Remember Epic Mickey?

[ZinC Podzzz]

You guys remember Epic Mickey on the Wii? When I was little I was so hyped to get the game. I played the game and it was amazing. The story was great, the choices to either paint or use thinner on bosses was really interesting, and it brought back Oswald the Lucky Rabbit! It's unfortunate they don't use him very often, though he has some silent cameos in other stuff. The dark box art reminded me of Kingdom Hearts and that's why I bought it. I always have a good time when I replay it. The second game fixes a few things from the first game but adds new ones at the same time. The added voice acting is cool, but a bit cringy when people like the Doctor sing. I loved it when I first played it, though. Such a shame they never made a third game, though there was a side game on the 3DS that is fun. I only played the demo but of what I played it seems like a nice little entry that uses the touch screen in smart ways. Anyways, thoughts?

 

[MATGSY]

Rumor has it there's an HD port coming to PS4/Switch.

But in all honesty, I'm of the opinion EM would've been better served as a film than a game. The core concept is amazing & is probably the best plot Disney could ever come up with for a Mickey movie. The gameplay ideas, however (both the moral choices & the general platforming) never felt fully realized. & then there's the sequel that did everything worse: smaller-scale plot, shorter length, AI is too incompetent to make single-player enjoyable, but co-op has its own issues.

Also, while a world of forgotten Disney characters sounds interesting on paper, the execution of it is head-scratching. Smee is a forgotten Disney character? On what merit was that decided? There's also a bunch of different Petes, oh Pete himself isn't a forgotten toon, but alternate versions of him are? God, what a cop-out. How many alternate Mickeys are there in that case? Prince & the Pauper just off the top of my head.

Heck, Clarabelle Cow & Horace Horse are borderline as I was vaguely familiar with them prior to their appearance in KH2. Which, oh yeah that's right, some of these "Forgotten" characters had already appeared in KH before EM, which should've been an instant disqualification from Wasteland membership. Heck, KH actually one-ups EM with Clara Cluck, a character I actually never did hear of before KH2 & is not present in EM series.

Another thing KH has over EM, acknowledgment of the origins of all the characters. Jiminy's journals breaking the 4th wall to point out what short/film each character made their debut & what year. EM is filled with tons of references but fails to have any sort of codex to explain said references despite them all being obscure by design.

Other forgotten characters that didn't make it include Dumbella/Thelma (Della's original incarnations), Mrs. Goof & Goof Jr. (Goofy's wife & kid from old shorts, & Amelita/Felicity (Mickey's sister). There's probably loads more comic book characters that could be dug up if I were to continue digging.

 

[Soldier]

Rumor has it there's an HD port coming to PS4/Switch.

But in all honesty, I'm of the opinion EM would've been better served as a film than a game. The core concept is amazing & is probably the best plot Disney could ever come up with for a Mickey movie. The gameplay ideas, however (both the moral choices & the general platforming) never felt fully realized. & then there's the sequel that did everything worse: smaller-scale plot, shorter length, AI is too incompetent to make single-player enjoyable, but co-op has its own issues.

Also, while a world of forgotten Disney characters sounds interesting on paper, the execution of it is head-scratching. Smee is a forgotten Disney character? On what merit was that decided? There's also a bunch of different Petes, oh Pete himself isn't a forgotten toon, but alternate versions of him are? God, what a cop-out. How many alternate Mickeys are there in that case? Prince & the Pauper just off the top of my head.

Heck, Clarabelle Cow & Horace Horse are borderline as I was vaguely familiar with them prior to their appearance in KH2. Which, oh yeah that's right, some of these "Forgotten" characters had already appeared in KH before EM, which should've been an instant disqualification from Wasteland membership. Heck, KH actually one-ups EM with Clara Cluck, a character I actually never did hear of before KH2 & is not present in EM series.

Another thing KH has over EM, acknowledgment of the origins of all the characters. Jiminy's journals breaking the 4th wall to point out what short/film each character made their debut & what year. EM is filled with tons of references but fails to have any sort of codex to explain said references despite them all being obscure by design.

Other forgotten characters that didn't make it include Dumbella/Thelma (Della's original incarnations), Mrs. Goof & Goof Jr. (Goofy's wife & kid from old shorts, & Amelita/Felicity (Mickey's sister). There's probably loads more comic book characters that could be dug up if I were to continue digging.

The Smee encountered in Epic Mickey is different than the one in Kingdom Hearts for a simple, yet noticeable difference. The Smee in Kingdom Hearts and the film has a red beanie and blue striped shirt, while the one encountered in wasteland has a blue hat and red striped shirt. Minor difference sure, but the wasteland's multiple character models being repeated are explained in what I honestly think is genius (some are rough drafts left on the editing table).

 

[MATGSY]

The Smee encountered in Epic Mickey is different than the one in Kingdom Hearts for a simple, yet noticeable difference. The Smee in Kingdom Hearts and the film has a red beanie and blue striped shirt, while the one encountered in wasteland has a blue hat and red striped shirt. Minor difference sure, but the wasteland's multiple character models being repeated are explained in what I honestly think is genius (some are rough drafts left on the editing table).

That sounds so damn stupid. Why can't Smee simply own more than 1 shirt?

 

[Soldier]

That sounds so damn stupid. Why can't Smee simply own more than 1 shirt?

Disney rules man, Disney rules. Why doesn't Donald Duck wear pants? why doesn't Sora ever need a change of clothes? why doesn't the keyblade break at this point?
Point being, if they needed a certain forgotten character, it's easier to write it off as a benched design and leave it at that. The Disney vault was packed full of such designs when warren specter was allowed in, so he used them. Just like how the gremlins fulfil the roles of guides and mechanics when other characters could have. It wouldn't make sense to have jiminy cricket around mickey when he isn't forgotten, but the gremlin's leader does.

 

[ZinC Podzzz]

The Smee encountered in Epic Mickey is different than the one in Kingdom Hearts for a simple, yet noticeable difference. The Smee in Kingdom Hearts and the film has a red beanie and blue striped shirt, while the one encountered in wasteland has a blue hat and red striped shirt. Minor difference sure, but the wasteland's multiple character models being repeated are explained in what I honestly think is genius (some are rough drafts left on the editing table).

That's pretty cool. Kind of a cheap way of including him, but a really cleaver way of doing it! I didn't even notice that it was any different. Also real quick, I forgot to mention the soundtrack. Oh. My. God. It's some good stuff!!!

 

[Soldier]

That's pretty cool. Kind of a cheap way of including him, but a really cleaver way of doing it! I didn't even notice that it was any different. Also real quick, I forgot to mention the soundtrack. Oh. My. God. It's some good stuff!!!

It's better to at least have some canon excuse for why the same model is reused multiple times than not address it at all. Otherwise you'll get situations like one singular guard being copy and pasted repeatedly like in KH 2's Mulan world. What Warren Specter chose to do with the game was clever, regardless of what some might think.

 

[Eonstar890]

I loved this game so much when I got it and was so sad when the second one performed sadly in sales casing the whole series to be scrapped. If they ever made a remake I would be beyond excited. While the second one had some flaws, there are some features I wish were in the first, such as the post game options.

The story is so clever to me, and growing up with the parks, it was really cool to see this world based off of them. Wow what a nostalgia trip :,)

 

[MATGSY]

The " We have Kingdom Hearts at home" returns! Kinda funny bringing it back in the year he went PD.

 

[Deleted member 282472]

It made me a fan of Oswald.

It was a cool take on Mickey. I never finished it on the wii.

 

[Keyblade Knight 1st Class]

The " We have Kingdom Hearts at home" returns! Kinda funny bringing it back in the year he went PD.

I'm really excited about this. I've always wanted to play the original but I never had a Wii. My friend and I played through the sequel though, and the less said about that experience the better.

 

[Sonofjafar]

My question is will they bring back the Scrapper and Hero forms.

 

[Soldier]

I'm really excited about this. I've always wanted to play the original but I never had a Wii. My friend and I played through the sequel though, and the less said about that experience the better.

The sequel is indeed very bad, however I'd argue it enters the "so bad its good" camp when playing with a friend. Though I only briefly played it with my sister, there's just something about the jankiness that really sells it. It's pretty much required that you have a second player play as Oswald because his AI sucks.

My question is will they bring back the Scrapper and Hero forms.

Well, it's advertised as a remake. Whether or not it would be a faithful remake (basically the same save for updated graphics and camera) or a reworking (new parts or revamped areas) isn't clear yet.

I was pretty stunned to see them do this, this IP has been lying dormant for nearly 12 years. Really hope that it does well so they can make the sequel better and MAYBE even give us the proper conclusion to the trilogy.

 

[MATGSY]

The sequel is indeed very bad, however I'd argue it enters the "so bad its good" camp when playing with a friend. Though I only briefly played it with my sister, there's just something about the jankiness that really sells it. It's pretty much required that you have a second player play as Oswald because his AI sucks.


Well, it's advertised as a remake. Whether or not it would be a faithful remake (basically the same save for updated graphics and camera) or a reworking (new parts or revamped areas) isn't clear yet.

I was pretty stunned to see them do this, this IP has been lying dormant for nearly 12 years. Really hope that it does well so they can make the sequel better and MAYBE even give us the proper conclusion to the trilogy.

The sequel sucked as both a single player and co op. I did runs of both and it was frustrating in different ways. Unhelpful Oswald AI in solo, some annoying puzzles and platforming that require coordination and precise timing in multi. Neither was a fun experience.

The devs doing this remake are the same guys behind the Spongbob Battle for Bikini Bottom remake and subsequent Cosmic Shake sequel. I am not familiar with those but that probably gives some basis for what to expect.

 

[Soldier]

The sequel sucked as both a single player and co op. I did runs of both and it was frustrating in different ways. Unhelpful Oswald AI in solo, some annoying puzzles and platforming that require coordination and precise timing in multi. Neither was a fun experience.

The devs doing this remake are the same guys behind the Spongbob Battle for Bikini Bottom remake and subsequent Cosmic Shake sequel. I am not familiar with those but that probably gives some basis for what to expect.

Well, if that's the way you feel then to you the sequel is at rock bottom. And the best part about rock bottom is there's only one way to go from there,

Speaking of Rock Bottom, the Spongebob games they've made are... passable. They're 3D platformers similar to Epic Mickey, so there's a lot of overlap between them. In BFBB they even added a scrapped boss robot, which could mean they might be able to dig up some unused content and add it to the game.

 

[Soldier]

So the demo is out for this game, I played it and here are my thoughts. Putting up a spoiler section even though it is basically the same game we played 12 years ago, just updated with better graphics and overlays.

Spoiler Show

-The beginning cutscene is just as you remember it, but far more polished, water textures for paint and thinner are improved from the Wii and everything just looks good.

-When you do start in the mad doctor's lab against the mechanical eye, Gus still destroys part of the lab and you STILL can't use paint or thinner here. This bothers me, as I always wanted to paint in what little I could to brighten up the drab dingy areas.

-Also, there are a lot of statues of Maleficent's raven Diablo, and I mean A LOT of them. Diablo even replaces some of the pillar art, even the one that depicted the beast. Personally, I don't like this, I thought the horrific statues were a nice reference to Beast's castle (as anyone who plays KH 2 knows all too well) and a way to allude to a character from Disney's storied history. But I guess it still makes sense, this is Dark BEAUTY castle and the more references to Sleeping Beauty are appropriate.

-The conjoining corridor to the courtyard still gives you the paint and thinner tutorial. They also added a "wet" effect for when you paint something in that dries in seconds like real paint. they even gave you the option to avoid thinning the frame of the door that was in the first game! Always loved that little trick, now whoever comes that way is screwed.

-The courtyard has changed quite a bit, that red door you thin for a pin in a chest is now very ornate to fit the area. The balconies also have vines going through them now, which just further adds to the SB references.

-You fight the two seers as you did in the original, but when you paint one in, it also attempts to paint in the other one. I like this! the original made it so your allies will always try and kill your opponents for you by thinning them out. In games with recruitable allies (fire emblem for example) I always try to get as many on my side as possible. And in Epic Mickey, I used to pretend that making them allies made them part of the rides that they were found in (the spatters on the boat rides for example, would replace the many creepy dolls you'd see spread out)

-Slalom is... slalom. Not much has changed here, same painting pipes and thinning gears to progress. It's not until you get to the actual small world exterior area where things are really different.
-The Dumbo ride for example, is complete (or as complete as an area as wasteland can be for that matter). All elephants are attached unlike the original and when the gremlin fixes the ride it keeps moving up and down and doesn't form a convenient staircase for you.
-The gears you have to paint to move the platforms though, are no longer attached to the exterior spinning inert parts. A shame, I liked watching them spin.
-The bridges over the thinner canal are complete unlike the original, no more hopping for you.

From there you go onto the ride and get to the pile up, where thinning the pipes or painting the hippos ends the demo. The large Oswald head on the door is replaced with an African Elephant. Now I painted the hippos and the right door opened, but I'm not sure if the left will open with the thin pipes option.