Disney's Magical Quest

Disney's Magical Quest, known in Japan as Mickey's Magical Adventure (ミッキーのマジカルアドベンチャー), is a Disney platform game trilogy released by Capcom. The games star Mickey Mouse and, (depending on the game version), either Minnie Mouse or Donald Duck, who must defeat Peg-Leg Pete. The gameplay is similar among all games in the series: the player must move as in a typical platform game, defeating enemies either by jumping on them or by grabbing and throwing blocks at them.

One of the most notable gameplay features of the series is the ability to change characters' outfits, which give characters different special abilities. Other gameplay elements in the series include the ability to expand the player's health meter by collecting special hearts, and to shop for items using coins that are scattered throughout the game.

The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse
The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse, the first game in the series, was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System during 1992 and 1993 and later re-released for the Game Boy Advance in 2002. In six different levels and with four different special power outfits it features Mickey Mouse on his journey to find his dog Pluto. The game, and especially its outfit system and graphics, received mostly positive reviews. It was criticized, however, for being relatively short. A port for Sega Mega Drive was originally planned, but was abandoned.

Story
Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck are playing catch in the park. When it is Goofy's turn to throw the ball, he accidentally throws it too far. Pluto runs off chasing the ball and Goofy runs after Pluto, leaving Mickey alone. Mickey goes searching for his friends after a while, but falls down a cliff into a strange magical land. Later, Mickey meets an old wizard who tells Mickey that Pluto was taken by the evil king Pete. Mickey sets out to find his friend and stop Pete's tyranny.

Outfits
Mickey Mouse can wear four different types of outfits in The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse. Some outfits can be upgraded in the general stores found scattered throughout the game.

The outfit Mickey starts with, is his traditional clothing. It allows him to grab certain objects and items and spin-throw them. Mickey's second outfit, the magician outfit, is awarded to him in the beginning of the second level and allows Mickey to shoot magic at his enemies. The size of the magic blasts depends on how long it is charged. However, shooting magic empties Mickey's magic meter, which is refilled by collecting a magical lamp item. Additionally, Mickey can breathe underwater and control magical carpets with the magician outfit.

The firefighter uniform that Mickey finds in the third level lets him spray a continuous water stream at enemies. In addition, the water stream can be used to put out fires, push blocks and form icicles. Similarly to the magician outfit, spraying water with the firefighter uniform drains Mickey's water meter which is refilled by collecting the fire hydrant item.

In the fourth level of the game Goofy gives Mickey the mountain-climbing gear, which allows Mickey to use a grappling hook to attach to certain objects. He can then hoist or swing himself on top of them. Moreover, his grappling hook can be used to grab items. The grappling hook can also be used as an offensive weapon to stun enemies and remove their protection.

Game Boy Advance remake
The game was remade for the Game Boy Advance in 2002 with the name Disney's Magical Quest Starring Mickey and Minnie. It was developed by Capcom and published by Nintendo. In the GBA version Minnie Mouse was added to the game as a playable character. She is identical in gameplay to Mickey, though. Additionally, four mini-games for both Single-player and multiplayer were added to the remake. The multiplayer mini-games were played with the GBA link cable and only one cartridge was needed to play with a friend. Notably, the GBA port also introduced a save feature and could connect to Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse via the Nintendo GameCube–Game Boy Advance link cable.

Reception
The Super NES version of The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse was generally well received by critics. Most reviewers praised the details and colorfulness of the graphics and the animations in the game, some reviewers even calling it some of the best graphics on the system to date. Especially the bosses and backgrounds were noted for their graphical appearance. The outfit system was also well received and many critics thought it added depth to the gameplay. Sound and music received mixed to positive ratings, as some thought the music loops were too short and that the sound wasn't up to par with the rest of the game, while some found the music and sound effects very suitable to a Disney cartoon game. A great deal of the criticism was geared towards the difficulty of the game. Many reviewers believed that the game was too easy and/or short, mainly due to the game's unlimited continue system that allowed the player to replay a game level until finished, leading to them recommending the game only for younger children. To counter the game's relatively low difficulty, some reviewers thought that the game's difficulty level option was an important feature in the game and that it should be set to hard to enjoy the game fully. The Super NES version sold 1.2 million copies worldwide.

The Game Boy Advance version of the game received mixed to positive reviews. Again, most critics liked the graphics of the game, although some thought that the GBA version had slightly worse graphics than the SNES version. Especially the cropped backgrounds and smaller view area compared to the SNES version were noted. The game length was also criticized, as in the SNES version. Most critics considered the GBA-specific multiplayer mini-games to add little value to the game. Also, the fact that the Game Boy Advance consoles must be turned off and on to change multiplayer game was not well received. On the other hand, being able to play multiplayer with only one cartridge was held in high regard.

The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie
The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie, later titled Disney's Magical Quest 2 Starring Mickey & Minnie, was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1994 and for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. The game features Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse trying to figure out why everyone in the circus has disappeared, and includes four different types of outfits and six different levels. While the SNES and Genesis/Mega Drive versions were practically identical, the GBA re-release in 2003 included some new features. As its predecessor, it received praise for its graphics and outfit system and was criticized for not being challenging enough and short.

Story
Mickey and Minnie Mouse travel by bus to the circus at the edge of town where they are going to spend the day. When the bus arrives, a little late, Goofy appears and tells Mickey and Minnie that everyone in the circus tents has disappeared. Mickey and Minnie are surprised by Goofy's claim, but choose to go to the circus and see it with their own eyes. At the circus they realize that their friends Pluto and Donald are gone. Mickey and Minnie must now find out what is going on at the circus.

Changes
A new feature compared to the previous game is that Minnie is enabled as a playable character. In a single-player game the player can choose to play as either Mickey or Minnie, but the choice doesn't make any difference to the gameplay since the difference is only aesthetic. Moreover, the game features two player cooperative gameplay, unlike the previous game where the players had to take turns. Another new feature is a password back-up, allowing the player(s) to continue where they stopped playing the game.

Outfits
The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie features four different suits.

Similar to the first game in the series, the first suit allows Mickey and Minnie to grab some types of objects, including some enemies, and spin-throw them. The sweeper outfit, which is the second outfit, allows Mickey and Minnie to vacuum up some types of enemies with their vacuum cleaner. If an enemy is vacuumed into the vacuum cleaner outfit, the enemy will turn into a coin. Using the vacuum cleaner consumes battery power which can be replenished by collecting the extra battery item. The third outfit, the safari suit, allows Mickey and Minnie can climb vertical walls as well as swinging from special kinds of circle blocks. The fourth and last outfit, the western outfit, includes a hobby horse and a pop-gun. The hobby horse gives Mickey and Minnie a higher jump and the pop-gun allows Mickey and Minnie to damage enemies by firing corks at them. Firing a cork will decrease a power meter which can be replenished by collecting cork gun items. In addition, the hobby horse gives Mickey and Minnie the ability to make the Desperado Dash move, which flies them through the air, but drains the power meter slightly.

Game Boy Advance remake
The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie was re-released in 2003 with the name Disney's Magical Quest 2 Starring Mickey & Minnie. The password feature in the original game was replaced with a save feature in the remake. No mini-games were added to this version, but the main adventure could be played by two players using the GBA link cable.

Reception
The SNES, Genesis/Mega Drive and GBA version of The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie received mixed to positive reviews. As for the previous game in the series, the easy difficulty level and the length of the game was criticized while the colorful graphics, the outfit system and the music mostly received praise. The new simultaneous gameplay feature was considered to be one of the game's strengths. On the negative side, some critics noted that The Great Circus Mystery was pretty similar to the last game. As for the first game in the series the game was mostly recommended for younger players. The GBA version was criticized for not pushing the system's limits and for not providing any extra feature besides the link cable support. Since the SNES version was introduced closely to Mickey Mania, another SNES video game with Mickey Mouse in the title role, both games were compared to each other to a certain degree.

Next Generation reviewed the Genesis version of the game, rating it two stars out of five, and stated that "Compared to Sony Imagesoft's Mickey Mania, The Great Circus Mystery is just a great big disappointment."

Disney's Magical Quest 3 Starring Mickey & Donald
The final game in the series was released for the Super Famicom only in Japan. It was later re-released for the Game Boy Advance, which was the first version of the game to be released outside Japan. In Disney's Magical Quest 3 Starring Mickey & Donald, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck try to save Donald's nephews from King Pete. It features four outfits and seven levels. Unlike the two earlier games in the series, an outfit now behaves different depending on if Mickey or Donald wears it.

Story
While hiding in the attic from their uncle Donald Duck, Donald's triplet nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, discover an old book. The book, which turns out to be magical, transports the triplets to Storybook land. In Storybook land Huey, Dewey and Louie are captured by King Pete, who plans to take over the real world. Mickey and Donald are told what happened by the fairy of Storybook land and therefore decides to enter the book in order to find the duckling brothers and stop the evil Pete once more.

Changes
The game is mostly similar to Disney's Magical Quest 2, but with some new features. There is a cartridge save feature instead of the password system in the previous game. Additionally, some of Mickey and Donald's outfits of the same type has different strengths and weaknesses. By finding secret doors scattered through the levels, bonus rooms can be found. These allows the player to pick a playing card, and if the guess is right, an award is given to the player.

The Game Boy Advance version allows two players to play together with a GBA link cable cooperatively as well as in some competitive mini-games.

Outfits
As stated earlier, some the outfits for Mickey and Donald are different from each other. Some outfits can be upgraded in the general shops found in the game.

Like in the two other games in the series, the first outfit allows Mickey and Donald to grab certain enemies and blocks and spin-throw them. The second costume for Mickey is a medieval-style knight armor, including a shield and a lance. Due to its weight the armor easily sinks in water, but the shield can protect Mickey from attacks and the lance that can hit in different directions. Donald uses a wooden barrel as armor, a Metal Bowl for helmet and a hammer for weapon. The barrel floats in water, and allows Donald to duck for cover and roll around. His hammer attacks in an arc fashion. Both costumes had a bar that fills over time. The strength of the attack (glove or hammer) depends on how much the bar has filled.

The third costume is lumberjack climbing gear. It can be used to catch enemies and throw them and, of course, climb trees. The fourth and final costume is a magician's outfit. It allows Mickey and Donald to perform magic tricks that allows them to find secret areas and avoid traps.

Reception
The Game Boy Advance version of Disney's Magical Quest 3 Starring Mickey & Donald received mixed to positive reviews. As with the other games in the series, the graphics and animations were praised while the length and easy difficulty level were criticized. The new outfit system with different outfits for Mickey and Donald was well received by critics, and together with the cooperative-gameplay feature some critics thought it added a new dimension to the game.