Mickey's Ultimate Challenge

n/a

Mega Drive Game Gear Master System
Mickey's Ultimate Challenge
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System
Publisher: Hi-Tech Expressions Tec Toy
Developer: WayForward Technologies, Designer Software, Disney Software
Licensor: The Walt Disney Company
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Puzzle
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1994-03 T-112046 US 1994 T-112028 BR 1998-12 028700
Non-Sega versions Game Boy Super NES
ESRA

Mickey's Ultimate Challenge is a video game starring Disney's Mickey Mouse, and was published by Hi-Tech Expressions for the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Game Gear in 1994. It was also brought to the Sega Master System, though this version was released exclusively in Brazil and is a port of the Game Gear version by Tec Toy. Other versions of the game were exclusive to North America.

Mickey's Ultimate Challenge is primarily aimed at younger children, being a compilation of five simple Disney-themed minigames. The game was developed by WayForward Technologies under supervision from Designer Software.

Story

Mickey is lying in bed reading a book of fairy tales. He thinks to himself how wonderful it would be to live on a far-away land in a magical castle. Mickey falls asleep and dreams that he learns of trouble in Beanswick. There is a strange rumbling over the castle and no one can explain it. Mickey (or Minnie) volunteers to investigate.

Gameplay

Mega Drive version

Mickey's Ultimate Challenge is a puzzle game where players must complete challenges to beat the game. Players must go through a series of challenges in various rooms of the castle in order to collect magic beans and items.

The player can play the game as either Mickey or Minnie, who play identically and face the same challenges. Mickey and Minnie move with or . They do a low jump with or a high jump with . They enter doorways with . There are three difficulty levels: Cake, Medium, and Challenging.

Challenges

	Horace's Library
	Books are floating up and down in the library of the Beanswick castle, and Mickey must sort them in alphabetical order by jumping on them. Depending on the difficulty, there are various numbers of books to be sorted and different patterns for the books to float in. Only a portion of the alphabet must be sorted. Once the books have been sorted, players receive a book of spells from Horace Horsecollar.
	Donald's Wizard Tower
	Mickey is shrunk to a tiny size and placed on a chess-like game board. Potion bottles are on this board, as well as block obstacles that must be maneuvered around. The potion bottles must be pushed into a magic mirror on the board in a manner resembling Soukoban. In more difficult games, there are more boards to play in increasing difficulty. Once all potions have been collected, the player returns to normal size and receives a pair of spectacles from Donald Duck (dressed as a wizard).
	Daisy's Art Gallery
	A timed memory challenge. Mickey must dust off portraits hanging on the castle walls in matching pairs. It is essentially the matching card game. He must complete this task before the lights in the castle dim to darkness. Depending on the difficulty, there are more or fewer pictures. For challenges with more pictures, more time is given. He is armed with a feather duster and a sliding ladder. Players must match up all the pictures before time and light runs out to receive a gold bar from Daisy Duck as a princess.
	Hewey, Dewey, and Louie's Drawbridge
	Another memory game. Several pipes light up and make different noises in a pattern that builds every turn. Mickey must listen, remember, and repeat what he heard. He can do this by jumping on the top of the pipes and playing the notes back in the proper order. The pipes only play one melody, adding one note after every time Mickey successfully completes the previous one. The difficulty of gameplay determines the length of the melody. Players must play all the right pipes to receive a glass slipper from Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
	Goofy's Blacksmith Shop
	Goofy wants Mickey to guess what tools are in his toolbox. Mickey has seven attempts to successfully guess the tools and their order inside Goofy's toolbox. After each guess, a clue appears telling players how many and which tools they guessed in the correct order. In easier games, the hints will turn red or green to denote correctness. In more difficult games, a small quartered square of red and green pieces tells Mickey which ones are right. Players must correctly guess what is in Goofy's toolbox to earn a hammer from him.
	Collecting the Magic Beans
	The segue of the game. The items Mickey collected were of no importance to their previous owners but would be useful to others in Beanswick. Mickey must go back to all of the others in each challenge and give them the item that suits them: the pair of spectacles for Horace, the book of spells for Donald, the glass slipper for Daisy, the hammer for Hewey, Dewey, and Louie, and the gold bar for Goofy. Mickey receives a magic bean in return for each item. After returning the items to their respective owners, Mickey visits the well. The annoying rumbling occurs again and Mickey throws his beans near the well. Suddenly, a giant beanstalk grows straight up into the clouds. A curious Mickey climbs the beanstalk into the clouds.
	Solving the Mystery
	Mickey encounters a giant up in the clouds. The giant is sound asleep and snoring. This 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 must unscramble the picture by sliding the pieces. After the picture is reassembled, the alarm clock rings and wakes the giant, and the troubles in Beanswick are solved.

Master System and Game Gear versions

The 8-bit versions of the game play the same. Players can choose to play as Mickey or Minnie. Mickey or Minnie move with or . They do a low jump with or a high jump with . They enter doorways with . There are three difficulty levels: Cake, Medium, and Hard.

Challenges

Horace's Library

Donald's Wizard Tower

Daisy's Art Gallery

Hewey, Dewey, and Louie's Drawbridge

Goofy's Blacksmith Shop

Collecting the Magic Beans

Solving the Mystery

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.

Source:

In-game credits

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.

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Mickey's Ultimate Challenge/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 63 Mega (UK) NTSC-U 69 MegaTech (UK) NTSC-U 57 Mean Machines Sega (UK) NTSC-U 72 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U 57 Sega Zone (UK) NTSC-U 71 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 40

	61
Based on 7 reviews

Mickey's Ultimate Challenge

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart

Game Gear version

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Master System version

Master System, BR
Cover
Manual

Master System, BR (INMETRO sticker)
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Mickey's Ultimate Challenge/Technical information.