Epic Mickey
Epic Mickey is a 2010 platform game developed by Junction Point Studios and published by Disney Interactive Studios for the Wii. It was released in November 2010 in North America and PAL territories. The game focuses on Mickey Mouse, who accidentally damages a world created by Yen Sid for forgotten characters and concepts and must save it from the Blot. The game features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks and originally owned by Universal Pictures; The Walt Disney Company gained ownership of the character in 2006. The game marks the first time that Mickey and Oswald have appeared together.
Epic Mickey was part of an effort by Disney to re-brand Mickey Mouse as a character by placing less emphasis on his pleasant, cheerful side and reintroducing the more mischievous and adventurous sides of his personality, depicting him as an epic hero. It was directed by Warren Spector, who collaborated with Walt Disney Animation Studios on the project, with help from Powerhouse Animation Studios, who made the cutscenes for the game. The game was announced in October 2009 and released in November 2010. The game received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, who praised its visual style, unique gameplay and meta-commentary narrative, but criticized its camera and lack of true player choice. It has maintained popularity since its release, and is widely credited for re-igniting public interest in the Oswald character, as well as other minor Disney characters such as Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow. Successors to the game include Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.
A remake developed by Purple Lamp, titled Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, was released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S by THQ Nordic on September 24, 2024.
Gameplay
Epic Mickey is primarily a platform game and allows players to use their own solutions for getting through the levels. Epic Mickey features a morality system similar to games like Infamous, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and Shadow the Hedgehog. Different alliances, side-quests and power-ups are made available depending on the choices of the player. It is also possible to avoid mini-bosses if specific actions are taken. The in-game currency "E-tickets" are important to these boss fights.The game's key feature is a magic paintbrush, which Mickey wields, that has the ability to draw or erase objects using paint and thinner. For example, obstacles can be erased from physical existence with thinner and then restored with paint or enemies can be befriended by revitalizing them with paint or destroyed completely using the thinner. The two fluids have little effect on "Beetleworx" enemies, which require being taken down physically. Mickey is also able to materialize objects from sketches, which have various effects. Two of the three sketches, the watch and the television, slow down time and distract enemies, respectively. Both fluids have limited reserves, adding a strategic element to gameplay: players must compromise between making various tasks harder or easier to accomplish. However, the fluids automatically but slowly refill and power-ups that quickly replenish the fluids are available in certain areas. Mickey can also find collectable pins in Wasteland. Most are bronze, silver or gold, but some are special, like the "Art Appreciator" or "Mean Street" pin. Another thing that is useful in the game is a type of currency called E-tickets. These can be given or discovered. They are used to buy quest items, concept art, pins, health refills or paint or thinner refills.
To travel between sections of the Wasteland, Mickey traverses 2D side-scrolling levels based on his cartoon shorts, such as Steamboat Willie and Clock Cleaners.
Synopsis
Setting
The game is set in the Wasteland, a pen-and-paper stylized world, created in the game's narrative by the sorcerer Yen Sid, as a place for "forgotten things", namely disused or obscure Disney characters and attractions. It is physically inspired by Disneyland and appears as an intricate model in Yen Sid's workshop. However, Mickey Mouse inadvertently causes mass damage to the model, ravaging Wasteland. The world is now tormented by the Blot, a monstrous entity loosely based on the Phantom Blot, an antagonist to Mickey in the comic strips created by Floyd Gottfredson, as well as the Mad Doctor, who chose to betray Oswald and join the Blot's side in his thirst for power.Wasteland is split into several locations based on various areas from Disneyland and other Disney theme parks. Dark Beauty Castle, located at the center of Wasteland, is based on the Disneyland Paris version of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Mean Street is based on Main Street, U.S.A., where Horace Horsecollar and Pete live, though other incarnations of the latter appear throughout the game. The Gremlin Village is inspired by Fantasyland, based primarily around It's A Small World. The attraction's iconic clock tower serves as the game's first boss encounter. Mickeyjunk Mountain is based on the Matterhorn Bobsleds and is covered in discarded Mickey Mouse toys and merchandise. It also contains an abandoned Beetleworx factory that Mickey must pass through on his way to Oswald. Other locations include Bog Easy, based on New Orleans Square, which is home to the Lonesome Manor, based on The Haunted Mansion, Ventureland, based on Adventureland, Tomorrow City, based on Tomorrowland, and OsTown, based on Mickey's Toontown, where Clarabelle Cow lives.
The game also features animatronic versions of characters, three of which are counterparts of Daisy Duck, Donald Duck and Goofy.
Story
After mysteriously waking up one night, Mickey Mouse discovers that the mirror in his bedroom is actually a portal to Yen Sid's workshop, where he finds him using a magic paintbrush to finish the creation of a world made for forgotten Disney creations, represented as a model based on Disneyland. Mickey examines the model after Yen Sid leaves and, not knowing what it actually is, starts fiddling with the brush to make a self-portrait of himself, but inadvertently causes it to become a monster made of ink. Mickey panics when the monster tries to attack him and throws thinner on it in an attempt to destroy it, but spills more paint and thinner on the model in the process. Upon seeing Yen Sid approaching, Mickey quickly tries to clean up the mess, but in his haste, spills the entire thinner bottle onto the paint spillage as he flees back to his house. The monster, having survived Mickey's attempt to destroy it, enters the model through a portal created by the paint and thinner spillage, taking the bottle of thinner with it.After many decades of fame following the incident, the same ink monster from before enters Mickey's bedroom and abducts him, dragging him through Yen Sid's workshop and into the ruined world, now known as Wasteland. After waking up, Mickey finds himself strapped to a table in a huge laboratory in Dark Beauty Castle by the Mad Doctor, who plans to steal Mickey's heart by using a large mechanical arm while Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the ruler of Wasteland, spies on them from behind a machine. However, Mickey frees himself before he can succeed and scares off the ink monster, now known as the Shadow Blot, with Yen Sid's magic brush, which had fallen into Wasteland during Mickey's abduction, forcing the Mad Doctor to flee through a trap door. Oswald attempts using the trap door to escape after being spotted by Mickey but accidentally breaks a lever on the main controls for the mechanical arm, causing it to become hostile and forcing Oswald to escape another way. Gus, leader of the Gremlins, who serve as mechanics in Wasteland, suddenly arrives and helps Mickey disable the mechanical arm and guides Mickey out of Dark Beauty Castle. He also teaches Mickey how to use the magic brush, during which he notices drips coming off of Mickey's body and assumes that he may have absorbed some of the Blot's essence. Throughout his journey, Mickey fights Blotlings, the Blot's minions, and Beetleworx, the Mad Doctor's evil robotic creations.
After traveling through the Gremlins' village in pursuit of Oswald, Mickey confronts the clock tower of It's a Small World, now driven insane after hearing the attraction's featured song non-stop for years. From there, he arrives at Mean Street, where Wasteland's populace mainly reside. After Oswald is located at his sanctuary within Mickeyjunk Mountain, he, despite his resentment towards Mickey for his potential involvement in the robbery of his fame, agrees to help him escape Wasteland since he still has a heart, which Wasteland's inhabitants are stripped of after being forgotten and are unable to leave the dimension without them. To do so, they journey to the Moonliner Rocket in Tomorrow City, only to discover that the Mad Doctor had stolen essential parts from it to use for his plot, so Oswald sends Mickey and Gus to collect them. The duo retrieve the first part after defeating the corrupted Petetronic, an incarnation of Pete based on Sark from Tron, the next after confronting an animatronic version of Captain Hook in Pirates of the Wasteland based on Pirates of the Caribbean, and then confront the Mad Doctor in Lonesome Manor. Upon defeating him, it is revealed that the Mad Doctor had transfigured himself into a Beetleworx in order to survive the Blot's revolt and conquer Wasteland, before he is sent flying after Gus removes the last rocket part from his hovercraft.
After acquiring all the parts, Oswald has Mickey help repel an attack staged by the Shadow Blot on the summit of Mickeyjunk Mountain. Once the threat is neutralized, Oswald reveals to Mickey that the Blot that he had just battled, along with all of the Blotlings Mickey had encountered, were only drippings of the real Blot leaking out of the giant bottle of thinner atop Mickeyjunk Mountain. Oswald explains that he and Ortensia managed to seal the Blot away in the bottle many years ago, but Ortensia was blighted by the monster in the process and entered an inert state akin to petrifaction. Oswald decides that he had been too hostile towards Mickey and attempts to start over and become friends with him. Mickey suddenly becomes overwhelmed with guilt and confesses to Oswald that he was the cause of the Blot's existence and Wasteland's crisis, which causes Oswald to lose his temper and jump onto the cork sealing the bottle shut, challenging Mickey to a fight. In his rage, Oswald accidentally causes the cork to break, allowing the Blot to escape from its imprisonment. The monster, which has since become larger than before, captures Oswald and Gus and threatens to kill them if Mickey does not allow it to take his heart. Mickey yields his heart to the Blot, who then spares Oswald and Gus and proceeds to go on a rampage throughout Wasteland, using its Bloticle tendrils to absorb its paint and become more powerful before entering Mickey's world. This prompts Mickey to get rid of the Bloticles while Oswald fixes the rocket.
With the Bloticles eliminated, Mickey, Oswald and Gus attempt to use the repaired rocket to reach the Blot, but end up crashing into Dark Beauty Castle after the monster absorbs the rocket's paint. As a backup plan that involves using a paint-laden firework display at the castle against the Blot is formulated, the monster soon captures Oswald, Gus, and Ortensia, forcing Mickey to enter its body to save them. Mickey regains his heart before he and Oswald successfully manage to vanquish the Blot with the castle's fireworks and are sent flying. Oswald and Ortensia land in Mean Street while Mickey is sent flying through a portal in the sky above the castle that takes him out of Wasteland and back to Yen Sid's workshop. In the aftermath, Wasteland begins regenerating as Oswald reunites with the restored Ortensia. As Mickey returns home, Yen Sid enchants the mirror to show Mickey the positive or negative outcomes of his major choices in Wasteland and allows him to communicate with Oswald one last time, the duo now bonding as brothers. Afterwards, Yen Sid seals the mirror to prevent Mickey from re-entering his workshop and causing any more mischief. Not long after the mirror is sealed, Mickey discovers that he still has some of the Blot's essence in him, leaving the possibility that he may still be able to reach Wasteland.