Lately it seems I have been looking to my retro game collection for fun mainly down to a lack of funds at the moment. Meaning picking up entirely new ones on my Wii and Xbox 360 isn’t really a possibility. I’m not sad though since this means I have been able to rediscover some truly great games, the first of which I got my hands on was Disney’s Magical Quest for the Snes.

Oddly enough this game was one of the best looking and one of the most enjoyable games on the console that didn’t involve the red portly plumber. Even stranger still was the fact it was a game based on Mickey Mouse. Immediately players assume due to the star’s presence, the title may simply be aimed at a younger audience and further more maybe a poor game in general. But that is definitely not the case here.

The story kicks off with Mickey playing catch with his good ol’ pals Donald and Goofy. Sadly though a stray throw causes Pluto to go chasing after eventually running off and becoming lost. Worried for his dogs well being Mickey then sets off in search of him. It’s simple, it’s not original but it’s short and gives some reasoning to actually going on this adventure.

Gameplay wise this is your typical platformer. You can walk (and run if going downhill), jump, grab and so on. While some may be put off by the slow natured pace of the game due to the fact you will only be able to walk, don’t let it as this is a difficult game making even Mario and Sonic’s titles look like walks in the park. Lives are fairly short and instead of it simply being one hit and game over, you have a number of hearts which diminish every time you’re hit. It may seem a little easy if you can take five hits but trust me when I say even on normal five is simply not enough. You’ll find yourself being able to grab hold of flying tomatoes, traverse falling giant leaves and more. Its settings are vibrant and even though the controls are simple, that doesn’t stop there being significant challenge in each world. Whatsmore there are many secret areas to find and each offer rewards which can often aid you especially later in the game.

So we have a solid platformer here that is going to push your skills to their limit with tough bosses, enemy filled levels and timing often being key to many areas. So what makes it different? What separates Mickey’s adventure from others is the ability to change into numerous costumes throughout the journey. At the press of a button you can become a magician, fire fighter, Robin Hood lookalike or just play as regular Mickey. The outfits aren’t simply just for cosmetic purposes either. Each brings new abilities to the table allowing interesting puzzles and obstacles to occur. Magician Mickey for example can breathe underwater, fire fighter Mickey move blocks with his hose pipe and Robin Hood Mickey can use a grapple hook to swing from hanging ledges. These outfits are introduced one stage at a time so you can get a feel for them improving for the later levels when things become even tougher requiring you to pick and choose from the four the best one to tackle the upcoming obstacles ahead. Whatsmore puzzles can be undertaken in multiple ways. For example if you feel like swinging from icicles with your grappling beam you can, but if you’d rather shoot water at it to freeze a small platform onto it then you can do that also. Sure costumes have been done before in a Mario title, but not like this with the ability to call on them whenever you like. And plus they just look so awesome too.

The game is split into up into several stages each shown on a world map. The map simply provides as a narrative as to where you’re going and how far is left since you cannot repeat old stages nor take a different route. It’s simply A to B and that is okay. Each stage is split into smaller acts that in themselves are fairly long, often throwing in a midway boss and a final one at the end. Each of these are very creative and definitely provide some of the adventure’s more demanding challenges. A giant spider, ugly bird and a weird looking worm thing are some of the nasty bosses that await.

Visually the game looks very nice. Mickey animates well as do the enemies and the environments you’ll find yourself in are nicely varied and look great too especially the icy level later on in the game. The music too is a treat to listen to rounding off a game with top notch presentation.

There is the option of going through the main adventure with another person but this is simply taking it in turns to complete levels. While it’s fun to compete and see who can be quicker or gain the highest score, stages can go on a little long so you will be left waiting a while before you get your next chance to progress further. Also the game is fairly short at around seven stages in all. Granted each of these are split into smaller acts, but still it isn’t the lengthiest game on the Snes. But it definitely gives you that feeling that you want to play through again, perhaps on a tougher difficulty if you’re up to the challenge.

It just goes to show that if you put a well known cartoon character in the hands of a great developer like Capcom then the outcome doesn’t always have to be so bad. Disney’s Magical Quest is fun-filled adventure and while it is quite short, that hasn’t stopped me wanting to replay it over and over again.