourth round of attacks, I made my mistakes. I still had three health remaining to try and hold on, with one more strike needed to take down Mizrabel.
I made another couple of mistakes in the final round, bring Mickey down to one health. But I managed to keep cool, and dodged the final blast of energy.
Mickey had defeated the mighty Mizrabel.
See the final battle with Mizrabel in full on YouTube:
A happy reunion awaited, as the curtain falls in Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse.
The Verdict
First off, I finished Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, so I’m satisfied about that. I knew the big challenge was the final boss battle, but I proved to myself I’ve still got enough skill and stability with a game controller in hand.
The classic platformers like the early games in the Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. series provide a lot of nostalgia value to retro gamers. Some of these games are highly regarded for their quality.
And I don’t doubt that. But I also don’t enjoy playing these games anymore, as I know other retro gamers do.
These early platformers have a high nostalgia value for me too, but it’s not about the quality of the game, but simply about the joy of playing video games back then. Platformers were everywhere, and it was hard to avoid them as a young gamer in the late 80s/early 90s. I wasn’t trying to avoid them, though: a video game was a video game!
Coming back to the Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse remake, most memories of the original are long since forgotten, so it’s impossible to compare the two now. But the very reason I played this remake at all was due to having played the original.
In terms of being a stand-alone game, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse looks stunning and plays well. It’s a short game (unless you want to grind through the collectibles), with enough of a challenge for more casual platform gamers like me.
Will I go back and revisit Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, though?
No. Ultimately, it was nostalgia that piqued my curiosity to try the remake. But I’m now content to leave my memories of the original where they belong: in the past. I’m not going to chase reliving that sense of wonder as a young gamer running Mickey around the original game.
That…would be an illusion.
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