Epic Mickey Franchise Hits The 3DS

Following the relative success of 2010’s Epic Mickey, Disney has opted to expand the franchise to other platforms. First up? The Nintendo 3DS.

Dubbed Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, the game is being heavily sold on its arguably unique drawing mechanic that lets players sketch objects that then become “real” within the game.

That made more sense in the press release:

The game offers a special drawing and painting function that allows players to create rough versions of objects that magically transform into classic Disney-style 2D illustrations. Utilizing the game’s unparalleled dual screen integration, players then move their creations to the top screen where they are further transformed into full-color, fully-rendered 3D visuals.

So, yeah. Like Scribblenauts, except presumably lacking that game’s entertainingly esoteric nature.

The other major selling point — if you want to call it that — of the game is that it’s something of a follow-up to Disney’s Sega Genesis classic Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. The aesthetics in the game are all 2D, and the art style is very reminiscent of its predecessor.

The really neat tie to that game however, is that the game’s story itself focuses on the idea that older Disney properties (including its games) have fallen into disrepair over the years and need to be rescued.

Again, the press release does a fine job explaining:

Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion focuses on the fabled Castle of Illusion, which has fallen into Wasteland, an alternate world filled with 80 years of forgotten Disney characters and theme park attractions – and now forgotten video games. The evil witch Mizrabel, villainess from the classic “Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse,” finds herself an unwilling inhabitant of Wasteland, and unleashes a plot to escape using the Castle of Illusion to imprison and drain the cartoon essence from currently famous Toons. Players will take on the role of Mickey Mouse as he utilizes his magical brush to wield paint and thinner to confront Mizrabel and save the Toons.

Unfortunately we don’t have a release date for the game, outside of a nebulous “fall 2012” promise from the game’s publisher. The current issue of Nintendo Power has a cover story on this game, so if you’re hard up for information you can likely find more there — assuming you can lower yourself to looking something up in archaic, ink-and-dead-tree media.