
Fantasia is the title of a side-scrolling 1991 video game developed by Infogrames and produced by Sega for its own Mega Drive/Genesis system. The game was loosely based on the popular Walt Disney musical film of the same name.
Plot[]
In the single-player game, the player controls Mickey Mouse through various side-scrolling levels in an attempt to collect various musical notes that somehow went missing. Each of the four levels were based on the Fantasia animated musical with each one based around one of the four elements: water (The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Dance of the Reed Flutes and Arabian Dance), earth (The Rite of Spring), air (Russian Dance, 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 in order for the Fantasia musical to occur.
Development[]
After the success with Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, Sega licensed the rights to a video game based on Disney's Fantasia despite Roy E. Disney not being fully aware of this, who had promised to Walt Disney to not give out licenses for Fantasia.
However, unlike the previous game, that was developed by the studios at Sega, Sega outsourced the development of the game to Infogrames and the game was apparently rushed to meet its release date.
Reception[]
The game was poorly received with most of its criticism going towards the confusing gameplay, bad controls and poor renditions of the musical score from the film. Despite this, the graphics for the game were overall praised.
MegaTech magazine said the game was "a massive disappointment. Poorly designed, bland and frustrating, with very little appeal". Mega placed the game at #6 in their list of the 10 Worst Mega Drive Games of All Time.
After being aware of the existence of the game and the negative reception towards it, Roy E. Disney demanded Sega to recall all copies of the game on sale and destroy them, to keep the value of the Disney brand intact.
External links[]
- Fantasia (video game) at The Disney Wiki
- Fantasia (video game) at Mickey and Friends Wiki
- Fantasia at MobyGames
- Fantasia at GameFAQs
- Fantasia at Sega Retro
- Fantasia at Sega-16
- Fantasia (Genesis) at The Cutting Room Floor