Shout Out / Epic Mickey

"It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!"

— Beluga Billy

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• Actually, this game may be the best example here, as, according to the dev team, every single detail is a Shout-Out to some obscure bit of Disney history. Mickey's sidekick, Gus? He's from an unmade WWII cartoon by Roald Dahl. The NPCs on Mean Street? Extras from Classic Disney Shorts. Individual barrels? You'd better believe they turned up in one Disney project or another before showing up here. Shown Their Work doesn't begin to cover it.
• The Shadow Blot's name is an obvious reference to the Phantom Blot, a reoccuring villain in the comics. The Shadow Blot was originally supposed to be the Phantom Blot, but the dev team had revamped the character so much that their blot would have been Phantom Blot In Name Only.
• Mickeyjunk Mountain, an area built out of old Mickey merchandise, contains cartridges of old Mickey games on the NES and SNES. Its theme also contains a brief segment of The Mickey Mouse Club theme.
• Not only is "Petetronic" wearing armor that glows with Tron Lines, he throws a homing Deadly Disc from his back, and summons rotating energy shields to protect him, all inside a presumably computerized arena where floor tiles disappear when struck.

  • He's wearing Sark's armor, specifically. Beating him with Paint slowly turns it into Tron's suit. The whole fight is a reference to the battles with giant Sark and the MCP.

  • Petetronic has somewhat of a Zelda-ish feel, as he throws his Disc at you, and Mickey makes it fly back in a sort of Ocarina of Time/Wind Waker/Twilight Princess + Mickey Mouse boss.
  • A piece of concept art in the game revealed him to have more of a Treasure Planet-y feel, making him look more like Long John Silver.
  • The Tanker Beetleworx also have lightcycle bodies, as well as the heads of the guards from Lilo & Stitch when in Tomorrow City. They can also appear with the heads of Lady Grimhilde (y'know, the Evil Queen's hag-form) and poison-apple bodies.
• Other Beetleworx contain references. Hoppers take the forms of Scuttle or vultures, dependent on area.
  • The Bashers in Tomorrow City are based on Maximillian.
• The Lonesome Ghosts are NPCs at Lonesome Manor, Peter Pan's pirates occupy Tortooga, extras from Mickey and the Beanstalk roam Mean Street...
• Yen Sid mentions Mickey was his apprentice. If you look closely behind him when he sends Mickey back through the mirror, there's a bucket and two brooms on the floor.
  • The paint jar he uses bears a striking resemblance to one of Winnie the Pooh 's Honey Hunny Pots.
• Dark Beauty Castle is the Wasteland's counterpart to the Disneyland Paris version of Sleeping Beauty Castle, complete with a somber reendition of "Once Upon A Dream" for its Leitmotif. It's also loaded with fireworks.
  • The castle also features many of the gargoyles from Beast's Castle and even Victor, Hugo and Laverne. It also apparently contains images of Scar, Captain Hook and Maleficent.
  • The castles at the Disney theme parks the 2D transition level based off Sleeping Beauty resemble one of the old doll dioramas that were used to tell the story of Sleeping Beauty in the old castle walk-through.
  • One of the statues in the very first room in Dark Beauty Castle IS the Beast himself, holding a three-pronged candle. We all know who this is supposed to be.
  • Speaking of which, the Shadow Blot is the second Disney villain to be defeated with fireworks.
  • Nevermind the Great Stone Dragon and Mushu in the same room as the aforementioned Beast Statue. They're, well, statues.
  • When Dark Beauty Castle gets restored by the rain of Paint, a beam of light flies over it, in the same vein of the Walt Disney Pictures logos.
• Sweepers are malevolent versions of the brooms from The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
• The real Shadow Blot looks a lot like Chernabog when first created, and Maleficent when set free.
  • Its fake counterpart bears some resemblance to the Oogie Boogie Man.
• Most of the Wasteland is built on forgotten or existing Disney Theme Parks rides. Divided by area:
  • Gremlin Village: Dumbo ride, Aladdin's Flying Carpets, It's A Small World.
  • Tomorrow City: The Sky-Ride, the People Movers, Space Mountain, Moonliner Rocket and Not-ilus. The Autopia is added for the sequel.
  • Tortooga: Skull Island, the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, The Enchanted Tiki Room, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (complete with burning buildings in an area that boats pass through), Adventureland.
  • Mean Street: The cinema (showing Steamboat Oswald), souvenir shop, penny-arcade, and ice-cream parlour all exist in real-life Main Street.
  • Ostown: Donald's Tug-Boat and Mickey's House.
  • Lonesome Manor: The Haunted Mansion.
    • New Orleans Square (under the name Bog Easy)
  • Disney Gulch (Frontierland, particularly Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland)
    • Fort Wasteland (Tom Sawyer Island)
    • Rainbow Caverns (The Rainbow Caverns portion of the Mine Train, mashed together with elements of Snow White)
• There are many references to the short, Thru the Mirror:
  • The opening cutscene is an almost exact recreation of the short's opening, with Mickey making the exact same poses and movements as he enters the mirror.
  • Many objects from the short appear, including Mickey's phone, the radio and the card soldiers.
• When he discovers that Mickey caused the Thinner Disaster, Oswald flies into a rage, lifts up his waist to puff up his chest, and challenges Mickey to a fight before he reverts to normal, and his arms begin to slow down. These movements are all directly from the Oswald short, "Sky Scrappers."
• Two pirates in Tortooga are named Gabe and Tycho.
• In the library of Lonesome Manor, the statue near the staircase is Simba.
• When filling in paintings in Dark Beauty Castle near the end of the game, you find a small paintable square on the wall. Paint it in, and it becomes the Beast's portrait in human form from the West Wing, complete with claw marks through the center.
• There are even references to Kingdom Hearts! Casey's key you have to get near the start of the game? It's design is very similar to Kairi's keyblade. Mickey getting his heart stolen sounds familiar as well. Some of the blotlings act very similar to heartlesses.
• In the sequel, the new versions of the Travel levels are called Dahl Engineering Corridors.
• The sequel seems to be full of references already: the ladybug Beetleworx from the Mad Doctor's song as well as the chariot he rides in are both abandoned parade floats. Animatronics of the Tortoise (from the Tortoise and the Hare) and Eliot (as a boss) have also showed up.
• Power of Illusion features references to Disney's gaming history. A sketch to summon Scrooge McDuck has him using his pogo cane and a Goofy sketch has him using his spin attack from the Kingdom Hearts games.
• Beluga Billy in Tortooga references the ever infamous meme, "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!" when he gives you the first watch sketch.

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