Mickey Mousecapade (titled Mickey Mouse: Fushigi no kuni no Daibouken or Mickey Mouse: Adventures in Wonderland in Japan, or simply Mickey Mouse on the in-game title screen) is an NES game where the character of Mickey Mouse travel through the Fun House, the Ocean, the Forest, the Pirate Ship, and the Castle in an effort to save a young girl who happens to be Alice from Alice in Wonderland. Minnie Mouse follows Mickey around helping him fight enemies, and may occasionally be kidnapped (if certain hidden traps are found).
It was developed and published by Hudson Soft in Japan and published by Capcom in the United States. The game was Capcom's first venture into what became a successful trademark of making Nintendo games based on popular Disney characters. This is the only Capcom/Disney title that was not developed by Capcom and the game contains several sprites lifted from other Hudson Soft games.
This game is sometimes incorrectly identified as Mickey Mousecapades. The title screen of the US version refers to the game by its Japanese title, which is simply Mickey Mouse. A Hidden Mickey can be found embedded in the circuit board when the game cartridge is opened.
Various villains from Disney cartoons make an appearance as bosses. Unlike other Mickey Mouse video games, Pete is not the final boss; instead, that role is played by Maleficent on the American version of the game and by the Queen of Hearts on the Japanese version. Pete does however appear as the fourth boss on the American version (and a second time as a mid-boss in The Castle).
In Japan, the game was followed in 1992 by another action sidescroller on the Famicom: Mickey Mouse III: Balloon Dreams by Kemco (which was rebranded as Kid Klown in Night Mayor World in the US), as well as two educational NES games, Mickey's Adventures in Numberland and Mickey's Safari in Letterland.
Plot
Mickey and Minnie are trying to rescue someone mentioned only as "a friend" in ads and the instruction manual. In the game's ending, the friend is revealed to be Alice from Alice in Wonderland. In the Japanese version, Alice is prominently featured on the box art and instruction manual.
Gameplay
The player controls Mickey, who can walk left and right, jump, and, after obtaining the star/white ball weapon, shoot 1-2 projectiles. Minnie follows MIckey a short distance behind, and will also shoot if she obtains her own weapon. Minnie must keep up with Mickey or else he cannot progress to the next screen, and will have to backtrack for Minnie. They navigate stages 1, 4, and 5 in a screen-by-screen fashion that allows for backtracking, and stages 2 and 3 in a one-way scrolling fashion (able to progress to the right, but not go back to the left).
There are many invisible secrets that can be revealed by Mickey and Minnie's shots; these include partial health restoration, full health restoration, extra lives, a powerup that clears all enemies on screen, a fairy that grants temporary invincibility, or a bird that captures Minnie. If Minnie is captured, Mickey must locate a hidden Red Key in the same fashion, which will transport him to a room with approximately four golden Minnie statues. He must touch the right statue to rescue Minnie, or else all statues will vanish and he will have to find another key. The correct statue is random, so this may take numerous attempts. However, Minnie's capture can be avoided altogether by not finding these birds, or by leaving the screen quickly as they appear before they can drag Minnie off-screen.
Mickey and Minnie battling Maleficent at the end of the game.
Lastly, there is a risk when opening a treasure chest that a monster will appear instead of the treasure, so the chest must be gotten again to obtain what's inside (such as Mickey and Minnie's projectiles in The Fun House).
At the end of each level, Mickey and Minnie must fight a boss who shoots numerous projectiles, each with a different pattern. A special strategy for defeating certain bosses involves maneuvering Minnie to climb a ladder while Mickey remains below, so that Minnie can attack the boss while Mickey remains safe, as only Mickey can take damage from enemies.
Differences between Japanese and North American versions
Original Japanese Cover
While the gameplay, soundtrack and premise to rescue Alice is the same, there exist a considerable amount of differences between Capcom's US release and Hudson's original game for the Famicom, especially when it comes to the use of Disney characters.
Both versions make use of Disney villains for bosses but not one of them is present in both versions. For example, the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland is the first boss in the Japanese version, but in the US version he was replaced by a wizard. Many Disney characters who appear as regular foes in the Japanese version were also replaced in the US version by other Disney baddies.
The Japanese version was based, first and foremost, on the movie Alice in Wonderland and most references about Disney on this version derive from this same movie, although some references to Peter Pan are also made, such as having Captain Hook as the fourth boss in the game, whereas the fourth boss in the non-Japanese version was a pirate version of Pete.
The US localization used a more varied formula, with enemies coming from The Jungle Book, Country Bear Jamboree, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Some of the items also underwent changes. In the Japanese version, Mickey could refill his life bar by picking up Donald Duck's head but this item was replaced in the US conversion by a simple diamond. Mickey and Minnie use throwing stars as a weapon in the North American version. However, in Hudson's original version, they shoots white balls resembling eggs.
The stage names were also edited. For example, the first stage which is known in the US version as the "Fun House" was the "Little House" in the Japanese version.
Levels and Bosses
US Version
Level 1: Fun House
- Mickey and Minnie must search for weapons and a key to reach the exit. This is the only stage where the boss fight occurs in the middle of the level; the stage does not end until Mickey and Minnie return to exit through the key door.
- Boss: The Wizard
Level. 2: The Ocean
- Mickey and Minnie must traverse waves and numerous monsters without either character falling into the sea (if Minnie falls, Mickey will also fall automatically).
- Boss: Tick-Tock the Crocodile
Level 3: The Woods
- Mickey and Minnie must travel through a correct sequence of doors and hidden doors in tree trunks to progress through four seasons and a hidden flower patch, or else they will restart from the first area (Spring).
- Boss: Snake
Level 4: Pirate Ship
- This level is extremely short, consisting of only four screens with ladders and enemies.
- Boss: Peg-leg Pete
Level 5: The Castle
- This is the largest level (but comparable to The Woods). It is a maze similar to the fun house, where another key must be found to reach the end. Pete/Captain Hook also reappears as a mid-boss.
- Boss: Maleficent
Japanese version
- Level. 1: Little House
- Boss: Cheshire Cat
- Level. 2: The Ocean
- Boss: Pat the Dodo
- Level. 3: Woods Land
- Boss: Caterpillar
- Level. 4: Never Land
- Boss: Captain Hook
- Level. 5: Queen's Palace
- Boss: The Queen of Hearts
Gallery
 |
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page Mickey Mousecapade. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |