Massive amount of new Epic Mickey details – New levels, gameplay information, story updates and more

Nintendo Power promised a blowout of Epic Mickey in their October issue, and the magazine certainly did not disappoint. Tons of new details have been revealed in a 10-page article, which touch on new gameplay/story elements, new levels, and other interesting information. Check out all of the Epic Mickey goodness below.

General details

– Much time has passed after Mickey spills paint and thinner on Yen Sid’s model on his table
– Incident becomes a distant memory
– One morning, Mickey yanked back through the mirror by the Phantom Blot
– During the struggle, Mickey grabs the paint brush before being pulled into Yen Sid’s model
– Part of the introduction involves a tense confrontation with Mad Doctor and contains a little beat where Mickey and Oswald see each other for the first time
– Warren Spector says that moment is his “Sergio Leone moment”
– Oswald is the earliest resident of Wasteland
– He’s joined by other discarded elements from throughout Disney history as the decades pass
– Paintbrush more like a hose than a brush
– Controls rundown: Aim with the Wiimote, hold B button to shoot a stream of paint, hold Z for thinner, tap either button to fire a shotgun-like splash of the corresponding substance
– The splash’s range isn’t as good, but covers a wider area and the force to knock back foes
– Action maps make up most of the game
– Only takes a few minutes to complete a travel map, but there are branching paths
– One path will take you to your destination, other will reward you with a collectible if you survive
– One collectible is a film reel, but Spector won’t discuss that yet

New travel map inspired by the 1937 short Lonesome Ghosts

– Cartoon featured Mickey, Donald, Goofy as ghost exterminators lured to a haunted house by a group of bored poltergeists posing as customers
– Every aspect of the level has some basis in the source material
– The newspaper the ghosts read at the beginning of the short acts as a windblown platform in the game
– When Mickey hops on the platform, one of the apparitions materializes to whack him with a two-by-four
– Other ghosts play tricks as well to stop Mickey from passing through
– Scare ghosts by switching on the lights
– Flicking the Wiimote will turn on the lights
– Vintage sound effects

Lonesome Manor action map

– Mickey has to get into the mansion
– There are reasons related to the story why Mickey must do this
– Stage starts off next to a pond filled with thinner
– Treasure chest on the other side that seems unreachable at first
– As you move through the level, there is a pressure plate on the ground with an anvil hanging on a tree branch
– Erase the tree to drop the anvil on the plate, causing platforms to emerge from the pond
– Spladoosh enemies are in your way from obtaining the treasure
– Splashdooshs are snoozing, but if you get too close and wake one up, it explodes
– Pin inside the treasure chest, Spector can’t talk about this either yet
– Spooky eyes peer at you from the darkness beneath the porch as you’re heading to the front of the manor
– Another pressure plate near the manor, but no anvil in site
– Need to get onto the second-story veranda by erasing the top of a pillar and using the remaining portion as a platform
– You’ll then find a chest which contains an anvil sketch
– Different sketches in the game
– Mickey can bring them to life with the magic brush
– Certain sketches do different things when combined together
– Place the anvil on the pressure plate to get into the manor’s entrance
– Before you can do that, need to deal with Blotlings
– Mickey can defeat the Blotlings by erasing them, befriending them
– Erasing can produce health, sketches, or other resources
– Befriending compels the Blotlings to fight alongside Mickey

Travel map based on the 1933 short, The Mad Doctor

– Mickey must contend with a bridge that collapses as he runs across it
– Stairs fold up underneath him and send him sliding back down
– Whirling buzz saws that nearly dissect him

Jungle-themed action map based on The Jungle Book and the Lost Boys’ hideout in Peter Pan

– Initially set upon a type of Beetleworx called a Basher
– Beetleworx are formidable enemies made by Mad Doctor
– They operate as the Phantom Blot’s shock troops, made up of a mechanical frame covered in a cartoon shell
– Need to erase the shell to expose the mechanism’s weak point
– Then can smack it with Mickey’s brush (shake Wiimote)
– Some sketches can also be used against them (ex: distract them with a television sketch)
– Can’t use paint to befriend a Beetleworx
– You’ll run into Starkey, one of Captain Hook’s pirates
– Starkey can’t leave his post while the Blot’s forces are around
– Starkey offers Mickey a deal: Defeat the threat and Mickey can get a pass code for Hangman’s Tree (next destination)
– Can also look for the code on your own
– Symbols have been scrawled on moss-covered rocks scattered across the stage
– Erase the foliage to reveal the marks
– More gems hidden in the stage, some of which are more concealed than others
– Obtaining them are optional
– Can unlock the cover to a well, which houses a collectible

Dark Beauty Castle

– Giant holes in the ceiling
– Foreboding clouds swirling around the castle unnaturally
– Climb a flight of stairs, you’ll then encounter Oswald
– Oswald shows Mickey the way forward
– Means they’re friends at this point
– When Mickey turns his back to Oswald, Oswald starts making faces at him
– When Mickey turns around, Oswald looks away and whistles innocently
– Tricky platforming ahead
– Requires reflexes and use of the paint/thinner
– World has started to crumble beneath Mickey’s feet
– Blot’s tendrils are coming through the walls
– The Blot is trying to snag Mickey

This information comes from Warren Spector…

“Thought he doesn’t realize it at first, Mickey caused all the turmoil here, and that’s a critical part of the story.”

“There were two things that really got this project started. The first was to make Mickey the hero he deserves to be in a video game. The other was the opportunity to reintroduce Oswald to the world. And that kind of opportunity doesn’t come along every day.”

“Then Mickey shows up. And his first thought is, ‘I’m not forgotten. I’m not rejected. I don’t belong here.’ So initially, his goal is just to get back home. But he discovers forgotten friends, like the old black-and-white version of Horace Horsecaller. Then there’s Oswald, the brother he never even knew existed. So his goals change – he has to help them. Especially since he’s the one who created the problem [with the Phantom Blot]. They’re forgotten and rejected, which is sad, but he inadvertently makes their lives much, much worse.”

“The overall story plays out in a pretty linear fashion – I’m a big believer in linear storytelling that progresses from beat to beat in the same way for all players. But how each player progresses can and will change based on his or her choices. I think that approach offers players control over the elements of gameplay that are important to them, but still allows them to participate in the telling of a cool story.”

“How you choose to interact with that machine [from Skull Island] determines who lives in Ventureland when you go back to revisit it later in the game. The first time you visit, there are a bunch of scared pirates there, worrying about their buddies who’ve been turned into monsters and worried that they might be next. If you ignore their pleas to shut down the machine, when you return to Ventureland later in the game, the place might be deserted. So obviously there are no quests to learn about, no shops to sell you tools and upgrades, no characters to give you information, etc. If you destroy the machine [using thinner], you might find more friendly folks to interact with upon your return to Ventureland, but if you repaired the machine [using paint and thus reverting the monsters back to pirates], you might find even happier folks there. That sort of things plays out all over the game.”

“[In the game’s back story,] the Mad Doctor is actually one of the earliest characters to show up in Wasteland. His cartoon was from 1933 and he was forgotten almost instantly. He was one of the few characters Disney didn’t reuse. Even though they’re forgotten now, Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow, for instance, appeared over and over again. The Mad Doctor: one shot and he was done.

So he shows up in Wasteland pretty early on. Oswald’s the first guy to arrive. Oswald’s girlfriend shows up not long after. Then the Mad Doctor appears. As in the cartoon, he’s a crazy, power-mad seeker of forbidden knowledge. [When he arrives in Wasteland,] he looks around and says, ‘OK, Oswald’s in charge here, so I’ll suck up to him.’ He becomes Oswald’s right-hand guy. Together, they conceive the idea of the Beetleworx. The Beetleworx and monsters by the time you confront them in the game, but their initial purpose was to act as construction tools . When something new that’s been forgotten or rejected appears in Wasteland, the job of the Beetleworx is to go out there, gather it up, and move it to wherever Oswald wants it. They follow Oswald’s orders. What Oswald doesn’t know is that the Mad Doctor is making his own secret plans on the side. And there comes a point where the Phantom Blot shows up. He’s this huge monster that basically ravages Wasteland. There’s a period in the backstory that we call The Blot Wars. As the Blot becomes the dominant force – he’s winning the war – the Mad Doctor looks around and thinks, ‘Huh, [do I side with the] little rabbit or the big scary monster with lots of minions?’ So he hatches yet another scheme and ultimately betrays Oswald. He becomes the Blot’s closest ally, though he still has plans of his own. So that’s kind of the Mad Doctor’s story. He and Oswald create the Beetleworx. They’re rebuilding this world and making it a nice place for all these characters to live while they’re waiting to be rediscovered. Then the Blot shows up thanks to Mickey’s mischief, and the Mad Doctor turns.”

“The Phantom Blot was created by Floyd Cottsfredson, who is one of my favorite comic book writers and artists of all time. In 1939, he did a strip, which I think lasted a couple of months, called “Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot.” So there you have one of my idols – a man who really understood Mickey as an action hero and an adventurer better than anyone else – pitting him against a guy in a black sheet who steals cameras. [Laughs] I mean, that’s what the Blot does! He says, ‘Curses, 10,000 curses’ because a camera is not the one he wants. He needs a specific camera. So here is this god among comic-book writers creating a villain who just doesn’t cut it.

I love Floyd Gottfredson, but what we’ve done with the Phantom Blot is a little different. He’s kind of a force of nature. He is not a thinking character. The tragedy of the Blot…I learned a really important thing from John Lasseter. He told me that when Toy Story really came to life – when they really understood it at Pixar – is when they figured out that the key question was, ‘What does a toy want?’ Well, toys want to be played with. And that was the foundation for everything in the movie. So he looked at me and said, ‘What does a cartoon want?’ And I went, ‘Umm…I don’t know.’ It was a great question. So I thought about it, and what we came up with is a cartoon character wants four things: to be drawn, to be animated and brought to life, to be projected and seen by an audience, and, finally, to be loved. If you think about it, Mickey has all four. Oswald had all four, but lost them. The mad Doctor had three, but he was never loved. And the Blot [in our game] had none of them. He’s a mistake. And he’s aware enough to know that. So that’s what makes him a monster. What he can do is erase things. He has all of the same abilities Mickey has. But he can also sort of suck the life out of cartoons. He can absorb the paint and leave an inert shell. And when he absorbs the paint from a cartoon character, he kind of gains some dim knowledge of their desired. So he comes to want what they wanted. He wants to be a cartoon character. That’s his motivation. And the Mad Doctor exploits that. He says, ‘I can help you get out of here and get what you want. I can send you out of Wasteland and you’ll become the cartoon star that you want to be.’ Maybe it’s a life, maybe it’s not. So that’s their relationship; the Mad Doctor is sort of tempting the Blot. You’ve got the brains and the brawn. And I hope Blot gives kids nightmares. I really do.”

“The travel maps are kind of a palate cleanser between the 3D maps. They’re a fun way to let players experience Mickey in a different light and present something that feels sort of like a classic Mario game.”

“This one (Lonesome Manor) is inspired by the Haunted Mansion. There’s a Haunted Mansion in every [Disney] park, but they’re all a bit different. So we took elements from each of them and sort of mashed them all together.”

“But you have to weigh the best use of that resource (bringing sketches to life). Maybe you’ll want to use it as a platform to get to somewhere that you couldn’t reach before. Or do you need to weigh down a pressure plate and open a door that you wouldn’t be able to otherwise? Or do you need to crush a Beetleworx that’s giving you trouble? I love the Zelda games, but typically the tools, which are one of the best things I love about them, are useful in just one way or only in places where the developers want them to be useful. Our goal is different. We have fewer tools, but they’re all useful in a bunch of different ways. And they’re expendable, so you have to decide when to use them.”

“That cartoon (The Mad Doctor) was hugely important. There have been a few inspirations for this game, but The Mad Doctor was a major one.”

“That choice (Starkey’s offer) doesn’t only have ramifications here; it changes things later in the game. And maybe you’re the kind of player who isn’t comfortable with exterminating all the enemies, but doing so will help Starkey get back home. So is it more important for you to be true to yourself or to help him get home? It’s not a matter of right or wrong. It’s not good or evil. It’s not mortality. It’s a little more subtle than that.”

“I don’t want to say too much, but the Blot is having his way at this point (in the Dark Beauty Castle level). The world is in deep, deep trouble, and Mickey and Oswald have to stop him. What we’ve shown of the Blob thus far barely scratches the surface.”

This information comes from lead game designer Chase Jones…

“If I want to be a completionist, I’ll be able to get more from the game. But some people might get here and say, ‘I just want to get into the mansion”

“As Mickey travels from Ventureland into this level (Jungle Book/Peter Pan level), he starts to find out that there are pirates who stayed behind throughout Wasteland – the ones who didn’t flee Ventureland for safety. They stayed back to stand up to the menace in their world and try to win back what was theirs.”