NES #5: Adventures in the Magic Kingdom

The next game in my series of Capcom published kids games is kind of an odd one. There were many games based on commercial mascots and other outside characters, but I'm not sure if any of them seemed more like an advertisement than this one. You get to wander around Disney's Magic Kingdom and check out many of the attractions. Of course the game doesn't tell you that at the real park you're mostly sitting down and watching things. At times the game seems more interactive than the actual park does.

The way this game is set up is also a little strange. Although Mickey, Donald, and Goofy all make appearances you don't get to play as them. Instead you get to play as a very sad looking little kid. You can tell just by the look on his face that he doesn't want to do this, and I can't say that I blame him. He was probably expecting to go on a nice relaxing vacation, but instead he has to put his life in danger just because Goofy lost the keys for the parade. Why can't Goofy go? Why do they have to send some little kid? On top of that his mom dressed him up like a cowboy, and because his name is fill in the blank he is probably being called something like Asshat right now. I know that one never gets old, but I feel too sorry for this sad looking kid. I'm going to call him Dignity.

So as I said earlier, Dignity gets put into a lot of danger just so Disney can have it's precious parade. His objective is to find keys hidden in the different attractions around the Magic Kingdom. One of them is a trivia quiz which he should be able to survive alright, but in the other ones he has to survive being blasted into space, chased by ghosts, attacked by pirate skeletons, dodging boulders on a runaway train going down a mountain, and jumping over large hazards in a car. Give this kid a break! Mickey even warns him when going into the Haunted Mansion that the ghosts are out to kill him. Why would you let him do it? Couldn't you just cut the gate open so that no kids have to die? It just doesn't make a lot of sense.

The game itself isn't too bad once you get past the story. I had never played it as a kid so I don't have any fond memories attached to this one, but I still enjoyed it alright. You have infinite continues so beating the game is just a matter of time. Each level is a different type of game so it does have some variety. None of the different levels are really standouts, but they are all decent. The whole experience took me about 45 minutes. If you like old Capcom games then you'll probably like this one. I just wish that they would've came up with a better story so that I wouldn't have to feel so guilty each time my character gets killed by a drunken pirate.