I bought a SMS again after selling it for about 15 years ago. I was watching a video of all the releases on the console and got curious about this game. Watched your review in the middle of the night here and got so excited about the game so I bought it. Greetings from Sweden.
I know this is a weird thing to start off with, but man, the purple colours on the Master System is so vibrant, at least in this game! Other than the unfortunate "lets do something new all the time"-schtick, this looks like a lot of fun! Ive only played Castle of Illusion for the MS before, and that disnt really stick with me, but this looks promising!
In my opinion, this is definitely a step up in terms of game play and challenge from Castle of Illusion. There's a lot more substance here so if that's what was missing from your Castle playthrough, hopefully this'll fit the bill.
@@hungrygoriya Yes, and this one also seems to have MUCH nicer music, which is a huge bonus for me. Im really growing fond of the Master System (picked up a model 1 this morning along with some games, so I can get a bit clearer image) and while there are some real gems like Ys and Phantasy Star when it comes to tunes, they seem to be the rule rather than the exception. On a completely different note: As I was searching for untranslated MS rpgs out of curiosity the other day, it turns out that your blog ( the post about the holy grail pick up) seems to be the number one hit for the words Master System and rpg combined. So, I got curious and wanted to ask you what your holy grail would be when it comes to Master System games that never got localized? Like, if you could pick one to have translated? Sorry for my English today, it feels like Im butchering the grammar today. When youve been away from work over the summer you lose the flow pretty quickly, it seems!
@@hungrygoriya Has it been recapped? That can help! I have a late-era-but-not-Majesco Game Gear, it's been recapped, and the screen is really decent. It's not up to late 90s standards, but it's enough that I can see all the detail clearly, there isn't too much blur, and the contrast is OK. Might be worthwhile if you like 8-bit sega stuff :)
6:55 FWIW, that "castle" where the fires light up looks like it's a pair of good old-fashioned stone ovens, the kinds people would bake their bread in in medieval towns. They're usually rounded structures like that with a chimney over each oven. Kind of a nice faux-historical touch.
It's so nice to see games that are hidden gems, ones you've never played before, being shown in such detail! Makes me want to try this game out for myself! Great video ^_^
Thanks very much :) I hope you get a chance to try out some great Master System titles sometime. Land of Illusion is a good of place as any to dive in!
Thanks very much! I was surprised at how much I struggled at some parts since I expected things to feel a bit easier like my experience in World of Illusion. It's still a wonderful game despite the challenge though!
Holy crap, those cutscenes are legitimately gorgeous.I picked this up for Game Gear dirt cheap, but sadly I haven't gotten to play it because my Game Gear doesn't work and I haven't been able to get it repaired. Something to look forward to I suppose!
The Illusion series was the pinnacle of the Master System's platforming. I like how this sequel was semi open world and tried to be non linear. The special abilities were also a nice implemention even If the challenges weren't focused on them as you mentioned. And yes that crab was a nightmare.
Yeah! It was just a refreshing and solid effort to bring some of the same from the series, but also transform it into something a bit different as well. I enjoyed it a lot!
Wonderful review Hungry. I've played a lot of the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Mickey games but this Master System one looks excellent. I especially like some of the detailed backgrounds!
I wonder how different the Game Gear version is! I played a little bit of it and there were a few changes, but nothing major for the first couple of levels minus a few blocks for throwing.
Sega did such great work with Disney! I'd love to see these games get a remake similar to Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. Also, I will never understand why some people view infinite continues as a flaw. I mean, if they truly want a challenge, they can always just not use them.
Better late than never for me here in Canada... I'm so happy there's very little Master System region incompatibility between North America and Europe.
Hey HG! I’ve been really inspired by you and NESFriend and others and I’d like to start capturing some of my own game footage. Would you mind telling me what you use to upscale and capture your original hardware? I’ve tinkered with a few methods but nothing has given me the video quality I see in your videos. Thanks!
You're too kind! Thanks so much! Hopefully you'll be on your way soon making some great content, if that's what you're hoping to capture the gameplay footage for. So most consoles I'm capturing have the ability to output RGB instead of composite or component (pretty much most retro consoles do this except for NES and N64, but there are mods that you can do for them), and it's a higher quality signal overall. You need scart cables and a monitor/CRT that can take scart, and I'm using a professional video monitor to do that. Scart is pretty common in Europe but non-existent in North America for consumer CRTs, unfortunately. Additionally, I'm using a Framemeister as my upscaler and from there, it goes to my capture card. I have an old Elgato that doesn't even do 60 frames per second, which is why some of my sprites disappear in certain videos when they're flashing, but that's essentially the long of the short of it. I hope this helps you! If you have more specific questions I can try to answer those as well, or bug my other half if the questions are more on the technical end.
Having just completed this game, you are spot on in this review. You'd think the game would be pretty easy, but it's very challenging for the exact reasons you mentioned. The game is a gem for the master system, highly recommended.
@@hungrygoriya Yeah, about the considerable qualities of the game as well. But it is kind of funny that a colorful game starring a constantly smiling cartoon mouse who eats cake to improve his health, many times requires pixel perfect maneuvers...
I guess this could be an example of trying to stay fresh, vs having your player annoyed by what the next level is going to have in store. I do love the thought and creativity put into this. I bet replaying it down the road would be more fun as well! Great review! Really should be a game I find for my wife!
It's really a lot of very interesting things inside of one little cartridge, that's for sure! And I agree that future playthroughs will likely be a lot more streamlined now that I have a better idea of what to expect! All the best in finding a copy for your wife! I'm sure she'll love it!
Oh nice! I think we only have Land of Illusion for Game Gear, but I have Castle and Land for the Master System. I don't have Legend though... that one's hard to come by!
Of the three, I only have The Great Rescue left to play at this point, and I adored the first one! The Secret Mission was a bit too cryptic for my tastes! Thanks for the suggestion! Also, thanks for stopping by. I really enjoy your channel!
@@hungrygoriya Aw, thank you, definitely going to drop you a sub, really liking your videos!!! I think the third Asterix games is also one of the holy grails of collectors too. Oh, As you like adventure games, have you looked at Kensiden too?
@@Larry I'm seriously honoured :) Thank you so much! I have Kenseiden hanging around here but haven't gotten around to playing it yet. I'm slowly making my way through more of the adventure games now that I'm through most of the RPGs. I'll try to check it out soon!
Thanks for this review! This is definitely one of my favourite platformers - I just loved the mixture of puzzles and control needed. I had it on the game gear when I was younger, and always felt it was almost like a secret treasure, as many more people had played some version of Castle of Illusion, or World of Illusion on the Mega Drive. The latter game obviously looks gorgeous, but I think in terms of gameplay, design, replayability, and the way it works in all the disney characters, this one beats it. I just recently played it again on the Master System. Someone wondered in the comments whether the Game Gear version had all the same stages. Yes, it does - in fact I couldn't spot any major differences (though it has been decades since I played the Game Gear one).
I think if I'd had this game growing up that I would've loved it as much as you do! I think it's one of my favourite platformers for the console as well, along with Psychic World even though that one's a little more complex. But yeah, World of Illusion's so slow compared to this one! It's a great piece of nostalgia for me since I rented it a ton when I was younger but this game's much more my speed these days.
Yeah, I need to give Psychic World another try - your review brought out alot about it, while when I played it I just got nuked by the first boss three times in a row, then couldn't be bothered. I come and go on playing games like this, but I'm glad to know there is more to get into when I can motivate myself. Cheers!
Today I learned about this game. Definitely added it to my list. Great review. I never interacted with the Master System when it was in its prime. I’m shocked to learn that there’s a sequel to a Genesis game I know and love on the Master System. I didn’t actually realize how much overlap those two systems had. Do you happen to know of an article or something somewhere that covers this? Because I find it fascinating and want to know more but I’m not sure where to start. :)
Thanks very much! In terms of some information, there's a great forum that's still very active where you might be able to find some good information or at least get started in your research: www.smspower.org/forums/ When I started looking into the Master System library, I looked up people's top games lists and started pouring over them and checking into gameplay videos online to see what some of them were like. This is a particularly good list with tons of things to look into: retro-sanctuary.com/Top-100-Master-System-Games-Page-1.html Also, there are some region incompatibilities for a short list of games for the Master System between the PAL and North American NTSC regions if you're hoping to collect physical games, so that's something to be aware of. Sega Retro does a great job of cataloguing promotional materials, posters, manuals, etc. for every single Sega game released, including Genesis and Master System. You might check into that site too!
I'll have to tackle that one of these days... I watched a friend play through it and it seemed so much less charming than this one, so I went with this one first!
I beat every version of Castle of Illusion, and I was surprised at the quality of the Master System entry. Especially since it was the final one I played. I knew I wanted to eventually play the other entries. My buddy had the Game Gear version of Land in the 90's, so I played it a little, but now, because of your review, I think I'll make it more a priority. I'll have to emulate it, so I'll probably use save states to help me past the problems you outlined. I'm glad you found enough to enjoy, even with those frustrations.
When I think about Mickey games and "Illusion", I always think Genesis, but this SMS one looks really sweet. Definitely going to be one that I give a shot to when I get going with the Sega business. Love how colorful this looks.. nice work!
It's just gorgeous... all of the Disney Master System games are really top-notch in terms of their presentation. You should check out The Lucky Dime Caper as well. It's probably one of the most beautiful iterations of Donald Duck I've seen!
@@hungrygoriya Thank you! I was a huge fan of Castle of Illusion on the Genesis and went back to try this one on the Master System. I may have to give the GG version a whirl though.
This game was incredibly hard to find even when it was released here in Europe at the time as it only seemed to get smaller number released in comparison to the original. Probably due to the market being much smaller but still substantial enough. I did enjoy still getting master system games at the time though as some of the later releases were real hardware pushers and could pass for early 16-bit games. The platform games in particular were always good as they were never just cut down ports of games but their own unique versions. Taz-mania being a particular favourite of mine from the time.
Thanks for the heads up about the European market for this... I'm not surprised it was hard to come by. I lucked into my copy and I'm really grateful I have it now. It's an absolutely beautiful game... that one and Lucky Dime Caper are just amazing to look at. I also have Taz-mania, and I loathed the Genesis game. I'm looking forward to trying out the SMS version.
This is a sweet and charming game and I'm delighted to see your review of it! Absolutely a little gem that I would not have discovered if it wasn't for your review. Thank you so much.
If i had a dollar for every time i fell asleep during a book and ended up teleporting to a dreary fairy tale village...I'd have about $4.75 Great review, this game has such great gameplay and graphics for an 8 bit system so well put together, it's interesting how often these old school Disney games were great especially compared to other licensed games.
I'm concerned about that partial dollar amount... :) You're absolutely right though... there's something about older Disney games that defies logic. They're always good (except Tale Spin... I don't want to talk about that one)
I used to rent World of Illusion a lot, myself; I've never been much of a Disney fan, but it had this glorious sense of childlike wonder that just enraptured me. SEGA did a great job with the Disney license, maybe even better than Capcom. This is another great example of what kind of beauty the Master System can bring; I especially love the black and pink castle.
I loved World of Illusion so much! The sound design of that game is burned into my nostalgia brain meats and playing it is like turning back into a small child staring up at that 19 inch television in my bedroom back in the day. I really liked playing as Donald in that one especially.
I remember playing Castle of Illusion for Genesis, and it was similar - I didn't realize there were several more related games! I don't think I was able to beat it as a kid, and I KNOW I never managed to beat Quackshot. This brought back fond memories of Mickey Mousecapade for the NES! I actually remember it being sort of... uncomfortably unsettling. For whatever reason.
I haven't tried Mickey Mousecapade myself, but from what I've seen of it, it looks pretty tough to get a handle on and play well. Have you heard of The Lucky Dime Caper for the Master System? It's one of the most beautiful games for the system in my opinion!
@@hungrygoriya I haven't heard of it! I have very little Master System experience, as it wasn't one of my earlier childhood systems (we went from Atari 5200 - NES - SNES - Genesis). However, Iiiiii have the internet and it looks cute! I'll check it out; anyone deep enough in my brain to appreciate Faxanadu AND Legacy of the Wizard is worth taking at their word! I'll trade you a recommendation - NES Willow. Another one of those weirdly compelling-but-offputting aesthetics, which I can appreciate when someone manages to pull it off in a mere 384KB.
@@Flylighter Yessss! I haven't played Willow yet, but I own it. The music in that game is sooooo good and it looks absolutely gorgeous. I honestly can't wait to play it. It's on my list! Thanks for the suggestion!
I played through CoI earlier this year and this looks great, despite some of its shortcomings. And yeah - give me unlimited continues all day - especially on a platformer with a younger target audience.
Castle of Illusion's a lot more streamlined than this one from what I recall, and Land of Illusion is a real step up in a lot of ways, as long as you don't mind the faster-paced learning curve. I'll take unlimited continues all day long as well... I'm completely dependent on them in every single platformer and appreciate that they make games more accessible for all audiences. I was really surprised to see that as a critique, but I suppose people liked arcade games a lot back then and maybe they enjoyed spending all their lunch money on continues... who knows? :D
I really want to play more Master System games. The only ones I have been addicted to are Phantasy Star and the Alex Kidd games. I'll have more games to try once I'm done marathoning all of these videos.
World of illusion was a thing of beauty,same as quackshot, but id give you a challenge, might and magic 2, I played that for years and never had any clue what was going on
This is one of my most wanted Master System games. I love all the design elements and little details. It looks to me that it kind of falls into a similar trap to Earthworm Jim 2 or Crash Bandicoot 3, with really solid and enjoyable fundamentals, but the ever-shifting gameplay styles don't give you as much time savor the fundamental game play as you'd like. I also never knew this had a Game Gear version! I'll definitely look into that
It's really easy to get swept up into how awesome the audiovisual experience here is... I don't blame you! Hopefully you can find a copy some day because it's definitely worth a play, whether it be Game Gear or Master System. I played a little bit of the Game Gear version and there were a few small changes that I noticed, but I'm curious if they kept all the levels for that version. I've only played the first EWJ game and no Crash Bandicoot just yet, but it's good to know that I might not enjoy them as much for the same reason
@@hungrygoriya Don't get me wrong, Crash 3 and EWJ 2 are both great games, but you get the feeling that they could have been greater if they just let you spend a little more time with the core gameplay
Some of these later Master Sysem games look really beautiful, the system really seems to have picked up its stride in its last few years in Europe. I understand why Sega let it go off into the sunset in the US though. Apparently Wal Mart forced them to accept some terrible terms to carry the Genesis which hurt them more than anybody knew, like they had to have tons of copies of games and hardware available at all times, and buy back unsold merchandise. Keeping the Master System afloat likely would have hurt them in that market.
Daisy Duck: The wizard lives in a castle high above the clouds. No adventurer can reach him. Mickey Mouse(rolls up his sleeves to reveal hairy brawny arms); First time for everything babe. Time to go stomp some magician butt.(chomps angrily on his cigar)
Castle of Illusion and Land of Illusion are probably the two best platformers on the SMS, and two of the very few that could be compared to the plethora of excellent NES platformers. Legend of Illusion is pretty good but not on the level of the fist two, because screen crunch is a mortal sin in a platformer.
I agree! I can't wait to try out Legend some day, but I have a feeling I'll never be able to find it. Those Brazil releases are so scarce and expensive.
I know, right? I'm so late to the party on the console as it is, but I'm glad to be finding such great games. It's like I could throw a dart at the shelf and almost always hit something spectacular.
@@hungrygoriya Might I make a few Master system purchase recommendations if you ever come across them? Batman Returns and Jurassic Park. Both are fairly cheap, but really good, overlooked Master System games.
I have never liked Disney very much (although having dabbled into 2d animation I found an appreciation for their skill later in life) but I cherished this game quite a bit. Which really is strange since I have a frothing, slavering disdain for Mickey Mouse otherwise.
It's a lot of fun and probably the better game when up against Castle of Illusion but for me as a sequel it just doesn't have that.. feel of imagination. The levels are just not as creative so one I don't return to as much as Castle.
Oh this is a very nostalgic one! Thank you for this Hungry, awesome as always!
Thank you very much :) I hope you're well!
@@hungrygoriya I am! Hope you too Hungry!
I bought a SMS again after selling it for about 15 years ago. I was watching a video of all the releases on the console and got curious about this game. Watched your review in the middle of the night here and got so excited about the game so I bought it. Greetings from Sweden.
Right on! I hope you have a wonderful time with it. It's a fun one but prepare for some difficulty throughout. Congratulations on the purchase!
I know this is a weird thing to start off with, but man, the purple colours on the Master System is so vibrant, at least in this game! Other than the unfortunate "lets do something new all the time"-schtick, this looks like a lot of fun! Ive only played Castle of Illusion for the MS before, and that disnt really stick with me, but this looks promising!
In my opinion, this is definitely a step up in terms of game play and challenge from Castle of Illusion. There's a lot more substance here so if that's what was missing from your Castle playthrough, hopefully this'll fit the bill.
@@hungrygoriya Yes, and this one also seems to have MUCH nicer music, which is a huge bonus for me. Im really growing fond of the Master System (picked up a model 1 this morning along with some games, so I can get a bit clearer image) and while there are some real gems like Ys and Phantasy Star when it comes to tunes, they seem to be the rule rather than the exception.
On a completely different note: As I was searching for untranslated MS rpgs out of curiosity the other day, it turns out that your blog ( the post about the holy grail pick up) seems to be the number one hit for the words Master System and rpg combined. So, I got curious and wanted to ask you what your holy grail would be when it comes to Master System games that never got localized? Like, if you could pick one to have translated?
Sorry for my English today, it feels like Im butchering the grammar today. When youve been away from work over the summer you lose the flow pretty quickly, it seems!
I love all 3 illusion games, although I have the Game Gear versions
I'd like to play more Game Gear! The screen's pretty terrible though, and it's so heavy! I don't know how little kid arms could've dealt with it :)
@@hungrygoriya Has it been recapped? That can help! I have a late-era-but-not-Majesco Game Gear, it's been recapped, and the screen is really decent. It's not up to late 90s standards, but it's enough that I can see all the detail clearly, there isn't too much blur, and the contrast is OK. Might be worthwhile if you like 8-bit sega stuff :)
I just found this channel and I love it. I love your reviews. I am typing this at 4:30 am because I just watched almost all your videos. Thank you.
I'm honoured :) Thank you for spending the time, and happy to hear that you enjoy the channel.
6:55 FWIW, that "castle" where the fires light up looks like it's a pair of good old-fashioned stone ovens, the kinds people would bake their bread in in medieval towns. They're usually rounded structures like that with a chimney over each oven. Kind of a nice faux-historical touch.
I do love those details!
It's so nice to see games that are hidden gems, ones you've never played before, being shown in such detail! Makes me want to try this game out for myself! Great video ^_^
Thanks very much :) I hope you get a chance to try out some great Master System titles sometime. Land of Illusion is a good of place as any to dive in!
Thanks! I really liked trying out this game after I saw your review. More SMS and Game Gear games, please! :)
One of these days I'll find a way to capture Game Gear, but for now I can't! More Master System in the future, most definitely!
Excellent video as always HG! Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to check it out.
Great video. Very fair review from what I have seen of the game too.
Thanks very much! I was surprised at how much I struggled at some parts since I expected things to feel a bit easier like my experience in World of Illusion. It's still a wonderful game despite the challenge though!
I feel like all the Illusion series games have that casual and calm first glance and then love to suddenly ramp up the difficulty.
I would love to play some more games in this series, most definitely. I loved Land of Illusion though... it'll be tough to surpass in my books.
Holy crap, those cutscenes are legitimately gorgeous.I picked this up for Game Gear dirt cheap, but sadly I haven't gotten to play it because my Game Gear doesn't work and I haven't been able to get it repaired. Something to look forward to I suppose!
Definitely! I hope your Game Gear is an easy fix.
The Illusion series was the pinnacle of the Master System's platforming. I like how this sequel was semi open world and tried to be non linear. The special abilities were also a nice implemention even If the challenges weren't focused on them as you mentioned. And yes that crab was a nightmare.
Yeah! It was just a refreshing and solid effort to bring some of the same from the series, but also transform it into something a bit different as well. I enjoyed it a lot!
I never knew there was more Illusion games. I grew up with Castle of Illusion on the Master System, legit amazing game. *might have to check this out*
Enjoy it if you play it! I loved World of Illusion on Genesis as well, but it feels really easy compared to this.
Very calm voice you have. Like your reviews. Subbed
Thanks on all accounts!
Wonderful review Hungry. I've played a lot of the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Mickey games but this Master System one looks excellent. I especially like some of the detailed backgrounds!
It's really good and super gorgeous... the extra colours on the Master System really went a long way in this one!
I am definitely going to play this one soon. Thanks for championing the SMS and encouraging people like me to explore its library!
Oh thank you :) There are so many more great games to play too. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface!
One of my top 5 favorites of all time. Back in the day I only had a game gear and this game was like my Mario 3
I wonder how different the Game Gear version is! I played a little bit of it and there were a few changes, but nothing major for the first couple of levels minus a few blocks for throwing.
The Illusion games are great, glad you're giving this and the Master System some love!
Really enjoying your content, thumbs up from me, easy sub!
Thank you so much! I'm happy you're enjoying the channel so far!
Sega did such great work with Disney! I'd love to see these games get a remake similar to Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap.
Also, I will never understand why some people view infinite continues as a flaw. I mean, if they truly want a challenge, they can always just not use them.
I'm definitely a fan of unlimited continues! Why not, right? It just makes the game more accessible for all audiences.
I love this and should play these.
What's stopping you? Do ittt!
One of the great PAL games, I rented this from the video store as a child. Loved it. Sorry to the US fans that you missed this gem
Better late than never for me here in Canada... I'm so happy there's very little Master System region incompatibility between North America and Europe.
Another great review, greetings from Chile.
Thanks for watching :)
The art in this game is amazing. Hard to believe it's Master System. Awesome review.
I was surprised at how good it looked. The Lucky Dime Caper with Donald Duck also looks way too good to believe what you're seeing!
Great review! This is an awesome Mickey game for sure!
Thanks so much! I have so many other Mickey/Donald Disney games to look forward to as well. The ones I've played have all been great so far.
Great video!
Hey HG! I’ve been really inspired by you and NESFriend and others and I’d like to start capturing some of my own game footage. Would you mind telling me what you use to upscale and capture your original hardware? I’ve tinkered with a few methods but nothing has given me the video quality I see in your videos. Thanks!
You're too kind! Thanks so much! Hopefully you'll be on your way soon making some great content, if that's what you're hoping to capture the gameplay footage for.
So most consoles I'm capturing have the ability to output RGB instead of composite or component (pretty much most retro consoles do this except for NES and N64, but there are mods that you can do for them), and it's a higher quality signal overall. You need scart cables and a monitor/CRT that can take scart, and I'm using a professional video monitor to do that. Scart is pretty common in Europe but non-existent in North America for consumer CRTs, unfortunately.
Additionally, I'm using a Framemeister as my upscaler and from there, it goes to my capture card. I have an old Elgato that doesn't even do 60 frames per second, which is why some of my sprites disappear in certain videos when they're flashing, but that's essentially the long of the short of it.
I hope this helps you! If you have more specific questions I can try to answer those as well, or bug my other half if the questions are more on the technical end.
Your game reviews fill up the emptiness left by the lack of Classic Game Room.
Keep it up.
Thanks so much. That's a huge compliment!
Having just completed this game, you are spot on in this review. You'd think the game would be pretty easy, but it's very challenging for the exact reasons you mentioned. The game is a gem for the master system, highly recommended.
Glad we're on the same page about the difficulty!
@@hungrygoriya Yeah, about the considerable qualities of the game as well. But it is kind of funny that a colorful game starring a constantly smiling cartoon mouse who eats cake to improve his health, many times requires pixel perfect maneuvers...
Another great video! Thanks for sharing with us.
What a lovely game and lovely review! Great work
Thanks for watching, as always!
I guess this could be an example of trying to stay fresh, vs having your player annoyed by what the next level is going to have in store. I do love the thought and creativity put into this. I bet replaying it down the road would be more fun as well! Great review! Really should be a game I find for my wife!
It's really a lot of very interesting things inside of one little cartridge, that's for sure! And I agree that future playthroughs will likely be a lot more streamlined now that I have a better idea of what to expect! All the best in finding a copy for your wife! I'm sure she'll love it!
I had (actually, have) this game for the Game Gear. In fact, I have all three Illusion games for the GG. So much nostalgia!
Oh nice! I think we only have Land of Illusion for Game Gear, but I have Castle and Land for the Master System. I don't have Legend though... that one's hard to come by!
You should totally check out the Asterix trilogy on Master System too, made by the same team as the Illision series, theyre quite similar in tone.
Of the three, I only have The Great Rescue left to play at this point, and I adored the first one! The Secret Mission was a bit too cryptic for my tastes! Thanks for the suggestion!
Also, thanks for stopping by. I really enjoy your channel!
@@hungrygoriya Aw, thank you, definitely going to drop you a sub, really liking your videos!!!
I think the third Asterix games is also one of the holy grails of collectors too.
Oh, As you like adventure games, have you looked at Kensiden too?
@@Larry I'm seriously honoured :) Thank you so much!
I have Kenseiden hanging around here but haven't gotten around to playing it yet. I'm slowly making my way through more of the adventure games now that I'm through most of the RPGs. I'll try to check it out soon!
Thanks for this review! This is definitely one of my favourite platformers - I just loved the mixture of puzzles and control needed. I had it on the game gear when I was younger, and always felt it was almost like a secret treasure, as many more people had played some version of Castle of Illusion, or World of Illusion on the Mega Drive. The latter game obviously looks gorgeous, but I think in terms of gameplay, design, replayability, and the way it works in all the disney characters, this one beats it. I just recently played it again on the Master System.
Someone wondered in the comments whether the Game Gear version had all the same stages. Yes, it does - in fact I couldn't spot any major differences (though it has been decades since I played the Game Gear one).
I think if I'd had this game growing up that I would've loved it as much as you do! I think it's one of my favourite platformers for the console as well, along with Psychic World even though that one's a little more complex. But yeah, World of Illusion's so slow compared to this one! It's a great piece of nostalgia for me since I rented it a ton when I was younger but this game's much more my speed these days.
Yeah, I need to give Psychic World another try - your review brought out alot about it, while when I played it I just got nuked by the first boss three times in a row, then couldn't be bothered. I come and go on playing games like this, but I'm glad to know there is more to get into when I can motivate myself. Cheers!
Today I learned about this game. Definitely added it to my list. Great review.
I never interacted with the Master System when it was in its prime. I’m shocked to learn that there’s a sequel to a Genesis game I know and love on the Master System. I didn’t actually realize how much overlap those two systems had.
Do you happen to know of an article or something somewhere that covers this? Because I find it fascinating and want to know more but I’m not sure where to start. :)
Thanks very much! In terms of some information, there's a great forum that's still very active where you might be able to find some good information or at least get started in your research: www.smspower.org/forums/
When I started looking into the Master System library, I looked up people's top games lists and started pouring over them and checking into gameplay videos online to see what some of them were like. This is a particularly good list with tons of things to look into: retro-sanctuary.com/Top-100-Master-System-Games-Page-1.html
Also, there are some region incompatibilities for a short list of games for the Master System between the PAL and North American NTSC regions if you're hoping to collect physical games, so that's something to be aware of.
Sega Retro does a great job of cataloguing promotional materials, posters, manuals, etc. for every single Sega game released, including Genesis and Master System. You might check into that site too!
@@hungrygoriya Awesome. Thanks. I'll totally take a look at those sites. Keep up the good work!
HG you should try Castle of Illusion as well, can't wait for a review of that too. It is shorter but similar to Land of Illusion
I'll have to tackle that one of these days... I watched a friend play through it and it seemed so much less charming than this one, so I went with this one first!
Can't have too much of that life saving cake! Great Video!
Thanks so much :) I'm happy you enjoyed it!
I beat every version of Castle of Illusion, and I was surprised at the quality of the Master System entry. Especially since it was the final one I played. I knew I wanted to eventually play the other entries.
My buddy had the Game Gear version of Land in the 90's, so I played it a little, but now, because of your review, I think I'll make it more a priority. I'll have to emulate it, so I'll probably use save states to help me past the problems you outlined. I'm glad you found enough to enjoy, even with those frustrations.
I'm excited for you to try the Master System version of Land... I'm sure you'll love it. I hope you have an easier time with the crab boss than I did!
When I think about Mickey games and "Illusion", I always think Genesis, but this SMS one looks really sweet. Definitely going to be one that I give a shot to when I get going with the Sega business. Love how colorful this looks.. nice work!
It's just gorgeous... all of the Disney Master System games are really top-notch in terms of their presentation. You should check out The Lucky Dime Caper as well. It's probably one of the most beautiful iterations of Donald Duck I've seen!
Fun review, made me want to go back and play this again.
Awww thank you :) I hope you have fun if you replay it. Did you enjoy the Master System or Game Gear version?
@@hungrygoriya Thank you! I was a huge fan of Castle of Illusion on the Genesis and went back to try this one on the Master System. I may have to give the GG version a whirl though.
This game was incredibly hard to find even when it was released here in Europe at the time as it only seemed to get smaller number released in comparison to the original. Probably due to the market being much smaller but still substantial enough. I did enjoy still getting master system games at the time though as some of the later releases were real hardware pushers and could pass for early 16-bit games. The platform games in particular were always good as they were never just cut down ports of games but their own unique versions. Taz-mania being a particular favourite of mine from the time.
Thanks for the heads up about the European market for this... I'm not surprised it was hard to come by. I lucked into my copy and I'm really grateful I have it now. It's an absolutely beautiful game... that one and Lucky Dime Caper are just amazing to look at. I also have Taz-mania, and I loathed the Genesis game. I'm looking forward to trying out the SMS version.
This is a sweet and charming game and I'm delighted to see your review of it! Absolutely a little gem that I would not have discovered if it wasn't for your review. Thank you so much.
I hope you have the chance to play it some day. Thanks for checking it out
Will you maybe do a review of one of the mickey illusion games for the genesis in the future?
Maybe someday! I used to rent World of Illusion all the time as a kid!
If i had a dollar for every time i fell asleep during a book and ended up teleporting to a dreary fairy tale village...I'd have about $4.75
Great review, this game has such great gameplay and graphics for an 8 bit system so well put together, it's interesting how often these old school Disney games were great especially compared to other licensed games.
I'm concerned about that partial dollar amount... :)
You're absolutely right though... there's something about older Disney games that defies logic. They're always good (except Tale Spin... I don't want to talk about that one)
I love all the illusion games on the Master System great memories
They're fun little games. I grew up renting World of Illusion for the Genesis, so trying these out made a lot of sense to me.
Cacti deflate your courageous spirit HA. You've earned a new subscriber, definitely looking forward to more.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm hoping to have something out in the next few days if all goes well!
Another solid Master System title and review.
Keep up the MS love.
Oh don't you worry... the love will keep growing!
Thank you for this video ❤️❤️
I used to rent World of Illusion a lot, myself; I've never been much of a Disney fan, but it had this glorious sense of childlike wonder that just enraptured me. SEGA did a great job with the Disney license, maybe even better than Capcom. This is another great example of what kind of beauty the Master System can bring; I especially love the black and pink castle.
I loved World of Illusion so much! The sound design of that game is burned into my nostalgia brain meats and playing it is like turning back into a small child staring up at that 19 inch television in my bedroom back in the day. I really liked playing as Donald in that one especially.
Another fantastic video. Why don't you have a trillion subscribers?
Too kind! Thanks so much!
I remember playing Castle of Illusion for Genesis, and it was similar - I didn't realize there were several more related games! I don't think I was able to beat it as a kid, and I KNOW I never managed to beat Quackshot.
This brought back fond memories of Mickey Mousecapade for the NES! I actually remember it being sort of... uncomfortably unsettling. For whatever reason.
I haven't tried Mickey Mousecapade myself, but from what I've seen of it, it looks pretty tough to get a handle on and play well. Have you heard of The Lucky Dime Caper for the Master System? It's one of the most beautiful games for the system in my opinion!
@@hungrygoriya I haven't heard of it! I have very little Master System experience, as it wasn't one of my earlier childhood systems (we went from Atari 5200 - NES - SNES - Genesis). However, Iiiiii have the internet and it looks cute! I'll check it out; anyone deep enough in my brain to appreciate Faxanadu AND Legacy of the Wizard is worth taking at their word! I'll trade you a recommendation - NES Willow. Another one of those weirdly compelling-but-offputting aesthetics, which I can appreciate when someone manages to pull it off in a mere 384KB.
@@Flylighter Yessss! I haven't played Willow yet, but I own it. The music in that game is sooooo good and it looks absolutely gorgeous. I honestly can't wait to play it. It's on my list! Thanks for the suggestion!
for a second I thought it was one I'd actually played, but that was CASTLE of illusion. i think.
I played through CoI earlier this year and this looks great, despite some of its shortcomings. And yeah - give me unlimited continues all day - especially on a platformer with a younger target audience.
Castle of Illusion's a lot more streamlined than this one from what I recall, and Land of Illusion is a real step up in a lot of ways, as long as you don't mind the faster-paced learning curve.
I'll take unlimited continues all day long as well... I'm completely dependent on them in every single platformer and appreciate that they make games more accessible for all audiences. I was really surprised to see that as a critique, but I suppose people liked arcade games a lot back then and maybe they enjoyed spending all their lunch money on continues... who knows? :D
Best Master System commentator on TH-cam.
Just discovered this show and it's great. I agree I'm bored with the run of the mill video game reviews these days, keep it up and keep growing!
Glad you're enjoying your time here :)
The whole illusion series on SmS is amazing fir its time
Yes, I agree! I really liked Land of Illusion even coming to it nowadays, despite some of the sneakier parts.
Luv your channel! ❤
Awww thank you! I'm happy you stopped in!
I really want to play more Master System games. The only ones I have been addicted to are Phantasy Star and the Alex Kidd games. I'll have more games to try once I'm done marathoning all of these videos.
I still need to finish Alex Kidd in Shinobi World one of these days. That one's final boss is really tough.
@@hungrygoriya Yep. They didn't mess around back then.
Love your content!
I'm glad this channel invaded my recommendations
Me too! Thanks for taking a chance on me :)
World of illusion was a thing of beauty,same as quackshot, but id give you a challenge, might and magic 2, I played that for years and never had any clue what was going on
I love RPGs, but I haven't played any Might and Magic before, or Wizardry!
@@hungrygoriya I swear it has to be one of the most difficult things out there, but comes with a cool map!
This looks like a solid title, and much more interesting than Mickey Mousecapades on the NES. Thank you for sharing. :)
There's a lot of great stuff to do in this game. I hope you have fun with it if you end up trying it sometime!
I like reviews, very well made.
Just found you’re channel. When I want a retro channel I’m going to be coming here. I was wondering if you could check the original Final Fantasy our
Out*
Right on! Glad you found me :) I've played through the NES game a long while back now and loved it! I love the series a lot, especially 4, 6 and 9!
This is one of my most wanted Master System games. I love all the design elements and little details.
It looks to me that it kind of falls into a similar trap to Earthworm Jim 2 or Crash Bandicoot 3, with really solid and enjoyable fundamentals, but the ever-shifting gameplay styles don't give you as much time savor the fundamental game play as you'd like.
I also never knew this had a Game Gear version! I'll definitely look into that
It's really easy to get swept up into how awesome the audiovisual experience here is... I don't blame you! Hopefully you can find a copy some day because it's definitely worth a play, whether it be Game Gear or Master System. I played a little bit of the Game Gear version and there were a few small changes that I noticed, but I'm curious if they kept all the levels for that version.
I've only played the first EWJ game and no Crash Bandicoot just yet, but it's good to know that I might not enjoy them as much for the same reason
@@hungrygoriya Don't get me wrong, Crash 3 and EWJ 2 are both great games, but you get the feeling that they could have been greater if they just let you spend a little more time with the core gameplay
Some of these later Master Sysem games look really beautiful, the system really seems to have picked up its stride in its last few years in Europe. I understand why Sega let it go off into the sunset in the US though. Apparently Wal Mart forced them to accept some terrible terms to carry the Genesis which hurt them more than anybody knew, like they had to have tons of copies of games and hardware available at all times, and buy back unsold merchandise. Keeping the Master System afloat likely would have hurt them in that market.
all the Sega Mickey games (except for Fantasia) are so good eh!
Yep! I just played through two Donald Duck games recently as well and they were gorgeous!
Is this a prequel to the movie Lord of Illusions?
Ha!
Daisy Duck: The wizard lives in a castle high above the clouds. No adventurer can reach him.
Mickey Mouse(rolls up his sleeves to reveal hairy brawny arms); First time for everything babe. Time to go stomp some magician butt.(chomps angrily on his cigar)
What an interesting reimagining, haha
@@hungrygoriya Mickey Mouse goes hard. Mess with his friends and find out.
I love my NES games, but a lot of SMS games aged so much better
The SMS is just gorgeous. I'm constantly surprised at how fantastic the quality of a lot of the games in the library is.
Castle of Illusion and Land of Illusion are probably the two best platformers on the SMS, and two of the very few that could be compared to the plethora of excellent NES platformers. Legend of Illusion is pretty good but not on the level of the fist two, because screen crunch is a mortal sin in a platformer.
I agree! I can't wait to try out Legend some day, but I have a feeling I'll never be able to find it. Those Brazil releases are so scarce and expensive.
Land of Illusion could pass for an early Genesis game. :D
Oh yes! It's just that lovely!
This game is amazing, it's such a shame Sega fans in the US and Canada were deprived of so many Sega Master System classics.
I know, right? I'm so late to the party on the console as it is, but I'm glad to be finding such great games. It's like I could throw a dart at the shelf and almost always hit something spectacular.
@@hungrygoriya Might I make a few Master system purchase recommendations if you ever come across them? Batman Returns and Jurassic Park. Both are fairly cheap, but really good, overlooked Master System games.
@@st1ka Yesssss! I have those two but haven't played them yet. I'll give them a whirl soon!
@@hungrygoriya sounds good! :D
I have never liked Disney very much (although having dabbled into 2d animation I found an appreciation for their skill later in life) but I cherished this game quite a bit.
Which really is strange since I have a frothing, slavering disdain for Mickey Mouse otherwise.
Mickey has more well done Sega made games than Sonic does, which really says something.
So many of the Disney games were a cut above.
Why is this channel so unknown? Someone has to get the word out!
It's very kind of you to say that! Thanks so much :)
00:50 This sounds oddly like A Link to the Past....sorry, continue..
I loved 👏
Saving a girl just to insult her village right after, classic Mickey Mouse :P
Mickey needs to learn some manners!
Hello. Good video. I suscribe your channel. Like
Thank you very much!
So.....you wanna borrow my copy of Legend to close this trilogy out?
And yeah...that crab boss....I said it all in my own video....hes a jerk 🤣
Oh man that's awfully kind of you, but I'll keep an eye out for a copy so I can own it some day. Hopefully I can find it for a good price!
@@hungrygoriya good luck, took me years. Fun game though, looks amazing
It's a lot of fun and probably the better game when up against Castle of Illusion but for me as a sequel it just doesn't have that.. feel of imagination. The levels are just not as creative so one I don't return to as much as Castle.
You're definitely right... the settings in Land are not quite as fantasy-based. I can see why you feel that way.
will you marry me?