Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Genesis/Mega Drive)

Developer:

Sega

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Release Date:

1991 (1990 NA)

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Systems:

Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear

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And the Super Adventures award for 'Ugliest Title Screen of 2019' goes to... that picture up there. Sorry Keio Flying Squadron 2, your title screen may be pretty ugly, but you've been outdone by this indistinct grey mess.

This week I’m playing Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, known in Japan as I Love Mickey Mouse: Fushigi no Oshiro Daibōken. Me, I’m indifferent to Mickey Mouse. I never watched his cartoons as a kid and I didn’t play his games, so he’s always been roughly on the level of Ronald McDonald in my mind. But as far as Disney logo symbols go, he’s second only to the Sleeping Beauty Castle!

Castle of Illusion is the first game in the Illusion series, which is pretty much four games and a remake, and I've never played any of them! Well okay, I've probably put a couple of them on for five minutes each, but I've got no nostalgia for them. On the other hand, I did play another Mickey Mouse Mega Drive platformer for the site a few years back called Fantasia, which was... not good. I can't blame Mickey for that though (plus it was by an entirely different developer), so I'm going to give him another chance to win me over here.

Zillion (Master System) - Guest Post

Today on Super Adventures I've got good news! Mecha-neko's come back after a seven month absence to write another guest post, so I get to take the week off.

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Hey stranger-folk. I'm mecha-neko and today I'm playing a Master System game I found called Zillion. Or perhaps it's Z⚡LL⚡ON!

Developer:

Sega

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Release Date:

1987

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Systems:

Sega Master System

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Hmm, what to make of this? From the look of the pulsating ray-gun on the title screen, it's probably a light-gun game. But don't be fooled: the cat from Interpose (my very first Obscure-As-All-Hell Animated Cat Game August post!) twiddles ray-guns all over the place on his title screen, and that one turned out to be a side scrolling shooter. Yeah, that sounds right. "Zillion." It's like it fell right off the bottom of the periodic table or something. Gotta be a shooter.

In fact, the 27th of May is the thirtieth anniversary of Zillion! It was released in Japan on 27th May 1987. Happy birthday, Zillion! This post's going up a couple days late, 'cause cats work to their own calendar. (And I'm not making a new banner!)
But even so, why would I ever post another side-scrolling shoot-'em-up? You're just going to have to read on and find out!

Psycho Fox (Master System)

Developer:

Vic Tokai

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Release Date:

1989

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Systems:

Master System

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This week on Super Adventures I'm not even going to acknowledge the fact that I didn't post a new game last week. I'm just going to act as if I wasn't too busy/lazy to give you your weekly screenshots and move right on to talking about whatever this is.

Psycho Fox is basically what you get if you put Metal Gear Solid characters Psycho Mantis and Gray Fox into one of those teleporter pods from The Fly. But it's also a platformer released for the Master System during Sega's Alex Kidd era by Vic Tokai, creators of Clash at Demonhead and Magical Hat no Buttobi Tabo! Daibōken (aka. that DecapAttack game I played in 2011). In fact Wikipedia claims that DecapAttack is meant to be Psycho Fox's spiritual successor, which means I should have some idea what to expect. But I don't, because it's been six years since I played it.

I've only just turned this game on and already I have so many questions! Why is that monkey sticking a metal rod into Psycho Fox's ear? Is Psycho Fox related to Spy Fox? What's the 'F' supposed to be made out of? Why is the sun so bloody happy? Why magenta? Also this has to be the first time I've seen a fox that looks like he's about ready to fuck up a tiger. I'm getting a real Clockwork Orange vibe from these guys, like it's Psycho Fox and his Droogs.

Alright I'm going to give it an hour or so and see what it's like.

Aladdin (Master System)

Don't worry, this is the last of the Disney's Aladdin games. Well except for things like Disney's Math Quest with Aladdin and Disney's Aladdin Chess Adventures...

Whatever, it's the last one based directly on the first movie, so it's the last one I'm playing.

Cheese Cat-astrophe starring Speedy Gonzales (Master System)

It looks like it's mostly a cat-astrophe for poor Sylvester the Cat, who seems to become a victim of hit and run cheese theft.

Daffy Duck in Hollywood (Master System)

It's got the genuine Looney Tunes music! And also bubbles on the logo for some reason. I left this on for a while to see if an intro appeared, but all that happens is Daffy's Oscar gets taken away and he's left miserable.

The Flash (Master System)

I think this actually might be based on the Flash tv series. Though that's definitely not the Danny Elfman theme tune playing.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Master System)

This was the first of the Alex Kidd games, and apparently the best selling game on the Sega Master System. Possibly because it actually came built into a lot of Master Systems.

My console came with Sonic the Hedgehog though, and I know virtual nothing about this game.

Jurassic Park (Master System)

Adventures in Jurassic Park, part 5.

It doesn't look that bad for a Master System game.