The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse was developed and published by Capcom for the Super Nintendo in 1992 in Japan and North America and in 1993 in Europe. Capcom had developed several Disney licensed games for the NES but this was their first Disney game to be released for the Super Nintendo. A remake of this game would be released for the Game Boy Advance in 2002.
This is a game I remember getting as a kid in the local game store that sold used games back in the day. I remember being excited about it, but as I played it I ended up being quite disappointed. It wasn’t bad but the way it played just didn’t appeal to me that much. When I began to play it I always ended up getting bored after a while, and the lack of a save and password feature meant that I never finished it. What always bugged me was that I choose to buy this game rather than the sequel, The Great Circus Mystery, which was two player co-op, while this one was only multiplayer with alternating turns. But now I thought it was finally time to return to this game once and for all.
The story is that Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy are playing catch in the park. Goofy ends up throwing the ball so far it ends up into a strange magical land and Pluto chases after it only to be kidnapped by the evil king Pete. So now it is up to Mickey to rescue him.
Magical Quest is a 2D side-scroller and the first thing I notice is how slow it feels. That’s not necessary a bad thing but playing this after having played through the Super Mario Bros. games was quite the change of pace. The first level is also a bit dull, and while it looks interesting it isn’t that fun to play through. You can jump on enemies to stun them and then pick them up and throw them away. You can also pick up blocks to throw at enemies, otherwise, there’s not really much more here. So playing through the first level is a quite generic experience apart from this being a Disney game that looks pretty good.
As you reach the second level you get your first outfit, and this is where the game starts to be a bit more fun. The first outfit you get is the magician outfit. This lets you fire projectiles, although there is a limited amount of magic for it so you can’t just spam the attack button. It also lets you breathe under water. In the third level you get a fire fighter outfit which lets you spray water to defeat enemies, turn out fires, create platforms on the ice level and move blocks. The fourth level gives you final outfit, the mountaineering gear, which gives Mickey a grappling hook so he can climb up ledges and swing from certain platforms.
The levels, while well designed, feel a bit bland. There’s your forest level, a level in a cave full of lava, a mountain level, an ice level, a castle, you get the idea. There’s only six levels, although each of them is split up into three or four stages each. They usually contain a mini boss as well as a final boss at the end of each level.
This is quite an easy game, and also fairly short. It won’t take much longer than an hour to beat, and there’s unlimited continues which will start you back at the stage you are on, really defeating the purpose of a game over, since you don’t really lose any progress. Any experienced platform fan should not have much trouble playing through this. There are three difficulty levels, but even on the hardest one it isn’t that difficult once you get the hang of it. Some bosses took a few tries to beat for me though.
Graphically, this game looks great, although I must say that the Mickey sprite does look a bit odd. There’s just something about his eyes that looks strange to me. The music is decent enough, feeling like it belongs in a Disney film, although I don’t find it as memorable or good as some of the NES Capcom Disney games.
Overall, Magical Quest is a good game, although a bit bland. The outfits are fun to play around with, but the game is very short for a Super Nintendo game. If it wasn’t for the Disney characters present this would feel even more generic, but the good graphics, nice music and the good level design does bring it up a level. As fun as the outfits are, it just feels like this game lacks something. It’s a good game, but not a great game.
Is it worth Playing?
It is certainly worth playing if you like platformers. Just don’t expect a game that will blow you away. While it is certainly a good game, it is very short, quite easy and just feels a bit generic. The novelty of the outfits makes it stand out a bit, and it is certainly fun to play. I just don’t think it is quite up there compared to so many other platformers on the console.
Final score: 7/10
Screenshots via MobyGames: http://www.mobygames.com
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