This series is a look back at the Disney games that helped pave the road to Epic Mickey. This is an homage to the great and even the not-so-great titles that cluttered shelves and filled game store back rooms. Some of these games were filled with potential, some were sadly forgotten before their time. In order to appreciate Epic Mickey we have to understand how far gaming has come and how much Warren Spector and the people at Junction Point and Disney Interactive owe to the legacy titles. This blog will not trace every Disney videogame ever made, only the notable ones, the ones whose inclusion here helped shape genres and even the industry.
The first major player for Disney, one which wasn't regarded as another childish licensed game was was built around a popular Disney Afternoon series titled DuckTales. The afternoon series was successful for numerous reasons, not the least of which was a solid animation effort, memorable music, clever writing with stories and situations inspired the legendary Carl Bark's library. Capcom actually had a long and storied relationship working with Disney well past DuckTales but it was mainly the adventures of Scrooge McDuck which most gamers remember today.
The Capcom game was based mainly on the full screen level designs featured in their other classic NES titles, including Trojan, Strider and Mega Man. DuckTales took the tried and true platform design and built a series of adventures that took Scrooge around the world. Each level was filled with appearances from the supporting cast, the nephews Huey, Dewey, Louie and the pilot Launchpad McQuack. The game introduced a new mechanic to the Capcom formula, something akin to the swing for the Bionic Commando or slide for Strider, Scrooge had a pogo-stick-like bounce attack using his cane. This ability to trounce opponents and traverse gaps in the stages gave diversity to the gameplay and allowed for many original level designs. This mechanic combined with some catchy and quirky songs made the game stand apart from the million other Mario-clones that had flooded the market by 1990. The game was so influential among gamers and Disney aficionados that Warren Spector has mentioned it in more than one interview. Capcom followed up with a sequel to DuckTales that was all but ignored.
The early 90's were a transition period for consoles. Minor upgrades to 8-bit money makers like Mega Man were not enough to satiate the "arcade quality" look and feel of the 16-bit generation. The graphics, sound, animation and design of subsequent games were leaps and bounds better than the best the NES had to offer. The most note worthy of the new titles, the "new" DuckTales, would feature Mickey Mouse in the Castle of Illusion. Sega would wrestle the quality label from Capcom by providing discerning players with a game whose design, animation and playability was up to the big mascot titles. With Castle of Illusion, Mickey would no longer play second string to Mario or the newcomer Sonic the Hedgehog. The expanded memory in 16-bit cartridges, more powerful graphics card and support for stereo sound meant that gamers would demand higher levels of detail and design in games. The fluid movement of Mickey through the levels was far ahead of the curve. This generation of Disney games inspired a generation of gamers, artists and animators.
As great as Castle of Illusion was, it was surpassed in almost every regard by Sega's follow-up. Mickey Mouse was joined by Donald Duck in the World of Illusion. This title featured levels inspired by animated movies, larger characters, more frames of animation, new abilities and co-op gameplay. Gamers that had grown up on the animated adventures of the duo were left in awe by how fluid characters appeared in game. Mickey, Donald and the baddies had a familiar "stretch and squash" quality to their movement. It was more lifelike than the "stiff" animation that plagued the Mario character. It was assumed that some day consoles could present animated character indistinguishable from their television counterparts. Combining this animation with traditional 2-D level design meant that gamers could easily get into the gameplay. Between DuckTales and World of Illusion gamers were under the impression that Disney might be on the verge of conquering the consoles as they had animation. Unfortunately this momentum was short lived.
Donald Duck's solo effort, Quack Shot, also by Sega, felt rushed and lackluster. The premise was among the first in Disney history to change the look of the title character in order to fit the game plot. Gone were Donald's sailor blues and cap, they were replaced with a fedora, leather jacket and gun, very much in the Indiana Jones style. It was obvious that Donald had evolved into some sort of adventuring hero. Characters from DuckTales made cameos, including the nephews and Uncle Scrooge. Donald's trick gun could shoot different type of projectiles rather than bullets. Although the gun fired plungers, bubblegum or popcorn, it was a more intimidating act than most gamers were used to seeing. The magic cape and apple throwing from previous titles were far simpler and less menacing to young audiences. A rating concern aside, the lack of originality in level design, forgettable music and formulaic boss battles meant that Sega was simply going through the paces. Just like Capcom had done two years prior, Sega lost the magic within a generation.
The Disney titles suffered because gameplay marginally evolved between the 8-bit and 16-bit generations. Level design was based partially on gun mechanics, such as the ability to create barriers and build ladders. This gameplay element pushed Quack Shot along and allowed gamers to revisit levels and do more exploration after they had acquired different shot types. Unfortunately these were the same mechanics that Capcom had exploited years before in the Mega Man series. The lack of originality was beginning to show and the Disney name could no longer make up for average gameplay.
The things that Disney had going for it were the recognizable characters and top-quality animation. Clever themes, familiar characters and bold colors helped anchor the mascot characters with the gaming public. Unfortunately gamers would be more critical of Disney because they had begun to saturate the market with average titles. While there were significant gains between DuckTales and World of Illusion, Disney seemed to fall flat with the other titles in the 16-bit wars. One of the last notable attempts to make Disney's greatest icon connect with audiences was with Traveller's Tale's release of Mickey Mania. This title featured a new game engine and new team, one of the first Western-lead efforts, with Mickey Mouse in a starring role. The type of game was familiar, it was a platform title yet rather than put Mickey into a fictional world with loose ties to the Disney universe, this game placed Mickey in the middle of several animated shorts. Each level was a self-contained world based on the shorts, there was a lot of diversity, from Steamboat Willie to the Prince and the Pauper. The black and white as well as color worlds made for clever level design. The characters were far larger and more fluid than had even been presented in World of Illusions.
Mickey Mania was a solid effort to recapture the magic and awe that gamers first felt when playing Castle of Illusion. Even better, it served as a primer on the classic animated shorts that made Mickey popular with previous generations. Most gamers were not familiar with the library of Mickey films, possibly because there were only two shorts featuring the character produced between 1953 and 1990 (Mickey's Christmas Carol and the Prince and the Pauper). Prior to Epic Mickey this was the love letter to the character from the gaming community. Unfortunately Disney could not maintain the high level of quality and attention to detail. Many studios were beginning to match and surpass the quality of the best Disney games, especially with regards to animation.
There were two basic types of Disney games on the consoles. Those that were based on an existing movie or series and those that were based on a variation of a character. Disney was not alone in licensing or releasing classic films to the consoles. Lucasarts had a string of hits on the SNES with their Super Star Wars series. Disney was not as successful despite the memorable stories, and superior animation of titles like Pinocchio or the Jungle Book. Why did the latter Disney games fail to connect with audiences? In a word it was lack of evolution.
Lucasarts was busy exploiting the state-of-the-art Mode 7 capability of the SNES to achieve depth and the illusion of 3D perspective for many levels in the Star Wars series while Disney had kept everything in two dimensions. Disney had failed to push the characters into something other than a platform genre, which hadn't evolved greatly since the time of Mario or Sonic. Whether it was collecting badges as the Disney Afternoon character Bonkers or collecting fruit as Mogli from the Jungle Book, there was little to distinguish the jumping and collecting formula after the World of Illusion. For gamers there was little difference between the jumping and collecting in other titles on the SNES or Genesis, Vectorman, Rayman and the other characters that made their mark on the 16-bit generation were variations on a familiar theme. Relying on the same old formula had failed for most of their Disney Afternoon titles and not even their famous movie characters could help sell games.
The levels were refreshing takes on classic themes, the traditional jungle, underwater and volcano levels were combined with unique designs. Maui was tethered to a springy vine in the jungle and could be yanked about by the player. It was tricky navigating the jungle floor as Maui had to use his hands to climb across fallen bamboo poles. The underwater stages saw skeleton pirates and sea monsters fighting our hero while the volcano stage could be navigated by jumping from rocks or by swinging overhead using the ninja staff like a grappling hook. Maui Mallard was far from being the average Disney platformer. It stood out for its originality, in concept and execution it was one of the most notable but overlooked games in the 16-bit generation. Gamers had experienced many of the same features that made Maui Mallard very playable in a different title.
Earthworm Jim was an exceptional platformer. It combined run and gun gameplay with the leaping, climbing and swinging mechanics which were not good but great. Few games managed to capture perfect control and frame them within unique level designs. What made Earthworm Jim stand out from the peers was that it wrapped impeccable gameplay in a shockingly original, twisted, cartoon wrapping. Earthworm Jim was possibly the greatest traditionally animated 16-bit game of all-time. It stands to reason, Shiny founder David Perry cut his teeth as an animator for Disney's Aladdin game. The bold colors, warped designs and absurd amount of detail (and humor) that went into the game were imitated but rarely duplicated. Earthworm Jim represented a paradigm shift in platforming. It was an answer to the the unspoken reality. Specifically it acknowledged that gamers were getting older and more mature. The tastes that they had were changing.
While fond of the Disney Afternoon from years prior, they were now tuning into the edgy Ren and Stimpy animation from Spümco. Cartoons were not solely for kids and neither should video games. Gamers acknowledged that many of the Disney games were well made and animated, but too simplistic. Earthworm Jim was a very demanding game that layered equal parts style over substance. Shiny made icons out of Jim and Princess What's-Her-Name overnight and Disney games had all but been forgotten. Maui Mallard was a response to the Earthworm Jim fan, two years after the fact. The peak of traditional 2D animation for gaming had been met. The next barrier would be 3D. Earthworm Jim would not remain king of the hill for long and Disney would not be ready to move into that position.
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