Adventures in the Magic Kingdom

Adventures in the Magic Kingdom is a different kind of Disney game for the NES. Instead of playing as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, or another familiar character, you control a young visitor exploring a Disney theme park. Released by Capcom in 1990, the game revolves around a simple but fun objective: find six silver keys and use them to open the castle so the Disney parade can begin.

The interesting part is how the game turns famous theme park attractions into completely different types of challenges. After walking around the park map, you can enter attractions such as Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Autopia, and Space Mountain. There is also a Disney trivia challenge that has to be completed to obtain one of the keys.

Each attraction feels like its own little game. Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean are side-scrolling action stages where you have to jump over obstacles and deal with enemies. Autopia changes things into a top-down driving challenge, while Big Thunder Mountain puts you in control of a runaway mine cart and asks you to choose the correct routes. Space Mountain is particularly unusual, using a first-person-style view where quick reactions are needed to follow on-screen commands.

The variety keeps Adventures in the Magic Kingdom from feeling like a standard platformer. Some sections are definitely more enjoyable than others, and the difficulty can be a little unforgiving, but the concept remains charming. The game also features music by Yoko Shimomura, years before her work on the Kingdom Hearts series.

For NES players who enjoy unusual licensed games, Adventures in the Magic Kingdom is worth a look. It captures the idea of wandering through a Disney park surprisingly well while offering a collection of short challenges that make the game stand out from Capcom's more conventional NES releases.