Game Debate #199: Castle of Illusion

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

[Gloves | 11,782]

Never played it. 

[TDIRunner | 2,741]

Played it, but not enough to properly rate it.  

[Sumez | 2,958]

Pretty good game, I even think it's slightly better than the more popular Master System game with the same title and box art, though they are two different games entirely. Land of Illusion is cool too, but few people ever talk about that one.

It's quite short and easy though, so I don't think it's anything particularly memorable. It's definitely overrated, that goes for both of them.

[GPX | 1,370]

One of my favorite Megadrive games. This was one of the early release titles and even though I can’t remember much of its levels, I do recall having a blast with the game, had good graphics for its time and gameplay was balanced. 
A must play for the platform loving fanatics.

[Rhuno | 107]

Super fun game; easy to recommend for anybody!

[glazball | 169]

One of my favorite Genesis games.  Nothing but love for Castle of Illusion.  9/10 from me!

[mbd39 | 2,024]

I like it a lot. Nice graphics for Genesis and a decent amount of fun. I gave it an 8.

Note that I've reached the final boss but never beat her.

 

[fox | 1,667]

Castle of Illusion is one of those right place at the right time situations, since it was an early genesis release for what is a very run of the mill platformer.  Rather overrated.

Land of Illusion, while not great, feels a bit underrated.  I guess it is a sequel, but plays a lot different.  Being able to play different levels as Mickey and Donald, in addition to the co op mode, gave it a bit of replay value.

[NostalgicMachine | 236]

Solid 8/10 title. I believe we're doing a video for The Gaming Manual on this one soon!

[Sumez | 2,958]

1 hour ago, fox said:

Land of Illusion, while not great, feels a bit underrated.  I guess it is a sequel, but plays a lot different.  Being able to play different levels as Mickey and Donald, in addition to the co op mode, gave it a bit of replay value.

That is World of Illusion.

Land is just mickey, but imo it's also better than Castle.

[fox | 1,667]

39 minutes ago, Sumez said:

That is World of Illusion.

Land is just mickey, but imo it's also better than Castle.

Right, this one. geez talk about a confusingly named series

[Brickman | 3,987]

I went with an 8. I had this on the MD growing up and really enjoyed it. Never could beat it until I got older. The remake is also a solid game and worth playing.

[Webhead123 | 676]

This is a good example of a quality early title for the Genesis. That is to say, it has lots of great qualities...and only suffers because it was an early release. It's not exactly pushing the hardware in any way but the play control is good, the graphics and music are quite excellent (again, for an early title) and it's one example of licensed games done right. It's fairly slow-paced for some and I get that. It's also pretty dang easy. But it's still great. I struggled between a 7 and 8 but I think it's not quite up to the task of the top-tier.

So, 7 out of 10 it is.

[The Count | 527]

I dig this game, but I'd have to re-visit it in order to give it a proper grade. I do prefer the Game Gear version, which is one of my favorites for the system.

[mbd39 | 2,024]

4 hours ago, fox said:

Castle of Illusion is one of those right place at the right time situations, since it was an early genesis release for what is a very run of the mill platformer.  Rather overrated.

Land of Illusion, while not great, feels a bit underrated.  I guess it is a sequel, but plays a lot different.  Being able to play different levels as Mickey and Donald, in addition to the co op mode, gave it a bit of replay value.

Never played Land. I did play World of Illusion which I remember looking great but being less challenging than Castle of Illusion.

[DarkTone | 985]

Really liked this game. Enjoyed the updated version too. 

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

Pretty good game. 

[Tanooki | 4,934]

Maybe I'm a bit more harsh with my 7.  It's a good game, a little stiff in mechanics, but you can feel how it had a very Duck Tales kind of mechanic to how you take down things with the landings on top or use of throwable goods.  I think it didn't flow as smoothly as it could, gets a few odd spaces where it feels just a bit off but mostly it's a good ride whether it's on Genesis, Game Gear or Master System.  I currently just have it on GG, but if I see it about in town on Genesis since i have World of Illusion (I have Land on GG too) I'd grab it.  The one as a side not I thought didn't feel as nice is playing the decade old remake side by side, that one truly does feel off in not a good way and I stopped playing it.

[G-type | 2,482]

It's a solid platformer, I just don't know if Mickey is greatest IP for a platformer to begin with... I don't recall watching Mickey Mouse cartoons and being like... "Wow does he sure LOVE apples!!"

Not as good as Aladdin or Ducktales but it gets the job done.

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

I like it a lot. It's not hard but it's super charming. Probably better than Gunstar Heroes. 8/10.

[final fight cd | 186]

5 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

I like it a lot. It's not hard but it's super charming. Probably better than Gunstar Heroes. 8/10.

How much bath salts did you take this AM to come to this conclusion?  Better than Gunstar Heroes?!?! What?!? 

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

9 minutes ago, final fight cd said:

How much bath salts did you take this AM to come to this conclusion?  Better than Gunstar Heroes?!?! What?!? 

GH feels overrated by having 10 million flashing lights and explosions at all times. It's good, I just never found the levels as interesting as my favorite run n guns like Contra III or Metal Slug 3. With a homing weapon, a ton of the game becomes "hold right and watch things blow up". I play more ninja swordy action games so I'm more familiar with what makes those types of games good or bad.

[AstralSoul | 502]

I only played this for the first time maybe a year or two ago. I thought it was pretty good but not amazing, I beat it in one sitting. But my 5 year old son started playing games last year and this is the first one he picked up, it's his favorite game, so now it has a special place for me. 8/10

[PII | 1,886]

I played the crap out of this on Game Gear.  Great platformer.