Disney’s Epic Mickey was one of the company’s most creative adaptations of its most iconic character, and recent comments suggest make an Epic Mickey reboot is more likely than ever. Disney recently said it wants video game developers to innovate with classic Disney properties - something Epic Mickey already did almost 10 years ago.
Released in November 2010, Epic Mickey was a Nintendo Wii-exclusive video game directed by Warren Spector, the game design veteran known for his role in the creation of Deus Ex, System Shock, Ultima Underworld, and Thief: The Dark Project. Under Spector’s direction, Epic Mickey and its sequel, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, became arguably the most unique Disney games ever made. They featured a twisted, theme park-like setting called the Cartoon Wasteland, home to decaying character animatronics (before Five Nights at Freddy’s) and Walt Disney’s forgotten creations. Both games included a morality system, through which Mickey could restore the Wasteland with paint or destroy it with paint thinner, leading to multiple endings.
Unfortunately, neither game executed on the ideas’ potential. Epic Mickey’s Metacritic score landed at only 73, and Epic Mickey 2 reviews were even worse, resulting in Metacritic scores as low as 57. Chief among critics’ complaints were imprecise controls, repetitive gameplay, and a terrible camera. The first game’s story and atmosphere stood out as its most redeeming quality, though, and that’s something a reboot could capitalize on to great effect.
The original games’ developer, Junction Point Studios, was closed by Disney in 2013, but Disney’s infinite brand power could no doubt conjure up a deal with a solid studio for a reboot. EA’s current Disney Star Wars game license use has resulted in varying degrees of success, producing games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars: Battlefront 2. EA-owned development studios don’t have much experience with platforming games (besides Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall and Fallen Order wall-running), however, so Disney would likely need to give the Mickey license to a different developer. Marvel’s Spider-Man developer Insomniac Games would be a great choice, having created action-platfomers like Spyro and Ratchet & Clank. Given the complicated Disney/Sony Spider-Man situation, though, the nature of Disney’s relationship to Insomniac is murky.
In any case, Epic Mickey’s universe leaves plenty of potential for a reboot. Imagine an Epic Mickey sandbox platformer akin to Super Mario Odyssey, where Mickey journeys to several worlds within the Wasteland, each with its own theme. Alternatively, an Epic Mickey reboot could feature a story told only through music, like a video game version of Disney’s Fantasia, with colorful visuals augmented by platforming and magic-slinging gameplay. The main worry about such a reboot is the impact of creating it without Spector, but perhaps his absence would be good for the series, if Disney truly wants creators to take its properties to interesting new places. Either way, Disney would need to invest in a talented development team if it wanted Epic Mickey to reach its original, innovative potential.
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Epic Mickey released for the Nintendo Wii on November 30, 2010.
