Castle of Illusion: First Impressions

[WildWillyWilson]

Played this today after getting the Jap MD version this morning. Loved it back then and still love it now! The jolly music is great and love the way Mickey swings his hips to it as well when standing! Great animation and just a very cheerful upbeat game, looking forward to playing it further.

[paranoid marvin]

****sorry , this should be in NEWBIES****



Hmmm... I'be never played this game before , in fact hardly played any MD games . I went down the SNES/Amiga route

I knew from reputation that COL was seen as a AAA game , with great graphics , but that was all I knew

Initial reactions are that it borrows from other platform games; it isn't generic , but nothing outstanding ; it certainly didnt make me sit in awe in the
way that Super Marioworld did . I find movement to be a little slow , and not sure if its my reactions , the emulator or the game , but control
doesnt feel as instantaeneous , and I dont feel as in control as in , say, Marioworld.

The graphics are great , definately up there with what was avaialbe at the time; persoanlly I find the music a little 'twee' , much prefer the more upbeat musical
style of games like Aladdin

There's obviously been a lot of thought gone into the design of the game , with many nice touches - I've only got just past the 'magic carpet' section , so I'm only just scartching the surface.

Perhaps I've been spoilt by Mario games , or superior (imho) Disney titles like Lion King or Aladdin - perhaps it helps if you had fond remembrances of playing back in the day (which I didnt)
or perhaps I simply haven't played it enough yet; I'm certainly prepared to spend more time with it to see

[jdanddiet]

honestly...stopped playing after 5 mins and completed desert strike b4 going back...

[ninjabearhug]

I find movement to be a little slow , and not sure if its my reactions , the emulator or the game , but control
doesnt feel as instantaeneous , and I dont feel as in control as in , say, Marioworld.

Perhaps I've been spoilt by Mario games , or superior (imho) Disney titles like Lion King or Aladdin - perhaps it helps if you had fond remembrances of playing back in the day (which I didnt)
or perhaps I simply haven't played it enough yet; I'm certainly prepared to spend more time with it to see

I think that you've hit the nail on the head right there. If Mickey moved faster I reckon I'd have overlooked the simplicity of the game, but the slowness just makes the game so much easier. I never played this game as a kid either, the first time I played it was around 2 years ago and I just couldn't mesh with it.

I've just had a quick blast on the SMS version, it seems to be a lot more fun. i'll post some comments in the correct thread when I've had a more in depth play

[sleeper77]

Played the MegaDrive version and I like it because it is easy to get into, solid controls and the difficulty is very balanced. Only slight hiccup is that when Mickey is running he is not totally in the centre of the screen, more like 3/4 on the left or right depending which direction you are moving, can be a bit difficult to detect enemies before going into them. But most of the time you don't notice and doesn't bother you. For me, although like said nothing new and a sort of refinement of other games in the same genre, this is an excellent platformer to recommend a retrogamer novice as the gameplay has depth, very colourful graphics and will keep you going for a good while.

[nokgod]

This was the first game my bro-in-law ever bought for his MD and i remember being floored by the 'prettiness' of it. The graphics seemed so detailed and the parallax scrolling was wonderful. I now have a MD but still haven't got this game.......i feel a trip to Ebay calling.

I may have rose tinted specs on because i haven't played this game since it came out, but somehow, i reckon it'll still cut the mustard. ( i hope so, cos i'm going to get it )

[WildWillyWilson]

This was the first game my bro-in-law ever bought for his MD and i remember being floored by the 'prettiness' of it. The graphics seemed so detailed and the parallax scrolling was wonderful. I now have a MD but still haven't got this game.......i feel a trip to Ebay calling.

I may have rose tinted specs on because i haven't played this game since it came out, but somehow, i reckon it'll still cut the mustard. ( i hope so, cos i'm going to get it )

Get it- it does!

[JetSetWilly]

Its just one of those games that you can pick up and play instantly. You think 'Ill just have a 10 minute bash here (fnar fnar)' and find yourself still there 2 hours later. It makes you lose all sense of time. Also, the graphics for the game, being that it was one of the very first MD games, were just mind blowing. The amount of detail EVERYTHING were just awesome. As many have said, Mickey's grin is just one. The way the levels look and come alive are just great, too. IF there is one game I'll show my kids first, it's this one.

[C=Style]

Remember drooling over the review in CVG before finally playing not long after it was first released and being wowed at the gfx and chirpy sound in this game. The multi-layered parallax scrolling on the sweet stage in particular was quite mind blowing. This was one of the few games I actually bunked off school to play! lol

[Rinoa]

I love this game! Was playing it late last night and lost all sense of time.

Seeing as I never had a Mega Drive as a kid I only first played this about 4 years ago. First impressions were "wow, can't believe I missed out on this until now!". I love cute, colourful platformers. Graphically Castle of Illusion looks great, the music is superb, and although quite easy it's definitely an addictive little game!

[ShadowMan]

The graphics are still really impressive today, its cute, cartoony and captures the spirit of the character perfectly. Gameplay couldn't be simpler, which is a good thing generally but on my second go I did manage to complete Normal difficulty without losing a life! I'll try Hard mode sometime this week to see if that does anything for me.

[David]

Back in the day I played World of Illusion BEFORE I ever played this one, so it's always felt a bit "second best" to me.

[video-gamer-girl]

I only have the mastersystem & game gear ver.

i did borow a mates Mega drive Castle if illusion back in the 90's,
i realy loved the cake and the spider webs leaves levels. megadrive one looks so much nicer. but i think mastersystems one is quite cute.

[Get_in_Gear]

I definitely played and enjoyed this back in the day.

I am yet another person who got to play this after borrowing a friend's MegaDrive/games. I've never owned my own MD back then - I was still quite happy with my Speccy, and eventually upgraded to a SNES.
Sadly, I don't remember too much about the details of the gameplay, because borrowing meant I was saturated with a load of MD games in a short space of time, and, frankly, other titles seem to have made a more lasting impression on me... hearing everyone else's recollections is bringing back a few memories though.


I have the Master System Castle of Illusion emulated on my GBA, so I might fire that up and have a little blast - but I'll have to get reacquainted with the MD version sometime soon.

[the_hawk]

I think I've posted this a few times on the forum, but this game absolutely blew me away the first time I saw it.

This was the 1st game I saw on the Megadrive & I couldn't believe the graphics, scrolling, music etc etc.

Playing a few years later after Sonic & the hundred other Megadrive platformers it does seem a little slooooow.