Disney's Magical Quest

"An alright-platformer that could've used some more polish"

I find that for some reason, Capcom develops a lot of games for Nintendo. They co-developed Zelda: A Link to the Past, the two Zelda titles on GBC, and oddly, several Mickey Mouse games. They may sound stupid and ''kiddy'', but the majority are very fun. But, despite the fact that the majority is excellent, we can't leave out the minority. Magical Quest seems like it just made it to the majority, but barely.

I was expecting so much more from this, but sadly, ol' Mick' did not meet my expectations. And YES, i am aware that this is a port of an old Super NES game. Well, read on.

-VISUALS:Super NES port or not, I don't care, Magical Quest is beautiful, brimming with slick animations and lush, smmoth 2D backgrounds. Mickey himself looks detailed, and the enemies look incredibly well. While not in terms comparable to Nintendo's own Golden Sun, the graphics are still a work of art. Good job Capcom.

-SOUND: The music has also been ALMOST faithfully ported to the 32-bit handheld. While sounding slightly different from the SNES original, it is still incredible and after months of playing, is still stuck in my head. The tunes are catchy and sound great. That is what I also expect from a handheld game.

-GAMEPLAY: Now here's where this beautiful game stumbles a bit.it basically plays like standard hoppin'-boppers', but it has a minor twist. As you advance, you get new suits so you can transform into different forms. Some are range from firefighters to genies. And utilizing the shoulder buttons (R and L)you can quickly switch between them with ease. You'll need to switch to get through some parts as some are stronger then others.

While there are a few problems that bogg down Mickey's quest. In most 2D platformers,pushing up or down on the D-Pad enables you to duck and look-down, while the camera slowly sways upward or downward. You cannot do this here, and there are LOTS of opportunities where you need that particular skill. So all you can do is keep going and hope for the best. Plus, the level design is boring and tiresome. Most enemies are designed with none-little imagination.

To redeem some of Quest's dissapointing qualities, it includes a multi-player mode. You can either battle another player or race them. It is quite amusing, and you select any costume for the game.

-CONTROLS: Mickey controls reasonably well. Standard stuff.

-OVERALL: Sadly, Mickey's quest offers some flws that seriously hamper the game. But overall, you'll atleast want to rent it.

-BEST FEATURE:
-WORST FEATURE:
-VISUALS:9/10 -ORIGINALITY:5/10
-SOUND:9/10 -REPLAY:6/10
-CONTROLS:8/10 -OVERALL:7/10
-THE VERDICT:Rent it first

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/03, Updated 01/20/03