Capcom did justice to the Disney license with their various NES titles. Some of those titles are counted among the greatest video games of all time. So it stands to reason that expectations were high to see what they could do with the 16-bit consoles. Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse was an excellent debut with fantastic production values and a unique gameplay mechanic. And of course you know a sequel would follow; this is Capcom after all. The Great Circus Mystery starring Mickey and Minnie is a pretty good follow-up but loses something with the addition of two-player coop. Its still a good game but too similar to its predecessor.
Mickey and Minnie travel to the circus where they plan to spend the whole day with friends. Unfortunately when they arrive no one is around. Goofy informs them everyone is gone and when the pair explore for themselves realize Donald and Pluto are missing as well. Mickey and Minnie both decide to get to the bottom of this and find their friends.
Coop is the only significant addition to the game. You have the option of playing as either Mickey or Minnie but the choice is purely cosmetic. Coop is interesting for a number of reasons. With two players both don’t have to use the same costume at all times. It opens up room for interesting strategies during boss battles for example although these moments are few.
The outfits are the life blood of the series and Great Circus Mystery provides three new costumes play around with. The sweeper suit is equipped with a vacuum cleaner that sucks in almost everything. Enemies and blocks are spat out as coins and is the main way of gathering currency. The safari suit comes with a pick-axe to climb wall and pretty much any surface. The only caveat is the butt bounce is your only attack. The cowboy suit comes last and is the most interesting. Mickey/Minnie ride a wooden pony on a stick that hops rather than walks. It comes with a cork gun that fires in an arc and can perform a charging dash when ammo runs out. Due to its movement and style of attack it is tricky to master but rewarding in the end.
The level design is the star of the game like its predecessor and Capcom provide an excellent set of levels to test your skills. Each of the six levels is very creative and challenge you to use your abilities in creative ways. There are spiked pits in the haunted house that require using the vacuum cleaner to blow out walking candles to create makeshift platforms. Many of the boss battles become easier if you master rapid costume switching to avoid hazards. Each suit has a level to itself and the scenarios are so well designed you will wish there were more.
That being said the game is a little too similar to Magical Quest in many ways. The safari suit is almost the same as the mountain climbing outfit. The sweeper suit, while different from the firefighter gear of the first game performs many of the same functions. Even some of the levels look the same. In a way it is a similar problem that Capcom had with the later Mega Man games. The stage themes may have changed but still looked and felt the same as in previous games.
In the end the Great Circus Mystery still suffers from the same problems as its predecessor; length and lack of difficulty. The six stages breeze by even though they are broken down into multiple segments. One or two more levels would have been perfect and given each outfit more time in the spotlight. It is also kind of funny that there are passwords to save progress. The game is incredibly easy and I have a hard time believing anyone will have a hard time finishing this in a little over an hour.
The Great Circus Mystery features the same beautiful art as its predecessor but even better. This is an incredibly vibrant game with backdrops lush with detail. While the game was released for the SNES and Genesis the differences between the two are minor. The Mode 7 effects have been dropped to maintain parity and they are not missed. Where the Sega version loses out is in effects. Transparency was used extensively on the SNES and was replaced by ugly dithering. The rotating room of stage three was redesigned as well as the stage four boss. While I didn’t like the soundtrack overall the music sounded livelier on the Genesis for what it’s worth. Overall it is clear that this was designed for the SNES first and ported over and while that version is superior the difference isn’t so pronounced.
In Closing
While it retreads familiar ground the Great Circus Mystery is a pretty solid platformer. There is just enough new mechanics that it doesn’t feel repetitive and two-player coop really adds to the experience. Either version is a great choice for some good old fashioned Disney action.
