This is my favorite screenshot of the day, the Steamboat Willie 2D side-scrolling surprise I wasn’t expecting. Before E3 began it was clear that Disney was pushing Epic Mickey with plenty of resolve, but this one sequence made me forget the uncomfortable reaction when footage released last year – when I thought the game was looking at best like a decent N64 title.
It’s clear when Warren Spector talks about the project that he loves Mickey Mouse more than I ever will, but he’s already made a believer out of me before I’ve laid my hands on it, and I wanted to revel in that a bit.
That sounds a bit crazy, but really, if he convinced Disney on a world of choice based on whether we create to solve our obstacles or simply erase them, and on the stark and incredibly slick marketing already on display, than how can I resist? They even call it Disney’s Epic Mickey now, and stuck with the Wii exclusivity I really wasn’t expecting to hold out.
Again that sounds a bit silly of me, but this E3 is full of earnest surprises, and that Disney could bring this type of title to the show sincerely surprises and impresses me. That I’m feeling a bit of the strange magic I only vaguely remember when I first saw Mickey on the Sega Genesis is probably also a factor.
They’ll be plenty more to say about the game this week, for now I’m just going to fantasize a bit more about jumping into old cartoons via film screens.
