Mickey Mouse - Magic Wands! (GB)

Today, by request, I'm playing Mickey Mouse - Magic Wands! Or Magic Wand, if you're going to believe the title screen.

I've gotta admit I haven't got my hopes up. But someone asked me to play it, and they seem to like it, so I might as well give it a shot. Can't be any worse than Fantasia at least. I hope.

Is it just me, or does this picture not really match the text?

Their pleasant stroll through the forest eventually takes a dark turn as they get distracted by the outstanding natural beauty, and end up accidentally wandering over to Castlevania.

Apparently the sinister castle belongs to 'the Wizard', a local celebrity famous for owning magic wands that can 'make ice and fire and other magic'. She's the sinister kind of wizard, the kind that has a castle full of tricks and traps, and has put enough people through them to get herself a reputation. (Wikipedia assures me that 'wizard' isn't actually a gender specific title, though I'm guessing in this case it's just a slightly dodgy translation.)

Amazingly, the group actually has the sense to realise that going to the creepy castle will probably lead to bad things, and they're not even tempted to go knock on the door and ask for directions.

Unfortunately the Wizard turns out to be so damn evil that even hearing someone laughing a mile away is enough to wake her from her EVIL SLEEP. And she's extra evil when she's cranky.

Whoa, the Wizard doesn't mess around. If you piss her off she'll just tear a hole in the earth below your feet and let you fall.

Only Mickey manages to escape the assault and climb to safety, and now he's left to rescue the survivors single-handedly. And presumably defeat the evil Wizard while he's at it so she can't just throw them down another hole. No pressure Mickey.

And then Mickey just walks straight past the Wizard, marches right into her evil castle, and then starts looking through her boxes and stealing her magic wands. The mouse has no fear.

Damn, he's only had this wand for two seconds and already he's gone power mad.

"YES, WITH EACH LOLLIPOP I LICK, MY POWER INCREASES! B'WAHAHAHA!"

And I've finally hit gameplay.

Right, okay, I've got a jump button and a magic wand button. When I hit a crystal with the wand, it transform into a pick up, like a lollipop... or whatever this thing is.

Oh right, it's the corner of a picture. I guess I'm supposed to be collecting all the pieces to complete picture and exit the stage. Or get a bonus level or whatever.

Yep, completing the picture is a win.

Mickey does a wonky victory jump to celebrate.

The levels seem to be getting more maze-like as the game goes on, and now they've thrown in enemies and teleporter panels. Each time I've got to explore every last inch of level and get most/all the crystals.

The music's still the same though. Always the same.

It seems like these frogs are completely immune to my awesome magic though, and I can't even jump on them. Fortunately they just seem to wander around instead of actually chasing me, so it's not so hard to avoid them.

The main problem I'm having right now, is that I can't figure out where the hell I'm meant to be going. I can see another part of the level down there, but Mickey just doesn't want to fall through that wooden floor.


LATER.

Hey, he's got an inventory. Maybe there's something here I can use.

No clue what the music box does, dunno what the gun shaped thing is, the lollipop INCREASES HIS POWER, I'd guess apples are health, and I have no clue what a 'mic key' is, or why I have four of them.

Oh, duh, it says 'Mickey'. It's probably his lives counter.


MUCH LATER.

It took me a long while, but I eventually figured out that the gun shaped thing is a key, and those things next to the wooden platforms are keyholes. Yeah I'm almost smart enough to figure out a game made for 6 year olds.

These levels are definitely turning into a maze of ladders and platforms now, and they've thrown in some cannons to try to make things interesting. Not really working for me though.


A MILLION LEVELS LATER.

Crap, a BOSS FIGHT? But I've got no weapons! I'm entirely harmless.

If I still had an apple I could throw it at him, but the items don't carry over between levels.

I guess all I can do is stand here and wave my wand at it, and hope something happens. Mickey can't use magic in the air, and he's locked in place when swinging his wand around, so it's hard to get in the right place to hit anything. I can't tell if my wand's even connecting with these things or not.

At least now I know that eating a lollipop just refills the life gauge. Not the huge boost in magic power I was hoping for, but hey it's still helpful.


EVENTUALLY.

I just hit something... I CAN kill the boss with the wand! Every fire I put out weakens him.

Now I just have to somehow get in the right place to hit the other flames as they circle around, before they burn Mickey alive.


SOON.

The fire villain is defeated, I've rescued my faithful dog Plut, and I've got a new wand that can freeze water. Seems like things are looking up.

Though I'm still trapped in this damn maze, forced to climb ladders and hunt down crystals. And it's still annoys me how I can't steer Mickey when he's falling. He'll drop right past that platform (and the crystal) and there's not a damn thing I can do about it.

Why don't you move like every other platformer character you rat bastard?


Actually I think I'm done with this. The game's functional enough, but it's just a basic collect 'em up and wasn't much fun for me to play. Though to be fair I'm not exactly its target audience.