Mickey Mania - The Genesis/Mega Drive OST

Here's the complete soundtrack to Mickey Mania for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.

Emperix plays Mickey Mania for Genesis/Mega Drive - Part 3 of 3

We have one more level to go...and this is where the difficulty spikes up.

The Prince and the Pauper

1990

Section 1

If you go to the right, the stairs disappear.

Push the crate to the platform at the start of the stage. From there, leap up to the chandeliers. Walk back and forth on them to rock them, and make the jumps to the right easier.

Hit the switch to light up the library. The weasel knight will attack with either throwing daggers or crossbows, and the only way to defeat them is with marbles. It takes three marbles to take down one of the weasel soldiers, and you'll need to collect every marble you see if you want to survive.

In the library, you'll be using books either as trampolines or as magical teeter-totters that will get you around so you can continue the level.

You'll knock the pots down near the end. This effect was not in the Super Nintendo version.

When you reach Pauper Mickey, you'll find out Prince Mickey is still in the dungeon.

Section 2

Use the pitcher to jump up the platforms and hit the switch at the start. If you need to, move left into the wooden platform to push it to the left enough to make the jump to it and the jump after it. With this, you can continue to the right and enter the chute that lets you exit this section.

Also, coals will fly out of the fireplace to the right of the starting point.

Section 3

The music that was moved to the Moose Hunters stage is also used here on Genesis/Mega Drive.

Jump on the pump three times so you can inflate the inner tube. Stand on it so you can float to the top of the chamber. You have until it floods to get up there, or else you're going to lose a life.

From there, keep heading right. At this point, you're going to start finding out that the weasels can attack off-screen. The more you play these levels, the better you'll get at figuring out where the weasels are and also attack them from off-screen.

The platform on the chains moves around when you stand on it. Jump over the spikes and make your way to the other end as soon as you're able. The spikes will move on the second platform, and if you can jump to the right from high enough with the second platform, you'll get a hidden star.

You'll then be jumping off platforms over fire pits, complete with coals that jump out and have the potential to damage you. That will be just the worst of your problems, as you'll see weasels hanging out on the edge on the other side.

Go down the next shaft before the walls crush you!

At the spikes blocking your path, move to the right as soon as the first spikes sinks back into the floor. Love the animation on them.

When you reach the dungeon, push the rock onto the switch. From there, you'll have to leap on the platform on the rope and use the platforms to the right to avoid the spikes on the wall and jump back onto the rope platform when it stops moving. The platforms to the right will break after you stand on them for about a second, and if you mess up, you'll have to off-screen the platforms in order to start over. When you make it to the top, you'll meet Prince Mickey.

Section 4

You're now climbing Pete's Tower...which is anything but easy!

The music here was also used in the final battle with Pete. The music that was here in the Super Nintendo version was used for the Big Band Concert bonus level.

The platforms crumble a second or two after you stand on them. As you ascend the tower, a huge wall of fire will rise up the tower. If you mess up, you're heading back to the beginning.

You'll also be dealing with some tough jumps as well as spiked balls, but they're easy to avoid. (Yep, they're spiked balls now!) The jumps are the hard part.

Section 5

When you make it to the doorway at the end, you're still going to have to deal with the fire. You'll also be dealing with weasels as you leap up this vertical shaft of death. At least the weasels in this part only take one hit before they die.

The music in this part is in the Super Nintendo version, but amazingly, it's not even used there! That's a shame, because the Super Nintendo version does the song here justice.

When you make it to the top, you'll be able to refill your health and get some more marbles. The path to the right has weasels who now take three hits to kill again as well as some more marbles. You'll also be swinging off long chains and suffering the Ninja Gaiden-esque problem of...you guessed it...enemies hanging out on the edge of a platform.

Section 6

Pete will throw a sword at you and then jump to the left. Duck under the sword and avoid Pete, as well as the shurikens that drop down whenever Pete shakes the room.

Whenever Pete shakes the ground, a wooden cart with spikes on the top will drop down. You'll want to position this so that when Pete lands on the ground, he also lands on this. Love how Pete has a digitized "ouch" speech sound for this version. After four instances of this, Pete will change his tactics.

There are five stars in this room, and you'll need to save them until you're badly in need of health. Keep that in mind, because the second phase is going to be harder!

There will now be a ball and chain suspended from the ceiling. There will also be two switches, with one on each end of the room. Pete employs the same tactics, but when he stomps the floor, two rows of shurikens fall instead of one. The first set falls slightly to the left, and the other slightly to the right. They are dodgeable, but you'll have to think on your thumbs as you do so. Sometimes these sets of shurikens will fall next to each other at the same time and have you staying in one spot, while other times they're staggered enough for you to just move out of the way with the first one, then the second one. The distance between the two shuriken sets will vary.

You will need to trigger these switches in order to deal damage to Pete. You have to jump onto the sword he throws, then jump into the switch to trigger it. The ball and chain will swing to the other end of the room. You will have to hit the switch on the side where the ball is in order for this monstrous weapon to move. Four more hits and plenty of patience later, you've done it! Enjoy the ending!

The "next animated cartoon" refers to the 1994 theatrical short "Runaway Brain," in case you're wondering.

Notable credits include outspoken game designer David Jaffe (who later directed the Twisted Metal series and the first two God of War games) and Michael Giacchino (who would work on Gargoyles by Disney Interactive before working on the soundtrack to Lost).

Alright, now for more differences:

During the first half of the battle with the spike cart, the boss music is the same as the Mad Doctor battle. When you make it to the second half with the ball and chain, it's the final boss music. Also, the ball on the ball and chain is gold instead of silver, and the shurikens in the second half of the battle don't vary in position like in the Super Nintendo version. Once you know how to dodge them here, you can dodge them every time.

Instead of fading out, Pete is knocked right off of the screen when you beat him here.

You get a "Well Done, Mickey!" screen with a smiling Mickey standing with his hands on his sides. The game will also ask if you've found the Mickeys from The Mad Doctor and The Band Concert even if you've already found them.

The enemy roll call has quite a few differences. All the enemies move across the screen faster, and there are also music changes and enemy additions.

The Mad Doctor uses its Section 2 music (instead of Section 1).

The Moose Hunters has an extra sprite for the moose that chases you in Section 2, and uses the Section 2 music. You also get to see the moose from Section 1 a little while longer.

The Lonesome Ghosts shows the motorboat ghost a little while longer.

Mickey and the Beanstalk uses its Section 3 music.

The Prince and the Pauper uses its Section 5 music and also shows off the death animations for the weasels.

Jon Burton's name under "Credit Text Typed and Checked By" is upside down. On Super Nintendo, it's right-side up.

When you get a game over, you hear the title screen music in the Super Nintendo version. This music is used in the Genesis/Mega Drive version and goes unused on Super Nintendo, where it is only available via the sound test (as do the other two unused songs).

Emperix plays Mickey Mania for Genesis/Mega Drive - Part 2 of 3

In this episode, we traverse through a haunted house and try to make it out in one piece!

The Lonesome Ghosts

1937

Section 1

This house not only has parallax scrolling, but the front of the house has some 3D elements or something. When you enter the house, the front side of the house will rotate clockwise, as if a cameraman was strafing to the right while keeping the camera still. The Genesis version also does this, which is pretty nice.

If you drop down one of the pits, you'll land on a boat with Pluto in a dark flooded area. The right-most pit you can drop down has enough stars to give a low health count a well-needed revitalization.

Section 2

You'll actually see Pluto in this section despite the fact that he's not even in the cartoon. Imagine that.

This part will be dark. Be careful as you walk around, as you can't see the sides of the screen and the ghosts will be popping up from out of nowhere to whack you with a floorboard or get in your way.

The stairways' steps will tilt and turn into slopes after you go up a certain distance, leaving you to slowly walk jump up them instead, and platforms will tilt as your distribute your weight to one side. There are some stars in this part of the section, as one of the platforms has some stairs and two ghosts in annoyingly-placed positions in it. You'll have to raise the left side of a platform while dealing with a ghost, and then deal with the stairs and two ghosts: one from the platform and one at the stairs. Expect to get hit at least once.

Near the end of the platform and stairs section, you can jump to the left off the highest platform to get an extra try.

You'll then be dealing with bats and pipe covers. You can bounce off the pipe covers to find even more stars to refill your health with.

After climbing some more pipe covers on walls that open and close, you'll have to walk to the left across a fallaway bridge. There are ghosts in this last part, and you'll probably get hit at least once.

If you fall right at the other side of the bridge, you'll be able to find eight stars!

Section 3

Pluto runs ahead of you before the water rises. The water also looks much different here.

In this section, you'll start out by jumping on barrels to make your way across the water. You'll also be following a ghost on a motorboat. Unlike the Super Nintendo version, the water sinks just before the game allows you to take the stairs.

You'll also be pushing a table to reach a staircase. As you do so, you'll be dealing with hat-throwing ghosts, and you'll have to position Mickey perfectly so he doesn't get hit by the ghosts' throwing arms. Not the hats...the arms.

This part of the final section has pictures on the wall that unfurl to show pictures. These pictures are a reference to the Haunted Castle in Walt Disney World, and are completely absent on Super Nintendo.

You'll then walk across a floor that drops and rises every so often. Use this to your advantage as you avoid the ghost. Also, be sure to move past the door at the end and get the star near Lonesome Ghosts Mickey before entering the door at the end.

Mickey and the Beanstalk

1947

Section 1

Head to the right, avoiding the butteflies along the way.

This part is trickier in this version , by the way. There are three butterflies, and they're all in your way. ome of these butterflies are either light orange or green, but they're all the same anyway. on Super Nintendo, they're well above you compared to this.

The pause (or "paws") animation is the same as Super Nintendo, by the way. The hand changes into dog paws.

Pluto shows up at the beginning but stops at the seed-spitting flowers.

The seeds that come out of the flowers are easier to avoid on their way down, as they seperate more after they stop dropping. Push the apple to get up to the platform. In this version, the seeds and the apple are green, and the seeds seem to move faster and cover a wider arc.

Push the flower pot to the water droplets to create a flower. Push the flower pot back to the left and leap to the closed-up mushroom to the left to climb up the leaves.

When you take the leaf platforms across the water, watch out for the mosquitoes. They fly back and forth pretty fast and you could get nailed from out of nowhere.

Other enemies here include butterflies (which can be destroyed by jumping attacks or marbles) and beetles (which can only be destroyed while they're flying).

Section 2

This stage now uses the Section 3 music? What?

You'll now be underground. Besides the beetles, you'll also be dealing with these golden, web-like pupae that fall to the floor and shoot out two baby spiders. Avoid the spiders as they come down, and be sure to back off as soon as the pupae come down

Some of the baby spiders will drop down themselves and float to the ground with parachutes I can safely assume are made out of spider webs.

Keep going right and you'll hit a floor switch. Jump on it and you'll remove the wooden bridge you passed along the way. Fall down and hit the switch to reveal a giant spider. Go to the right immediately, and ride on the ladybug to get out of there!

There are health and marbles down there, but there is no way you're going to outrun the spider (which is instant death) and you're better off staying on the ladybug anyway.

Section 3

The music here was used in the Moose Hunters stage on Super Nintendo. Also, Pluto shows up again.

The seeds sticking out of the ground create beanstalk platforms when you jump on them.

The Band Concert

1935

This level is not available on the Super Nintendo version at all. It's only available on Genesis/Mega Drive and Sega (Mega) CD, and after some research, I found out how to get to it via WWalker's guide on GameFAQs:

"In the third stage of Mickey and the Beanstalk, jump up the steps but DON'T KILL ANY BUTTERFLIES! When you reach the first beatle, wait until he's about to fly up, and then jump on him. You'll kill him and hopefully trip the switch above him. You only have one chance, so do it right. Once you've tripped the switch, go back down to the second ledge, and, using the tips for this stage, reach the ledge by bouncing off the two butterflies that take two hits to kill. The ledge is above the start, and is tough to reach. Grab the four stars and the 1-Up hat, and then touch the red question mark to be warped to the band concert."

Anyway, the aim of this stage is simple: leap onto the boxes that are flying around in a huge tornado and make it to the top. When you reach the box below Band Concert Mickey, you'll get a Continue for your efforts. If you fall past the bottom of the level, you don't get to start over, and you get absolutely no reward for your efforts.

Some of the boxes just move left and right, while others make figure eight patterns. The ones in the figure eight patterns are most easily jumped onto when you wait for them to reach the lowest position of their paths.

Keep going to the right and climb up the twisted column of wood. Turns out, this is a table leg that takes you to...

Section 4

...the kitchen table.

Since the music gets switched around, guess what? The music's different here, too. Remember the final section before you fought Pete in Prince and the Pauper on Super NES? Well, the music from that section plays here. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the game was made for either Genesis/Mega Drive or Super Nintendo first, then the other one got the music scrambled around. I keep thinking that this version was made first, since this had more stuff which got taken out of the SNES version, probably due to memory and system constraints.

This level looks a lot different this time around. The ground is raised up, as if you're actually looking at the action with your table near eye level. Therefore, more of what's going on onscreen is scrunched up, even though the level layout is the same. Case in point: you'll see two of the beetles being somewhat hidden behind one of the pots with the spoon in them.

A few of the butterflies here are a very light blue, and you'll also see some of them in groups of three.

The second pot with the spoon in it can be walked into from the right side to find a star.

If it's a bowl or cup, chances are you can probably stand on it.

The bowl of Jell-O mold can be used as a springboard.

You'll soon see beetles playing with orange slices...almost reminds me of Do-Re-Mi Fantasy.

Pluto shows up near the end running around in circles on a plate.

You'll then see Mickey and the Beanstalk Mickey. You're done with this level. In this version, the other Mickey actually shoots to the sky on the wine cork, whereas the Super Nintendo version never has this animation at the end.

Emperix plays Mickey Mania for Genesis/Mega Drive - Part 1 of 3

For the first time since Bubsy, I cover the differences between a Genesis game and its counterpart on the Super Nintendo!

In this game, there isn't really much of a story. Instead, you're taking Mickey Mouse through six levels in order to take on "the biggest, baddest Pete anyone has ever seen." Yeah, that's really not much of a story. It's more of an excuse to drag Mickey through six of his most well-known cartoons in video game form like some sort of retirement-age present. The game came out in 1994, a little more than 65 years after his debut, and was supposed to come out in 1993. Since it would have taken only months to complete the game, the game was delayed until the following year.

The game was released on Genesis/Mega Drive, Super Nintendo and Sega CD. It was also released on Sony PlayStation in Europe and Australia only, where it was renamed Mickey's Wild Adventure and remade from scratch with extra scenes not on the Nintendo and Sega versions. It was released worldwide on PlayStation Network in 2012.

This LP is played on Hard. Unlike the lesser difficulties, there are no checkpoints on Hard.

Steamboat Willie

November 18th, 1928

Unlike the Super Nintendo version...or the CD versions...the Genesis/Mega Drive version has no load times at all. Even the Sega/Mega CD version has quicker load times and happens to match the quality of the SNES version blow for blow yet has the Big Band Concert bouns game, which makes me wonder what the heck happened when they put the game on a Nintendo console.

There is also music when you see the name of the next stage. Despite being in the Super Nintendo version, it goes completely unused on that version.

Section 1

When you begin the stage, you'll get a 35mm film-style border on the sides of the screen, which fan out and reveal the rest of the screen after a few seconds. 

You can stop the goat from spitting out music notes by jumping on the wine bottle, causing the cork to fly out and fly into his mouth. If you jump on the goat, the cork will fall out and he'll spit out notes again. This will be the first time you'll notice that there is more digitized speech in this version than in the SNES, which just uses it for taking damage, pushing walls and beating a stage (Mickey saying "I made it!").

The whistles above Steamboat Willie can damage you with their steam. If you walk towards Steamboat Willie, he'll run away for some strange reason. I usually do this to make sure I've found them, as there's usually another Mickey to find everywhere you go.

If you jump on the cat, you'll be able to go under Steamboat Willie and find some hidden stars that act as health pick-ups, even though you've probably taken one hit at most at this point. They'll be explained later, don't worry.

The birds that poke their heads out of the boxes can also damage you.

As it rains, there will be a crane that picks up the top crate in a stack full of them. Stand on this crate as the crane carries it and you'll be at the exit.

Section 2

You'll be using clotheslines as platforms, walking on windowsills and taking on the tobacco-spitting Pete at the beginning. You'll see Pete at the beginning, but it won't do much good to fight him at the moment. For now, use the spring near him to jump left to the windowsills of the house you just passed. Do as the sign near Pete says: ring the bells at the top of the house to open the bridge past the water. Unlike the first section, where a fish would nudge you back to the boat, you'll die if you hit the water in the second one.

As you walk among the windowsills, you'll be picking up marbles. These are Mickey's main weapon throughout the game other than jumping on enemies, and even though you could defeat the parrots that fly around with them, you could just as easily jump on them without taking unnecessary damage and save your marbles for something else.

You'll notice that you have a glove in the upper-left corner. This is your health, while the number next to it is your remaining lives, or "tries" as the game calls them. As you take damage, the number of hands on the glove count down, and if you get hit while it's a closed fist, you're dead. Enjoy your animation of Mickey hitting imaginary ground and pulling a flower out of his pocket with some hilarious "I'm dead" expression on his face. As hilarious as it is, it's less annoying this time around, as you no longer have load times to deal with and you only lose around 40 to 50 percent of your marbles you had when you die.

The number for the marbles actually has an animation. The two digits shift to the right when you either die or start a section of a level. It is also to the right of the picture of the bag of marbles, as it is for the health. The hand for the health is also bigger and is used in the other versions.

Want to recover your health? Pick up a star. It recovers one point of your health.

As you progress through this section, you'll notice that the world is going from black and white to color. At first, it's just the window dressings, but then in extends to the sky and water until you finally color everything else.

Once you've rung all the bells, go back and lure Pete all the way to the right where the crates are. Jump on Pete's until he dies, and jump over the chewing tobacco globs he spits at you. From there, jump on his stomach to get up onto the crates and continue on.

Be patient with the crates. They have a definite pattern, as one drops right after the other, but they drop pretty fast. At least you don't get knocked back from taking damage.

Love the animation on the crane that allows you to jump on the boxes to the end. It's fluid and was also done just as fluidly on the other systems.

The boxes lead to the boss, but jump left instead of right on the fourth box and keep going in that direction. You'll be able to grab a Mouseketeer hat, which looks like a pair of Mickey Mouse ears and gives you an extra try...and keep it, too. Remember that when you're jumping on these boxes, wait for them to stop shaking before jumping to the next one. In case you somehow screw up, they'll reappear just in time.

The boss here is some mechanical contraption with four gears. Throw the marbles at the gears to destroy them. While the bottom gears are no problem, you won't be able to reach the gears at the top with your jump. This is where the contraption comes in. There are two crates which will move across the top of the screen that drop bombs. Every once in a while, one of these crates will drop a spring. Jump on the spring and you'll be able to throw a marble at one of the two gears at the top. The spring is one-use only, so make sure your aim is true. You'll be dodging these bombs as you wait for the spring to appear again. When you destroy all four gears, you've beaten this short introductory level.

If you run out of marbles, there will be two that show up in the bottom corners as you move around the stage, allowing you to either keep your marble supply steady or get some in your possession in case you're desperate.

That's the normal way of defeating it. Apparently, I've never seen anybody try the method that Emperix uses here: leaping on the bottom gear and throwing marbles at the top gear as you bounce up. I guess the spring isn't necessary.

In the Genesis/MD version, you'll meet Steamboat Willie again. In the Super Nintendo version, you never see him beyond the first section, which was really disappointing.

Also, this version uses the boss music you'll later hear when fighting the Mad Doctor when you fight the screen at the end.

The Mad Doctor

1933

Section 1

The bats take two marbles to defeat. Also, the bridge portions fall as you cross it, so you'd better make your way to the front door.

As you make your way to the stairs, you'll see skeletons. There are some that will spin their heads off of their bodies (which will bounce around the room) and cause their bones to fly out in an arc, bouncing around before they disappear. You can hit the bodies with a marble, but it's not recommended as you can leave yourself open to attack. Others will walk around and take three hits to kill. Jumping on their heads repeatedly is easier, as you can easily jump down to a safe spot after the third head bop.

The meat cleavers that are stuck to the skull heads on the walls will fall when you get close enough, so don't go through this section too fast.

Section 2

This is the first part of the game where you swing around on ropes. To grab onto a rope, just jump into it. Use the Control Pad and the B button to get off.

The rope spiders take a marble to kill, but their bones will bounce around just like the skeletons'.

By getting higher on the ropes, you can collect the stars and the marbles that you normally wouldn't be able to obtain.

Unlike the Super Nintendo version, the fireplaces shoot out hot coals just like the fireplace in the cartoon. Yet this was done without a problem in Prince and the Pauper? Something's wrong.

Secret that wasn't mentioned last time around: stand on top of the pipe that leads to the next section, hold Up on the Control Pad and jump. This apparently lets you jump higher than usual. Do this to jump to the right and onto the top of the wall, where you can find some hidden extra lives.

Section 3

In this section, you'll be riding on gurneys while avoiding brown lava pits, spikes and buzzsaws. If you touch the ground or fall into a pit, you'll instantly lose a life. This one is quick as long as you're fast on the jumps.

Apparently, you can leap off the top of the buzzsaws here. I wouldn't know, since I never did this when playing through this level.

Also, the boss music plays here instead of the first section music.

Section 4

Hello...what's this?

After the gurney ride, you'll be going down a tower. At least you're not outrunning something, unlike near the end of the game.

If everything feels like it's ripped from the Pete's tower section near the end of the game where you're outrunning the fire, all the way to the way the platforms are positioned (to an extent), well...you're right. You'll still be dealing with the barrels, which will still come at you from the right side of the stage. Since you're going left and having to go down, this means that most of the time the barrels will roll out from behind. Also, the wooden platforms will still break a second or two after you touch them.

The boss music plays here, too.

Section 5

This section doesn't offer anything new, but be careful near the ropes, as you can still grab onto them while jumping on the skeletons.

The clock is a reference to the Mad Doctor short, which shows up 2 1/2 minutes in.

The music here is different. Instead of being the music from Section 2, it's the music from the final section.

Section 6

Here, you'll be on an elevator. As you ride to the top, you'll be dodging the bones of exploding skeletons as you take them down. Take them out with marbles from the opposite end of the elevator, so you can more easily dodge the bones. If you see a skeleton on the roof, stay in the middle. You won't even take damage.

When the elevator opens back up and lets you take the exit, get off and get back on. The elevator will take you up one more floor.  Go to the right and keep going. When it gets dark and you can only see Mickey's eyes, you've reached the bottom. Go to the right and follow the stars to completely refill your health. You'll find a 1-Up at the end as well as Mad Doctor Mickey. You'll also go to the final section.

Section 7

To break the door, you'll have to push the beaker (just walk into it) and step on the pumps above to distribute chemicals into them. You'll need to put each of the three potions in there once, then push it to the Bunsen burner at the end and stand on the switch above until it blows up the door.

In this version, the colors for the potions are blue, green and brown as opposed to red, blue and green. Also, when you stand on the switch, the light goes off. Oh, When you blow the door, the bunsen burner survives! Finally!

In the Genesis version, the door to the boss battle closes when you're a certain distance away after entering. The door can close long before you trigger the boss battle! You won't trigger the battle until you come close enough to the Mad Doctor.

The Mad Doctor will walk around the room, throwing a explosive lab beaker forwards. To beat the Mad Doctor, throw a marble at him so it hits him. He will respond by throwing smaller explosives everywhere. Avoid them, and throw a marble at him again. If you need to, you can walk around the Doctor to avoid the beakers. You'll exit the stage after six or seven hits.

In this version, Mickey stops when he sees Pluto. Pluto is very happy to see you and actually greets Mickey. In the Super Nintendo version, Mickey just goes all the way to the right as if Pluto isn't there. Speaking of Pluto, he just sadly walks to the right and keeps on going with a glum look on his face. I'm now beginning to think that the translation of Jerry Boy with the storyline and the town exploration being removed was just the icing on the cake. This game is where Sony Imagesoft flips Nintendo the bird, as the SNES CD fell through and they picked up the pieces to develop the Sony PlayStation.

Moose Hunters

1937

I just did the fact checking. Emperix is right. Moose Hunters is copyright 1936 despite being released in in theaters in February 1937.

Section 1

Take it slow here. Sometimes, branches will fall from the tress. Other times, it's boulders. Regardless of what it is, you don't want to walk into it.

Now that you have Pluto and you're out of the Mad Doctor's lair, Pluto makes himself useful here. When Pluto makes a pointing gesture, The Moose will come at you from the direction Pluto is facing. It will always be from the left, and Mickey will also make an "uh-oh" just like when he dies, so you have no excuse for not jumping over the moose.

You also seem to have less time to see Pluto address the moose before the moose shows up and tries to tackle you with its antlers.

The branches on stilts is Moose Hunter Mickey. When you see him, you've reached the end.

The music used here is used in the last section of Mickey and the Beanstalk in the Super Nintendo version. 

Section 2

Unfortunately, the moose doesn't like the fact that you've outsmarted him, and now he gives chase. This is a different kind of level that I had never seen before and has never really been done in the 2-D arena since (at least, not in any licensed games that I'm aware of). Here, you're running away from the moose...but Mickey is running towards the screen. Avoid the rocks on the ground and the streams, as they'll both slow you down...particularly the streams. Also, you want to collect as many of the apples as you can while you outrun the moose, or else Mickey will slow down and the moose will catch up. If you see too much of the moose, Mickey Mouse will die without any warning whatsoever.

Thankfully, this section isn't very long, and you'll cross the line at the end before you know it.

Mickey Mania - The SNES OST

Here it is...the soundtrack for Mickey Mania for Super Nintendo.

FreezingInfernos plays Mickey Mania for Super Nintendo - Part 6 of 7

We have one more level to go...and this is where the difficulty spikes up.

The Prince and the Pauper

1990

Section 1

If you go to the right, the stairs disappear.

Push the crate to the platform at the start of the stage. From there, leap up to the chandeliers. Walk back and forth on them to rock them, and make the jumps to the right easier.

Hit the switch to light up the library. The weasel knight will attack with either throwing daggers or crossbows, and the only way to defeat them is with marbles. It takes three marbles to take down one of the weasel soldiers, and you'll need to collect every marble you see if you want to survive.

In the library, you'll be using books either as trampolines or as magical teeter-totters that will get you around so you can continue the level.

When you reach Pauper Mickey, you'll find out Prince Mickey is still in the dungeon.

Section 2

Use the pitcher to jump up the platforms and hit the switch at the start. If you need to, move left into the wooden platform to push it to the left enough to make the jump to it and the jump after it. With this, you can continue to the right and enter the chute that lets you exit this section.

Also, coals will fly out of the fireplace to the right of the starting point.

Section 3

Jump on the pump three times so you can inflate the inner tube. Stand on it so you can float to the top of the chamber. You have until it floods to get up there, or else you're going to lose a life.

From there, keep heading right. At this point, you're going to start finding out that the weasels can attack off-screen. The more you play these levels, the better you'll get at figuring out where the weasels are and also attack them from off-screen.

The platform on the chains moves around when you stand on it. Jump over the spikes and make your way to the other end as soon as you're able. The spikes will move on the second platform, and if you can jump to the right from high enough with the second platform, you'll get a hidden star.

You'll then be jumping off platforms over fire pits, complete with coals that jump out and have the potential to damage you. That will be just the worst of your problems, as you'll see weasels hanging out on the edge on the other side.

Go down the next shaft before the walls crush you!

At the spikes blocking your path, move to the right as soon as the first spikes sinks back into the floor. Love the animation on them.

When you reach the dungeon, push the rock onto the switch. From there, you'll have to leap on the platform on the rope and use the platforms to the right to avoid the spikes on the wall and jump back onto the rope platform when it stops moving. The platforms to the right will break after you stand on them for about a second, and if you mess up, you'll have to off-screen the platforms in order to start over. When you make it to the top, you'll meet Prince Mickey.

FreezingInfernos plays Mickey Mania for Super Nintendo - Part 5 of 7

We finally take on Mickey and the Beanstalk!

Mickey and the Beanstalk

1947

Section 1

Head to the right, avoiding the butterflies along the way.

The seeds that come out of the flowers are easier to avoid on their way down, as they separate more after they stop dropping. Push the apple to get up to the platform.

Push the flower pot to the water droplets to create a flower. Push the flower pot back to the left and leap to the closed-up mushroom to the left to climb up the leaves.

When you take the leaf platforms across the water, watch out for the mosquitoes. They fly back and forth pretty fast and you could get nailed from out of nowhere. They also have their own flying sound for when they're nearby.

Other enemies here include butterflies (which can be destroyed by jumping attacks or marbles) and beetles (which can only be destroyed while they're flying).

Section 2

You'll now be underground. Besides the beetles, you'll also be dealing with these golden, web-like pupae that fall to the floor and shoot out two baby spiders. Avoid the spiders as they come down, and be sure to back off as soon as the pupae come down

Some of the baby spiders will drop down themselves and float to the ground with parachutes I can safely assume are made out of spider webs.

Keep going right and you'll hit a floor switch. Jump on it and you'll remove the wooden bridge you passed along the way. Fall down and hit the switch to reveal a giant spider. Go to the right immediately, and ride on the ladybug to get out of there!

There are health and marbles down there, but there is no way you're going to outrun the spider (which is instant death) and you're better off staying on the ladybug anyway.

Section 3

The seeds sticking out of the ground create beanstalk platforms when you jump on them.

If you use the butterflies at the beginning to reach the platform above the start of this section, you'll get four stars and an extra try. You'll also be able to get the portal to the Band Concert level. Of course, this is for the Sega systems only, but this time around FreezingInferno shows off how to actually get it. Referring back to WWalker's guide on GameFAQs:

"In the third stage of Mickey and the Beanstalk, jump up the steps but DON'T KILL ANY BUTTERFLIES! When you reach the first beetle, wait until he's about to fly up, and then jump on him. You'll kill him and hopefully trip the switch above him. You only have one chance, so do it right. Once you've tripped the switch, go back down to the second ledge, and, using the tips for this stage, reach the ledge by bouncing off the two butterflies that take two hits to kill. The ledge is above the start, and is tough to reach. Grab the four stars and the 1-Up hat, and then touch the red question mark to be warped to the band concert."

Keep going to the right and climb up the twisted column of wood. Turns out, this is a table leg that takes you to...

Section 4

...the kitchen table. I'm with FreezingInferno here. How does Willie the Giant live with all these human-sized bugs?

The second pot with the spoon in it can be walked into from the right side to find a star.

If it's a bowl or cup, chances are you can probably stand on it.

The bowl of Jell-O mold can be used as a springboard.

You'll soon see beetles playing with orange slices...almost reminds me of Do-Re-Mi Fantasy.

You'll then see Mickey and the Beanstalk Mickey. You're done with this level.

CGR Undertow reviews Mickey Mania for Super Nintendo

CGR Undertow takes a look at the Super Nintendo version of Mickey Mania.

FreezingInfernos plays Mickey Mania for Super Nintendo - Part 4 of 7

In this episode, we traverse through a haunted house and try to make it out in one piece!

The Lonesome Ghosts

1937

Section 1

This house not only has parallax scrolling, but the front of the house has some 3D elements or something. When you enter the house, the front side of the house will rotate clockwise, as if a cameraman was strafing to the right while keeping the camera still. The Genesis version also does this, which is pretty nice.

If you drop down one of the pits, you'll land on a boat with Pluto in a dark flooded area. The right-most pit you can drop down has enough stars to give a low health count a well-needed revitalization.

Section 2

This part will be dark. Be careful as you walk around, as you can't see the sides of the screen and the ghosts will be popping up from out of nowhere to whack you with a floorboard or get in your way.

The stairways' steps will tilt and turn into slopes after you go up a certain distance, leaving you to slowly walk jump up them instead, and platforms will tilt as your distribute your weight to one side. There are some stars in this part of the section, as one of the platforms has some stairs and two ghosts in annoyingly-placed positions in it. You'll have to raise the left side of a platform while dealing with a ghost, and then deal with the stairs and two ghosts: one from the platform and one at the stairs. Expect to get hit at least once.

Near the end of the platform and stairs section, you can jump to the left off the highest platform to get an extra try.

You'll then be dealing with bats and pipe covers. You can bounce off the pipe covers to find even more stars to refill your health with.

After climbing some more pipe covers on walls that open and close, you'll have to walk to the left across a fallaway bridge. There are ghosts in this last part, and you'll probably get hit at least once.

Section 3

In this section, you'll start out by jumping on barrels to make your way across the water. You'll also be following a ghost on a motorboat.

You'll also be pushing a table to reach a staircase. As you do so, you'll be dealing with hat-throwing ghosts, and you'll have to position Mickey perfectly so he doesn't get hit by 

the ghosts' throwing arms. Not the hats...the arms.

The hats seem to have boomerang-like capabilities if you go far enough soon after a ghost throws the hat. This usually doesn't happen.

You'll then walk across a floor that drops and rises every so often. Use this to your advantage as you avoid the ghost. Also, be sure to move past the door at the end and get the star near Lonesome Ghosts Mickey before entering the door at the end.

FreezingInfernos plays Mickey Mania for Super Nintendo - Part 3 of 7

In this episode, FreezingInferno shows off the Genesis/Mega Drive version, which has the bonus level that Nintendon't. Also, moose hunting.

The Band Concert

1935

This level is not available on the Super Nintendo version at all. It's only available on Genesis/Mega Drive and Sega (Mega) CD, and after some research, I found out how to get to it via WWalker's guide on GameFAQs:

"In the third stage of Mickey and the Beanstalk, jump up the steps but DON'T KILL ANY BUTTERFLIES! When you reach the first beetle, wait until he's about to fly up, and then jump on him. You'll kill him and hopefully trip the switch above him. You only have one chance, so do it right. Once you've tripped the switch, go back down to the second ledge, and, using the tips for this stage, reach the ledge by bouncing off the two butterflies that take two hits to kill. The ledge is above the start, and is tough to reach. Grab the four stars and the 1-Up hat, and then touch the red question mark to be warped to the band concert."

It should also be noted that the music that plays when you see the stage name is in the Super Nintendo version, but goes unused there unlike the other ports of the game...leaving you to enter stages in silence while the other versions give you a fanfare. Weird.

The music here isn't anything special, either. It's actually the same as the rotating tower near the end of The Prince and The Pauper.

Anyway, the aim of this stage is simple: leap onto the boxes that are flying around in a huge tornado and make it to the top. When you reach the box below Band Concert Mickey, you'll get a Continue for your efforts. If you fall past the bottom of the level, you don't get to start over, and you get absolutely no reward for your efforts.

Some of the boxes just move left and right, while others make figure eight patterns. The ones in the figure eight patterns are most easily jumped onto when you wait for them to reach the lowest position of their paths.

As for why the Genesis/Mega Drive version has no load times compared to all the others...there's no CD, and the system has a faster clock speed than the Super NES.

Moose Hunters

1937

Section 1

Take it slow here. Sometimes, branches will fall from the trees. Other times, it's boulders. Regardless of what it is, you don't want to walk into it.

Now that you have Pluto and you're out of the Mad Doctor's lair, Pluto makes himself useful here. When Pluto makes a pointing gesture, The Moose will come at you from the direction Pluto is facing. It will always be from the left, and Mickey will also make an "uh-oh" just like when he dies, so you have no excuse for not jumping over the moose.

The branches on stilts is Moose Hunter Mickey. When you see him, you've reached the end.

Section 2

Unfortunately, the moose doesn't like the fact that you've outsmarted him, and now he gives chase. This is a different kind of level that I had never seen before and has never really been done in the 2-D arena since (at least, not in any licensed games that I'm aware of). Here, you're running away from the moose...but Mickey is running towards the screen. Avoid the rocks on the ground and the streams, as they'll both slow you down...particularly the streams. Also, you want to collect as many of the apples as you can while you outrun the moose, or else Mickey will slow down and the moose will catch up. If you see too much of the moose, Mickey Mouse will die without any warning whatsoever.

Thankfully, this section isn't very long, and you'll cross the line at the end before you know it.

FreezingInfernos plays Mickey Mania for Super Nintendo - Part 2 of 7

The Mad Doctor is much harder compared to the first level. Prepare to actually dodge things!

The Mad Doctor

1933

Section 1

The bats take two marbles to defeat. Also, the bridge portions fall as you cross it, so you'd better make your way to the front door.

As you make your way to the stairs, you'll see skeletons. There are some that will spin their heads off of their bodies (which will bounce around the room) and cause their bones to fly out in an arc, bouncing around before they disappear. You can hit the bodies with a marble, but it's not recommended as you can leave yourself open to attack. Others will walk around and take three hits to kill. Jumping on their heads repeatedly is easier, as you can easily jump down to a safe spot after the third head bop.

The meat cleavers that are stuck to the skull heads on the walls will fall when you get close enough, so don't go through this section too fast.

Section 2

This is the first part of the game where you swing around on ropes. To grab onto a rope, just jump into it. Use the Control Pad and the B button to get off.

The rope spiders take a marble to kill, but their bones will bounce around just like the skeletons'.

By getting higher on the ropes, you can collect the stars and the marbles that you normally wouldn't be able to obtain.

Section 3

In this section, you'll be riding on gurneys while avoiding brown lava pits, spikes and buzzsaws. If you touch the ground or fall into a pit, you'll instantly lose a life. This one is quick as long as you're fast on the jumps.

Section 4

This section doesn't offer anything new, but be careful near the ropes, as you can still grab onto them while jumping on the skeletons.

The clock is a reference to the Mad Doctor short, which shows up 2 1/2 minutes in.

Section 5

Here, you'll be on an elevator. As you ride to the top, you'll be dodging the bones of exploding skeletons as you take them down. Take them out with marbles from the opposite end of the elevator, so you can more easily dodge the bones. If you see a skeleton on the roof, If you see a skeleton on the roof, stay in the middle. You won't even take damage.

When the elevator opens back up and lets you take the exit, get off and get back on. The elevator will take you up one more floor.  Go to the right and keep going. When it gets dark and you can only see Mickey's eyes, you've reached the bottom. Go to the right and follow the stars to completely refill your health. You'll find a 1-Up at the end as well as Mad Doctor Mickey. You'll also go to the final section.

Section 6

To break the door, you'll have to push the beaker (just walk into it) and step on the pumps above to distribute chemicals into them. You'll need to put each of the three potions in there once, then push it to the Bunsen burner at the end and stand on the switch above until it blows up the door. It also destroys the Bunsen burner. What a waste of good lab materials.

The Mad Doctor will walk around the room, throwing a explosive lab beaker forwards. To beat the Mad Doctor, throw a marble at him so it hits him. He will respond by throwing smaller explosives everywhere. Avoid them, and throw a marble at him again. If you need to, you can walk around the Doctor to avoid the beakers. You'll exit the stage after six or seven hits.

FreezingInfernos plays Mickey Mania for Super Nintendo - Part 1 of 7

I basically weighed you all down with a Mega Man sandwich for the last three blog series...so I slipped a Mickey.

In this game, there isn't really much of a story. Instead, you're taking Mickey Mouse through six levels in order to take on "the biggest, baddest Pete anyone has ever seen." Yeah, that's really not much of a story. It's more of an excuse to drag Mickey through six of his most well-known cartoons in video game form like some sort of retirement-age present. The game came out in 1994, a little more than 65 years after his debut, and was supposed to come out in 1993. Since it would have taken only months to complete the game, the game was delayed until the following year.

The game was released on Genesis/Mega Drive, Super Nintendo and Sega CD. It was also released on Sony PlayStation in Europe and Australia only, where it was renamed Mickey's Wild Adventure and remade from scratch with extra scenes not on the Nintendo and Sega versions. It was released worldwide on PlayStation Network in 2012.

This LP is played on Hard. Unlike the lesser difficulties, there are no checkpoints on Hard.

Steamboat Willie

November 18th, 1928

As soon as you start the level, you'll see...load times. Yes, there are load times in a Super Nintendo game. This was actually my first experience with load times in a game, and it took me until I was older to figure out this was a loading screen. Not that I complained or anything, but it always weirded me out and stuff on cartridges usually load nearly instantly.

You will be seeing this load time show up after completing every section of the game.

Section 1

You can stop the goat from spitting out music notes by jumping on the wine bottle, causing the cork to fly out and fly into his mouth. If you jump on the goat, the cork will fall out and he'll spit out notes again.

The whistles above Steamboat Willie can damage you with their steam. If you walk towards Steamboat Willie, he'll run away from strange reason. I usually do this to make sure I've found them, as there's usually another Mickey to find everywhere you go.

If you jump on the cat, you'll be able to go under Steamboat Willie and find some power-ups. I could never tell what's down there, but apparently they are both health power-ups. They'll be explained later, don't worry.

The birds that poke their heads out of the boxes can also damage you.

As it rains, there will be a crane that picks up the top crate in a stack full of them. Stand on this crate as the crane carries it and you'll be at the exit.

Section 2

You'll be using clotheslines as platforms, walking on windowsills and taking on the tobacco-spitting Pete at the beginning. You'll see Pete at the beginning, but it won't do much good to fight him at the moment. For now, use the spring near him to jump left to the windowsills of the house you just passed. Do as the sign near Pete says: ring the bells at the top of the house to open the bridge past the water. Unlike the first section, where a fish would nudge you back to the boat, you'll die if you hit the water in the second one.

As you walk among the windowsills, you'll be picking up marbles. These are Mickey's main weapon throughout the game other than jumping on enemies, and even though you could defeat the parrots that fly around with them, you could just as easily jump on them without taking unnecessary damage and save your marbles for something else.

You'll notice that you have a glove in the upper-left corner. This is your health, while the number below it is your remaining lives, or "tries" as the game calls them. As you take damage, the number of hands on the glove count down, and if you get hit while it's a closed fist, you're dead. Enjoy your animation of Mickey hitting imaginary ground and pulling a flower out of his pocket with some hilarious "I'm dead" expression on his face. It's funny the first time, but as you go through the game it becomes the focal point of why you want to destroy your console, as you lose all the marbles you've collected and you start back at the beginning of the section. In short, it is annoying. (There, I used that word again.)

Want to recover your health? Pick up a star. It recovers one point of health.

As you progress through this section, you'll notice that the world is going from black and white to color. At first, it's just the window dressings, but then in extends to the sky and water until you finally color everything else.

Once you've rung all the bells, go back and lure Pete all the way to the right where the crates are. Jump on Pete's until he dies, and jump over the chewing tobacco globs he spits at you. From there, jump on his stomach to get up onto the crates and continue on.

Be patient with the crates. They have a definite pattern, as one drops right after the other, but they drop pretty fast. At least you don't get knocked back from taking damage.

Love the animation on the crane that allows you to jump on the boxes to the end. It's fluid and was also done just as fluidly on the other systems.

The boxes lead to the boss, but jump left instead of right on the fourth box and keep going in that direction. You'll be able to grab a Mouseketeer hat, which looks like a pair of Mickey Mouse ears and gives you an extra try...and keep it, too. Remember that when you're jumping on these boxes, wait for them to stop shaking before jumping to the next one. In case you somehow screw up, they'll reappear just in time.

The boss here is some mechanical contraption with four gears. Throw the marbles at the gears to destroy them. While the bottom gears are no problem, you won't be able to reach the gears at the top with your jump. This is where the contraption comes in. There are two crates which will move across the top of the screen that drop bombs. Every once in a while, one of these crates will drop a spring. Jump on the spring and you'll be able to throw a marble at one of the two gears at the top. The spring is one-use only, so make sure your aim is true. You'll be dodging these bombs as you wait for the spring to appear again. When you destroy all four gears, you've beaten this short introductory level.

If you run out of marbles, there will be two that show up in the bottom corners as you move around the stage, allowing you to either keep your marble supply steady or get some in your possession in case you're desperate.