If you were a fan of Disney and video games in the early '90s, you'll know that we were pretty much spoilt for choice when it came to great 2D platformers starring Mickey Mouse. There was Sega's superb Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion, and Land of Illusion, Capcom's incredible Magical Quest series, and of course, Traveller's Tales' Mickey Mania. But that's not to say there weren't some disappointments thrown in there too, with one good example of this being 1991's Fantasia, based on Disney's 1940 musical film of the same name.
Fantasia was notably slammed by critics following its release, with the British Mega Drive publication Mega, for instance, giving an import copy of the title just 11%, while its competitor MegaTech awarded it 49%, criticizing its "naff sound" and poor design.
To add to the game's woes, there have even been subsequent reports that it was potentially licensed by Disney in error (notably in author Ken Horowitz' Playing at the Next Level: A History of American Sega Games), with the story going that, after realizing its mistake, Disney requested Sega pull the game from stores and destroy any unsold copies. We should note that this is something we haven't been able to corroborate ourselves in our own conversations with former Disney staff but is something that has only further added to the game's negative reputation over time.
The new fan patches for the game were released over the last few days by the hackers Tryphon and Razor and come in two flavours: a Mega Drive / Genesis version and a version for the Sega CD that adds Mode 1 audio (implemented with the help of @Bonemagee). These intend to target several areas of the game, making the title a far more enjoyable experience all around.
Mickey's hitboxes, for example, have been altered, making it easier to attack and defend, while the turnover, jump preparation, and reception animations have been removed entirely, to help Mickey keep his momentum. The swimming physics have also been improved and a bunch of other refinements have been made to Mickey's magic system. There are even now a couple of cheat codes implemented, which we've listed below:
A+B+C+Start on the title screen - invulnerability.
A+B+C+Right when paused - go to the next scene in the current stage.
A+B+C+Up when paused - go to the first scene of the next stage.
Right now, the patches don't seem to be available via ROM Hack Plaza, but are available to download in the description of the videos posted on the Razor & Zenon Sonic Videos YouTube channel, if you want to try them out for yourself.
One Of The Worst Mickey Mouse Platformers Has Just Got A Fan Upgrade
Infogrames' 'Fantasia' adaptation was released in 1991 and was criticised heavily at launch
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