Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse is a 1994 platformer video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Sony Imagesoft for Sega Genesis, Sega CD, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In the game, the player controls Mickey Mouse, who must navigate through various side-scrolling levels, each designed and based from classical Mickey Mouse cartoons from 1928 to 1990. The game was later released on the PlayStation as Mickey's Wild Adventure.

Gameplay
Mickey Mania is a platformer in which players control Mickey Mouse as he visits various locations based on his past cartoons, ranging from his debut in Steamboat Willie to the more recent The Prince and the Pauper. Mickey can attack enemies by either jumping on them or by using a limited supply of marbles, which are collected throughout the level. Mickey can take up to five hits, represented by the fingers he holds up on his hand, which can be replenished by collecting stars, whilst extra lives can be gained by finding Mickey hats. Levels offer a variety of challenges such as puzzles the player must solve, escaping from a rampaging moose and fleeing from a flaming staircase.

Levels
The levels in the game are based from the following classic Mickey Mouse cartoons:
 * Steamboat Willie (1928)
 * The Mad Doctor (1933)
 * Moose Hunters (1937)
 * Lonesome Ghosts (1937)
 * Mickey and the Beanstalk (1947)
 * The Band Concert (1935) (Not included in the Super NES version)
 * The Prince and the Pauper (1990)

Development
Originally, Mickey Mania was planned as a game to be released as part of Mickey's 65th birthday. However, as that would have only allowed for six months to develop the game, this idea was soon scrapped in favor of the more compelling concept of Mickey traveling back in time to his own original classic cartoons and subsequently recreating the events of the aforementioned shorts in the process. The game pays tribute to Mickey's whole cartoon career (released in 1994, the year after Mickey's 65th birthday).

Version differences
The four versions of the game differ from each other somewhat. The Super NES version is missing the hidden Band Concert level and the staircase sequence in the Mad Doctor level, as well as a few special effects and some of Pluto's appearances and some level-ending sequences. It also adds loading time screens in between each area. The Sega CD and PlayStation versions extend the ending to the Mad Doctor level, showing that the Mad Doctor himself had regressed to a baby, and adds a sequence near the end of the Prince and the Pauper level wherein Mickey must find pencils to call upon the other Mickeys from the six main levels to attack Pete, as well as giving Mickey an extensive dialogue relevant to situations throughout the game. The Genesis lacks the hidden area near the end of the first level. The PlayStation version enhances the graphics (all sprites are remade, notably the staircase sequences are rendered in 3D graphics and in the one in the Mad Doctor level, crates occasionally come from behind which Mickey has to dodge) and adds a sequence at the end of the Mickey and the Beanstalk level where Mickey must run away from Willie the Giant (Willie makes no appearance in any of the other game versions despite being mentioned in the manuals of all four versions).

Reception
On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the Super Famicom version of the game a 28 out of 40, giving the Mega Drive version a 30 out of 40. GamePro gave the Genesis version a mixed review. They particularly applauded the visual style and the motif of playing inside old cartoons, commenting that "The blend of past and present is magical." However, they criticized that the game is too easy and concluded that "If Mickey's not your thing, you won't appreciate this cart. But if you liked any of Mickey's other games, you won't miss with Mickey Mania. The same reviewer later covered the Sega CD version. He praised its improved graphics, additional voice samples, and new level, but again concluded that the game is too easy to appeal to anyone who isn't a Mickey Mouse fan. A different GamePro reviewer covered the SNES version, and in contrast found that the game's difficulty was too high for younger gamers. However, he praised the responsive controls and sharp graphics.

Maximum gave the PlayStation version two out of five stars. They praised the graphical stylistics, attention to detail, and solid gameplay, but criticized that the action never builds in intensity or pays off, and the game makes no noticeable improvements over the earlier, last generation versions of the game. They nonetheless held it to be far better than the other two 2D platformers then on the PlayStation, Johnny Bazookatone and Rayman.