Despite a high-profile announcement by both Disney and Sega, the anticipated HD remake of Sega Genesis classic, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse pretty well dropped off the radar immediately afterward, despite aiming for a Summer release. The fact that the game wasn’t a part of Sony’s PLAY 2013 lineup, nor Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade 2013 lineup, only raised more questions about whether or not it was still on track.
Fortunately, Sega has cleared the air today. Technically, the game is still arriving this Summer on most digital console channels, but just barely. Castle of Illusion HD is now officially set to arrive fashionably late on the PlayStation Store for September 3rd, and will come a day later on September 4th for both Steam and Xbox Live Arcade. It’s unfortunately not planned for release on the Wii U eShop, despite Disney’s other recent retro revival, DuckTales: Remastered releasing on Nintendo’s new console.
While Castle of Illusion HD is consistently planned to maintain the ‘Disney Magic’ of the decades-old Genesis game, and is fundamentally the same experience across all platforms, the release will be offering exclusive perks on PlayStation 3. Thus, owners of Sony’s console should pay attention especially!
Anyone who digitally pre-orders the game from the PlayStation Store between August 20th through to September 2nd, the day before Castle of Illusion HD becomes downloadable on PlayStation 3, will score a dynamic theme, three exclusive avatars, and, best of all, an emulated version of the original Sega Genesis game! These perks won’t be made available to PC and Xbox 360 players at all, essentially making Castle of Illusion HD’s PlayStation build a belated fifth PLAY 2013 offering with different rewards for pre-orders. Not bad!
Speaking of, if you indulged in Sony’s PLAY 2013 lineup this year, Castle of Illusion HD definitely presents a great choice for a discount, using the digital cash rebate you would have received for your PlayStation Store wallet! Considering the unique bonuses you get for the PlayStation build, it’s quite a deal for the Sony faithful that have a taste for both retro gaming and Disney!
Regardless, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse still stands as one of the most beloved classics in the Sega Genesis catalogue. The game even received a recent sequel-of-sorts, developed by Dreamrift, and titled, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion. This game brought back the same 2D side-scrolling platformer gameplay of its inspiration, albeit in a modern package, and released exclusively for Nintendo 3DS. This somewhat compensates for Castle of Illusion HD inexplicably skipping a release on Wii U, despite both Sega and Disney offering their continued support to Nintendo’s financially-struggling console.
So, there you have it; You don’t have long to wait for that other anticipated Disney retro revival game after all!