Some Epic Mickey News: Castle of Illusion Remade
I played Castle of Illusion on the GameGear! Yes, I am that guy. It was on a school French exchange trip, and some friend who'd taken pity on my parent's ongoing refusal to get me a console had lent me his brick-sized Sega handheld for the duration of the endless ferry and bus journey. I played as much of the Mario-aping Mickey platformer as the couple of dozen AA batteries I'd filled my suitcase with enabled me to, which is to say about 45 minutes. Apart from that, I remember nothing about the game. I think it had a lot of jumping? Apparently it (more specifically its Megadrive edition) retains a certain standing in the minds of console nostalgics, and as such many gentlemen and gentlewoman of a certain age seem entirely delighted that Sega are remaking it.
It's in 2.5D, like the New Super Mario Bros games, which means it should stay faithful in play style despite the introduction of polygons and shaders. There are many reasons I am not Warren Spector, one of which is that I feel absolutely nothing for Mickey Mouse (another of which is that I'm no fan of tank tops. There may be some other differences, too), so I am not best placed to be all ermahgerd about this news.
I'm far more interested in the fact that Disney are back on the outsourcing wagon so soon after publicly executing Spector's Junction Point and their newly-acquired subsidiary LucasArts. While this is 'only' a remake, and a download-only one at that, it proves they're definitely not backing out of the vidjagams business.
The screenshots do look lovely, however. Take a look at more of them, and higher res versions, here. There's a trailer below too, but pre-rendered CGI whatevs.
Lest ye forget, this is the game that's causing so much of the internet to touch itself inappropriately when thinking of a remake:
It sure is jumpy! Apparently the appeal was/is the essential Mickiness in art and animation, and the (for the time) lavish environments.
The remake's due out on Steam this Summer, and also as a download-only title on those lousy near-decade-old things which gather dust underneath televisions.