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Epic Mickey is a hybrid of a platformer, action-adventure and RPG video game developed by Junction Point Studios and published by Disney Interactive Studios. It was released on November 30th, 2010 in the United States, November 26th, 2010 in Europe and September 25th, 2010 in the UK and Australia. A Japanese version (titled Epic Mickey: Mickey Mouse and the Magic Brush) with camera issues fixed, higher brightness, and adjusted difficulty was published on August 4th in Japan by Nintendo. The game has sold over 3 million copies worldwide since its release.[1] It was followed by a sequel, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and a spin-off, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion. A remake titled Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is scheduled to be released in 2024.

Synopsis[]

A long time ago, the sorcerer Yen Sid used a magic paintbrush to create a world for Disney's forgotten characters. This was held in an intricate model on a table and was accessible through a mirror. One day, Mickey is taking a nap when his mirror makes an odd noise, awakening him. He climbs onto his dresser and pokes it to see that he can go through it. Mickey, who finds himself inside Yen Sid's study, sees the model and waits until Yen Sid is gone before going back to take another look at it. After grabbing Yen Sid's magic paintbrush, Mickey attempts to create a statue of himself in the world but instead creates the Blot. He attempts to erase it but ends up spilling Paint on the model. He attempts to clean it up in a haste but just spills even more Paint and Thinner, destroying and twisting the world. He manages to escape without Yen Sid knowing and returns to his world where he went on to live years of success and fame.

The Paint and Thinner had severely damaged the world and created an evil being called the Blot, who has usurped power from Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney's first creation before Mickey, and sent the world into ruin. A long time after the Thinner Disaster, Mickey is kidnapped by the Shadow Blot and pulled into the world. Oswald is shocked to see him and flees the scene.

Before the Thinner Disaster, the Mad Doctor worked closely with Oswald before he got power-hungry after the Blot was unleashed. The Mad Doctor and Oswald had created robotic "Beetleworx", which originally helped out in Wasteland, but then began patrolling Wasteland and capturing Gremlins. They also created robotic versions of Mickey's friends to keep Oswald company, looking like Donald Duck, Goofy, and Daisy Duck respectively.

Mickey, realizing what he has done, sets out to clean up his mess and restore Wasteland with the help of the magical paintbrush. Mickey must defeat the Blot, gain the trust of Oswald, save the forgotten world, and return home to the Toon World.

Production[]

The game was directed by Warren Spector and developed by Junction Point Studios with the help of various outsourced studios. It was published by Disney Interactive Studios in all regions but Japan, where it was instead published by Nintendo.

Early production[]

The initial plans for Epic Mickey were developed in a think-tank session in 2004 about how to renew Mickey Mouse in the eyes of the public.[2] The Wasteland concept and Oswald and the Phantom Blot as antagonists were part of this initial pitch and the project became a factor in Disney getting Oswald back from Universal in 2006. Disney Interactive signed Warren Spector, who was skeptical that Disney would just continue "watering down" Mickey as they had for many years, but was convinced when told he would be allowed to help renew the character to his former glory. With full access to the Disney archives for inspiration on the Wasteland's setting, Warren Spector and the team at Junction Point developed the game further into a hybrid platformer/role-playing game with player's choices being a huge influence in how the story would turn out.

Epic Mickey Early Concept Art.

Early concept art

Early concept art indicates that the game had more steampunk-type art direction. Originally, it was planned to be released for the Xbox 360 and PS3, with a Wii port handled by an outside studio. However, when talks of the Wii port began, the team decided to make the game a Wii exclusive to take advantage of the Wii's unique control options.

In 2008, Gamasutra published a report claiming to have seen concept art for the game. These concept art images were leaked onto the internet and created a buzz as to whether or not the game was real. Concept art for the game by Fred Gambino and Gary Glover depicts a "surrealistically bizarre" look at Disney characters and locations. Featured in the concept art are post-apocalyptic renditions of Goofy, Spaceship Earth, and Cinderella's Castle. These concepts were never meant to be seen by the public. It was confirmed by Warren Spector that they were just made to see how dark Disney would let the developers go with a Mickey Mouse game, and were never intended to make it into the final product.

First screenshots and official reveal[]

The game had changed dramatically from the style of the leaked concept art. It had gone from the post-apocalyptic steampunk-style setting to a new more gloomy, chaotic, and shapeless wasteland. The first official screenshots were shown off by Game Informer in their November 2009 issue. These screenshots varied in many ways from the final game and had a different, more bright and vibrant visual style featuring gameplay elements, enemies, and entire areas that didn't make it into the final game. Warren Spector clarified that the art style in these screenshots was still being finalized and that the game was still in early development.[3]

E3 2010[]

In June 2010, the world got another look at Epic Mickey. On the show floor, attendants could play a demo containing the Ventureland hub, Skull Island, and the Steamboat Willie projector screen. The build featured during E3 is nearly identical to the final release build, save for a few differences such as the dialogue boxes, E-ticket colors, and various other textures. New screenshots were released as well. You can still play the E3 version of Ventureland and Skull Island by editing the cmdline file however if you try to load in the E3 version of Steamboat Willie the game will crash.

Gameplay[]

Epic11

Early concept art of the Dark Beauty Castle with the scrapped Hero Mickey.

The game features the brush mechanic, where the player can aim with the Wii remote to either Paint things in, or make them disappear using Thinner. The player's decisions can change parts of the world, such as other characters' attitudes towards Mickey, and more subtle changes such as slower music or the amount of Blot drops coming off of Mickey. The player controls Mickey using traditional 3D platforming mechanics. Mickey can move around, jump, hang on to edges of platforms, and use a spin move to activate gears, obtain collectibles, and knock enemies away. The combat involves either using Paint to redeem enemies, or Thinner to thin them into nothingness. Redeemed enemies no longer attack Mickey and will help him by fighting nearby hostile enemies. Alternatively, Mickey can use his spin move to knock enemies off ledges and into Thinner.

The player can control Mickey's path in Wasteland through the way enemies are defeated and the choices that are made. Decisions typically revolve around making a moral choice between good and bad. These choices influence the collectibles that can be unlocked, the background music that plays, the ease of getting past obstacles, and the cutscenes in the game.

Scrapped-icon

Notice: This article or section contains information about content that was planned or conceptualized for the Epic Mickey series, but was ultimately scrapped. Information about scrapped content should not be considered canon.

In early concepts and builds of the game, Mickey's appearance was originally intended to change more drastically based on his actions, and the "playstyle matters" aspect of the game was assumed to have played a much higher role. However, the mechanism was scrapped in favor of the Guardian system. It is suspected that this may have been removed due to Disney's input.

Reception[]

Epic Mickey enjoyed high pre-release awareness and received mixed to positive reviews upon release, with a score of 72.57% on GameRankings and 73/100 on Metacritic.

In an early preview, GamesRadar praised demos of the game for their gameplay and darker take on classic Disney cartoons, saying that it played like Super Mario Galaxy 2 and had replay value.[4]

IGN gave it a score of 8/10, criticizing its camera, control issues and lack of voice acting, but praised its charm, story, art design, and lasting appeal for the players. Video game talk show Good Game's two presenters gave the game a 6 and 7 out of 10. They compared the paintbrush abilities to that of the water jet pack from Super Mario Sunshine and found it frustrating how the levels reset back to their original state after leaving. "isn't as 'dark' or 'adult' as the hype made it out to be... I guess it is a kid's game after all, but at least it's an intelligent one. It doesn't come anywhere near the complexity and fun of something like Super Mario Sunshine, which I think it borrows some ideas from." Shirley Chase from GameZone complimented the game on its usage of Disney history, but added that the game had numerous flaws saying, "For all of its good points, Disney Epic Mickey does have some glaring flaws, which can make the game feel like a chore. The most noticeable problem is the camera, which will lead to more cheap deaths than anything else." In a review for GamesRadar, Chris Antista who began the article as an admitted "diehard Disney dork", praised it as a "thoroughly heartwarming salute to Disney" and that he hasn't "fallen so head over heels with the look, feel, and play of a third-person platformer since the original Banjo-Kazooie". In a list of the top 10 best-looking Wii games, Lifewire put Epic Mickey at second place, praising it for its unique take on Disney animation and noting that it looks "more like a Disney cartoon than most modern Disney cartoons."[5]

In its opening weekend, Epic Mickey failed to reach the UK Top 40 and even the Wii Top 10 sales charts after its November 26 UK release. On November 30, 2010, the release date in North America, the game was completely sold out on the Disney Store website by the afternoon. To date, the game has sold over 3 million units worldwide.

Trivia[]

  • Epic Mickey can be compared to games like Shadow the Hedgehog, inFAMOUS, and Spider Man: Web of Shadows, because they are darker representations of the game's franchise and their stories depend on the player's choices.
  • In the UK, GAME stores offered a t-shirt as a pre-order bonus. The t-shirt, however, was just regular/current Mickey, with no actual connection to the Epic Mickey game.
  • A Dutch release of the game also came packaged with a copy of Fantasia on DVD.
  • The idea for Epic Mickey was born during the Epic Mickey Think Tank in 2004, a meeting consisting of several undergraduate interns who were tasked with "making Mickey Mouse cool again."
  • According to Warren Spector, he had once pitched a movie set in the Epic Mickey universe to Disney. He claimed to have had a trailer, budget and a team lined up, but Disney was ultimately uninterested. [6]
  • In an interview with Chad Moldenhaur (studio art director of Studio MDHR/co-creator of Cuphead) about the game Cuphead, Warren Spector mentions that he wanted to use an "early-30's" look for Epic Mickey. [1]
  • Screenshots of an early version of the game suggest the game was originally going to use a lives system.
  • According to Warren Spector, Disney may have been the cause of the removal of the "Hero Mickey" and "Scrapper Mickey" gameplay mechanic. In an interview, he stated that Disney gave the development team a lot of creative freedom, but was a bit more touchy with how they handled Mickey Mouse. He stated that Disney had a bit of a hard time swallowing the idea of Mickey's appearance changing depending on the player's actions. They were likely concerned that it would have a negative effect on Mickey's image if the player made bad choices.
  • According to lead designer, Chase Jones, the team had a concept for minigames that would be playable at the Penny Arcade, and even got as far as experimenting with them in the game engine. They ultimately didn't make it in the final game due to the development schedule. [7]
  • There are multiple comma splices in Epic Mickey, notably in NPC dialogue or in quest descriptions.

Scrapped Content[]

Epic Mickey Scrapped Content -
Content removed from Epic Mickey.

Gallery[]

External Links[]

References[]

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