Castle of illusion starring mickey mouse 1990 đánh giá năm 2024

There's still plenty of fun to be derived out of the old 8-bit games, even moreso the ones I missed back in their limelight years; Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse being a title I was more familiar with in the form of the 1990 Sega Mega Drive/Genesis title growing up, yet as a somewhat serious game collector, I would down the line encounter its Master System namesake, released courtesy of developers and publishers Sega a little later in early 1991. Same name, same plot, same rooms of illusion within the titular castle (mostly) but otherwise different playing style and layout, the SMS version of CoI perhaps lacks the length and presentation of its 16-bit brother, nonetheless offers a simple, pleasing and original cutesy jaunt that lines up nicely alongside a few other Disney-licensed titles, some of which rank among the better platforms Sega's 8-bit home console had to offer.

CoI starts with a brief slideshow-style opening with a handful of captions setting the scene, as Mickey and Minnie are enjoying a gorgeous sunlit day dancing in the meadows, before claps of thunder rumble and black clouds darken the sky – and the "jealous witch" Mizrabel swoops in on her broom and takes off with Minnie in tow; keen to make use of a spell to take Minnie's beauty for herself. Flying away, Mickey stays in pursuit, chasing Mizrabel to the Castle of Illusion, filled with all sorts of fantasy worlds behind each of its doorways, with colourful yet hazard-laden enchanted forests, rooms of oversized toys and confectionery, a giant's study, a clock tower and a mazy castle dungeon making up the levels you have to trek through. Each level comes with its own major tone to keep an otherwise straightforward, yet occasionally challenging platform fresh and engaging throughout its relatively short lifespan.

The goal, as explained by an old man in the brief prelude sequence, is to claim the seven "Gems of the Rainbow" in order to gain the mysterious power they hold and be able to defeat Mizrabel. Possession no real other practical purpose in the game other than giving you the ability to reach the final area, Mickey has to defeat five bosses to conclude each main room, and find two not-very-well-concealed mid-level Gems to complete the set. You, the player, just need to direct him to the final area of each main stage within the given time limit—completion of so many levels within the castle hub area eventually gaining you access to later levels.

Mickey's main attack his "bounce attack", performed with a simple press of the 2 button, followed by holding 1 in midair to make our hero assume a cannonball-like stance, giving him the ability to knock out any enemy upon whom he lands. Mickey can also use this move, or alternatively pick up and throw a few tangible props to destroy them (e.g. rocks, blocks, bouncy balls), as well as treasure chests which all hold items including cake for restoration of units in your life meter, gold coins to add a nice boost of bonus points to your score, or even the occasional pair of "Mouse Ears" (a 1-Up). Besides the simple combat mechanics, some simple platforming to navigate pits, or placing props to gain access over high walls, and the odd bit of climbing and swimming make up the gameplay action, a simple, responsive and faultless control scheme taking mere seconds to get to, a very quick and easy Practice mode also proving ideal to learn the ropes and work with some of the set-pieces offered in the main Normal mode afterwards.

As does its 16-bit counterpart in accommodating a younger target audience, CoI offers a modest challenge that allows for some leeway—Mickey starts with three lives, and his life meter (aka 'Power Gauge) is formed of three units, which can through finding concealed Power Stars in a couple of parts of the game—be extended to a maximum possible five units. Taking damage from an enemy attack causes him to flash and be rendered briefly impervious to further attack, thus allowing inexperienced players to sacrifice life to negate the odd tough part of a level.

Players are rewarded with plenty of treasure chests and valuable goodies for exploring various branching areas, while bosses can provide perhaps the sternest test of players' skills in that they mostly follow very specific attack patterns, and with each passing battle, the window to attack and exploit weak areas to do damage while minimising the damage Mickey takes getting smaller—in contrast to this, regular monsters do little besides moving/hopping/flying back and forth, with the occasional surprise like the toy clowns making it rain balls Mickey has to dodge, and the more erratic and unpredictable big letter "A" creatures that break up into smaller, quicker versions of itself upon hitting with a first bounce attack. There can even be parts where you have to make use of gaining additional height and airtime from bounce attacking enemies in order to reach high platforms or ladders, or clear long pits.

The game isn't strictly linear as there are some areas requiring backtracking after obtaining valuable goodies or the aforementioned additional Power Stars that are off the beaten path, while some levels can appear deceptively easy to pass through when you could be blissfully unaware of secret passages, shortcuts, or invisible treasure chests that only become visible once Mickey jumps in their location, oftentimes in spots you wouldn't expect. There are also some auto-scrolling areas where you'll find narrow passages that you can only progress through by having Mickey crouch and allowing the edge of the screen to catch up and force you through, or having to quickly pick up and throw away perishable objects in your path before you can be crushed against it. It should really only take a couple of tries to claim the contents of all the treasure chests you find, the remaining challenge being how you can get through areas requiring combo jumps, quick timing to clear auto-scroller areas, and figuring out how and when to hit bosses, which thankfully does not take too much brainpower, more good timing.

In true Disney style, presentation is colourful, cutesy, poppy and vibrant—bright forests contrast with duller underground regions for a good mixture making up your first level, Toyland perhaps disappointingly more scaled-back from the Mega Drive equivalent, The Dessert Factory level comprised of environmental textures like chocolate blocks, sweet wrappers, cakes, doughnuts, ice creams and pools of milk looking very appealing indeed, while the later clock tower and castle levels appearing more dreary, and the latter carrying a neat little effect of rooms lighting up and darkening if you come into proximity within, or pick up lanterns. Mickey's design and movements are well-detailed and smooth, textures likewise are done nicely—if anything, backgrounds (in particular those of boss areas) come in basic flat colours with a fair bit of plain, empty space and some enemy movements are a bit basic. The opening story graphics meanwhile look quite neat, and a perfectly serviceable soundtrack with a lovely mixture of tunes—some of which are dumbed-down chiptune copies of the 16-bit version obviously don't sound quite as good on the ears, yet are still quite recognisable trademark themes you'd remember later on.

If there are any disappointments I had found with the game, it would be the lack of set-pieces and variation in areas making up each level in comparison to the Mega Drive version, plus the shorter general length of a 25–35 minute playthrough. It can possibly get a bit tough near the end for the really younger Mickey Mouse fan gamers, while for the seasoned platform gamer, it can rank on the easier end of the scale once some challenging spots are worked out and memorised, with some secret areas and missable items perhaps enough to warrant a second playthrough. Overall, a solid platformer that the retro gamers and Disney fans ought to try, would have been a good rental for its time and worth owning if you can get it for a good price, complete-in-box copies not demanding anything too outrageous these days. It's a good fit for the younger target audience and marks the beginning of a very nice little series of games—the Illusion series—that graced Sega systems in the early 90's. Not perhaps quite at the same level as the Genesis/Mega Drive namesake though still good enough in its own right, if fun but simple platformers are your thing and you can overlook the general ease and shortness, then Castle of Illusion for the Sega Master System's a good one to try.