Epic Mickey / YMMV

Alternative Character Interpretation: In SPADES.
- Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, former mascot of Disney with a similar personality to Mickey, is now a bitter and distrusting fellow.
- Also, in the comics and cartoons, the Phantom Blot was just a thief dressed in all black (or the Doctor Doom of Disney in his early appearances and European comics): here, as the "Shadow Blot", he's been upgraded into a monstrosity made out of ink. That said, one later comic released in 2018 reveals the Shadow Blot is actually a different character from the Phantom Blot, explaining the difference In-Universe.
- Deliberately invoked with Mickey, who, depending on your usage of paint and thinner, can either be the mischievous Anti-Hero he was back in his early years or the straight-laced and humble hero that he became later on.
Anti-Climax Boss: The final boss. You shine some lights in his face, then go inside him and perform surgery. It's challenging, but not really the fight you'd expect, especially after the epic build-up in Dark Beauty Castle just before it.
Awesome Music:
- Oswald's theme, is a piece that perfectly sums up Oswald's history in music form, with the theme starting off happy and cheerful representing his days as a star, before becoming sadder by the end, representing him becoming forgotten in favor of Mickey Mouse.
- The main theme is the perfect intro to the game as it feels both heroic and dark at points, which perfectly represents the game.
- Dark Beauty Castle.
- An Epic Finale is just that; perfectly fitting the final cutscene, along with an awesome rendition of the Epic Mickey tune when the final boss is defeated.
- This beta theme which sadly didn't make it to the final product.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The UFO challenge. Gremlin Roger tells you to go to the UFO and "face your destiny". Once you do, spatters seem to teleport in, at which point Gus will say this isn't part of the ride and he thinks the UFO came from space. Once you beat the spatters you get a pin from a chest with a slightly different design than the rest, which also seemed to be teleported onto the platform, then you leave with no explanation.
Character Rerailment: The game aims to bring Mickey (who has been characterized into a smiling The Everyman) back into the courageous, mischievous, semi-hero who doesn't know when to quit messing with things from The Golden Age of Animation.
Common Knowledge: The Shadow Blot is often assumed to be an incarnation of the Phantom Blot. This was true during early development, as the Shadow Blot was originally conceived as a reimagining of the Phantom Blot. However, this idea was scrapped and in the final game, he has no relation to the Phantom Blot outside of the "blot" title. The 2018 comic The Blot and the Blob would confirm that they're two different characters.
Director Displacement: Ironically, this is a case where the game's own director is doing the displacing, as the game is well known for being the work of creative director Warren Spector and his studio Junction Point. However, the idea for Epic Mickey started back in 2003-04 by Matthew Stringer and Chris Takami as well as seven other interns from Disney Interactive Studios (credited as the "Epic Mickey Think Tank 2004" in the game's credits).^note Warren Spector and Junction Point didn't get involved with the project until 2007 after Disney started development on the game.
Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: Much of the praise towards the game comes from its emotional story that practically serves as a love letter to some of Disney's lesser known characters. The gameplay on the other hand is viewed as a decent but nothing unique platformer, and the things it does try to make it stand out were often criticized for being clunky or confusing.
Fan-Preferred Cut Content: The game has become notorious for this, as many found the dark and twisted concept art and the scrapped ideas contained within them to be far cooler and more well, "epic", compared to the game proper, which many have found to be a disappointment due to the final game not living up to what was initially promised by its concept art.
Gateway Series: If you haven't been following Oswald's history before, you sure will now. Many newer fans of the character and his franchise can trace their source of interest to this game.
Growing the Beard: The whole game is pretty much this for video games made by Disney without outside help.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- While the game world is based on Disneyland, the fact that the Disney World's Toontown is gone as of February 2011 means it has been consigned to the Wasteland.
- When encountering Clarabelle in Os Town, one of the cartoons she mentions starring in is Mickey's Mellerdrammer. If you know your cartoon history, there is a very good and very unfortunate reason why THAT cartoon is largely forgotten.
- While the series would indeed make Oswald remembered again, aside from the game's sequels, Oswald would barely be used in the next decade outside of a few cameos and his 100th anniversary short. In an ironic twist, he is remembered for being forgotten until he entered public domain in 2023.
Heartwarming in Hindsight:
- All Oswald wanted was to be remembered and beloved again. Thanks to this game, he is.
- And now, thanks to the 2017 DuckTales series, Della Duck would follow on his footsteps as a little-known-and-remembered longtime Disney character who would arise to stardom. And others in that very series would follow too.
Hilarious in Hindsight: The mechanic of befriending enemies vs destroying them is very reminiscent of Undertale, which would later be released in 2015.
- This wouldn't be the last time Mickey Mouse would go through a magic mirror and get eaten by a warped version of himself.
- The game was released on Wii to avoid it being Port Overdosed, with the planned Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 releases being cancelled, even though Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two was released on all platforms. The 2024 rerelease is for all current platforms.
I Am Not Shazam: The Mad Doctor is named after the original short he starred in, rather than his actual name, Dr. XXX. Given that XXX is commonly known to stand for porn these days, however, this is probably for the best.
Memetic Mutation: During the time period it was thought Oswald was going to be the Big Bad, /co/ made him out to be either the Disney counterpart to Liquid Snake or an insanely creepy and jealous Eldritch Abomination constantly running with ink and blood. Also The Virus.
- KILL THE MOUSE, TAKE HIS HOUSE. KILL THE MOUSE TAKE HIS HOUSE, KILLTHEMOUSETAKEHISHOUSE.
- This right after hearing "It's a Small World" backwards.
  It'S A WoRLD oF PAiN....iT's A WoRLD oF TeARS....
  iT's A WoRLD oF SiN AnD YoUR PriMAL FeARs.....
  iT's A WoRLD MaDe oUt Of YoUr BrOkEn DrEaMs.....
  iT's A SmAll...SmAll WoRLD^note
- A less scary one includes depicting Oswald with a wooden mallet. It seems to have spanned from a fan-artist referencing the "Little Bunny Foo Foo" nursery rhyme (what with the bunny picking up field mice and "bopping them on the head"). It often includes Oswald attempting to "bop" Mickey with his wooden mallet only for another character (usually Ortensia) to stop him. The mallet even shows up in Oswald fanarts where Mickey is nowhere to be seen.
Nausea Fuel: In the latter half of the game, the Blot's Bloticles are destroyed by drenching their blisters with thinner, with an overall effect like pus.
- Also, the effects of using thinner on the Small World Clock Tower. Once you make it break its arms, the streams of green fluid that gush out of small pipes in its arm look almost exactly like uncontrolled arterial bleeding.
No Problem with Licensed Games: Though few would call the game perfect, it's still generally regarded as a solid 3D platformer. It even proved popular enough to warrant an HD remake, which is extremely rare for a Licensed Game.
Older Than They Think:
- First, this wasn't the Mad Doctor's first appearance in a Mickey Mouse video game or even as a boss in one. Second, the concept of Mickey being Trapped in Another World and needing to find a way to escape from it and return home has been used in World of Illusion. Third, this is the third Mickey game to feature the Lonesome Ghosts, the first two being The Magical Quest 2/Great Circus Mystery and Mickey Mania.
- This isn't the first time Oswald had been portrayed as a bitter and angry individual towards Mickey Mouse, as one piece of artwork done by Disney back in 1935◊ (done as a gift for Universal's Carl Laemmle) has him scowling in anger towards the approaching Mickey. In fact, the artwork is what inspired Oswald's personality in the game.
Shocking Moments: While desired for the longest time, a Video Game Remake of the original Epic Mickey was seen as a long shot for several major reasons, and most thought it would never happen due to the series having long been forgotten about. The original game's developers had long gone defunct, the poor reception of its sequel, Disney shying away from video games in the decade since its release, and the general neglect of Oswald in proper media made a return to the series seem unlikely, which is why the announcement of its remake took everyone by surprise when it was revealed in 2024.
So Okay, It's Average: Epic Mickey is seen in this light by critics and fans. It's a decent and fun love letter to old-school and forgotten Disney media, with an engaging story, a uniquely dark visual presentation, and some interesting concepts. However, the game is held back by questionable level design, underbaked mechanics, and clunky camera controls.
That One Attack: The fake Shadow Blot's thinner hadouken is massive, and is practically impossible to dodge if you are close to him. And he loves to use it when you are.
That One Boss: The fight with the Mad Doctor and his Beetleworx.
- Especially trying to figure out how to beat him the "nice" way.
- Robot Captain Hook, especially if you're trying to get the thinner upgrade.
- The Shadow Blot atop Mickeyjunk Mountain WILL kill you several times in your first playthrough, and when you think you know him. It doesn't help that you can fall off the arena while you're trying to dodge his attacks.
That One Level: The Asia Boat Ride is unbelievably frustrating, mostly because there's practically nowhere safe to jump thanks to you being surrounded by an ocean of thinner.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The game has a tendency to use different versions (e.g. animatronics) of popular characters rather than using actual forgotten characters. Ones that are forgotten tend to be changed so they're more powerful rather than working with their original concepts.
Unpopular Popular Character: Deliberately invoked by Warren Spector, who loved Oswald and wanted to make him more popular. Sure enough, the more the game showed that Oswald was forgotten, lonely and desperate for recognition, the more fans loved him and swore that he was as good as or better than Mickey.
Values Dissonance: Clarabelle and Horace are far from forgotten in Europe, where they often appear in Disney comic books. So the way they're classified as forgotten toons here is harder to relate to for European players.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Some people are rather disappointed that the game only got an E rating, despite the fact that it's Disney and, y'know, it stars Mickey Mouse. On the other hand, it seems quite clear that it's chock full of Nightmare Fuel in general. In fact, the game's creator, Warren Spector, says that he wants kids to play this and be terrified.
Win Back the Crowd: The whole "angle" of this game, and we don't mean "putting Mickey into a current trend" in this case.
The Woobie: OSWALD. He could very well be the poster boy example of the Western Animation Woobie in this game. Life sucks when your half-brother usurped your popularity and became a major icon, while you became a footnote in history books, only known or cared about by the most dedicated animation fans.
- First, he was abandoned by his own father over a dispute with Charles Mintz, and when Walter Lantz took over the cartoons, Walt openly approved of Lantz using Ozzie — even though Lantz would eventually derail Oswald from his cartoony roots and turn him into a cutesy Funny Animal in an attempt to cash in on Disney (ironically). And it only got worse when his half-brother Mickey Mouse usurped Oswald's original popularity, which, coupled with Lantz's derailment of the character, as well as the gradual rise of "screwy" characters over cute funny animals in the early 40's (including Universal's own new character, Woody Woodpecker) sent Oswald to his grave in 1943, after limping by for the last several years. You would think that in the world for forgotten Disney characters he would have finally gotten the happy ending he deserved - but no, things got even WORSE for him. Said half-brother just happened to accidentally spill a jug of paint thinner onto Yen Sid's world, which wound up ruining the whole place by turning it into a savage wasteland, as well as unleashing the Shadow Blot upon the place, which would lead the entire world into even more mayhem and ruin, forcing Oswald and any remaining resistance underground. And by the time Mickey is dragged there by the Shadow Blot itself, Oswald has built robotic copies of Mickey's friends to accompany him just to keep himself from going completely insane. And on top of that, he becomes jealous and hateful of Mickey so as to be an active obstacle. So much for him being a "lucky rabbit."
- Also Ortensia. This apparently runs in the family, considering their bunny children that are looking at her picture inside her house and are crying over her portrait and waiting for their mom to come home.
- Interestingly, though, the comics and the game seem to take the view that Oswald really is quite lucky; he has a loving family, friends who admire him, and a land made in his own image. If he could only put his jealousy of Mickey behind him (as he seems to do by the end of the game), he'd be happy.

YMMV / Epic Mickey

Edit Locked