According to Jon Burton (the game's lead designer and programmer for the Genesis version), both the SNES and Genesis version were developed simultaneously, but programming for the SNES was handled by another person. He would design the features and effects with his knowledge of the Genesis hardware while the other guy would translate that to the SNES. So, despite being developed side by side, I guess one could say that the SNES version is the port. There are many videos about this game in Jon's channel, Game Hut.
I prefer the Sega CD and Genesis versions over the others. The gameplay feels better than the other two having played all 4 of them from beginning to end recently.
nope lead was the genesis . and David Jaffe said to me when asked the definitive edition is the sega genesis or sega cd him self. the snes was done by another programmer entirely not Jon Burton
@@RetroCore Nope, he said specifically that the base Genesis version was the lead version. I do think he said they had to finish the SNES version first, but all three original versions were worked on at the same time with MD/Genesis being the main focus.
I believe Toy Story is another example of Genesis being the lead game and having a bit more content than Snes. Disney and Sega were close. SEGA had an exhibit in the Epcot Innovations center for guests to play upcoming Genesis and eventually Saturn. Their hotels had Sega stuff too, loved being a kid in the waiting room just to play SEGA! Parents could go do something and leave their kids there. Remember specifically playing Clockwork Night :)
@@RetroCore the reason why most of the content is cut from the snes version is because they used complex tricks that only worked on the genesis and bringing them over to the snes would have taken tons of work so they cut them out. the sega cd gave them more space and all the code was compatible.
I'm pretty sure GameHut said one time that the SNES version had to be completed first, and because the Genesis version was finished later that gave the devs time to include the missing content, etc. I really like this game, myself, and personally I like the Genesis version the best. I much prefer the FM music over the CD and SNES music.
Disney US artists supplied Travellers Tales with around 1,440 frames of animation for the game, 350 frames for Mickey alone. Even using complex compression routines, sadly there wasn't enough room on the 16 Meg MD cart to include them all
While I say the Genesis/MD version of this game is great I find it interesting from a speedrunner standpoint on how the SFC version of the game is broken so to speak. Yellow Killer Bee discovered in the SFC version that you can pull off zips using ropes by quickly pressing jump again the moment you grab onto it, it takes some practice to get the timing right but it can whip you across a level pretty quickly. Also the game is prone to "crashing" (Which was admitted to be a way around not fixing stuff to get it past Sega and Nintendo's QA. It's not a bug, it's a "feature") which just ends the level and moves you onto the next one when there are too many sprites on the screen, something I discovered by accident as a kid at the start of the game jumping on the enemy right before you turn to look at Steamboat Willie. The runner ulvsblakk took it to another level entirely when he figured out the spots to trigger it in a lot more levels and it dramatically sped up runs of the game. Time for me to stop typing and finally watch this, love the content as always!
Hands down one of my favorite Euro platformers to play. Sure it's still a little clunky in areas in the level design (Mainly the last 2 levels), but it plays smooth, isn't a giant maze, has elements of actual strategy, nice gameplay variety (it even has bonus stages! Take that Robocop vs The Terminator), and is very inspired overall (Speaking of inspiration, apparently, this segment at 3:42 was inspired by the Aliens arcade elevator segment. Thank god it's not as cruel).
Great video. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I've been thinking about playing this one through so it's useful to know the strengths of each version.
Steve Riding, producer explained game was originally pitched as a birthday tribute, when Sony were going after the license for a Mickey Mouse 65th Birthday game. Disney had to approve every single animation frame, piece of music and speech sample...
The game is published by sony imagesoft while in japan it is released by sega. Sony imagesoft originally being part of sony records as CSG imagesoft now being a division of sony electronic publishing. As of 1995 it was merged into SCEA
Sega and Mickey Mouse always made a good tandem. Love all the games in the Sega systems (except Fantasia, that isn't a very good game). Many thanks for this BotP!
Yes its from Infogrames and the game was rushed by a new dev team. Actuelly the licens was withdraw and was a lots of destroyed unsold copies. That property why its was newer ported.
Mickey Mania would be my number one pick for a Disney game to be included on a hypothetical Sega Genesis Mini Model 2 (much more than Aladdin) but I'm not sure if they'd need to re-license it through Sony, which would complicate things greatly.
Since the first two Mickey Mouse shows currently make a rerun on Disney Junior in America, and I'm still waiting for a third one to premiere, I never thought you've managed to cover this very game on Battle of the Ports featuring a current mascot of Disney.
I absolutely love the concept of this game. I would love it if they made like a sequel to this featuring Mickey cartoons that weren't in this game. I think there are plenty of other Mickey cartoons that could possibly make for interesting platformer levels.
Like always, a great battle of the ports and I didn't know that this game had a ps1 version. Om the other hand, is the first time I see more options in the video, like the create and cut and also in the description. Idk if this is new but, good additions from yt.
It doesn't help that it's a PAL exclusive that wasn't speed corrected to account for running at 50Hz. If you play it on an emulator at 60Hz, or use a hacked version on actual hardware, it feels far less sluggish.
Sadly I don't have any PAL equipment. Actually, that's a good thing because I had to suffer wit that junk when I lived in the UK. PAL & Games is not good but PAL TV format is superior to NTSC for sure.
@@RetroCore well I was and still am living in a pal country :)) so in a way I still suffer quite often. but since you are from the UK you know all about it :)
The Sega CD version took some criticism from the official UK Sega magazine for not being substantially different from the cartridge version and the 3D chase sequence had already been done in MD Lion King.
It really seems like they ran into significant storage issues with the SNES version. The loading times are a likely indicator of heavy use of data compression. There's the missing content as well. With SNES music being sample based, that would eat up more cartridge space compared to the Genesis/Mega Drive. Still, it does seem strange that it has those issues, in addition to how it plays. I played the Genesis version a few years ago and it's a fun game and it's cool seeing what they did with the hardware. The Sega CD version seemed good too, but I thought Mickey was a bit too chatty in that one, so I ended up preferring the Genesis version. Good to see this comparison.
The PS1 version was only released in PAL format if I'm not mistaken so it's only in 50hz. There's an NTSC patch that makes it feel a lot better, at least to me.
I think for me this would be a gamepad-thrower, i have very little tolerance for situations like these around 2:00 where there is no at least somewhat obvious way of not getting hit while not being eaten by the growing flames.
I had the Mega CD version at the time and loved this game and its music. You've definitely picked the best track for the opening and side comparison. I also used to think (probably hoped) that some of the scaling effects were enhancements just for the Mega CD as I never played the MD version.
There's a fan-patch for Mickey's Wild Adventure that makes it run at 60Hz, I'm not sure if that might solve the sluggishness. I think I'd probably prefer the Gen/SCD versions regardless because they're much more impressive on a graphical level for their hardware, and that's really Mickey Mania's claim to fame (and Traveller's Tales's in the 90s, for that matter), but it's hard to deny the PSX version does look even better most of the time, so if there's a way to play it without it feeling sluggish, that'd probably be "definitive."
Really good video.... not sure if the SFC version was coded first, it does seem like a rushed port with the crunching and missing bits due to memory issues... will be interesting to find out :) . I think its a shame the later version went to the PS, a Saturn version could have been incredible utilising the 2D grunt... one of those "what ifs" great vid... really enjoyed!
I didn't know for years that this game was on the PSX because of the stupid name change. I finally beaten it on the PSX as an adult on Expert because it was too hard for me as a kid. I love that ghost level music as well, I am glad that you chose that as the intro & outro.
The ghost music is probably the best on the game. Yeah, never got why the changed the name for the PSX version. The title screen is lame too. It's just a poor scan of the games cover art.
Probably the name change because of some dumb reason by Sony not willing to have the game titled exactly the same as what by then could be already considered as "old 16 bit versions" and intending this was something "new", while it wasn't aside from the graphics revamp and some new sections. This could also relate partly to the reason why it was only released in Europe and not also in North America, clearly appointed to the extra dumbness of Sony of America with 2D games coming from 16 platforms, since games like Megaman X3 and Earthworm Jim 2 suffered from the same rejection.
For the record, there is a 60Hz patch to make it run properly and it does play as well as the Mega CD version with that applied. There's still some funky 32 bit 2D stuff on it, and aesthetically I think it's a matter of taste which version you prefer, but it's worth giving that a shot.
I think this game has some wonderful showcase of hand-drawn sprites I'd seen of the era in my late '20 childhood on Mega Drive. Pre-rendered graphics and musics are great too. Although this game is not challenging to beat compared to Sega's Castle of Illusions since it's more puzzle-based ones IMO.
I think the reason the super Nintendo is missing content is cartridge space. The super Nintendo's audio chip needed samples to make good audio and those eat up a ton of cartridge space. I Think the lead platform was actually the mega drive, though the programmer of Mickey mania is here on UA-cam so you could probably ask him 😀
@@RetroCore when they add up pretty fast on an eight or 16 MB cartridge? I'm certainly read a couple interviews from developers who talked about cutting content because of it. It certainly going to take up more space than the FM music on the Genesis.
The Playstation version actually seems to have a few gameplay tweaks compared to the Sega versions, but they're a bit of a mixed bag IMO. For starters, hits in easy mode don't always take off health, and some things that almost seem random in the Sega versions now have a definite pattern (the pipes blowing steam right at the start of the game, for example). I guess this was done to address some criticisms regarding difficulty and level design. On the other hand we have the exploding skeletons. The bones were easy to avoid in the Sega versions, but the physics appear different in the Playstation version and they seem far more dangerous to me. That makes an annoying enemy even more annoying.
Always thought Mickey Mania would be great if it got a remaster for current consoles. They would have to do some redrawing, but could look & play amazing - taking the best of (& polishing up) from all the games.
@@RetroCore - True. But weirder things have happened. I think the biggest hurdle would be getting people to sit down & draw frame by frame - since (except for smaller indie developers) nobody seems to wanna do that ant more. Maybe someone like WayForward ought to propose it to Disney Interactive?
I'm pretty sure you can get rid of the sluggishness in the Playstation version if your force NTSC mode into the game (the game was made for PAL regions, which should explain). Also, I find the music there to be an improvement over the Mega CD version.
If the PS1 port had an NTSC release that played as smoothly s the Genesis release, then it'd be my favorite. As it is, neither of my 2 CRTs handle a PAL signal correctly (one, a small Toshiba, shows nothing with PAL inputm and the HD CRT rolls the picture for PAL over composite, S-Video, or Component), so for me, by default I prefer the Genesis and SEGA CD versions. The SEGA CD version is especially nice. That said, I have used the retrotink 2xpro with the PS2 via HDMI into the HD CRT I have (this is definitely inconvenient though and don't do it often), and Wild Adventure works mostly okay that way. Though...it's noticeably less smooth playing than the NTSC 16-bit releases, and I can tell it's sluggish when playing...still, it's actually not terrible on a CRT and certainly "okay-ly" playable at least. Honestly, as is, I just stick to the SEGA CD or Genesis versions if I feel like playing this. It's not my favorite Disney platformer on the 16-bit machines, but I do really like it.
Love the SNES version as it was always my favourite console, however the megadrive and cd ports feel more responsive and a little quicker, ps 1 is the definitive version tho.
I rather like the gradual colorization in the PS version, in Steam Boat level. The sole game I own for Mega CD, and I don't even own a Mega CD. Just liked the soundtrack by Michael Giacchino, and all the rips around the net had a fault in one track. So I bought the game to rip the music... Only to find out the fault was in the original pressing of the CD. :D The SNES version of course has the best "congratulations" text ever, maybe the Genesis version has it, too. "I you liked the game, buy it twice!"
The PlayStation version was likely released on PAL regions only and that region was slow compared to NTSC when it comes to the games. I think PAL effects the control, speed and handling of games, I mean look at Sonic the Hedgehog on the PAL Sega Mega Drive which runs slow and controls sluggish compared to NTSC versions. Not all games from PAL were very slow but when played side by side, you can feel the PAL version is a little sluggish compared to NTSC.
That doesn't make much sense, though. If it was released in PAL regions only, if would have run better in PAL. Donkey Kong County is a European developed game, and it runs just fine at 50 Hz. Console ports of Turrican actually run TOO FAST on NTSC. Even the PC Engine port is PAL optimized for some bizarre reason. Looks like The Code Monkeys really didn't care about NTSC at all.
A game can been have focus on format, that might not been released first. This happens sometimes. Same with example Turrican 3. Its a game im newer have, but has checked it before long time ago. Im would have liked this game on any format as kid for sure (even MD version is the best one). But yes agree as the video. Sure there is a lots of nice codning secret about this game (just baffed about a single video about "piracy", which was more "drm" than "Piracy". He used the term "piracy" wrong here).
It's strange that I don't remember this game. I used to play all Mickey stuff back in the day. Anyway, that's an exceptionally good looking game for the 16 bits era. And a rather poor looking for a PSX game. I never understood this insistence of mixing 2D sprites with bad looking polygon models.
Isn’t the PlayStation version feels sluggish cuz this is a PAL game you are playing? I may need to test it on duckstation and force the 60hz unless it still plays sluggish with 60hz
To tell you what though, the reason why the PSX version of Mickey Mania is so slow is because it’s running in PAL 50hz. There is a 60hz patch making the game much better and dare I say the ultimate (because 16 to 32-bit conversions are often superior because next-gen hardware IMO) Mickey Mania beating out the Sega CD version. That’s my opinion though. Feel free to disagree with me on that. Hey Mark, what game do you think where the PS1 version is the best of them all? I’d like to know.
Hmm, best port on PS1? Well, most of the stuff I'd know about would be Arcade ports so I'd have to go with Donpachi. The PSX version is surprisingly better than the Saturn port. Both made by different devs mind you.
Excellent video. This is actually very useful content since this is a good game and worth collecting. At first I thought my obvious purchase choice would be the PlayStation version but you're totally right, it looks really bad. I'll go for the SNES cartridge. You should make more of this kind of videos, I mean, featuring games with collecting potential. Sometimes it can be difficult to decide which one to get.
@@RetroCore Hahaha I know ;) I've been following your channel from long ago!! But most of them are based on very old games and many versions from personal computers (ZX spectrum, Amstrad, etc), but this Mickey game is not that old and is still an attractive item for collectors (like me).
Had this on the Mega Drive originally, the coders got so much from the hardware, I never picked it up on the Sega Mega CD and made me regret buying the platform on launch. Later picked it up on Playstation, not quite sure why as found Mickey Mouse Castle Of Illusion to be the far superior Mickey Mouse game to actually play. Nice to see them putting the effort in on the Sega Mega CD version though, rather than just slapping CD music and a new intro on, as many did with MCD titles.
@@RetroCore this is mostly because for most time I considered Mickey Mouse to be a simple game for kids. What interested me more was another Batman. I was so mistaken.
The MegaDrive having better audio than the Super Famicom that's a shocker!, this reveals the Super Famicom port didn't get the same level of polish as the Mega Drive.
The Playstation version looks very nice but is it running at 30fps or something? It looks so much slower with sluggish movements. The Sega versions looks like the best ones. Nintendo has some unique backgrounds that looks very nice as well. Very pretty and charming game with cool details in the levels
SNES is the best things will get for the hardware. Genesis is a drastic improvement over SNES. Sega CD makes further improvements. PS1 goes further than Sega CD in the music and animation but fails in other areas.
As far as PlayStation version goes, it plays the same as other releases. But there is an visual deficiency compared to 4th Gen (16-bit) consoles if you look hard enough. Can you guess it? Yup. Achilles heel of the system. Sprites have less frames of animation compared to 16-bit counterpart. My personal favorite is the MegaDrive cartridge release. If find Mickey's ramblings through the game on CD based systems to be annoying, rather than amusing 😛😛😛 Addendum: plus, I find 16-bit pre-renderer sequences of the game (the staircase and running from the moose) more visually appealing than PlayStation's real time wobbling polygons and warping textures 🙄🙄🙄
Emulator fixes the warping PS1 textures. The PS1 doesn't even have an FPU for geometry, that's why they jitter around, the vertices are basically being rounded after every transform
@@NoSpamForYou ePSXe couldn't prevent texture warping. I could bump up resolution and apply filtering, but textures were still warped. Although that was ~15 years ago...
Traveller's Tales just knew the Mega Drive hardware extremely well. This is the same company that made Toy Story and Sonic 3D Blast for the system, they were able to pull off effects few, if any, other developers could.
@@littleman7514 Sometimes unlicensed versions are introduced in some Battle of the Ports episodes (example, the two Aladdin games), I suppose that's why he's asking.
Looking at the Super NES/SFC version during the 4-way split screen: The first level has animated water in the foreground that none of the others have. The Second stage has pools of water that the others lack. The third stage has at least two extra background layers including moon and stars, though I can see how some may prefer the more fleshed out tree layer that shows the landscape on the PlayStation. Once Mickey gets to the raft the same level has a special effect the others lack with darkness all around the edge of an otherwise-illuminated screen. On the burning tower the SNES has a background layer the other 16 bit versions lack. I notice the same extra flourishes in other multi platform games like Lion King and Earthworm Jim. Lens flare in the first stage, anyone? It always seems that people gloss over these in comparisons.
Honestly this game is just so frustrating and unfun because of the collision detection, just look at the final stage enemies and tell me its not broken. I think Garfield caught in the act is a much better game, hell it even has extremely similar stuff to Mickey Mania that you might as well consider it a sequel when the real one got cancelled for Toy Story
I wonder why we got modern ports of Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and not Mickey Mania. I never played this. I was fresh into the Saturn and Playstation end I was being elitist at the moment and not buying any game that wasn't 3D. I guess I could track down an emulator.
Because it doesn't play well. There isn't much to explore and all it does well are the sprites and effects. It somehow lacks some charme or soul (at least for me), other Mickey titles had for me. I'd say it is an ok game with enjoyable graphics and some impressive stuff like pseudo 3D parts, objects... good movie adaption. I'd rather play Castle of Illusion or even World Of Illusion on Mega Drive over and over again. I appreciate Jon Burton's coding and pushing the hardware (Mega Drive) a bit further in all of his games. But does it make Sonic 3D Blast better than Sonic 1? Does it make Puggsy a good game or Toy Story fun to play? No!
I didn't like it much as a teen when it came out because it's kinda hard, especially with the second level if you dont know how to position yourself to dodge the skeletons bones flying everywhere. Later on in life I gave it another try after a friend was speedrunning it and I appreciated it more, especially when I added the Genesis version to my collection as I had the SNES version earlier. The track "Captain Pete" which is also used in the Mad Doctor level freaking SLAPS on the Genesis.
In sense SNES still good game but yeah for me I prefer PS1 and No I never feel anything weird about it coz the visual is awesome with Background that if you can see at first level while other still black and white PS1 version start adding color make it's like the background change in real time, and before I realize it I get used by the control, this is why I never can go back to play Genesis or SNES version anymore except Sega CD coz the music same as PS1.
There was also the unlicensed nes version called Mickey mania 7 , which is a surprisingly decent port of course not having as much content as the official ones but it atleast has the impressive fiery stairway level and rope swinging animations
I just checked it now. Looks like they took the sprites of the Genesis and converted it to the NES. It could have been made better with more effort, with better color palette choices and the NES can do parallax effects and other stuff. But unfortunately all those unofficial ports really miss the presence of a true musician, since all of them have awful music.
![“Mickey Mania (Genesis/MD)” Full Soundtrack [Oscilloscope View]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rd3PC_MPdVA/mqdefault.jpg)
According to Jon Burton (the game's lead designer and programmer for the Genesis version), both the SNES and Genesis version were developed simultaneously, but programming for the SNES was handled by another person. He would design the features and effects with his knowledge of the Genesis hardware while the other guy would translate that to the SNES. So, despite being developed side by side, I guess one could say that the SNES version is the port. There are many videos about this game in Jon's channel, Game Hut.
I prefer the Sega CD and Genesis versions over the others. The gameplay feels better than the other two having played all 4 of them from beginning to end recently.
Exactly. The gameplay makes up for the lack of colours. Also the FM music is not half bad either.
nope lead was the genesis . and David Jaffe said to me when asked the definitive edition is the sega genesis or sega cd him self. the snes was done by another programmer entirely not Jon Burton
But didn't Jon Burton say on his channel that the SNES was the lead versions? I don't remember clearly.
@@RetroCore Nope, he said specifically that the base Genesis version was the lead version. I do think he said they had to finish the SNES version first, but all three original versions were worked on at the same time with MD/Genesis being the main focus.
I believe Toy Story is another example of Genesis being the lead game and having a bit more content than Snes.
Disney and Sega were close.
SEGA had an exhibit in the Epcot Innovations center for guests to play upcoming Genesis and eventually Saturn. Their hotels had Sega stuff too, loved being a kid in the waiting room just to play SEGA! Parents could go do something and leave their kids there. Remember specifically playing Clockwork Night :)
@@RetroCore the reason why most of the content is cut from the snes version is because they used complex tricks that only worked on the genesis and bringing them over to the snes would have taken tons of work so they cut them out. the sega cd gave them more space and all the code was compatible.
I'm pretty sure GameHut said one time that the SNES version had to be completed first, and because the Genesis version was finished later that gave the devs time to include the missing content, etc. I really like this game, myself, and personally I like the Genesis version the best. I much prefer the FM music over the CD and SNES music.
Ah, then my guess was right. It's quite easy to tell once both have been played side by side.
Disney US artists supplied Travellers Tales with around 1,440 frames of animation for the game, 350 frames for Mickey alone.
Even using complex compression routines, sadly there wasn't enough room on the 16 Meg MD cart to include them all
Another great BOTP. Definitely like the Mega CD version the best.
The animation for these games back in the day was phenomenal
While I say the Genesis/MD version of this game is great I find it interesting from a speedrunner standpoint on how the SFC version of the game is broken so to speak. Yellow Killer Bee discovered in the SFC version that you can pull off zips using ropes by quickly pressing jump again the moment you grab onto it, it takes some practice to get the timing right but it can whip you across a level pretty quickly. Also the game is prone to "crashing" (Which was admitted to be a way around not fixing stuff to get it past Sega and Nintendo's QA. It's not a bug, it's a "feature") which just ends the level and moves you onto the next one when there are too many sprites on the screen, something I discovered by accident as a kid at the start of the game jumping on the enemy right before you turn to look at Steamboat Willie. The runner ulvsblakk took it to another level entirely when he figured out the spots to trigger it in a lot more levels and it dramatically sped up runs of the game.
Time for me to stop typing and finally watch this, love the content as always!
Mega CD version is amazing!
The company traveller's tales also made puggsy, toy story, sonic 3d blast, and sonic R
Hands down one of my favorite Euro platformers to play.
Sure it's still a little clunky in areas in the level design (Mainly the last 2 levels), but it plays smooth, isn't a giant maze, has elements of actual strategy, nice gameplay variety (it even has bonus stages! Take that Robocop vs The Terminator), and is very inspired overall (Speaking of inspiration, apparently, this segment at 3:42 was inspired by the Aliens arcade elevator segment. Thank god it's not as cruel).
Great video. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I've been thinking about playing this one through so it's useful to know the strengths of each version.
I'd go with the Mega CD version if you can.
Nice video as always Mark, i enjoy the genesis versión a lot!
I find that to be a good version.
I’m not happy until I see Battle of the ports on a saturday
Wow they really made it look great all them years ago.
It sure was a good looking game at the time. Sadly it wasn't a great playing game.
Steve Riding, producer explained game was originally pitched as a birthday tribute, when Sony were going after the license for a Mickey Mouse 65th Birthday game.
Disney had to approve every single animation frame, piece of music and speech sample...
I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the game was superior on the same system that gave us Castle of Illusion and Quackshot.
The game is published by sony imagesoft while in japan it is released by sega. Sony imagesoft originally being part of sony records as CSG imagesoft now being a division of sony electronic publishing. As of 1995 it was merged into SCEA
Someone has been doing research.
You forgot to mention the NES/Famicom bootleg version of Mickey Mania (called Mickey Mania 7) developed by Ei-How Yang and published by J.Y. Company
Sega and Mickey Mouse always made a good tandem. Love all the games in the Sega systems (except Fantasia, that isn't a very good game).
Many thanks for this BotP!
Ah, Fantasia was a Teirtex game from what I remember.
@@RetroCore Tiertex strikes again! 😫
@@RetroCore no, it was infogrames
Yes its from Infogrames and the game was rushed by a new dev team. Actuelly the licens was withdraw and was a lots of destroyed unsold copies. That property why its was newer ported.
Mickey Mania would be my number one pick for a Disney game to be included on a hypothetical Sega Genesis Mini Model 2 (much more than Aladdin) but I'm not sure if they'd need to re-license it through Sony, which would complicate things greatly.
Since the first two Mickey Mouse shows currently make a rerun on Disney Junior in America, and I'm still waiting for a third one to premiere, I never thought you've managed to cover this very game on Battle of the Ports featuring a current mascot of Disney.
Hmm, here's hoping it will stay safe.
I’ve never played this before. Only Mickey Mouse game I played in the 16 bit era was Castle of illusion
One of the best 👍
I absolutely love the concept of this game. I would love it if they made like a sequel to this featuring Mickey cartoons that weren't in this game. I think there are plenty of other Mickey cartoons that could possibly make for interesting platformer levels.
They did start of a sequal back in the day but left it to concentrate on Toy Story.
Like always, a great battle of the ports and I didn't know that this game had a ps1 version. Om the other hand, is the first time I see more options in the video, like the create and cut and also in the description. Idk if this is new but, good additions from yt.
It's the game made by Mr. Coding Secrets!
Gotta go with the Sega 16-bit version, since it has one more level -- The Band Concert.
BTW, Whatcha gonna do when Mickey Mania runs wild on you?!
Err, set Tom on to him?
@@RetroCore Sorry, Hulk Hogan reference.
I remember reading in Polish magazine, that Playstation version came with extra CD with songs sang by Minnie and Mickey.
I'm not sure about that.
I wonder what went wrong with the Playstation version. It could have easily been the best of the bunch.
Lack of blast processing ;)
It doesn't help that it's a PAL exclusive that wasn't speed corrected to account for running at 50Hz. If you play it on an emulator at 60Hz, or use a hacked version on actual hardware, it feels far less sluggish.
Ive got the megadrive version great game on an amazing console ❤️
The PS1 footage doesn't look right at all. It looks like there are some issues with the Hz conversion since it was only released in Europe.
yup. seems this is the wellknown mismatch we PAL guy all aware :( seems rarely NTSC guys have to suffer too :D
Sadly I don't have any PAL equipment. Actually, that's a good thing because I had to suffer wit that junk when I lived in the UK. PAL & Games is not good but PAL TV format is superior to NTSC for sure.
@@RetroCore well I was and still am living in a pal country :)) so in a way I still suffer quite often. but since you are from the UK you know all about it :)
The Sega CD version took some criticism from the official UK Sega magazine for not being substantially different from the cartridge version and the 3D chase sequence had already been done in MD Lion King.
Fair enough.
It really seems like they ran into significant storage issues with the SNES version. The loading times are a likely indicator of heavy use of data compression. There's the missing content as well. With SNES music being sample based, that would eat up more cartridge space compared to the Genesis/Mega Drive. Still, it does seem strange that it has those issues, in addition to how it plays. I played the Genesis version a few years ago and it's a fun game and it's cool seeing what they did with the hardware. The Sega CD version seemed good too, but I thought Mickey was a bit too chatty in that one, so I ended up preferring the Genesis version. Good to see this comparison.
The SNES version is only 16mbit from what I remember too. So not even a massive game.
The PS1 version was only released in PAL format if I'm not mistaken so it's only in 50hz. There's an NTSC patch that makes it feel a lot better, at least to me.
this is still a great game and i loved the mega cd version
6:53 I think it’s because the PS version was exclusive to PAL regions. PAL versions of consoles are notable for being slower than the NTSC versions.
This is a true point but I was running G this game in NTSC so it should be running at the correct speed.
I think for me this would be a gamepad-thrower, i have very little tolerance for situations like these around 2:00 where there is no at least somewhat obvious way of not getting hit while not being eaten by the growing flames.
I had the Mega CD version at the time and loved this game and its music. You've definitely picked the best track for the opening and side comparison. I also used to think (probably hoped) that some of the scaling effects were enhancements just for the Mega CD as I never played the MD version.
Sadly none of the Mega CDs tricks were used in this game but at least it has a nice soundtrack.
There's a fan-patch for Mickey's Wild Adventure that makes it run at 60Hz, I'm not sure if that might solve the sluggishness. I think I'd probably prefer the Gen/SCD versions regardless because they're much more impressive on a graphical level for their hardware, and that's really Mickey Mania's claim to fame (and Traveller's Tales's in the 90s, for that matter), but it's hard to deny the PSX version does look even better most of the time, so if there's a way to play it without it feeling sluggish, that'd probably be "definitive."
I picked up the Sega CD version recently, and I have to say it’s quite challenging. A great game nonetheless.
It is thought mainly due to the floaty controls but it is the best playing version along with the Mega Drive.
The best versions are from Megadrive/Genesis and Mega CD.
Bev Bush of Travellers Tales, who worked on the games sprites and backdrops, worked on the Danger Mouse cartoons.
I remember those. Very cheap looking cartoons but still entertaining.
Really good video.... not sure if the SFC version was coded first, it does seem like a rushed port with the crunching and missing bits due to memory issues... will be interesting to find out :) . I think its a shame the later version went to the PS, a Saturn version could have been incredible utilising the 2D grunt... one of those "what ifs" great vid... really enjoyed!
It turns out that the SFC version came second but was handed over to an external developer to code.
I didn't know for years that this game was on the PSX because of the stupid name change. I finally beaten it on the PSX as an adult on Expert because it was too hard for me as a kid. I love that ghost level music as well, I am glad that you chose that as the intro & outro.
The ghost music is probably the best on the game.
Yeah, never got why the changed the name for the PSX version. The title screen is lame too. It's just a poor scan of the games cover art.
Probably the name change because of some dumb reason by Sony not willing to have the game titled exactly the same as what by then could be already considered as "old 16 bit versions" and intending this was something "new", while it wasn't aside from the graphics revamp and some new sections. This could also relate partly to the reason why it was only released in Europe and not also in North America, clearly appointed to the extra dumbness of Sony of America with 2D games coming from 16 platforms, since games like Megaman X3 and Earthworm Jim 2 suffered from the same rejection.
That PlayStation version has to be the PAL 50Hz, right? I don't think it was ever released here in the USA. Probably explains the laggy play.
Yep, it is pal only
Megadrive version is the best.
The Playstation version is a 50hz EU release without a 60hz hack applied it would never play like the other versions since it''s running 10% slower.
For the record, there is a 60Hz patch to make it run properly and it does play as well as the Mega CD version with that applied. There's still some funky 32 bit 2D stuff on it, and aesthetically I think it's a matter of taste which version you prefer, but it's worth giving that a shot.
I think this game has some wonderful showcase of hand-drawn sprites I'd seen of the era in my late '20 childhood on Mega Drive. Pre-rendered graphics and musics are great too. Although this game is not challenging to beat compared to Sega's Castle of Illusions since it's more puzzle-based ones IMO.
Castle of Illusion is by far the better game here 👍
Wow. I wonder if "CODING SECRETS" were used to make "IMPOSSIBLE" things in the Playstation version.
I wonder.
Such a beautiful game. The full 3D stages on the PS version just look ugly and don't hold up as well as the 16bit pseudo 3D ones.
I think the reason the super Nintendo is missing content is cartridge space. The super Nintendo's audio chip needed samples to make good audio and those eat up a ton of cartridge space. I Think the lead platform was actually the mega drive, though the programmer of Mickey mania is here on UA-cam so you could probably ask him 😀
@@AfterBurnerTeirusu *Toy Story and Tiertex flashbacks*
I'm afraid that is not the reason. Spc samples are tinny.
@@RetroCore when they add up pretty fast on an eight or 16 MB cartridge? I'm certainly read a couple interviews from developers who talked about cutting content because of it. It certainly going to take up more space than the FM music on the Genesis.
@@jeremygregorio7472 But the Mega Drive version uses more speech samples than the SNES version. It definitely might be laziness
Mega CD all the way
The Playstation version actually seems to have a few gameplay tweaks compared to the Sega versions, but they're a bit of a mixed bag IMO. For starters, hits in easy mode don't always take off health, and some things that almost seem random in the Sega versions now have a definite pattern (the pipes blowing steam right at the start of the game, for example). I guess this was done to address some criticisms regarding difficulty and level design. On the other hand we have the exploding skeletons. The bones were easy to avoid in the Sega versions, but the physics appear different in the Playstation version and they seem far more dangerous to me. That makes an annoying enemy even more annoying.
Always thought Mickey Mania would be great if it got a remaster for current consoles. They would have to do some redrawing, but could look & play amazing - taking the best of (& polishing up) from all the games.
Sadly I doubt that will happen.
@@RetroCore - True. But weirder things have happened. I think the biggest hurdle would be getting people to sit down & draw frame by frame - since (except for smaller indie developers) nobody seems to wanna do that ant more. Maybe someone like WayForward ought to propose it to Disney Interactive?
What Japanese script was more close to the original English one? The SFC or MD version (one handled by Capcom and other handled by Sega)?
Don't know. I've never played the Japanese SFC version. I would presume they'd be the same.
The Megadrive was the first developed, Snes was released first.
I'm pretty sure you can get rid of the sluggishness in the Playstation version if your force NTSC mode into the game (the game was made for PAL regions, which should explain). Also, I find the music there to be an improvement over the Mega CD version.
I believe there is an NTSC patched release on the net.
If the PS1 port had an NTSC release that played as smoothly s the Genesis release, then it'd be my favorite. As it is, neither of my 2 CRTs handle a PAL signal correctly (one, a small Toshiba, shows nothing with PAL inputm and the HD CRT rolls the picture for PAL over composite, S-Video, or Component), so for me, by default I prefer the Genesis and SEGA CD versions. The SEGA CD version is especially nice. That said, I have used the retrotink 2xpro with the PS2 via HDMI into the HD CRT I have (this is definitely inconvenient though and don't do it often), and Wild Adventure works mostly okay that way. Though...it's noticeably less smooth playing than the NTSC 16-bit releases, and I can tell it's sluggish when playing...still, it's actually not terrible on a CRT and certainly "okay-ly" playable at least. Honestly, as is, I just stick to the SEGA CD or Genesis versions if I feel like playing this. It's not my favorite Disney platformer on the 16-bit machines, but I do really like it.
Love the SNES version as it was always my favourite console, however the megadrive and cd ports feel more responsive and a little quicker, ps 1 is the definitive version tho.
great video !!
Thanks!
I rather like the gradual colorization in the PS version, in Steam Boat level.
The sole game I own for Mega CD, and I don't even own a Mega CD. Just liked the soundtrack by Michael Giacchino, and all the rips around the net had a fault in one track. So I bought the game to rip the music... Only to find out the fault was in the original pressing of the CD. :D
The SNES version of course has the best "congratulations" text ever, maybe the Genesis version has it, too. "I you liked the game, buy it twice!"
The colouring of the background on the PSX version is rather nice.
The PlayStation version was likely released on PAL regions only and that region was slow compared to NTSC when it comes to the games. I think PAL effects the control, speed and handling of games, I mean look at Sonic the Hedgehog on the PAL Sega Mega Drive which runs slow and controls sluggish compared to NTSC versions. Not all games from PAL were very slow but when played side by side, you can feel the PAL version is a little sluggish compared to NTSC.
That doesn't make much sense, though. If it was released in PAL regions only, if would have run better in PAL. Donkey Kong County is a European developed game, and it runs just fine at 50 Hz. Console ports of Turrican actually run TOO FAST on NTSC. Even the PC Engine port is PAL optimized for some bizarre reason. Looks like The Code Monkeys really didn't care about NTSC at all.
@@fungo6631, but some games including pal exclusives wasn't optimized for PAL i feel.
Had the PS1 game since release and always hated the controls might need to try the MD version
It's much nicer feeling on the Mega Drive. Still an average game though.
A game can been have focus on format, that might not been released first. This happens sometimes. Same with example Turrican 3.
Its a game im newer have, but has checked it before long time ago. Im would have liked this game on any format as kid for sure (even MD version is the best one). But yes agree as the video.
Sure there is a lots of nice codning secret about this game (just baffed about a single video about "piracy", which was more "drm" than "Piracy". He used the term "piracy" wrong here).
It's strange that I don't remember this game. I used to play all Mickey stuff back in the day. Anyway, that's an exceptionally good looking game for the 16 bits era. And a rather poor looking for a PSX game. I never understood this insistence of mixing 2D sprites with bad looking polygon models.
Isn’t the PlayStation version feels sluggish cuz this is a PAL game you are playing? I may need to test it on duckstation and force the 60hz unless it still plays sluggish with 60hz
Nope, it's also sluggish in NTSC mode.
To tell you what though, the reason why the PSX version of Mickey Mania is so slow is because it’s running in PAL 50hz. There is a 60hz patch making the game much better and dare I say the ultimate (because 16 to 32-bit conversions are often superior because next-gen hardware IMO) Mickey Mania beating out the Sega CD version. That’s my opinion though. Feel free to disagree with me on that. Hey Mark, what game do you think where the PS1 version is the best of them all? I’d like to know.
Hmm, best port on PS1? Well, most of the stuff I'd know about would be Arcade ports so I'd have to go with Donpachi. The PSX version is surprisingly better than the Saturn port. Both made by different devs mind you.
Excellent video. This is actually very useful content since this is a good game and worth collecting. At first I thought my obvious purchase choice would be the PlayStation version but you're totally right, it looks really bad. I'll go for the SNES cartridge. You should make more of this kind of videos, I mean, featuring games with collecting potential. Sometimes it can be difficult to decide which one to get.
I've made over 370 Battle of the Ports videos. 😁
@@RetroCore Hahaha I know ;) I've been following your channel from long ago!! But most of them are based on very old games and many versions from personal computers (ZX spectrum, Amstrad, etc), but this Mickey game is not that old and is still an attractive item for collectors (like me).
You forgot to mention about Matt Furniss' music being replaced in the Sega CD and PS1 versions
Still, the CD soundtrack was done by Michael Giacchino, who is a pretty good composer, I would say.
@@Kumimono uh-huh, and Matt Furniss' music kicks ass
@@jamesgibson4073 Tru, as does Giacchino. :p
I didn't forget, I just didn't mention it. I'm sure anyone with ears could tell.
Had this on the Mega Drive originally, the coders got so much from the hardware, I never picked it up on the Sega Mega CD and made me regret buying the platform on launch.
Later picked it up on Playstation, not quite sure why as found Mickey Mouse Castle Of Illusion to be the far superior Mickey Mouse game to actually play.
Nice to see them putting the effort in on the Sega Mega CD version though, rather than just slapping CD music and a new intro on, as many did with MCD titles.
I honestly did not know the game!
That is a surprise.
@@RetroCore this is mostly because for most time I considered Mickey Mouse to be a simple game for kids. What interested me more was another Batman. I was so mistaken.
Only four ports ? It would have made sense to bring it to the Jaguar and the 3do as well
Neither Traveller's Tales ever did a single development for those platforms, nor Sony seemed to be very interested in either of them.
The MegaDrive having better audio than the Super Famicom that's a shocker!, this reveals the Super Famicom port didn't get the same level of polish as the Mega Drive.
Since were on the topic of Mickey Mouse Mark, have you and the family ever been to Tokyo Disney Resort in Chiba?
Anthony..
I've been to Disney Sea. The wife and Boy have been to Disney Land twice though.
The Playstation version looks very nice but is it running at 30fps or something? It looks so much slower with sluggish movements. The Sega versions looks like the best ones. Nintendo has some unique backgrounds that looks very nice as well. Very pretty and charming game with cool details in the levels
50fps pal game on a 60hz screen/capture
The PlayStation version runs at 50fps because it was only released as a pal game. The other versions all run at 60 fps.
Damn you ps1 pal 50hz.
Playstation framerate looks weird. Is a PAL issue?
Yep, it's running at 50htz
SNES is the best things will get for the hardware. Genesis is a drastic improvement over SNES. Sega CD makes further improvements. PS1 goes further than Sega CD in the music and animation but fails in other areas.
You should do a Toy Story battle of the ports. I would love to see that.
That's next week 😁👍
@@RetroCore Okay!
@@RetroCore Have fun playing the Tiertex-made GB version.
As far as PlayStation version goes, it plays the same as other releases. But there is an visual deficiency compared to 4th Gen (16-bit) consoles if you look hard enough. Can you guess it? Yup. Achilles heel of the system. Sprites have less frames of animation compared to 16-bit counterpart.
My personal favorite is the MegaDrive cartridge release. If find Mickey's ramblings through the game on CD based systems to be annoying, rather than amusing 😛😛😛
Addendum: plus, I find 16-bit pre-renderer sequences of the game (the staircase and running from the moose) more visually appealing than PlayStation's real time wobbling polygons and warping textures 🙄🙄🙄
Emulator fixes the warping PS1 textures. The PS1 doesn't even have an FPU for geometry, that's why they jitter around, the vertices are basically being rounded after every transform
@@NoSpamForYou ePSXe couldn't prevent texture warping. I could bump up resolution and apply filtering, but textures were still warped. Although that was ~15 years ago...
@@JustPeasant That's changed, thanks to PGXP texture/polygon fixes in the likes of DuckStation in recent times
There is a ntsc patched version of the ps1 version. Plays better than the pal version
I've noticed a pattern with Disney games: Sega always got a better version than Nintendo. I'm not sure if it was by design or merely a coincidence.
Traveller's Tales just knew the Mega Drive hardware extremely well. This is the same company that made Toy Story and Sonic 3D Blast for the system, they were able to pull off effects few, if any, other developers could.
@@zanegandini5350 Toy Story was good, but Sonic 3D Blast is certainly nothing to brag over.
@@SomeOrangeCat Not a good game but I mean as far as some of its effects (an animated intro cutscene and scaling effects in the bonus stages)
@@zanegandini5350 Fair.
Mickey Mouse always had three fingers and a thumb so for the globe that shows the five lives it ain't his
Maybe he has a special glove for when he doesn't want to freak out the kids?
You Forgot The Unlicensed NES Version Of The Game Known As Mickey Mania 7.
Key word: Unlicensed
@@littleman7514 Sometimes unlicensed versions are introduced in some Battle of the Ports episodes (example, the two Aladdin games), I suppose that's why he's asking.
Looking at the Super NES/SFC version during the 4-way split screen:
The first level has animated water in the foreground that none of the others have. The Second stage has pools of water that the others lack. The third stage has at least two extra background layers including moon and stars, though I can see how some may prefer the more fleshed out tree layer that shows the landscape on the PlayStation. Once Mickey gets to the raft the same level has a special effect the others lack with darkness all around the edge of an otherwise-illuminated screen. On the burning tower the SNES has a background layer the other 16 bit versions lack.
I notice the same extra flourishes in other multi platform games like Lion King and Earthworm Jim. Lens flare in the first stage, anyone? It always seems that people gloss over these in comparisons.
The played the snes version of this game, I think that it’s okay
I thought it was the best until I played the Sega versions.
@@RetroCore and also you forgot the nes bootleg version called Mickey mania 7
Work was started on a sequel :
ua-cam.com/video/iBEA9KmPw1I/v-deo.html
Wow, I never knew there was a sequal in the works. Thanks for the link.
Honestly this game is just so frustrating and unfun because of the collision detection, just look at the final stage enemies and tell me its not broken.
I think Garfield caught in the act is a much better game, hell it even has extremely similar stuff to Mickey Mania that you might as well consider it a sequel when the real one got cancelled for Toy Story
Oh, I'd never say this was a great playing game compared to other offerings out there.
I wonder why we got modern ports of Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and not Mickey Mania. I never played this. I was fresh into the Saturn and Playstation end I was being elitist at the moment and not buying any game that wasn't 3D. I guess I could track down an emulator.
Well, to be honest the PlayStation version is the worst to play because it's locked at 50Hz. It's so slow.
The game looks so great, but I don't think it is very fun to play.
Very nice game to look at, not very fun to play. A bit too floaty for me but the artistic direction is terrific.
It is one of the better European platformers of the time but like you said, its pretty awful.
Please do EARTHWORM JIM 2 my pal. Thx u
Earthworm 2 will be covered sometime in the future for sure. But when is the question.
Does your son play games ?
Yes.
first like!
I never liked this game, I don't know why.
Because it doesn't play well. There isn't much to explore and all it does well are the sprites and effects. It somehow lacks some charme or soul (at least for me), other Mickey titles had for me. I'd say it is an ok game with enjoyable graphics and some impressive stuff like pseudo 3D parts, objects... good movie adaption. I'd rather play Castle of Illusion or even World Of Illusion on Mega Drive over and over again. I appreciate Jon Burton's coding and pushing the hardware (Mega Drive) a bit further in all of his games. But does it make Sonic 3D Blast better than Sonic 1? Does it make Puggsy a good game or Toy Story fun to play? No!
I didn't like it much as a teen when it came out because it's kinda hard, especially with the second level if you dont know how to position yourself to dodge the skeletons bones flying everywhere. Later on in life I gave it another try after a friend was speedrunning it and I appreciated it more, especially when I added the Genesis version to my collection as I had the SNES version earlier. The track "Captain Pete" which is also used in the Mad Doctor level freaking SLAPS on the Genesis.
@@mitvoid Yeah I feel like Jon Burton was always too worried about pushing hardware limits and not putting the same effort towards gameplay.
In sense SNES still good game but yeah for me I prefer PS1 and No I never feel anything weird about it coz the visual is awesome with Background that if you can see at first level while other still black and white PS1 version start adding color make it's like the background change in real time, and before I realize it I get used by the control, this is why I never can go back to play Genesis or SNES version anymore except Sega CD coz the music same as PS1.
The colour being added on the PlayStation Steamboat Willey area is a very nice touch.
It's been a longtime.
It looks like the Sega Versions has some dithering.
I think I'm more impressed with the Playstation Version.
There was also the unlicensed nes version called Mickey mania 7 , which is a surprisingly decent port of course not having as much content as the official ones but it atleast has the impressive fiery stairway level and rope swinging animations
I just checked it now. Looks like they took the sprites of the Genesis and converted it to the NES. It could have been made better with more effort, with better color palette choices and the NES can do parallax effects and other stuff. But unfortunately all those unofficial ports really miss the presence of a true musician, since all of them have awful music.