Topic: 2010/11: The Magical Quest: Starring Mickey Mouse (Super NES) - Will Mallia

[JonLeung]

The Magical Quest: Starring Mickey Mouse

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to Will Mallia's The Magical Quest: Starring Mickey Mouse (Super NES) maps.

When Pluto runs off while chasing a ball, he is captured by the evil Emperor Pete.  With the help of magical suits, Mickey makes his way to Emperor Pete's castle to save his pal.

Sure, it's not the most exciting story for a video game, even for its time, but it sets up the framework for a great combination: solid Capcom platforming action starring recognizable Disney characters with great Super NES graphics.  I've said time and again that the Capcom/Disney games for the NES and Super NES are excellent examples on how to make licensed games that are actually fun.  And look great!  Truth be told, you probably won't get lost while playing this game, but the maps are still awesome to view just to look at the detail and colour and care that Capcom put into Super NES graphics.

This game is actually the first of a trilogy, the second game being The Great Circus Mystery: Starring Mickey & Minnie, and the Japanese-only Mickey to Donald Magical Adventure 3 (J).  All three games were rereleased worldwide for the Game Boy Advance between 2002-2005.  While there are some additions to the GBA games, such as the inclusion of Minnie in the first game, the maps should suffice if you're playing either the console or portable versions.  The entire trilogy has been mapped by the same person, Will Mallia.  Will Mallia is easily the largest contributor to VGMaps.com, so it is actually a little surprising that this is "only" his fourth time being recognized as Mapmaker Of The Month.  Congrats, Will!  Oh, and Mickey Mouse turns 82 years old this month, and is still starring in video games even to this day.  Happy birthday, Mickey!

So to recognize the effort put into making these epic Mickey maps, Will Mallia's The Magical Quest: Starring Mickey Mouse maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for November 2010.

[Will]

Well what a wonderful surprise. I really enjoyed contributing for a lot of Disney games and this one is no exception. I must admit I've always a slight preference to those SNES games over the Mickey Mouse Illusion trilogy and the two Donald Duck Master System games. The most vast of levels I have ever taken the time to do was the second area of the Fire Grotto and the first area of Pete's Castle. I didn't notice at first, but the sub bosses that appear in that game are very much the imps that appear on the television series of Aladdin (e.g. episode 5 "Never Say Nefir"). I thought I would have to play going through the village before I would enter Pete's castle but it wasn't so. My favourite outfit of the three is the Magic turban and sorcerer's cloak. Mickey can do magic a lot better and with more control than he did in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". What I like about the different outfits is that they're specifically needed to access certain places and progress and to defeat bosses.

Out of all the three games in the trilogy, my favourite is the third game and my favourite stage is the "Sky Battleship". I like to play as Donald Duck above any character. What the games could have had as an improvement was actual voices of Mickey, Minnie and Donald especially when they get hurt or lose a life. I wish Daisy Duck and Donald's Nephews could be playable characters, since I'd like a chance to see what their capable of and what kind of outfits they're likely to wear. I didn't think that the collection of SNES Disney Capcom games was complete without platformer games starring Ariel: The Little Mermaid and Chip 'n Dale, but also Capcom might have had a great expansion if they'd have made platformer games based on "The Rescuers" and "The Great Mouse Detective". Fancy seeing Mickey Mouse next to a anthropomorphic mouse like "Timothy Q. Mouse".

I'm rather pleased to receive my fourth Maps of the Month award. I couldn't have done this trilogy better without Moon jump cheats, compliments of Tropicon who we also have to thank for. If you're up to a bit of Disney classics, I recommend you watch that classic 1948 episode "Daddy Duck" and see the bright side of Donald.