Mickey's Ultimate Challenge
From Sega Retro
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Mickey's Ultimate Challenge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher: Hi-Tech Expressions Tec Toy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Developer: WayForward Technologies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Supporting companies: Designer Software (production) Disney Software (assistance) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Licensor: The Walt Disney Company | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sound driver: GEMS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre: Puzzle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of players: 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mickey's Ultimate Challenge is a video game starring Disney's Mickey Mouse that was published by Hi-Tech Expressions for the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Game Gear exclusively in North America in 1994. The game was developed by WayForward Technologies under supervision from Designer Software. It was also brought to the Sega Master System, though this version is a port of the Game Gear version that was released exclusively in Brazil by Tec Toy.
Contents
Story
While lying in bed reading a book of fairy tales, Mickey fantasizes about living in a magical castle in a far-away land. Mickey falls asleep and awakens in a medieval land called Beanwick. He learns that there is a strange rumbling over the castle that no one can explain and volunteers to investigate.
Gameplay
Mickey's Ultimate Challenge is a puzzle game primarily aimed at younger children. It can be played as Mickey or Minnie, who find themselves in the Kingdom of Beanwick investigating a peculiar rumbling. They must complete five simple mini-games to collect objects from other Disney characters. Both characters play identically and face the same challenges. Mini-games are accessed by entering rooms in the Castle of Beanwick, a hub level where Mickey and Minnie start the game and where they return after completing a game. The hub level contains two sections; the section containing Goofy's challenge and the Wishing Well is only accessible after lowering the drawbridge in Hewey, Dewey, and Louie's challenge.
Once all of the objects have been acquired, Mickey and Minnie must give each object back to a different character who can make use of it, receiving magic beans in exchange. These magic beans can be placed into the Wishing Well to grow a giant beanstalk that leads to the final mini-game.
Mickey or Minnie move with or
and duck with
. They enter doorways by pressing
when standing in front of them. In the Mega Drive version, they do a low jump with
or a high jump with
. In the Game Gear and Master System versions, they do a low jump with
or a high jump with
.
There are three difficulty levels (Cake, Medium, and Challenging in the Mega Drive version or Cake, Medium, and Hard in the Game Gear and Master System versions). If a challenge is failed, it can be attempted again an unlimited number of times.
Challenges
Horace's Library | |
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Books are floating up and down in the library, but the librarian, Horace Horsecollar, is having trouble sorting them since he cannot find his spectacles. Some of the books have letters on the cover, and Mickey or Minnie must sort them by jumping on the books in alphabetical order. Books act as platforms. Only a portion of the alphabet must be sorted; the game starts on a particular letter (shown on the bottom of the screen), and Mickey or Minnie must jump on a book with the next letter of the alphabet on its cover when it appears. There is no penalty for jumping on a book with the wrong letter on its cover. When playing on the highest difficulty, Mickey or Minnie must instead jump on books to spell a mystery word. After completing the challenge, Mickey or Minnie receives a | book of spells from Horace.|
Donald's Wizard Tower | |
Mickey or Minnie is accidentally shrunk to a tiny size by a wizard, Donald Duck, and placed on a chess-like game board. To help Donald mix an enlarging potion, Mickey or Minnie must push the potion bottles on the board into a magic mirror on the board, maneuvering them around immovable blocks in a manner resembling Soukoban. There are multiple boards to play, depending on the difficulty level. Mickey or Minnie can move in any direction using the D-Pad, and potion bottles can be pushed by moving into them. Since the potions can be pushed but not pulled, it is possible to position the bottles in such a way that the puzzle can no longer be solved, but the board can be reset by pressing ![]() ![]() | |
Daisy's Art Gallery | |
The princess, Daisy Duck, wants to dust all of the portraits in her art gallery but cannot do so without her special slippers. Mickey or Minnie must use a sliding ladder and a feather duster to dust off the portraits hanging on the castle walls in matching pairs before the lights in the castle dim to darkness. It is essentially a timed matching card game. The portraits are all obscured by dust. Mickey or Minnie picks two portraits in a row, which are dusted off and revealed. If both portraits match, they remain dusted off; otherwise, they are covered in dust again. The challenge is completed when all of the pairs are matched and the entire gallery is unobscured. Mickey or Minnie can move to a portrait using the D-Pad and dust it off by pressing ![]() ![]() | |
Hewey, Dewey, and Louie's Drawbridge | |
Hewey, Dewey, and Louie are trying to close the drawbridge, but the machine is stuck. Mickey or Minnie must help unstick the machine by jumping on the pumps in the right order. Several pipes light up and make different noises in a randomized pattern. The player must listen and remember the pattern, then repeat the pattern by jumping on the pumps in the same order. The pipes play a single melody, adding a note after every time Mickey or Minnie successfully completes the previous pattern. The length of the melody increases in higher difficulty levels. After completing the challenge, Mickey or Minnie receives a | glass slipper from Huey, Dewey, and Louie.|
Goofy's Blacksmith Shop | |
The blacksmith, Goofy, is bored because he has no metal to work, so he challenges Mickey or Minnie to guess what tools are in his toolbox. Mickey or Minnie has seven attempts to successfully guess the tools and their order inside Goofy's toolbox. It is a guessing game similar to MegaMind. There are four different positions, and the player can move the selection between the different positions with ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |
Collecting the Magic Beans | |
The segue of the game. The items that Mickey or Minnie collected were of no importance to their previous owners but would be useful to others in Beanswick. Mickey or Minnie must go back to every character and choose the item that best suits them to give to them:
| |
Solving the Mystery | |
Mickey or Minnie encounters a giant up in the clouds. The giant is sound asleep and snoring, and his massive snoring is the cause of all the trouble in Beanswick. There is a scrambled picture of an alarm clock standing next to the giant. Mickey or Minnie must unscramble the picture by sliding the pieces. Moving the D-Pad slides a piece into the blank spot. After the picture is reassembled, the alarm clock rings and wakes the giant, and the troubles in Beanswick are solved. |
Production credits
Mega Drive version
- Designer Software Producer: Bill Bogenreif
- Hi Tech Expressions Producer: Seth W. Rosenfeld
- Disney Producer: Sam Palahnuk
- License Manager: Sue Fuller
- Programming by: Jimmy Huey
- Music and Sound by: Jeff Avella, Voldi Way, Ken Bailey
- Character Animations: Rob Buchanan
- Backgrounds: Matt Bozon
- Special Thanks: Steve Yaeger, Gregg Tavares
- ...and a special thanks to the guys at Echidna for tUME, the Universal Map Editor.
Game Gear version
- Designer Software Producer: Bill Bogenreif
- Hi Tech Expressions Producer: Seth W. Rosenfeld
- Disney Producer: Nancy Berman
- License Manager: Sue Fuller
- Programming by: Brian Maxson, Dave Yann, Yoldi Way, Ken Bailey, Rick Richard, Rick Moghadam
- Music and Sound by: Jeff Avella, Dave Yann
- Character Animations: Rob Buchanan
- Backgrounds: Matt Bozon
- Special Thanks: Gregg Tavares, Kelli Norden, Erin Bell, Paul Einbund, Ethan Hurd, Kevin Bailey, Troy Bargatze, Mark Bozon, Matt & Carolyn
- ...and a special thanks to the guys at Echidna for tUME, the Universal Map Editor.
Magazine articles
- Main article: Mickey's Ultimate Challenge/Magazine articles.
Physical scans
Mega Drive version
ExpandSega Retro Average |
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61 | |
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Based on 7 reviews |
Game Gear version
ExpandSega Retro Average |
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83 | |
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Based on 1 review |
Master System version
Technical information
- Main article: Mickey's Ultimate Challenge/Technical information.
References
- ↑ Sega Channel schedule (US; 1994-06-01)
- ↑ File:Mickey's Ultimate Challenge MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Mickey's Ultimate Challenge GG credits.pdf
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "July 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 38
- ↑ Mega, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 40
- ↑ MegaTech, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 54
- ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "June 1994" (UK; 1994-04-30), page 62
- ↑ Sega Power, "June 1994" (UK; 1994-04-28), page 50
- ↑ Sega Zone, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-xx), page 50
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 114
- ↑ Electronic Games (1992-1995), "August 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 84
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