Friday, September 18, 2009

Mickey's Adventure In Numberland Review

I find it depressing that this edutainment tool aimed at grade school children is probably more fun than about 50% of NES games out there. It’s less a testament to the awesomeness of this game and more an example of how terrible a great many NES games were.
Plot? Nah. I’m not going to bother. Mickey has adventures in Numberland. It’s there in the title. That’s it. So basically you select from an overworld map what level to play. It then goes into the primary mode of gameplay which involves Mickey in a side-scrolling environment in which he is in search of a number to solve the math problem given on the screen. The math problems are generally very easy as is the platforming. In fact, one could probably play through this game in 30 minutes if one were so inclined. I’ve never understood why NES games were either impossibly difficult like Ghostbusters 2 or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or impossibly easy like Where’s Waldo or this game.
The graphics are actually pretty decent for the NES and features fairly bright and cheerful animations to enliven the attention of an eight-year-old pretty well. The sound has the typical blips and bloops of any random NES game not made by Capcom but isn’t terrible to the point of distraction.
So is this game worth digging up and playing? Unless you are vaguely curious and have it for an emulator or are a completist that feels inclined to purchased every hard-to-find NES game you come across (like myself), you are probably better off just watching old Mickey Mouse cartoons or playing the excellent Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse game for the SNES.

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