The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse made Disney’s mascot a hero

destructoid.com:

By the time Capcom’s The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse debuted in 1992, we had already seen several games about Mickey Mouse on home consoles. Meanwhile, between games like DuckTales and Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Capcom had a good run of great Disney licensed titles under its belt. Yet I can’t help but feel the acclaimed developer must have felt a certain weight in developing this title.

I mean, we’re not just talking any character. This is the Mickey Mouse, arguably the most famous animated character ever created. Outside of publishing Hudson’s Mickey Mousecapade, this would be Capcom’s first time giving Mickey a starring role. They can’t just make a fun platformer with some classic tunes to do this character justice. Nay, a game about Mickey needs to feel grand, exciting, and majestic. And the developers at Capcom would need the power of the Super Nintendo to do it.

Of course, I can’t say for certain that this philosophy is what drove the creation of this game. But what I can tell you is, while flawed, The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse lays a nearly ideal blueprint for what a licensed game should be. Because this isn’t just a game about Mickey Mouse; this is Mickey Mouse as seen by some of the greatest talent of the 16-bit era of gaming.

After you hear the lovely title screen jingle and start the game, Magical Quest lays out its plot. Mickey is playing catch with Donald and Goofy when he wiffs catching the ball, making it bounce off his head. Pluto rushes after the ball and apparently gets lost after about 5 seconds, which causes both Goofy and Mickey to go searching for him.

After Mickey falls off a cliff in his second failure of the day, he meets a wizard who informs him that Pluto has actually been