Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

About Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

Castle of Illusion is a side-scrolling platformer in which the player takes control of Mickey Mouse as he goes inside the Castle of Illusion in order to rescue Minnie Mouse from the evil witch named Mizrabel, who wants to steal Minnie's youth and beauty. Upon meeting and conversing with the castle's true owner and king, Mickey is told that in order to defeat Mizrabel he must find the Seven Gems of the Rainbow. The majority of the seven gems are kept within various illusion-filled worlds (known in the game as levels) and are being guarded by Mizrabel's henchmen – which are known as the Masters of Illusion. Alongside the Masters of Illusion is Mizrabel's army. The army consists of bizarre creatures, such as enchanted mushrooms, toy soldiers, ball-juggling, unicycle-riding clowns, spiders and armored knights. After thanking the castellan and hurrying into the castle hallway, Mickey begins to search through five doors that each leads different levels. The levels are The Enchanted Forest, Toyland, The Storm, Dessert Factory, The Library, and finally, The Castle.

Mickey's main method of attack is to perform a "bounce" whilst jumping, which can be used to defeat enemies or to bounce upwards towards higher areas. Mickey can collect projectiles such as apples and marbles to throw at his opponents. There are various items that earn bonus points, increase the player's health and grant extra tries. Clearing a level also rewards the player with additional points, including a "Technical Bonus" based on how much health the level was completed with and a "Secret Bonus" based on how many projectiles Mickey has left.

Every level ends in a boss battle against each Master of Illusion (Mizrabel's henchmen) where Mickey can earn a gem, although the final two levels award a gem halfway through. After clearing all five levels, obtaining all gems will open up the route to the witch's tower. There, the player faces the final boss: a giant and youthful version of Mizrabel. There is an easy mode available where players play through truncated versions of the first three levels, with no boss fights.

The Master System and Game Gear versions of the game have different game mechanics, enemies, items, levels and graphics.