What lies beyond this mysterious mirror?
Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse (known in Japanese as Mickey Mouse no Fushigi na Kagami, or "Mickey Mouse's Mysterious Mirror") is a 2002 Nintendo GameCube Adventure Game created by Disney Interactive Studios with help from Capcom, starring Mickey Mouse, of course. It is considered a loose adaptation of the 1936 cartoon Thru the Mirror.The story follows Mickey after following a ghost into his mirror while sleeping, where he's transported into a bizarre world. The ghost shatters the mirror and escapes, leaving Mickey trapped in the mirror world. It's up to the player to scare the mischievous ghost away with tricks, found by collecting stars, and collect all of the lost mirror shards to help Mickey find his way home.
The game is a point-and-click adventure game where you have to guide Mickey within the mansion all while finding the shards in order to get back home. Along the way, a troublesome ghost is lurking around the house. You can perform "Tricks" which helps you progress through the game. In addition, there are a couple of minigames that you can play during certain events, such as snowboarding down a mountain or avoiding a flying sword.
This game also features cross-compatibility with Disney's Magical Quest Starring Mickey and Minnie, a Game Boy Advance remaster of the original Super Nintendo game, allowing the player to unlock certain items in-game if bought from that game's in-game shops. Examples include a stool (both in the first room and library) to completely bypass the tricks that require getting a key from a high place, a broom that allows you to fly over to the old mansion and back without having to do the gear sequence, as well as extra star containers found in certain spots.
One year later, the game received a Spiritual Successor in the form of Disney's Hide & Sneak, also for the GameCube. The game features a few of the same mechanics (trick stars and keys in particular), but the gameplay is drastically different from Magical Mirror's; opting for a more stealth-based platformer. It also features the ability to play as Minnie Mouse, with her own trick animations and alternative storyline.
This game contains examples of:
- Alternate Universe: The majority of the game takes place in a world accessed through Mickey's bedroom mirror. More specifically, a large mansion in contrast to his normal house.
- Anti-Villain: The ghost was lonely and brought Mickey to his world to have someone to play with. Despite all the pranks he pulled at Mickey's expense, he won't stop Mickey from leaving after his initial plea to stay, waving goodbye from beyond the mirror portal as Mickey crosses the in-between space. If you collect all the mirror shards, Mickey will stop partway and beckon the ghost to follow and he happily follows Mickey home so he won't be alone and friendless anymore.
- Bee Afraid: At one point, Mickey comes face-to-face with a bee who attempts to sting him while he takes a nap in the room where he first finds the remote control. The player character must use the cursor to guide Mickey away from the bee itself, and if he succeeds in evading it, the bee knocks over a flower bed and leaves through the open window, revealing a mirror shard.
- But Now I Must Go: Once Mickey repairs the mirror portal that leads back to his bedroom, the ghost apologizes for his actions and begs Mickey to stay, of which he can either choose to stay or head through the portal back home. If the latter is chosen, Mickey bids his farewell to the ghost and tells him "no hard feelings" before heading through the portal itself, slowly sulking off into the astral plane as the ghost waves him goodbye. However, the ghost can follow Mickey to his room if he repairs the mirror completely.
- Delayed "Oh, Crap!": It takes a few seconds for Mickey to realize that he's switched sizes with the tiny ghost in the attic and reacts with an appropriate "Oh nooooo!" as the camera pans out.
- Dream Within a Dream: When the TV shows a projection of a dessert-themed paradise, it can hypnotize Mickey into falling asleep while he expresses curiosity at it, causing him to dream about being on the giant cake and triggering a minigame where he has to dance off against a black and white version of himself. Once the minigame ends, Mickey wakes up and looks around confused before moving on from watching TV.
- Easier Than Easy: The kids' mode completely removes the tricks, keys and some puzzles entirely. You can't save though, and the game ends itself after a full hour of gameplay.
- End-Game Results Screen: After the credits, the screen displays the overall playing time, amount of tricks triggered, mirror shards collected and bonus items obtained; the latter of which can be interacted with in Mickey's room as a post-game bonus.
- Floating Limbs: The ghost's hands are disembodied, and he doesn't appear to have visible arms.
- Golden Ending: Collecting all 12 mirror pieces adds onto the ending, as the ghost decides to follow Mickey home so he won't be alone in the mirror realm anymore.
- Go-to-Sleep Ending: Inverted. The game begins with Mickey fast asleep in bed, and it ends with him waking up in the morning, wondering if the events prior were All Just a Dream. (Which is not the case provided that he collects all 12 mirror shards.)
- I Choose to Stay: One of the choices Mickey can make in the ending is to stay with the ghost so he can continue playing with him. Subverted when the ghost himself immediately went back to his evil ways, leaving Mickey a bit betrayed and can only repeat the process if he returns to the repaired mirror room after the cutscene ends.
- Incredible Shrinking Man:
- Upon coming into contact with a witch doll, it magically shrinks Mickey down to an actual mouse size, and he must navigate the areas while small.
- A later event has Mickey inspecting the tiny ghost with a magnifying glass, and activating the event's trick causes the two to switch sizes, much to Mickey's dismay.
- Level Ate: One certain mini-game has Mickey on top of a gigantic cake with the background filled with floating candies, and has to dance off against a monochrome version of himself.
- Lightning Glare: Both Mickey and the Ghost stare at each other this way before initiating the "Crash Barrels" minigame; right after Mickey gets up and enters a fighting stance in retaliation for the Ghost knocking him out with a barrel.
- Locomotive Level: One particular segment has Mickey getting on board a toy train after finding a tiny suitcase on the miniature train station. When inside the train, a trick can be performed to have the suitcase come to life and chase Mickey around before he accidentally trips and knocks out the suitcase which contains a blue star.
- MacGuffin: The blue stars, which let you perform tricks, and the mirror shards that help Mickey get home.
- Macro Zone: Upon being shrunken down by a witch-shaped doll, Mickey has to explore the areas mini-sized. This includes boarding a toy train, inserting the plug into the socket to turn the TV on (which he previously was unable to do so due to his size), and being chased by the ghost-possessed rubber duck before boarding a toy airplane and chasing the ghost into a cloud picture which serves as an Unexpected Shmup Level. Upon completion of the minigame (or failing certain quick time events prior to boarding the plane), Mickey is eventually restored back to his normal size.
- Mini-Game Credits: The credits sequence features Mickey using his fighting moves from the Crash Barrels minigame as he blasts the names slowly scrolling by. There's even a counter that shows how many you destroyed each letter.
- Or Was It a Dream?: Just as Mickey leaves his bedroom to go get something to eat, the ghost is seen hanging from the ceiling fan as an ornament, giggling mischievously before the fade to black. This requires getting all of the shards to see, though. Otherwise it ends with Mickey leaving his room normally.
- Permanently Missable Content: Some events don't retrigger, so if you don't have the right amount of stars or don't know the timing for certain events, you might miss out on some shards, items or star containers. Better hope that you didn't save after missing a prompt...
- Post-End Game Content: Upon finishing the game once and saving, you unlock a bonus room which allows you to replay the minigames, listen to the in-game music and rewatch cutscenes that you've unlocked. Subverted since you can unlock it early before even starting a new game by transferring data from the first Disney's Magical Quest game for the Game Boy Advance.
- Powder Gag: In the kitchen area, a cupboard can be opened to show a pot of flour about to tip over, and activating its trick results in Mickey having his entire body covered up in flour. He returns to normal immediately after picking up the coin.
- Press X to Not Die: In both tricks and traditional quick time events (mashing the A button, twirling the stick, etc.). Tricks can be performed by interacting with certain objects and having enough stars. Sometimes multiple tricks can be done in a row and different tricks can be done depending on which object is selected.
- Shout-Out:
- At one point during the barrel breaking mini game and the ending credits, Mickey performs a Hadouken-like move similar to Ryu from the Street Fighter series.
- Hamm from Toy Story appears as...well, a piggy bank with one of the cogs inside.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The snowboarding minigame is set within the mountain painting after Mickey closely inspects it with a magnifying glass, which is accessed through a refrigerator in the kitchen. The player has to guide Mickey as he snowboards his way down the mountain, and hitting snowmen along the way adds additional points to the end results screen.
- Spot the Imposter: In a hallway made of Scooby-Dooby Doors, Mickey accidentally creates four clones of himself, one of them being the ghost in disguise. In order to spot it, the player has to click three times on the Mickey whose idle animation is not synchronized with the others.
- Trapped in Another World: Mickey is trapped in the world inside the mirror once it shatters and he must find the mirror shards to get back home.
- Unexpected Shmup Level: While small, Mickey can hop into a plane and enter a cloud picture. This starts a mini-game where you have to shoot balloons and go through rainbow loops to get to the ghost in time. This culminates in shooting the ghost enough times to end the section. Completing it refills your star container depending on how you play and it can be replayed as much as necessary.
- Wall Run: A particular mirror shard is floating too high for Mickey to reach by jumping, but climbing a massive spiral staircase triggers a button mashing mini-game to run up the stairs in a certain time limit. If successful, Mickey picks up enough speed to run up the wall. He appears ignorant of the feat at first, doing so with his eyes closed in celebration. But Mickey seizes the opportunity to kick off the wall and grab the shard.
