![]() ![]() ![]() It would be easy to point to Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two as the culprit in this series’ demise, but truthfully, its problems are merely a product of what Junction Point created the first time around. How could the surefire idea of “Mickey Mouse in a world of forgotten Disney characters” result in two different studios ceasing to make video games? I wanted to find out what killed this franchise, and to do so, I dove back into the thinner-soaked Wasteland to see exactly what went wrong. Ten years later, I’m still asking that question. After a year of buzz and excitation for a Mickey Mouse game that wasn’t aimed at the Elementary School crowd, I sat there staring at my television asking how could this have gone so wrong. ![]() The idea that I’d fall madly in love with this game gradually thinned away like many of the walls of the Wasteland. I tore into Epic Mickey like a doctor had just given me a week to live, but by the time I reached Lonesome Manor, I had to put the controller down. Instead, what I got was a lesson in hype and how easy it is to set oneself up for eventual disappointment. I pre-ordered the collector’s edition, fully expecting some sort of religious experience from the game. Heading toward its 2010 debut, all signs pointed to this being, perhaps, one of the biggest new franchises in the industry. It was everything somebody like me could want at the time: a Wii exclusive from a third-party developer lead by an accomplished game producer that would offer us a new look at the classic cartoon character. Have you ever heard an idea that you knew just couldn’t fail? Something so spectacular and creative, and yet so blatantly obvious, that there would be no way it could possibly end up as anything other than an absolute triumph? Back in 2009, I was sure that Disney and Junction Point Studios had come up with a flawless formula as that was the year the world got its first substantial look at Disney Epic Mickey. ![]()
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