A new video from Sega sheds some light on the development of 1990 Genesis classic Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse as well as its recently-announced "reimagining."
In the video, the original game's director Emiko Yamamoto — who is working as an adviser on the remake — and art director Takashi Yuda talk about making a title that many revere as a 16-bit platforming classic.
"It was my first time making a game," says Yamamoto, "so I came up with ideas I thought might be interesting and things I thought would help flesh out the fantasy world, without being hesitant about how difficult or unconventional they might be. In that sense, I think that helped us make a unique game."
"A Disney animation is always moving, from beginning to end," says Yuda. "At the time we were making our game, if you didn't do anything on the controller, nothing would move at all."
So to bring Disney to life, the developers thought things had to be moving on the screen at all times. The Sega Genesis' VRAM was limited, recalls Yuda, so the programmers had to rebuild the system "from the ground up" to allow for a greater focus on animation.
For more on the creation of the original game and its remake, check out the developer diary above.
