๐ Received: January 22nd, 2013 ๐
๐ฆ Written: June 17th-19th, 2024 ๐ฆ
(As played on Super Game Boy)
Alternate Title: Mickey's Chase [ ⬤ ]
Year: 1991 | Developed by: Now Production | Published by: CapcomHello, gamers and readers alike, welcome to my blog and thank you for taking the time to tune in today, I really appreciate it!
Screengrabbed while watching the respective dosdaysareover's Donald's Alphabet Chase and Dosgamert's Goofy's Railway Express MS-DOS gameplay videos on YouTube
From the bookend of the '80s to the start of the '90s, Waddington would act as a producer for Disney licensed video games Westwood Associates' personal computer-based Donald's Alphabet Chase, Goofy's Railway Express, and Mickey's Runaway Zoo (all three of which she would also assist with designing) as well as Capcom's Nintendo 8-bit titles Disney's DuckTales/Wanpaku Duck Yume Bลken, Disney's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers/Chip to Dale no Daisakusen, and Disney Adventures in the Magic Kingdom. One other Disney video game license she produced was a Game Boy exclusive developed by Now Production.
Image from MobyGames
Founded on June 17th, 1986 by Yutaka Nakata, Chลซล-ku, Osaka-based company Now Production is among the largest outsource companies and contract development video game firms in Japan, having developed games for Namco, Hudson Soft, and Capcom, et al.
installments of Namco's Kaze no Klonoa/Klonoa franchise, Ganbare Goemon: Odeo Daikaiten, Goemon: Shin Sedai Shลซmei!, and Goemon: New Age Shotsudล! for Konami's franchise, Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball/Mario Superstar Baseball and Super Mario Stadium: Family Baseball/Mario Super Sluggers for Nintendo, and co-developed Sonic Riders alongside Sonic Team for Sega, and The Munchables/Tabemon, et al.
Images from GameFAQs
Disney produced by Waddington, directed by Masami Shimotsuma (who designed Be Ball/Chew Man Fu, planned Power League III and Namco Museum Volume 1, produced and designed Splatterhouse 3, supervised Namco Museum Volume 3 and 4, and directed Kaze no Klonoa G2/Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament), and programmed by Haruo ลhori (who also programmed Splatterhouse 2 and 3 as well as Astec 21's Azito), Now Production'sMickey's Dangerous Chase would be released in North American shores for the Game Boy in May 1991 by Capcom which would follow suit in Europe sometime in the following year, though Japan would have to wait until December 18th of 1992 to play it but under the simplified title Mickey's Chase which would be released in that continent by Kemco. Come 1997 the game would end up selling over a million units, prompting Nintendo to rerelease it under their Players Choice label with the familiar golden ribbon attached.
Imagine: an item being taken away due to being left unattended, truly unheard of... ๐ Also, not quite sure what the correlation between "Wull" and "Mickey" is, but this is the only time I know of that Goofy referred to his friend as such... ๐ค
Left: Starting off this chase of a dangerous variety | Right: Beware of Weasels, too
you can move your chosen rodent character left and right, crouch down, jump up in the air with the A button* with your gained altitude depending on how you pressed it, slide down platforms by pressing A while holding down, and with the B button* you can pick up a block (provided you're pressing the direction forward as well) and carry around which you can press again to toss (ahead of you, above you, or below you after being airborne). Through the course of the game are different items for you to gather, sometimes laid out in the open and* When played on the Super Game Boy, you can switch up the controls to Type A where you can use the B and Y buttons respectively
Left: "I think Jake Long might be looking for you, Fu Dog, let me get you back to him!!" | Right: White star
others hidden inside a mystery block which you can pick up to reveal one of the following (provided you catch it because it will fly up and then descend downward): a black star item to gather one star, a white star to add five stars to your count (for which collecting a hundred of them you garner you a life), a flashing star to receive a free life, a heart to replenish your lost health (for which the capacity is three), a secret spherical item (for which there are four to gather per level, with a new life gathered should you reach the end level goal with all four
Left: Take heart | Right: Be careful of those sentient fire hydrants
on hand), and on rare instances a potion to momentarily render Mickey or Minnie invincible against enemies. Each stage is divided into three levels, for which the goal is to reach Goofy while contending with and overcoming a myriad of obstacles beforehand. As there are no checkpoints in this game, losing a life will send you back to the start of the current level reverting your collected sphere count back to zero, and losing your last life and choosing to continue after Pete asks if you're still chasing him will set you back to the start of the stage.
Left: Tossing blocks while exploring the underground cavern | Right: Trying to catch up with Pete via motorboat
The visuals for Mickey's Dangerous Chase were done by Tomonori Matsunaga (who also worked on the opponent character design for Nintendo's Super Punch-Out!! and as visual designer for Locomotive's V-Tetris), Wolf Miyazaki, and Masaru Moriya (who also worked on the graphic design for Now Production's Power League 5 and Power League '93, handled the object design and demo graphic for as well as planned Rolling Thunder 3, worked on visual design for the Game Boy version of Namco's Pac-Attack/Pac-Panic, and worked on the background design for Jupiter and Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories), and I honestly think they're the strongest aspect of the game. For the monochromatic Game Boy handheld resolution the backgrounds and locations are well-designed with a good sense of
Left: Leaping fish | Right: Checking out the village port from a distance
detail even going so far as to incorporate various shades of gray (including through the subtle use of dithering). Mickey's hometown has got quaintly designed buildings with shingled roofs alongside row of flowers here and there culminating in a neat landscape by the time you meet up with Goofy, the woods are filled to the brim with nicely shaded trees (including some beautifully drawn snow-covered ones) with an incredible mountainous landscape in the backdrop, when you're high up in the sky there are cirrostratus clouds, the interior of the caves are dark and rock, the shack is aesthetically creepy with the decrepit atmosphere due to the large spiderwebs and occasionally revealed mortared bricks amidst the aged out and neglected wallpaper, the workhouse looks very industrial with how rigid its walls are, the
Left: Flying squirrel alert | Right: Be wary of snakes as well
factory has got bolted in wall tiles with the clockwork gears used to operate the conveyor bolts and crushers, and the streets have got a decently designed city skyline (one would think that this game's final moments transpire in New York). For the cutscenes there is a nice comic book panel in look and feel, even though the backgrounds are a solitary color there is a tangible canvas-like aesthetic behind the characters, and the game captures the main protagonists Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy's likenesses to an acceptable degree (even though I feel Mickey's body appears a bit flat and less rounded). Mickey and Minnie's in-game designs, static and robotic walk cycles notwithstanding, are solid to look at, and the enemies they contend with have got an endearing design to them too such as the Weasels,
Left: Kneeling on top of a bear's back admiring the beautiful trees in the background | Right: And let's not forget the equally gorgeous mountainous landscape ⛰️
intimidating Shar Peis that bark on occasion, sentient fire hydrants, leaping fish, flying squirrels, bears that prowl on all fours who bear menacing grins, vultures, bald eagles, winged bats, spiders, oil drums that nonsensically bounce up and down, and finally Pete appears imposing in design (capable of lobbing spherical projectiles your way that are humorously bigger than his hands and equally humorous is that he exclusively extends his arm in order to accomplish it). Once the block has been tossed in the direction of these foes, several times in Pete's case, they fly off the screen in such a rapid-fire manner.
The freshest and most enjoyable game in Hudson Soft's Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island series bar none, in my opinion, not to mention the most aesthetically appealing iteration of the bunch ๐
This game's music was composed was Keiji Sakata, who also worked on the music for Namco's Galaga '91/Galaga 2 on the Game Gear, Dragon Saber: After Story of Dragon Spirit on the NEC PC Engine, and Now Production's Takahashi Meijin no Shin Bลken Jima/New Adventure Island, he would also provide the sound effects to Now Production's Japan-exclusive licensed platformer Doraemon: Nobita no Dorabian Night.
Left: Riding up to the sky tied to a bunch of balloons | Right: ... aw, too bad, she won't be able to complete in [Nintendo's] Balloon Fight, Minnie's at the mercy of gravity now ๐
The title theme is brief yet upbeat, the theme for Mickey's hometown is catchy and melodically bouncy, the downtown and mountain theme is engagingly inviting with an undeniably head bopping beat, there's a relentlessly intense composition that borders on foreboding regarding most of the self-scrolling levels, the forest level theme is befitting of the tree-filled atmosphere, the bear's woods theme is a bit faster-paced and engaging with its
Left: Bow before the majesty that is the American bald eagle ๐ฆ
| Right: Marmot
action beat, the shack theme sounds appropriately menacing for the haunted area it's associated with, the warehouse theme sounds industrial but in a way that is still catchy, the factory theme has got an increasingly intimidating tone going for it, the streets theme for when you reach the last set of levels has got a fun energy to it, the penultimate level theme is impending with a slightly ominous touch as you climb to the top of the building where Pete
Left: Cavernous platforming | Right: Duck down to avoid the bat's clutches ๐ฆ
lies in wait, and when you do catch up to him eventually his theme is perpetually hectic and antagonistic in a way that is action-packed. The theme for when you reconvene with Goofy at the end of the level has got a celebratory ring to it (repetitious though it may be after a while of listening), the credits theme is curiously composed as it doesn't sound conventionally upbeat despite the happy ending that precedes it, and any time you become invincible there is a quirkily lightning fast-tempo rendition of Franz von Suppรฉ's famous 1866 musical piece Ouverture Leichte Kavallerie for the brief duration that it lasts (particularly the triumphant march). Sakata's music suits these areas to a T, and even though I wouldn't
Left: Creepy | Right: "Hey, didja know that Lucas the Spider has got his own TV show? That kid is great, too bad I won't live long enough to see it because bipedal creatures have got a disdain for us arachnids as a whole..." ๐ท️
necessarily call Mickey's Dangerous Chase my favorite '90s Mickey Mouse video game soundtrack (or for that matter my favorite piece of work by Sakata in general, as I greatly prefer his New Adventure Island music) these themes do not sound too shabby in their own right for it's admittedly taken a while for me to grow to appreciate them for what they are. The sound effects are decent, such as the sparkling sound for when your Mouse picks up a mystery block, the whooshing sound of contact being made when a block hits an enemy, and there is a rough scuff sound for when you sustain damage in any way.
Left: Walking behind a haunted rodent | Right: Midair block toss
I first learned of this game during the mid-'00s online if not in the early 2010's, for which what little screenshots I saw looked interesting for a Game Boy title. I liked Mickey Mouse growing up (I do still have a soft spot for him, admittedly, but I find that as an adult I gravitate more towards Donald Duck and Goofy than the Disney mascot), but I never knew of Mickey's Dangerous Chase back when I was a kid. The monochromatic Game Boy handheld didn't have much in terms of Disney games starring Mickey Mouse, at least of the straightforward action variety anyhow. There were the four Kemco developed Crazy Castle action-puzzler venues featuring him, for instance, three of which had to alter the licenses for the West because of their lack of consistency with maintaining IP licenses while the last one (Mickey Mouse V: Mahล no Stick) retained it for North America as the belatedly localized Mickey Mouse: Magic Wands! (which I grew up with, having gotten it at a Toys "R" Us during one Summer vacation visiting my grandparents during the bookend of the '90s).
Left: Carefully riding down by jumping from vulture to vulture | Right: Industrial area
Being that it was the only monochromatic Game Boy Mickey Mouse game I had for a while, I decided to look into Mickey's Dangerous Chase in January of 2013, and back when I played it the first time I wasn't that impressed. Visually it was remarkable to look at given the handheld's limitations, but the gameplay I personally felt left a lot to be desired which wasn't helped by the lack of polish. I ended up thinking it a mediocre affair, not up to the quality of the usual Disney Capcom title (even though they only acted as publisher in this case). But after several years of not having played it I decided to give this game another chance, I wanted to be fair and treat it as its own entity seeing how it would fare on its own two legs. It is a little better than my initial impressions made it out to be. For starters, I think it's nice that you are also given a choice to play as Minnie as opposed to just Mickey, as far as I can tell this was among the first Disney action games where his girlfriend was a playable character.
Left: Disposing of that gear above you ⚙️ | Right: Don't bother hitting that dark obstacle, it's highly impenetrable, in lieu of that carefully remove the block it's sitting on to make it fall down
you stick with the Mouse you choose until the end of the game proper, in the case of Mickey's Dangerous Chase you stick with either Mickey or Minnie as a playable character up until you lose a life in which case you can decide to stick with the same Mouse or opt for another one (for which you'll see the character select screen pretty often due to the manner in which this action platformer was structured). While the story's set up does feel a bit clunky, I like the idea behind the gameplay scenarios as you contend with a myriad of enemies, picking up and chucking blocks (including midair ones with proper timing), occasionally taking a detour from the normal gameplay as you ride a motorboat or car or ascending up a mountain while tied up to a set of ballons (with the amount you have depending on how much health you've got, meaning you soar up fast at full health but go up at the slowest rate with only one heart left remaining) and later descend all the way down carefully and mindfully jumping from vulture to vulture, safely standing on the backs of bears if need be, treading conveyor belts cautiously as you avoid contact with the crushers, scaling the building while being careful not
Left: Moving on a conveyor belt between a couple o' crushers | Right: Upward conveyor belt platforming
to get hit by the flowerpot Pete occasionally hurls down your way. While I wish there was a bit more variety with the comic book panel cutscene as the same one is used ad nauseum, it is well-drawn in the grand scheme of things and captures the Disney charm. The game starts off relatively strong, but where I feel the game suffers is the lack of polish which is especially true later on in the game. The gameplay is fine, there is a moderate sense of motion when it comes to jumping, but sometimes when it comes to timing your jumps you have to exact with how strongly you commit to jumping (like waiting for the oil drum to be high up so you can moderately jump from platform to platform in the hopes that you do not sustain damage) and picking up the block situated at the edge of a platform or in midair requires precise timing (including the final level with the mystery block that has got a free life, which is an absolute godsend every time you're brought back here due to the cheap manner in which Pete's pattern is laid out), some moments you must jump upward with not much in the way
Left: City driving | Right: Meeting up with Goofy at the end of the drive-through
of ceiling room so you're required to position yourself right at the edge and prepare to maneuver your jump on the way up (including from moving conveyor belt from moving conveyor belt), there is a near lack of invincibility time any time you lose a heart, and the collision detection can sometimes feel rather wonky and finnicky so you don't want to get too close to the enemy should you wish to proceed to toss a block at them from any angle. The difficulty is not as hard as in Hudson Soft's Mickey Mouse platformer, and there is no timer which is good, but given the lack of polish in Mickey's Dangerous Chase despite it otherwise being manageable to play through it's not under consistently fun circumstances and can feel quite like a procedure at points (particularly during the auto-scrolling levels where you can't afford to rush or overshoot the mark lest you wish to waste a life or two, where successfully clearing them is highly reliant on studying the layout and memorization), and like in Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. you can't scroll the screen backwards after moving ahead.
Left: Wow, New York is not a safe place to be in if there are actual spikes to beware of | Right: Taken a hit by that loose rubber tire
Timing your picking up the mystery block with the free life in the last level is your only means to ensure you don't get a game over, even after collecting a hundred stars, but it doesn't end there for you have to jump on a fragile platform and immediately jump from it to the rooftop so that you don't fall offscreen. Pete's pattern is manageable after studying it, but at the end it's all a waiting game until you find the window to grab the block and hit him with it but only if it's safe to do so (that, and successfully jumping over his spherical projectiles). Goofy has got a most uncanny ability of beating his friends Mickey and Minnie to the goal and yet somehow does not far enough to catch Pete himself, it's such a bizarre happenstance once it clicks with you that the game could easily be over if he caught the big bad firsthand. But to be fair, Goofy is lanky and slim while Pete is large and burly, he wouldn't have stood a chance
Left: Carefully time your moderate jumps so as to not sustain damage by those perpetually bouncing oil drums | Right: On the way up be sure to look out for the odd flowerpot
against him. Much has been made about how the block-tossing gameplay in Mickey's Dangerous Chase mirrors that of Capcom's own Disney's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers/Chip to Dale no Daisakusen from the year prior that one can't help but wonder why that Nintendo 8-bit game hadn't been ported to the Game Boy like they had done with Disney's DuckTales/Wanpaku Duck Yume Boken before it. Of the Capcom-relevant Disney games Darlene Waddington produced, I personally feel this to be one of the weaker efforts, which is too bad because the concept was sound but it's the lack of polish that slightly let it down for me. Now Production is a solid developer, but I felt they've done a better job with the Takahashi Meijin/Adventure Island sequels and the Game Boy Advance Klonoa platformers which I've had more of a consistent amount of fun playing than this.
Left: Dodging those oversized spherical projectiles lobbed at you by Pete | Right: Toss the block against Pete just enough times to do him in
I know there are people who grew up playing this game who (still) find themselves enjoying it despite what problems it's got, and that's perfectly fine. I don't fault anyone for enjoying something I don't, or vice versa, everyone has a different experience or viewpoint when it comes to works of fictional media. If you were to somehow play through this game without losing a life once, it would take roughly thirty or so minutes to complete. But the lack of polish and procedurally moderate pacing knock it down a few points for me, and I genuinely wish its level of enjoyment was that of a more consistent variety. As it stands, however, as straightforward action fare with Mickey and Minnie as playable characters go, I found Mickey's Dangerous Chase to be okay at best but could've been so much more.
My Personal Score: 6.0/10
● I originally reviewed this game on May of 2013 and gave it a 5.0 out of 10, which I had since deleted. I wanted to be more thorough and articulate, some information I had gotten wrong (I genuinely thought Kemco was the developer before I eventually learned that Now Production worked on it instead, as it shared a similar font in Kemco's Mickey Mouse: Magic Wands!), and in spite of the problems I feel afflict the proceedings when played improperly, I felt I was harsh toward it in retrospect. ๐ I wanted to be fair and levelheaded with my thoughts here, and I've learned to tolerate some of its silliness (like how Minnie refers to the vultures they have to ride down on as "nice, friendly birds", obviously given their nature that is not true).
● Now on a serious note:
Thank you for reading my review, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think (neither spam nor NSFW is allowed); hope you have a great day, be a kind human, and take care!
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