Mickey Mousecapade (NES) Playthrough

A playthrough of Capcom's 1988 license-based platformer for the NES, Mickey Mousecapade.

Mickey Mousecapade, Capcom's first US released game under the Disney license, was developed by Hudson and was originally released in 1987 in Japan as ミッキーマウス 不思議の国の大冒険 (Mikkii Mausu Fushigi no Kuni no Daibouken, lit. Mickey Mouse: The Great Wonderland Adventure).

As the game's original subtitle indicates, the goal of Mickey and Minnie's quest is to save Alice. You take control of both Mickey and Minnie simultaneously in order to fight your way through a house, the oceanfront, a magical forest maze, and a pirate ship as you make your way to Wonderland Castle where Alice is being held by Maleficent.

The first order of business, however, is to arm yourself. Until they find shooting stars in a treasure chest in the fun house, Mickey and Minnie have little choice but to avoid any baddies they come across. Once they have the means to defend themselves, they can go straight for the key to the boss's room, or they can search around for hidden items.

There are tons of spots that can be shot to reveal items and power-ups, but if you're really unlucky, a crow will pop out an snatch Minnie. Minnie is impervious to harm from enemies, but if she's taken, Mickey won't be able to leave the stage until he finds the secret room where she's being held.

Once they've beaten the wizard and wrapped things at the house, they move onto The Ocean. It's a simple, linear platforming affair that feels pulled straight out of Adventure Island, and with waves that can easily sweep you (and one of your lives) away if you or Minnie get caught in it. The boss is Tick Tock the Crocodile from Peter Pan.

The forest is a maze in which you'll need to navigate the seasons in their natural order by going through the correct doors in order to reach the fight with Kaa from The Jungle Book.

The pirate ship is comprised of a small collection of rooms that ultimately lead up to the deck where you'll face-off with Peg Leg Pete.

And finally, the castle is a huge level that's set up similarly to the fun house. You'll need to find the key to unlock the way to Maleficent.

Mickey Mousecapade stars a huge mish-mash of classic Disney characters, but the line-up is quite different between the Japanese and American games, in case you were wondering why the Queen of Hearts isn't the final boss. She was, originally.

The game feels very different than any of the other Capcom Disney titles, probably because they didn't develop this one themselves. It's unmistakably a Hudson production - the level design, the controls, and the HUD all smack of the company's house style at the time - and it's up to their usual level of quality. It feels quite a bit more old-fashioned than games like DuckTales and Rescue Rangers, but the game's simplicity and its old-school level of challenge make it a blast to play. The music is pretty good too.

But man, sometimes I would just love to backhand Minnie for how wonky her pathfinding can be.

Here's a fun little bit of trivia: if you open up the cartridge you'll find the shape of Mickey's head on the PCB, just below the PRG ROM. Neat, huh?

Mickey Mousecapade is a much older, simpler, and more difficult game than the other Disney NES games, but don't let that stop you from giving it a shot. I still pop it in for a round or two every so often, and it never fails to entertain.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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