Let's Talk Some Bollocks About: The Nintendo 3DS & Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition

In my twenty-six years of gaming, I’ve not played many that have the sheer loveliness of the 1990 Mega Drive classic, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. Even thinking about it here as I type, it makes me feel happy. It’s such a universally well-loved game too. I’ve never met anybody who dislikes it, and I’ve never read a bad word about it. It’s beautifully crafted, stuffed full of memorable moments and it remains a very pleasant playthrough twenty-nine years after it’s initial release. Magic!

I think it’s a game that excited a lot of aspiring games developers too. That’s clearly the case with DreamRift Games, the folk tasked with working a top-secret project for the new-at-the-time 3DS back in 2011. I remember the cat being let out of the bag with that, and the project being confirmed to be Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion. Those leaks revealed that the game was not only a new game within the Epic Mickey series, but also a sequel to the Castle of Illusion. ‘WOOOOOOOOOOFT!!!!’, I probably shouted, as I frantically made a new thread for it on the NGamer Forum while trying not to snap my banjo string by tugging too hard on it.

What came out in late 2012 was a very faithful spiritual successor to Castle of Illusion. One more time, you are Mickey Mouse, cutting about the spellbound Toon World, and ridding the land of all evil lurking within it. The wicked witch Mizrabel has drained all the colour from many of everybody’s favourite Disney characters, and entranced villains like Jafar, Captain Hook and some big fud from Kingdom Hearts to do all her heinous, nasty bidding. In her most bastardly trick, Mizrabel has trapped all these colourless Disney characters in The Castle of Illusion, and Mickey must navigate the dangers of the castle in order to thwart the witch and save all his wee roaster pals....

...at least, that’s what I think’s going on. It’s all a bit complicated and convoluted for a throwback to a nearly-30 year old Mega Drive game. No joke, I’ve had to paraphrase the instruction manual there. When was the last time you had to check an instruction manual for the story? Even with all that background, there’s very little plot development in the game itself.

The gameplay is similarly all over the gaff. Just like the Epic Mickey games on home consoles, Power of Illusion builds itself on it’s drawing and painting function that lets you interact with the levels. You do that by using a “magical paintbrush” (aka the stylus) to trace objects on the bottom screen. These “magically” transform into cartooney, Disney-style illustrations. After that, you then move your illustration to the top screen where they are further transformed into fully realized objects that pop off the screen in really attractive 3D. Those objects you drew turn into platforms for you to use (and such like). This mechanic adds an action-puzzle component to the platforming, which mixes it up a little. It’s overdone though, and it slows the game’s momentum right down. These mechanics get tired quickly - you’ll probably avoid using them where you can, and you’d probably rather that they weren’t here at all.

You play the game on the top screen - it’s here that you quest through the Castle of Illusion. Because of Mizrabel's illusionary magic, all the levels take in themes and setpieces from classic Disney films, and are full of recognisable characters from across the Disney timeline. For example, in one level, you jaunt through Agrabah from Aladdin. In another, you battle on Captain Hook’s pirate ship, The Jolly Roger. Then, you adventure Under The Sea, an obvious nod to Atlantica from The Little Mermaid. And so on.

The feeling of nostalgia is strong. That’s not just because you’re playing through worlds you’ll remember vividly from videos you watched when you were wee, but because it takes a lot of inspiration from games you grew up with too. Good examples of this are The Jungle Book, Aladdin, and especially the aforementioned Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. You can tell the developers were huge fans of the Mega Drive prequel, as Power of Illusion looks, plays and feels very similar to that. Also, the arse-bounce that they’ve taken from Castle of Illusion is still one of the greatest jumps in platforming history. Power of Illusion’s visuals, as you can see, are outstanding. The production outdoes that of pretty much every third-party 3DS game I've seen. It all looks and sounds wonderful. I don’t think that a lot of games deserve to have an orchestral soundtrack, but such a soundtrack works wonderfully here.

I can just visualise Balladeer mime-conducting that tune while playing it on his phonograph in the parlour room of his stately mansion.

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion’s best element is undoubtedly it’s presentation. Unfortunately though, the rest of it doesn’t gel together quite so well. As I’ve already mentioned, they overdo it with the daft painting gimmick, and it means that the different play styles are badly mismatched. There's also an almighty difficulty spike near the end, which is totally at odds with how easy the game is in it's first half. Worst of all is the amount of back-tracking; it’s a completely transparent way of masking the complete and utter lack of levels. I was fighting the final boss after only twelve short-ish levels and two boss fights. That's unacceptable for a game that originally sold for £40. Thankfully, that’s not what it costs these days, but if you’re picking it up, your time with Power of Illusion will be brief. Let's not begin on the amount of irrelevant character chit-chat either.

Power of Illusion can be fun, and the building blocks are strong and robust for a sequel. However, it can be sluggish, it’s very short and, honestly, it’s a little bit disappointing. Nintendo Life were quite unkind to Power of Illusion in their December 2012 review, crying it a “smudged affair” and booting it in the Davina McCalls with a 4/10.

Perhaps it doesn’t live up to your initial expectations. In truth, it’s a game that lives up to its title. It’s quite a powerful illusion, dressed up and outwardly impressive for the first couple of hours, and then starting to unfurl once you go beneath it’s surface.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I can just visualise Balladeer mime-conducting that tune while playing it on his phonograph in the parlour room of his stately mansion.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

If nothing else, I strongly recommend that everybody finds a way to play the original Castle of Illusion. I remember somebody making a thread that asked for your top ten 2D platformers. Amongst the hundreds upon hundreds I've played, Castle of Illusion was in my top ten. 👍

Jimbob wrote:

. I guess then it depends of the appeal of the Disney Magic... but I don't have that much nostalgia for Disney things it turns out, even though I could recite large parts of some of the older films - I hardly set foot in Epic Mickey. Hmmmmmmmm...

masofdas wrote:

I'm on holiday April 6th -14th, I will try to see if my guest is about and if not I may do something else then the game I was thinking unless someone else has something.

Balladeer wrote:

Drunka's turn again?

Animal Crossing: New Leaf was easily my most-played game of all time. Barring a gravy-related incident in the middle, I played this every single day between its release on June 14, 2013 and the day I put it down on September 15, 2016. I legitimately loved it, and the decision to stop playing was a more difficult one than my decision to emigrate to the other side of the planet in real life.

Ever since reading about the original Gamecube release, I've had a fascination with Animal Crossing which I can't fully explain. I saw the previews, and possibly even the review, in Nintendo Official Magazine and I needed this game. It didn't have fancy graphics, action-packed violence, tits or even ass, but I knew I wanted it as much as I've ever wanted any game.

I went through the emotional rollercoaster of not having a European release date, getting an imported copy of Animal Crossing for Christmas, realising the Gamecube is region locked, hearing about the Freeloader and finally receiving one as an Easter present. I played a lot of the original game, but it was limited by virtue of being a home console game and my living in a single-television household. Later came the DS' Wild World. I played a fair amount of this one, but I was at a particular time in my life- listen to Joe Skrebels' feature in this episode of Regular Features if you want to get an idea of the age I was at the time - and I was plowing through great games with stories and that. I wasn't ready yet.

But then there was New Leaf. The 3DS was a perfect machine for Animal Crossing, having its suite of connectivity features and nicer visuals. I was at the prime age - I was working full-time and at the back end of a crappy relationship. Animal Crossing: New Leaf provided just the right fix.

Animal Crossing contains multitudes. It really felt like there was another world on the other side of the screen- another life. The dialogue is endlessly charming, sometimes hilarious and, unless you roll an unlucky set of characters, it's as irrelevant that they aren't entirely unique from one another as scrubbing is to one's enjoyment of Meteos, or whether or not a game's levels used a procedural generation once you're playing them.

I could talk about collecting all my fossils and bugs and fish. I could tell the story again about this game and Ace Attorney converting me to the church of coffee. I could bore you about Gyroids or show you pictures of my Creepy House. I could talk about the strange relationship I have with living in the countryside, hating and loving it at the same time. I could even talk about my hype for Animal Crossing on Nintendo Switch. But nobody cares about any of that. Animal Crossing is all about the Villagers, so let's talk about them.

Camofrog
This guy was a cranky, grouchy so-and-so but he had this permanent smile which gave it a different feel. He also warmed to me, as Animal Crossing villagers tend to. As someone with a compulsive need for people to like me, grumpy types who become my friend are my absolute kryptonite. Plus, he's a camouflage-green frog who talks like a drill sergeant. What's not to love?
4/5 Would date. Hard to get definitely works on me.

Chadders
It's a mouse made of cheese. What's not to love?
3/5 If we fucked, there's zero chance he'd complain how I smell.

Gigi
Gigi was a quintessential posh lass. Much like my weird relationship with Animal Crossing's idyllic version of country living, I have a bit of a strange affection for posh women. Maybe I see myself as a Han Solo type, a dashing rogue who could show an uptown girl the charms of common people? Maybe its pure misogyny that lets me hate the rich for the most part but lets me assume pretty young things are innocent?
4/5 You'll never live like Common people. You'll never do what common people do. You'll never drink and laugh and screw because there's nothing else to do.

Flo
So far, I've talked about the appeal of grumpy, hard to please types whom one eventually wins over. Flo is the opposite. She was loving, and kind, and a big cute penguin. She would want to please other villagers, she never complained, she was always there for birthdays.
3/5 I'd date her for a few years, and it'd be fine, but it'd ultimately be a bit boring. There's only so much DVD boxset-then-missionary a man can enjoy.

Cesar
Of course, as lovable as villagers can be, sometimes it's just as fun to have a villager you hate. Deliberately not helping them, burying them with pitfalls, hitting them with a net, trying to turn other villagers against them . . .
And Cesar was a real asshole. I even wrote a cover of Taylor Swift's "Trouble" about him, for the ONM podcast competition.
2/5 I'd fuck him but it wouldn't be out of affection.

Kid Cat
Ah. My best friend. My role model. Kid Cat is sporty and energetic and obsessed with fitness. He's pretty dense and stupid. But he is unwaveringly, unrelentingly, unbelievably positive. He makes me want to better myself, physically and spiritually. I've met one or two people like this in the real world and they're just the best, lifting everyone around them up.


And that's Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Is it a game about collecting things? It is if you want it to be. Is it an avenue for showing off one's own creativity? If you're creative, sure. Is it a replacement for real friends, or an escape when the real world is too grim? It's all of this . . . if you want it to be.

Balladeer wrote:

Some shite.