Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Released: 1990 Genre: Platformer
Disney Adventures in the Magic Kingdom is an unusual release. As essentially an advertisement for the Disney World theme parks it should be awful. Who wants to play a video game about a theme park when they could actually go there in person? Me, that’s who. As a poor kid growing up I only saw Disney World in commercials. So experiencing those in game form had to do. I’m not going to say that this is an essential NES title but it is far more entertaining than Mickey Mousecapade and LJN’s output. That still doesn’t mean it is worth buying however.
Somewhat appropriately, rather than playing as any of the Disney pantheon you star as a young boy visiting the Magic Kingdom. It seems Goofy has lost the six silver keys necessary to unlock the Enchanted Castle and with little time Mickey recruits you to find them. There are five attractions that award a key at the end and trivia mini-game to earn the last. Some of the questions are obvious but many are really obscure. Luckily you aren’t penalized for answering wrong.
Each attraction is its own minigame. The two that are the most interesting are the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. These are side-scrolling platformers and with Capcom’s pedigree should have been the best parts of the game. Instead they are probably the most frustrating. The controls are sluggish despite your limited set of actions. Most of the frustration comes in their design. The pirates level leaves you unarmed until its conclusion. Until then you are forced to avoid enemies or use the limited, and I do mean limited, barrels. Enemy placement leads to unavoidable cheap hits and the whole level is just bad. The Haunted Mansion is better. You start with candles to deal with enemies which make it better. The platforming is still bad due to slowdown and cheap enemy placement. This is definitely not what you expect from Capcom.
Autopia is a straight up Bump n Jump clone. It is not a particularly good one at that. This one also suffers from design flaws. You have the option to go incredibly fast but your car’s turning speed is slow, leading you to crash into walls left and right. Even in spite of that it is still very easy. The only goal of this one is to reach the goal before time runs out. You can make plenty of sloppy mistakes with little penalty. Outside of the one slow bridge section I doubt anyone will have trouble with this one so at least it is over quickly.
Big Thunder Mountain also has a simple goal, reach train station #2. This minigame runs at high speed and should be thrilling but it is full of problems. You can’t see far ahead to know which obstacles to avoid or which tracks lead to instant death. You can slow down when necessary but that mostly means you will slowly crash into unforeseen boulders ahead. There is no map or arrows guiding you to the correct path so it relies on trial and error. Honestly it is amazing how what should have been a quick little thrill ride could be botched so heavily.
Space Mountain is the weirdest. This one is a essentially a first person shooter on rails as you travel to Star F for the key. Mickey gives QTE style commands that you must execute lest you take damage. Every so often a meteor or alien ship will appear and you must press the right button. Space Mountain, has the least problems due to its structure. It is incredibly simple, long, and boring.
Adventures in the Magic Kingdom is obviously intended for young children. Yet it is frustrating as hell but I wouldn’t say difficult. You collect stars in every minigame that you can use on a variety of power-ups at any time. These include restoring health, invincibility, freezing time, and extra lives. You can gain the most in Autopia that will probably last the entire game. You can use these power-ups to cheese your way through the game if necessary. But the question you should be asking yourself is why are you playing this?
In Closing
Disney Adventures in the Magic Kingdom is a harmless game that can be charming at times but fails as a multi-genre mashup. You are better off watching a youtube video of Walt Disney theme parks rather than playing this one.
