History VideoGame / EpicMickey

* NotSoDifferent: Oswald and Mickey. According to WordOfGod, Oswald and [[BlobMonster Shadow Blot]] count as this, too. [[spoiler:They both want to be famous in RealLife and use Mickey's heart in order to become that, and they're both willing to use less than morally right ways to get that heart; Oswald through deception and Shadow Blot through brute force]].

* CaptainErsatz: Even though they predate them in initial designs, the game's portrayal of [[DeadpanSnarker Gremlin Gus]] and the Gremlins will remind you ''a lot'' of Papa Smurf and TheSmurfs.

The story begins with Walt Disney's original cartoon star, WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit, after finally getting Walt some success and recognition, being taken from him over both a budget dispute and a contract loophole, fading into obscurity, and being [[CaptainErsatz replaced by his younger half-brother]] WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse. [[ThrowTheDogABone Fortunately]], he becomes the first resident of a world created by [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} the wizard Yen Sid]] for [[WhatCouldHaveBeen forgotten and rejected Disney creations and ideas]]. This world, called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Wasteland]] (based on the Ride/DisneyThemeParks), exists as a small model on a table within Yen Sid's tower. Oswald takes this world as his own, presenting himself as a king there. Soon after, Oswald teams up with WesternAnimation/TheMadDoctor, another early resident of Wasteland -- together, they create the [[MechaMook robotic]] [[XtremeKoolLetterz Beetleworx]], which serve as construction tools for Wasteland, as well as relocators for new residents of the world, and together they try to make Wasteland a comfortable home for the other lost Creator/{{Disney}} characters who later join them -- but Oswald grows resentful of his younger brother over time due to his increasing popularity. In a vain effort to emulate the life he never had, he makes a ''very'' large family with his [[InterspeciesRomance feline girlfriend]] Ortensia, and has the Mad Doctor build [[RobotBuddy robotic copies]] of WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} to help him recreate the adventures Mickey went on -- but even this fails to fill the void.

''Epic Mickey'' is a Creator/{{Disney}} game for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} developed by Junction Point, spearheaded by Creator/WarrenSpector of ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' and ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' fame and published by Creator/DisneyInteractiveStudios. In an ambitious effort to help Disney [[WinBackTheCrowd restore Mickey Mouse's iconic status]], it brings back the happy memories of [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Disney's classic short subjects]] and [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon feature length films]] from their [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]], [[UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfAnimation Silent Age,]] [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation Renaissance Age]] as well as attractions from the Ride/DisneyThemeParks of old...But NOT in the way anyone expected.

''Epic Mickey'' is a Creator/{{Disney}} game for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} developed by Junction Point, spearheaded by Creator/WarrenSpector of ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' and ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' fame and published by Creator/DisneyInteractiveStudios. In an ambitious effort to help Disney [[WinBackTheCrowd restore Mickey Mouse's iconic status]], it brings back the happy memories of [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Disney's classic short subjects]] and [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon feature length films]] from their [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]], [[UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfAnimation Silent Age,]] [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation Renaissance Age]] as well as attractions from the Ride/DisneyThemeParks of old...

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-MnhFSHTxU ...But NOT in the way anyone expected.]]

The story begins with Walt Disney's original cartoon star, WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit, after finally getting Walt some success and recognition, being taken from him over both a budget dispute and a contract loophole, fading into obscurity, and being [[CaptainErsatz replaced by his younger half-brother]] MickeyMouse. [[ThrowTheDogABone Fortunately]], he becomes the first resident of a world created by [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} the wizard Yen Sid]] for [[WhatCouldHaveBeen forgotten and rejected Disney creations and ideas]]. This world, called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Wasteland]] (based on the Ride/DisneyThemeParks), exists as a small model on a table within Yen Sid's tower. Oswald takes this world as his own, presenting himself as a king there. Soon after, Oswald teams up with WesternAnimation/TheMadDoctor, another early resident of Wasteland -- together, they create the [[MechaMook robotic]] [[XtremeKoolLetterz Beetleworx]], which serve as construction tools for Wasteland, as well as relocators for new residents of the world, and together they try to make Wasteland a comfortable home for the other lost Creator/{{Disney}} characters who later join them -- but Oswald grows resentful of his younger brother over time due to his increasing popularity. In a vain effort to emulate the life he never had, he makes a ''very'' large family with his [[InterspeciesRomance feline girlfriend]] Ortensia, and has WesternAnimation/TheMadDoctor build [[RobotBuddy robotic copies]] of WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} to help him recreate the adventures Mickey went on -- but even this fails to fill the void.

Later on, Mickey himself stumbles into Yen Sid's tower, after being lured in by the wizard's mischevious (or malicious) magic mirror. Shortly after arriving, he sees Yen Sid put the finishing touches on Wasteland. Content with his progress, Yen Sid goes off to sleep, while Mickey decides to put his own touch on Wasteland--he spots the magic paintbrush Yen Sid was using and begins to fiddle with it, but accidentally creates a monster [[EldritchAbomination called the Shadow Blot]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and spills paint and paint thinner all over the model.]] [[OhCrap Hearing Yen Sid approaching]], Mickey tries to erase the Blot and quickly clean up... and ends up spilling even more thinner on the model, creating a gaping hole in it, and then flees back to his bedroom via the mirror before the wizard returns. Despite Mickey's attempt to hide his transgression, the not-so-dead Blot persists and enters Wasteland via the hole; there, it takes over Wasteland, twisting it into a [[DarkerAndEdgier sinister]] and [[CrapsackWorld dangerous]] version of the original, and drives Oswald and any resistance into hiding during the conflict, henceforth called "The Blot Wars". The Doctor promptly stabs Oswald in the back (as he had always wanted to) and sides with the Blot, [[TheStarscream if just to further his own agenda.]]

So, if you haven't guessed already, this is the ''[[Franchise/KingdomHearts other]]'' series that turns [[MickeyMouse our hero]] into a complete badass, has a shadowy (pun intended) evil and heart stealing. It's also being adapted into a couple of [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids kids']] books and a prequel {{webcomic}} and graphic novel written by Creator/PeterDavid.

The story begins with Walt Disney's original cartoon star, WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit, after finally getting Walt some success and recognition, being taken from him over both a budget dispute and a contract loophole, fading into obscurity, and being [[CaptainErsatz replaced by his younger half-brother]] MickeyMouse. [[ThrowTheDogABone Fortunately]], he becomes the first resident of a world created by [[Disney/{{Fantasia}} the wizard Yen Sid]] for [[WhatCouldHaveBeen forgotten and rejected Disney creations and ideas]]. This world, called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Wasteland]] (based on the Ride/DisneyThemeParks), exists as a small model on a table within Yen Sid's tower. Oswald takes this world as his own, presenting himself as a king there. Soon after, Oswald teams up with WesternAnimation/TheMadDoctor, another early resident of Wasteland -- together, they create the [[MechaMook robotic]] [[XtremeKoolLetterz Beetleworx]], which serve as construction tools for Wasteland, as well as relocators for new residents of the world, and together they try to make Wasteland a comfortable home for the other lost Creator/{{Disney}} characters who later join them -- but Oswald grows resentful of his younger brother over time due to his increasing popularity. In a vain effort to emulate the life he never had, he makes a ''very'' large family with his [[InterspeciesRomance feline girlfriend]] Ortensia, and has WesternAnimation/TheMadDoctor build [[RobotBuddy robotic copies]] of WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} to help him recreate the adventures Mickey went on -- but even this fails to fill the void.

** Quite a bit of this in the early concept art, and there's still some of this in the finished game. See the Disney/{{Dumbo}} Ride in Gremlin Village? They have no eyes.

* GenreThrowback: The entire game is one big love letter to Classic Creator/{{Disney}} in general, let alone UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation. Warren Spector even commented that the game is supposed to draw a lot of influence from Disney/{{Fantasia}}.

* HauntedHouse: The Lonesome Manor is based off Disney's "Haunted Mansion" attraction and comes fully equipped with a friendly cast of ghosts that you can choose to help along your journey through their. It also contains a sentient piano, flying books, and a painting of [[Disney/{{Fantasia}} Chernabog]].

** A somber rendition of the tune of "[[Disney/SleepingBeauty Once Upon a Dream]]'' is incorporated into the music of Dark Beauty Castle.

* ModularEpilogue: The ending gets filled in with shots of bosses and important characters behaving friendly and politely if Mickey helped them when he encountered them earlier (with the exception of [[spoiler:the Mad Doctor]]). All of these shots are accompanied with narration from the sorcerer [[Disney/{{Fantasia}} Yen Sid]] that can be interchanged freely but still form a cohesive sentence about people's decisions and how they affect other people.

** ''Disney/SleepingBeauty''
** ''Disney/{{Fantasia}}'', based on "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", with butterflies from "The Nutcracker Suite"

* RiseToTheChallenge: One of the 2.5D ''Disney/{{Fantasia}}'' stages late in the game has a rising flood of paint thinner.

** Besides including some of the more obvious theme park icons, some sketches even feature early [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disneyland]] icons like the [[http://www.pacificsites.com/~drhoades/tomorrow.htm Moonliner and Clock of the Future]]. Not to mention that the whole game is about obscure characters (such as an unused version of Smee from ''Disney/PeterPan'') coming back to the spotlight.

* StarfishRobots: The Beetleworx, especially the Spinners and Tankers. Spinners have tick-like bodies and a wheel at the bottom; if Mickey gets too close, they use the wheel to travel as the legs become spinning blades. Tankers are mobile gatling gun turrets, some of which have paint jobs based on the Queen from ''Disney/SnowWhite''.

* WhereItAllBegan: [[Disney/SleepingBeauty Dark Beauty Castle]] is both the tutorial level and TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon where Mickey and Oswald make their stand against the [[EldritchAbomination Shadow Blot]].

* ChainsawGood: WesternAnimation/TheMadDoctor's machine in the opening, among other instruments of torture, almost cuts Mickey . in half with a chainsaw

''Epic Mickey'' is a Creator/{{Disney}} game for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} developed by Junction Point, spearheaded by Warren Spector of ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' and ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' fame and published by Creator/DisneyInteractiveStudios. In an ambitious effort to help Disney [[WinBackTheCrowd restore Mickey Mouse's iconic status]], it brings back the happy memories of [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Disney's classic short subjects]] and [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon feature length films]] from their [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]], [[UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfAnimation Silent Age,]] [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation Renaissance Age]] as well as attractions from the Ride/DisneyThemeParks of old...

** The Travel Map Disney/ClockCleaners is this as well, being set inside a clock tower. It's similar to the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' clock towers, really.

* SanitySlippage: Part of the reason the Clocktower went berserk was because it was forced to listen to the "It's a Small World" theme echoing from within itself for years. Mickey even points out how that would eb enough to drive anyone mad in the Graphic Novel. The Tales of the Wasteland prequal comic shows that [[spoiler: the Mad Doctor orchestrated this long before the Blot Wars began]].

* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: What happened to Captain Hook and the members of his crew that were turned into Beetleworx. [[spoiler:The latter can get better by turning back, the former without.]]

* EldritchAbomination: Shadow Blot and the Beetleworx.

* SequelHook: After the ending credits, [[spoiler:Mickey is sealed away from the Wasteland... but his finger starts dripping ink, which means that some of the Shadow Blot's ink is still in him]]. [[spoiler:Could Mickey potentially become the next Blot?]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:The smaller Shadow Blot. His motives are just like Oswald's: he wants to be famous and loved by the people in {{real life}}. If you used paint, after [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYbFNLV329E Mickey's climactic battle with it]], he gives Mickey a big hug, leading [[DeadpanSnarker Gus]] to marvel: "''Huh''? He's actually kind of... ''sweet''."]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[KarmaMeter The choice]]: Mascot, or Miscreant?]]

* EpicFail: Your first quest for [[CluelessDetective Horace Horsecollar]] has you retrieving a book that he lent to a friend of his but hasn't seen since. Not only is the book in the possession of a store owner just a few feet away from Horace's office (with the last known holder of the book '''directly across the street'''), but just to add insult to injury, the book in question is called ''[[TropesForDummies How to Be a Detective]]''. All this from a toon who has been (or at least tried to be) a detective for '''years'''.

* ButThouMust: You can do things either by disregarding others, destroying things, and being a JerkAss, or by helping people out and giving your all to improve everyone's lives, but the story and all but two cutscenes are the same no matter what. The creators were disappointed by this, so making moral choices have a bigger impact became a large focus of [[EpicMickey2ThePowerOfTwo the sequel]].

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: Comes with a Behind the Scenes DVD, a Mickey figure, and some decals for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and [[PunBasedTitle Wiimote]].

* BrainInAJar: Animatronic [[WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck Donald,]] Daisy, and WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} all have glass domes showing off their mechanical brains.

** Not ''quite'' as heavily present as the concept art led many to believe, but elements of the style are still there - most notably in the Clock Cleaners level and the animatronic designs for [[Disney/DonaldDuck Donald]], Daisy, and WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}.

** Besides including some of the more obvious theme park icons, some sketches even feature early [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disneyland]] icons like the [[http://www.pacificsites.com/~drhoades/tomorrow.htm Moonliner and Clock of the Future]]. Not to mention that the whole game is about obscure characters (such as an unused version of Smee from ''PeterPan'') coming back to the spotlight.

* {{Tomorrowland}}: Tomorrow City, the [[CrapsackWorld Wasteland's]] equivalent of the [[RealLife real-life]] TropeNamer. It even has a ''{{Tron}}'' look, complete with TronLines.

* CameraCentering: The C button resets the camera.

* AmusementParkOfDoom: Wasteland is, essentially, [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks The Unhappiest Place On Earth]] / [[NoDoubt The Real Tragic Kingdom]].

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: WesternAnimation/TheMadDoctor's Swiss-Army-torture-device has four settings: A large pair of shears, a massive corkscrew, a chainsaw, and at its highest setting (labelled with a skull and crossbones), a... toilet plunger? Even Mickey is surprised. [[spoiler:And then he learns it's used for... unorthodox heart surgery...]]

%%* CameraCentering

* EvilMakesYouUgly: Averted; while they did design an evil-looking "Scrapper" Mickey during development, they removed it from the final product, instead making it look like drops of ink are oozing off of him, just like the Shadow Blot. If you use more [[BlackMagic Thinner]] than paint, then more ink will ooze off as a result.

%%* FreelookButton
%%* FreeRotatingCamera

%%* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: Mickey.

* Mook: Blotlings ([[BlobMonster Blob Monsters]] split off from the giant Shadow Blot) and Beetleworx (robotic minions serving the Mad Doctor) serve as Mickey's most basic obstacles throughout ''Epic Mickey''.

** [[LaResistance The Gremlins]] are from an unmade UsefulNotes/WorldWar2 film, though were still used in some military unit insignia and comics.

* BrainInAJar: Animatronic [[DonaldDuck Donald,]] Daisy, and {{Goofy}} all have glass domes showing off their mechanical brains.

** Not ''quite'' as heavily present as the concept art led many to believe, but elements of the style are still there - most notably in the Clock Cleaners level and the animatronic designs for [[Disney/DonaldDuck Donald]], Daisy, and Disney/{{Goofy}}.

* XMeetsY: While ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' was essentially Disney meets ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', ''Epic Mickey'' is, in a sense, [[VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice American McGee]] meets Disney -- OR ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' meets Mickey Mouse, with just a hint of ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''. The thinner/painting feature is basically ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' meets ''VideoGame/{{Infamous}}''.

* FlyingBooks: In the [[BigBoosHaunt haunted mansion]] level, you can choose to help the crystal ball woman get her books back. The only problem is they are flying around and you need to gum up the pages with paint to stop them.