Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Disney banks on more retro remakes with Genesis classic ‘Castle of Illusion’

By

8145ImageAsset (1)Disney Interactive is backing away from video game development at speed, and it continues axing developers left and right. Epic Mickey studio Junction Point fell in January and recently the hearts of longtime gamers were broken when LucasArts fell just two short weeks ago. Why incur the costs in running your own studio when it’s cheaper to contract outside studios like Disney Infinity developer Avalanche Studios, or simply license out popular properties like Star Wars for big money and zero risk? Disney is also swiftly catching up to other companies like Nintendo who re-release old games rather than making brand new ones. Case in point: This summer’s remake of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse.

Developed by Sega and released on the Genesis console in 1990, Castle of Illusion was one of a number of 2D platformers licensed by Disney that retain a fan base even today. The game was developed by AM7, one of Sega’s storied internal development teams that later became Overworks, the team behind Streets of Rage and Phantasy Star. 

Recommended Videos

With AM7 busy making Japan-only arcade and Nintendo 3DS games like 7th Dragon 2020, the HD remake of Castle of Illusion will be handled by Sega Studios Australia, whose last game was London 2012, Sega’s tie-in games for last summer’s Olympics. But just because the old team isn’t banging out this remake, which mixes 2D and 3D elements much like WayForward’s recently announced DuckTales Remastered, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any input from them. The original designer known as Emirin, who worked on all of Sega’s Disney games, is working with Disney Interactive on the production. 

Sega is an appropriate partner for Disney, as that company is also starting to rely more heavily on its catalog of games rather than making new ones. Like Disney, Sega laid off a large number of staff members in 2012, shuttering studios, and cancelling games, while it bolstered its release schedule with HD remakes and remasters of games like NiGHTS into dreams and Jet Set Radio.

Disney is building up its re-release schedule now. This summer will see Castle of Illusion and DuckTales hit Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. What other vintage Disney games do you want to see, and will the company recognize the potential in HD remakes of its lucrative LucasArts catalog?

Editors' Recommendations

Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
Volgarr the Viking 2 will take you back to your Ghosts ‘n Goblins days
A viking slashes a tree in Volgarr the Viking 2.

Developer Digital Eclipse is working on a surprising project: Volgarr the Viking 2. The 2D retro sequel will launch on August 6 for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The news is an out of left field reveal. The first Volgarr the Viking game released in 2013 and was made as an ode to 1080s classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins. Despite being a small release, it sold over 1 million copies over the past decade. As revealed during today's Guerrilla Collective stream, the series is coming back with a new sequel by Digital Eclipse, the team behind this year's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.

Read more
3 Days of Play PS Plus games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Key art for Streets of Rage 4.

June 2024 is shaping up to be a pretty great month for PlayStation players. Not only are we coming off an entertaining State of Play showcase, but a new Days of Play initiative surrounding all the video game showcases this month is bringing a lot of new PS Plus additions with it. Many of those games hit PS Plus this week, and three in particular stand out to us.

For owners of Sony's oft-neglected PlayStation VR2, the first game is one of its rare exclusives that take full advantage of the headset's eye-tracking by seeing how often players blink. The next is a new PS Plus Essential game that's a revival of Sega's classic beat-'em-up series for the modern gaming era. Finally, the last title is an atmospheric and eerie fishing game that should entice fans of Lovecraftian horror.
Before Your Eyes

Read more
3 first-party Xbox Game Pass games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Gears 5 Kait Hero Close Up

Microsoft will hold an Xbox Games Showcase and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct. this Sunday. These shows will provide a much better idea of what to expect from Xbox over the course of the next year or two. That's really needed right now, as Microsoft has struggled to keep online discussions around Xbox positive as it went multiplatform with some games, laid off thousands of developers, and outright shut down the developers of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall. Based on leaks and my personal expectations for the showcase, there are three games you can play on Xbox Game Pass this weekend to prepare for the event.

The first is the latest first-person shooter in a long-running series by id Software that might be getting a medieval-set spinoff. After that, we have the fifth entry in a sci-fi Xbox series that still looks fantastic on Xbox Series X/S even though it came out in 2019. Finally, you can prepare for Avowed with the latest RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, a satirical sci-fi game where player choice is critical.
Doom Eternal

Read more