Group hug! We’re closing our weeklong celebration of classic SNES titles with a look back at three standout Disney games. Even 20 years ago there was a stigma surrounding licensed games, but these three bucked the trend and delivered quality gameplay that would’ve soared even without the license. Plus we’ve got 2000 more Wii Points to give for the Virtual Console!

MAGICAL QUEST STARRING MICKEY MOUSE

How can you make a “cool” Mickey Mouse game? By giving him an assortment of colorful costumes that each have their own powers and abilities, then tailor every level around said costumes. For example, when you receive the grappling hook outfit, the gameplay suitably transforms from standard side-scroller into a Bionic Commando-like romp through the treetops. Once you acquire all the suits (which happens early, as the game is eager to give you all its cool powers right away), you can swap them on the fly, allowing for even more imaginative and complicated levels later on.

The many faces of Mickey, each with its own gimmick

I’ve always been more of a Donald Duck person, so even as a kid I wasn’t initially interested in playing a game about Mickey Mouse. But the brilliant graphics that plastered issues of Nintendo Power convinced me to take a look, and I was immediately hooked. On a deeper level, I was happy to see Capcom’s Disney prowess was still in effect after the equally amazing DuckTales and Rescue Rangers titles that devoured my time in the NES days. For more on SNES Disney greatness, I’mma toss this over to Snow…

GOOF TROOP & ALADDIN

Goof Troop and Aladdin have to be among my favorite Capcom games of all time. So favored, in fact, that I keep originals in my desk as reminders of what I started with.

Actually, Goof Troop IS my favorite Capcom game hands down. I know it back and forth, every level, every stage, every song, every boss, every puzzle, and all the secrets in between. It’s a rare gem as far as co-op SNES games go. You share a screen with your couch co-op buddy, working together to save your friends from pirates. Your journey sees you landing on the shores of a standard Pirates of the Caribbean style island, and you progress through from the beach, to their town, their massive fortress, into the caves of the volcano, and finally on to their ship loaded with loot.

You play as Goofy and Max. Goofy is stronger, and and eliminate enemies quicker, but moves slowly. Max is smaller, faster, but only 50% as strong. Max also slows down considerably any time he needs to lift an object. This immediately gives each player a feeling of a role to accomplish. Especially since many puzzles, combat, and exploration goes far easier if you actually work with your friend. That said, it is entirely possible to play through the game solo, and enjoy it thoroughly.

Enemies are diverse, from all manner of classes of pirates, to animals you find in each area, and of course Capcom’s standard of very trying bosses. One particular boss fight involves balancing on foot wide pillars while fighting two massive centipedes traversing these while also causing the ceiling to crumble chunks of rock on you.

Goof Troop was actually Shinji Mikami’s first Capcom game. It’s easy to see, especially as the puzzle elements of solving rooms before proceeding is reminiscent of early Resident Evil games. I personally recommend this classic on the SNES to ANYONE. It’s a game for all ages, it’s awesome co-op, and to this day I still play it.

Aladdin was one of the first games I played that focused on a very interesting concept. Run through as quick as possible! It’s strange, since you generally take the time to enjoy the game’s overall design. But in Aladdin, the fluid of movement and of progression encourages you to fly through levels. Abu plays a role of guidance in the levels. He’s constantly darting ahead of you leading you on the course best to take. Later on, you end up playing a few levels on the magic carpet, which again focus on speed. Despite the quickness of things, there are plenty of reasons to replay levels, stop by to explore for secrets, and collect all the items.

As a side note, there’s a small localization error that always made me smile. Using a password system, every screen that uses it actually spells it two words instead of one! “PASS WORD”

This concludes our “Capcom on the Super NES” series – hope you enjoyed the trip back with us, and don’t forget to hit up the official thread for more discussion on the general awesomeness that was the Super NES era. Oh, almost forgot… we still have 2000 Wii Points to hand out! Alas, none of these Disney games are on the Virtual Console, but there are other Capcom greats to choose from on the NES and SNES. To win, just comment about any of these three titles, any thoughts, memories or feelings about ‘em, and I’ll choose one person for free Virtual Console points!