![]() ![]() Each platform is measured so that you brace yourself when you take-off. But once again, it’s precision-engineered to be exciting and satisfying. The jumping is bizarre because it SEEMS like it’s going to be floaty and annoying at first. And it was awesome! That’s how you cross over from quality title to unforgettable legend. Castle of Illusion, at its most risky of venturing into blandness, instead paid off the worst part of the game (which isn’t awful by any stretch) with an exhilarating reward. ![]() It wasn’t enough to just end this sequence. the stairs become a giant, multi-storied slide that you run down, grabbing points along the way. Then, just when it felt like I was about to run out of patience, I grab the key and. The enemies were spaced just right so that I couldn’t coast, and the path would occasionally have pathways that led to items or health refills. I would normally find this type of design to be mind-numbing. The key is several stories above you, and to reach it, you must climb a seemingly endless and somewhat repetitive series of stairs. In it, you enter a room where the exit is right there, but the door is locked. Let me use the worst level in the game as an example. I quickly came to realize the slower pace was actually the product of genius game design. Castle of Illusion starts with a forest, so you think “well, that’s mundane” but, before that level is up, you’re hopping across leaves with gigantic spiderwebs behind you, which somehow still feels fresh over thirty years later. Mario games always take their time getting to the exotic stuff. Having memorable set pieces right off the bat helps. And I wasn’t sure that charmingly deliberate pace would work.īy the time I finished that first level, I was whistling a different tune, because Castle of Illusion is pretty dang good. But, while Sonic gets all the credit these days, Mickey was first. It’s kind of funny that Sega’s two best and brightest “Mario Killers” feel nothing alike each-other. A year later, Sonic went the other direction with speed and managed to pull off the same “nothing like Mario” feat based largely around the game’s movement and physics. Realistically, every first party Sega platformer was going to be compared, fairly or not, to Nintendo’s mascot. I remember specifically thinking “well, kudos to Sega for figuring out how to differentiate themselves from Mario, I guess.” This was the first tent-pole platformer on the Genesis, and it feels NOTHING like Mario. Was that you? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear your story! I imagine this game convinced many children of the early 90s that maybe it was time to move on from their NES. ![]()
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