September 13, 2011
Pap the Disney Gamer's
Highlights: Mickey Mousecapade
System: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Developed by: Hudson Soft
It's time to get a little honest
here. So far, I've highlighted games that range
from solid to great, nearly all featuring
amazing appeal towards gamers and Disney fans.
But there are many mediocre and even bad Disney
games that put a damper on a fan's enjoyment.
Today's game is an example of that mentality:
Mickey Mousecapade, an adventure/platforming
game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

It was originally developed and
published in Japan by Hudson Soft for the Family
Computer (or Famicom as the system was known
there), a company best known for games like the
Adventure Island and Bomberman series. Capcom,
famous for developing many famous Disney games,
published the game in North America. The basic
story behind Mickey Mousecapade is that Alice
(From 'Alice in Wonderland') has been kidnapped.
It is up to Mickey and Minnie to travel to
various Disney themed worlds in order to rescue
her and put down the vicious Disney villains
once and for all.

So far, it all sounds really
nice, right? Well, this is where things get
sour. Mickey Mousecapade is notorious for being
one of the most difficult games out there, for
all the wrong reasons. What do I mean by this?
A video game can be challenging
for two reasons:
- The developers worked
hard on designing an easy to learn, hard to
master game that invites you to improve your
skills in order to conquer the challenges that
lie ahead
- It features many
glitches, poor level design and ideas that
hinder the gameplay
Mickey Mousecapade suffers from
the latter. One of the most common problems is
that Minnie would often get stuck in places, not
allowing Mickey to move on if she is not with
him. The level design was at times very
confusing and hard to navigate through. Worst of
all, the game suffered from horrible slowdown
that would cause the characters to flicker,
making the game a chore to play through.

If the game really is that bad,
why am I highlighting it? Well for two reasons.
The first is that the game does have its fair
amount of elements that will please the Disney
fan. The Japanese version of the game featured a
lot of references to 'Alice in Wonderland,'
including a boss battle with the Cheshire Cat
and a final battle with the Queen of Hearts.
Characters from 'Peter Pan' made their
appearances as well, with characters such as
Captain Hook and Tick Tock the Crocodile proving
to be worthwhile enemies.

When the game was localized for
North American audiences, the game received some
slight changes in cast. Rather than just
focusing on 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Peter
Pan,' characters from other Disney stories such
as 'The Jungle Book' and 'Sleeping Beauty' were
included. The references were indeed delightful,
especially if you were a young Disney gamer.

Second, and most importantly,
it's because Mickey Mousecapade was indeed the
start of a great legacy of Disney gaming. This
title was Capcom's first ever foray into
publishing Disney themed games. Mickey
Mousecapade was successful enough that it
inspired the company to produce their own Disney
games, creating in the process some of the best
and memorable titles ever released.

In conclusion, without Mickey
Mousecapade we wouldn't have gotten better
Disney games. It was an experiment that yielded
a lot of mixed results, but eventually lead to
the quality games fans wanted, hence why it
deserves an honorable mention in today's Gamer
Tuesday article.