The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (SNES Review)

Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse
Platform: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Released November 20, 1992
Directed by Yoshinori Takenaka
Developed by Capcom
Re-Released for the Game Boy Advance in 2002
NO MODERN RE-RELEASE

If any platformer deserves the title “whimsical” it’s this one. Like, you pick up these cherry tomatoes and you expect them to be throwing weapons. Nope. Helicopters. Cute.

When I started doing Disney reviews last year, one of the games that came up the most was Magical Quest. “You’re gonna do it, right?” The thing is, this is actually one of the few “retro” games I had during my childhood. I had it for the Game Boy Advance. Back then, I liked it fine! It was short and it often lost its boldness, but, you know, it’s fine! Then I played it in 2021, and it was, you know, fine! And then I just played it again before I started typing this and it was, you know, fine! And now I find myself staring at my monitor wondering if I’ve made the right decision on what game to review. I really only chose this because I’m starting yet another Disney marathon and I knew I could run through it really quickly to kick off the marathon. Now that I examine these games in detail, what bothers me about Magical Quest is that it feels like every cool idea is just getting the surface scratched.

Well, this pic turned out good. “No, not the touch of death!” Or maybe Mickey is telling him off. When you tell someone off, you must jab your finger in their face for emphasis. It’s tradition. And he’s calling him “bub” for sure. Again, tradition.

The idea is that you gain three costumes along the game’s meager six worlds that give Mickey different abilities. The magician costume is just your traditional projectile, but it also can bring a magic carpet to life. So, that’s something. It’s the other two costumes that I care about. The fireman costume has an entire stage built around it that’s among the most clever fire levels in gaming history. Various platforms are constantly catching fire and you’re forced to douse them with your hose before using them. As short as Magical Quest is, you can tell a big reason for that is they put a lot of fine-tuning into the set-pieces. The timing for all the fire-based stuff is spot-on. But then it’s taken a step further when you have to use the fire hose to shove crushing blocks out of their current position so that you can use them as a platform. That’s neat! That whole fire stage is one of the best platforming levels in gaming history. We’re talking about one of the most common genre clichés in an over thirty year old game somehow still feeling fresh. That’s a big achievement. So, why doesn’t Magical Quest as a whole feel along the same lines?

Excellent boss fight for that level too. Actually, all the bosses are pretty good.

The mountain climbing gear feels almost like it was made for a Bionic Commando game. It’s my favorite costume to use, and also the costume that gets underutilized. The level for it goes really quickly, and then it’s not really useful again. It’s such a let-down because it’s a blast to use. Grappling hooks are rarely as intuitive or enjoyable as they are in Magical Quest. But the consequence of that awesomeness is that there’s absolutely no challenge to the stage. It doesn’t even qualify as “clever” because it feels like you’re largely circumventing much of it. Now granted, I’ve played this game enough to know that I can just bypass most of the enemies, but if I recall, I did that as a kid too. Then the final level really doesn’t do any big set pieces for the climbing outfit. It’s the best part of the game, but it feels like they didn’t know what to do with it, and you don’t expect that from Capcom.

The final level having fake-out doors where you have to replay the mini-bosses is a dumb idea. Either do a boss rush or don’t. If you’re going to do it the way Magical Quest does, where the wrong doors lead to mini-boss fights, at the very least cut their damage by half.

And I really don’t want to use the excuse “well, it’s a children’s game” for why I feel Magical Quest underutilized some of its concepts. I think it’s safe to say the SNES Aladdin is aimed at a younger audience, but it’s still one of the best platformers on a system largely defined by platformers. I think that was on the table for Magical Quest. The engine they built here was so solid that Capcom was able to pull two sequels out of it. As I prepare to kick-off yet another Disney marathon that will include the whole trilogy, I wonder if I’m going to ultimately wish that the three Magical Quest games were combined into one. I don’t know what to expect! I’ve not played the other two. All I know is, unlike Aladdin, I don’t feel like they squeezed the maximum potential out of this engine. By time Aladdin’s credits rolled, I really think they had arranged every combination of platforms and acrobatics possible without feeling repetitive. That’s not remotely the case for Magical Quest. When the credits rolled, I just got this weird “were they crunched for time?” vibe.

A lot of would-be set pieces just plain don’t work. Like these things, or rolling down hills on apples, where you don’t really “bind” to the moving objects and they’re often not necessary towards making progress anyway.

Mind you, for all my complaining, I really do think that Magical Quest is one of the better SNES mascot platformers. Memorable set-pieces, excellent play control, and a frisky pace that really never lets up makes this one of the best children’s games on the SNES. While I could do without the mini-bosses, the end of stage bosses are all fun to do battle with. If I have to complain outside of my whining about how subdued all the gimmicks but the fire suit are, I’d say that this is that rare game where it’s the normal baddies that are unmemorable and underwhelming. They often feel like they’re only there because they need to be. None are memorable. None are cleverly used. I get the sense that Magical Quest was rushed through development in order to have a big children’s game the year after the SNES launched in North America. It really speaks to how well-oiled the Capcom machine was that they could come up with a totally solid game like this. I just think it’s a little overrated. Magical Quest is really good. It ain’t great. Fingers crossed for the sequels, but as for the original, hey Mickey, you’re so fine, but you absolutely DO NOT blow my mind.
Verdict: YES!
Hey Mickey! Clap clap clap. Hey Mickey! Clap clap clap.