Capcom A to Z: Adventures in the Magic Kingdom

  

Title: Adventures in the Magic Kingdom

Platform: NES

Music: Yomo Shimomura

Release: June 1990

Whoo! Finally back with an update to this passion project. Today we dig into the start of the many, many Capcom games that were license projects with Disney. While not tied to a specific IP this time, this one is instead tied to the theme park, Disney Land, with appearances by Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. Now the Disney Capcom games usually have a pretty good reputation for quality games that both marry good gameplay with honoring the intellectual property. Some examples of stellar Capcom games include Goof Troop (SNES), Aladdin (SNES and Genesis), and Rescue Rangers (NES). Will this live up to the expectations?

Background
 Upon reading a interview conducted by the website Nintendo Player with the producer for this game, Adventures came about development shortly after the release of Rescue Rangers and Duck Tales. Apparently, the group at Capcom who handled Disney properties wanted to try something a little different, and they pitched to Disney to make a game based on their theme park. There really hadn't been many games of this type (if at all) before this type, and the team wanted to give it a shot, hoping to both impress Disney and audiences alike with something creative and unique.

If you have never experienced Disneyland before, it is a theme park in the center of Orange County, CA based around Disney Animation Studios. Unlike Disney World in Florida, which is a web of theme parks centered around the main park, Magic Kingdom, the original Disneyland is only two parks: Magic Kingdom and California Adventure (though at the time of this game, there was only the Magic Kingdom). The Magic Kingdom is then broken up into various zones called "lands": there is Fantasy Land, Tomorrow Land, Frontier Land, Adventure Land, etc. There is usually one showstopper ride or main attraction in each of these areas. This is a very basic rundown of the Disney Land experience, and it really can be as deep as you want to explore as a visitor. Disney Land has a very rich history, lore, and rabid fan base who attend the park quite regularly. There are hidden Mickey Mouses, a secret restaurant for member's only, and so many hidden secrets all around the park. I was lucky (or unlucky for some) to live about 10 minutes away from it in my mid 20s, and driving home from work in LA, I would regularly come home around the time the nightly fireworks display was lighting up the night sky.

One of the challenges to the team seemed to be doing proper homage to the actual theme park while at the same time making some of the details a little more vague so that it wouldn't put off any person who had never visited the park before. This led to some details being altered: for example, the Haunted Mansion is instead called the Haunted House, and Sleeping Beauty's castle is instead called the Magic Castle. Yet, at the same time, the world map in this game looks a good bit like the layout of the actual Magic Kingdom, and there are tons of nods to the real deal, such as the Small World ride and the river cruise being present (no stages actually take place there).

 

Story
The story serves more as an excuse to fool around in this virtual theme park. Goofy, being goofy, has lost the key to the Magic Castle, and Mickey and Donald task you, an unnamed boy in a cowboy hat, to find the replacement six silver keys which are located around the park. Five of the keys are located on attractions in the park, while the fifth is with one of the children who are milling about the park. If you can't find the keys, then they can't open the castle gates to start the Disney parade. Zounds!

  The Six Keys

1) One of the keys is not in one of the attractions, but instead tied to the multitude of children inhabiting the park. You can go up and talk to any one of the children, and they will ask you trivia about Disney and the theme park itself. Once you answer the question correct, they will give you the next breadcrumb to find another child in the park. Once you talk with all of them, you get the key. Some of the questions are pretty tough too! You have to know the first Mickey cartoon, what year Mickey Mouse was made, and a bevy of questions about other esoteric Disney lore.

2) In the Autopia attraction (which is in TomorrowLand) you have to control a race car and beat Panhandle Pete in a race around the track. This level sucks. The controls are awful and the race takes forever to get through. The race is super long, and if you die/crash, you start all the way back at the beginning. This wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for one part; you see, at first it is kind of fun: you can knock other cars out of the way and off the track, with the only hazard being stopping due to hitting a guard rail. Halfway through the race, though, the level goes full Battletoads hoverbike! You have a boardwalk like section where your car can fall off into water, and you have to then hit jumps and land on platforms that are all over the board. With my gaming experience in this blog, in general, any racer that is top-down birds-eye view is usually a stinker. This game's racing is no exception. I was able to beat this, but it was not easy.

3) Space Mountain, also in the Tomorrowland area, is another tough one. This one is more of a twitch reaction sort of level. You are tasked with flying a spaceship; the view is a cockpit view, and you can see outer space as well as a console that will issue you commands. As you fly, you will be given commands to either dodge oncoming meteors, or to fire at enemy ships. If you mess up three times, you're done and you have to play it again. Once again, this level is just kind of tedious. It overstays its welcome, and it demands a very quick reaction time.

4) Big Thunder Mountain is marginally better than the first two levels mentioned. You are stuck on a train track, and you have to navigate your train down the correct path while avoiding obstacles such as boulders. Again, it is a long level, and sometimes it feels a little unfair (boulders can roll in your path with little to no way to avoid them), but I managed to beat it on my second or third try.

5) The Haunted House is a classic sidescrolling level that really manages to feel like you are traipsing through the legit Disney Haunted Mansion. You have the famous ghost in the mirrors, the talking busts, and the dancing ghosts. You spend the whole level chasing a ghost who has run off with the key, and you have to avoid zombies and ghoulies of all sorts. As a weapon, you collect candles from around the level (how Castlevania) and then chuck them at the enemies. Overall, it is not too challenging, with only a few platforming sections giving some headaches. Now, if you have been collecting stars in other levels, you can also use them to purchase extra lives and health in the start menu, which I highly advise doing throughout this level. The only place where this is a necessity is at the end when you fight the ghost. The ghost is super cheap! He chases after you in a medusa-head like arc, and when you jump over him, he immediately turns under you and will catch you as you hit the ground. He is almost impossible to avoid, so you have to spend your stars on health. I checked online to see if I was doing this fight incorrectly, but even speedrunners eat health here.

 

6) The final stage (or one of them since you can play in any order) is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. This is also a side scrolling stage, but here you have to save six hostages who have been taken captive by some Popeye looking pirates. This stage is another not too challenging one, but it is a bit of a maze, unlike the Haunted House which is very straightforward. You definitely feel the limits of your guy's jump here, as there is one really pain in the next jump towards the end in the section of the town that is on fire. I enjoyed the Haunted House more, but this stage is not too bad.

 

Other thoughts...

• Why does your character look like a grown cowboy on the map? Weird right? And why a cowboy in general. They even play to this motif with the sheriff stars being your collectible currency. 
• Why is Goofy not returning the silver keys to Mickey himself? He is almost always at the end of each level with the key. What a prick. 
• This game can be beaten in about 20 minutes, which is nice.
• Like other Capcom games, you can choose the order in which you attempt the stages.  

Verdict

 This game is super inoffensive and a nice little piece of gaming history. Is it great? No, but it definitely is worth a visit. If you can grind your way past the vehicle sections, then you can beat the rest of the game no problem.