''Fantasia'' is a 1991

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

developed by Infogrames and published by

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

for the Genesis. It was loosely based on the 1940 animated film ''Fantasia'' and inspired by the success of the 1990 video game '' Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse''.

Gameplay

The player controls

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

as the Sorcerer's Apprentice through various side-scrolling levels in an attempt to collect musical notes that went missing while he was asleep. The four levels were based on amalgamations of the segments of ''Fantasia'', with each one themed around the elements: water (The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Dance of the Reed Flutes, and Nutcracker Arabian Dance), earth (The Rite of Spring), air (Trepak, Pastoral Symphony and Dance of the Hours) and fire (Night on Bald Mountain, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor). The player defeats various enemies by jumping on them or by collecting magical bubbles that could be used to shoot at enemies as projectiles. In each level, the player collects a certain number of hidden magical notes for the song to play once again.

Development

Sega was inspired to create the game, by the success of '' Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse'' and by the 50th anniversary of the 1940 film ''Fantasia''. Development began in January 1990. Sega producer Scott Berfield, and Stephan L. Butler, monitored Infogrames's development to ensure a faithful adaptation. The development team consisted of six people who lacked experience in developing console games. With pressure toward the holiday shopping rush and from the mid-year release of ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

'', time to develop the game was tight. It was difficult to replicate the animation and music quality of the film to the 16-bit console. By May, Sega presented ''Fantasia'' at the

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and soon was showcased at the Tec Toy launch. With no time to tweak the gameplay or polish the graphics, the game was shipped for the holiday season. The release of ''Fantasia'' was met with complaints by Roy E. Disney, who had made a promise to his uncle Walt that ''Fantasia'' adaptions would not be made. The licensing turned out to have been granted in error. Sales of the game were to stop, each of the approximately 5,000 unsold copies was to be destroyed, and every advertisement about the game was to be removed.

Reception

The game was poorly received, with '' MegaTech'' magazine saying the game was "a massive disappointment. Poorly designed, bland and frustrating, with very little appeal". '' Mean Machines'' said that although appearing impressive at first with "excellent sprites and gorgeous backdrops, the gameplay is badly flawed and there are several highly annoying features that make the action frustrating". ''Mega Play''s four reviewers gave average to below average review, they unanimously praised the graphics and animations but also criticized the gameplay as choppy, substandard, and awkward. ''Mega Action'' gave an overall score of 80% and praised the cartoon-like animation and criticized the games difficulty set far too high. ''Console XS'' initially praised the graphics as "astounding" and the animation and scrolling as "superb". They criticized the game saying: "This game is full of poor collision detection, frustrating restart points, and repetitive gameplay. Very, very tough". The four reviewers of ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...

'' gave average reviews praising the graphics, animation, and game music. They criticized the controls and gameplay as repetitive, clunky, and unpredictable, and said that ''Fantasia'' does not measure up to '' Castle of Illusion''. '' Mega'' placed the game at #6 in its list of the 10 Worst Mega Drive Games of All Time.

References

External links

* {{Mickey Mouse games 1991 video games

Video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

Fantasy video games Infogrames games Mickey Mouse video games Platformers Sega Genesis games Sega Genesis-only games Sega video games Side-scrolling video games Single-player video games Video games about dinosaurs Video games based on animated films Video games based on works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Video games developed in France Video games set in the Mesozoic Works based on The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Gameplay

Development

Reception

See also

References

External links