Fantasia Longplay (Sega Genesis) [QHD]

Developed by Infogrames and published by Sega in 1991
Released in 1940, Fantasia is considered one of Disney's greatest artistic achievements. The combination of peerless hand-drawn animation and art direction, coupled with the classical soundtrack, was quite unlike anything released at the time, or indeed anything since. The $2 million budget nearly bankrupted the company, yet remains a shining example of true, artistic vision.
The same cannot be said for this video game adaptation, which was a bit of a dud for games associated with the "house of mouse". Fancy visuals can only get a game so far, especially if, underneath the veneer, it's all a bit of a dog's breakfast.
The game is based somewhat loosely on the famous "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of the film, with Mickey Mouse reprising his role as the neophyte spellcaster, attempting to locate lost musical notes strewn across a series of fantastical lands. Only when sufficient notes have been accrued - either by finding them, or through earning enough points - can Mickey leave the level, moving on to the next; it's a curious premise for a game, one that might at first seem somewhat innovative, yet is really just another platformer with Disney branding.
To earn points, Mickey must defeat various enemies by butt-stomping them, or by zapping them with a limited number of magic spells. Certain adversaries may trigger the appearance of hidden platforms, bonus items, or even musical notes when beaten, although there's nothing to identify exactly which foes could be hiding special loot. The only option is to fight as many of them as possible, a task that proves to be a real chore, thanks to the fact most require at least 2 stomps to be defeated, increasing to 4 on the harder difficulty. The fact that bouncing on the heads of enemies propels Mickey into the air means it's virtually impossible not to collide with other roaming adversaries, which makes for a particularly frustrating experience.
As you might have gathered, I wasn't a massive fan of the game. It's a frustrating and bland experience easily bested by the likes of World of Illusion, which is a much better game in every respect.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:38 Level 1: The Water World
08:13 Level 2: The Earth World
14:05 Level 3: The Air World
23:18 Level 4: The Fire World
30:40 Ending
#segagenesis
#mickeymouse
#retrogaming

[@CopiousDoinksLLC]

0:53 Man, those first 4 musical notes are burned into my brain from having to hear them so many times as a kid. They're like pounding drums signaling your imminent death.

[@sluming2672]

not to brag.... but i have world record speedrun in this game and just to tell you, this guy is a mad man for trying this on normal ! no words can explain how hard this game is !

[@CopiousDoinksLLC]

@@sluming2672 ...Why the Hell would you brag about having the world record speedrun in this game, of all things? That's like saying "I'm the best at chopping off my own genitals".

[@gvohardcore]

Really thought this game was creepy when I was a kid. The weird intense music mixed with these nonsensical characters and dark colors...

[@MrDash03]

Same here

[@CursedMusicbox333]

I remember this being a hard game but it was so fun to me and I loved the music. 💙

[@NTxC]

This video doesn't make this game look that hard, but trust me, this game is fucking impossible to complete on real hardware. It's so hard it makes you want to destroy the controller. The animations are delaying your inputs by a solid 300ms and you have to hold Down on the d-pad to destroy the enemies if you don't have enough spells (and you never have any). I grew up with it so I like it but I can see why it's a tough sale.

[@yaiya.7248]

Ikr

[@JohnSkellington]

Fantasia is basically the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the Sega Genesis.

[@NTxC]

​@@JohnSkellingtonIt really is, haha. Still love it though.

[@RaptureMusicOfficial]

It's not so hard to beat it. I got it for xmas in 1991 and beat it within 1-2 weeks or so. It's a good game and I love the music, too.

[@surfteejay]

​@@RaptureMusicOfficial In two weeks?😮 For years I couldnt make it that far. My relationship with this game was a love/hate deal.... Nah, I really loved it😅

[@ItsLazMax]

Just figured out how to jump on enemies. You have to hOLD DOWN WHEN LANDING ON THEM.

[@DefinitelyReagan]

My young self needed this information so, so badly.

[@powerstones7722]

They did this in the castle of illusion

[@tonydv9260]

@@powerstones7722 Castle of Illusion plays 10 times better though, Fantasia feels jenky af

[@fubu7027]

Ahhhh

[@retroyder]

just discovered, after 30 years… damn

[@tomm1tomm138]

I think this was the first game in the world that invented ragequit

[@evbev4708]

Super mario bros: the lost levels

[@gloriannejadetan2789]

Music used in this game from Fantasia (1940): 0:00 Intro Toccata in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach 0:38 The Water World The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli 8:13 The Earth World Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas 14:05 The Air World Symphony No. 6 in F Major Op. 68 "Pastoral" by Ludwig Van Beethoven The Nutcracker Suite Op. 71 " Russian Dance" by Peter Tchaikovsky The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli 23:21 The Fire World Night on a Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky Toccata in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach

[@jeremyallen5974]

You know you're in for a migraine inducing experience when a game expects you to hold down while jumping to hurt the enemies WITHOUT taking damage AND can still get hit while you're in the post hit invincibility phase

[@mareeambello]

This was so nice to watch after sooooo many years, brings back childhood memories ❤

[@geturlife1694]

Yes 😅 I love that nostalgia feeling

[@Humbledingify]

Boy, what I wouldn't give to see the AVGN play this.

[@FlyingDuckMan360]

+Humbledingify What I'd like to see him do to the game if he does decide to review it is destroy it with an axe like Mickey did in the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment", only for the pieces of the game to turn into multiple copies and attack him as retribution.

[@felipecascante2trainboy312]

I totally want AVGN to review on this game.

[@NeutralDice]

after challenging levels, a lackluster ending

[@Funbia]

Mi juego favorito de la Sega Megadrive. En especial la relación con la música es magia pura. Buenos recuerdos ❤😅❤

[@jachi_fenix2456]

Pero estás de coña o qué? A cuántos juegos jugaste tú?

[@Funbia]

@@jachi_fenix2456 Varios juegos jugué. Pero este juego me gustaba por la música de Beethoven, Bach, Mussorgsky y etc. Y creo que ningun otro juego tenía una banda sonora similar.

[@bigman13862]

Do u know 'Walt Disney Fantasia' is "80TH ANNIVERSARY!" From last month so Happy Anniversary for Fantasia 😊.

[@NTxC]

I'm actually in the process of romhacking this game to make it playable

[@pluuto7194]

Hows that going?

[@NTxC]

@@pluuto7194 Good, changed Mickey from tank mechanics to fun mechanics already, but there's a little problem with bouncing on the enemies without holding Down. Mickey will bounce on anything whether you want it or not. Gotta figure something out.

[@avideogamemaster]

@@NTxC Any news?

[@priscilagonzalez3645]

​@@NTxCOMG!, Yes please.

[@NTxC]

​@@avideogamemasterI am resuming work on the romhack.

[@KawaiiSoulB42]

This is where my gaming career started. That and Sword of Vermillion is fun too

[@segamaster8425]

Amazing work pro

[@Emulous79]

The only thing that let this game down was the sometimes stiff controls. The sound and graphics are amazing. Such attention to detail and so close to the movie. A lost art, in a way.

[@TurboXray]

The sound is bar far not amazing haha. It's pretty much the lowest of the low on the Genesis. This game is just bad in a lot of areas, but yeah graphics isn't one of them. But it's not impressive graphics either. They're average at best.

[@Emulous79]

@@TurboXray I have fond memories of crap. Oh well :)

[@CopiousDoinksLLC]

The first time I played this game as a kid, I knew it was bad because of one thing - having to jump on the enemies twice to kill them. It's such a fundamental violation of every video game sensibility that you can't help but feel frustrated about it.

[@celtiberian]

Castle of Illusion was much better.

[@ExtremeWreck]

@@TurboXray The music is absolutely abysmal, right up there with Taz-Mania on Game Gear.

[@mandalovescatspandas1781]

I can't believe people actually hated this game. It was super fun to play in the early 90's. I did hate that hippo and ostrich level though. Whenever I accidently fell into it, I wanted to rage quit. And then there is the shame of not earning enough notes abd having to repeat levels :)

[@chrisfalcon_vt]

Hippo and Ostrich? Aren't you talking about the Lion King?

[@NathanG140]

There was a level with hippo and ostrich ememies.@@chrisfalcon_vt

[@andrewthacker9508]

Probably the most unrewarding ending to a game ever. This was insanely hard, and to trawl through it that's all you get?

[@bananarnold1831]

Water, earth, air, and fire worlds? So this game was basically the Avatar realm.

[@beatricesanfilippo6925]

What a wonderful game

[@forgottenpixel]

Ahh...so many hours spent as a kid on this game! It is insanely difficult to complete but it is still a great game. The soundtrack is beautiful as ever too.

[@MrBuzzz91]

How old are you, I think you was born about 1980 ?

[@jesusruizcarmena]

I had this game as a child. Bought it because always loved Disney games on the Mega Drive and it looked good on the magazines... boy what a disappointment! I played and tried so many times and could never get used to the controls and the difficulty. I also love the music from Fantasia movie but in this game I think only the first stage has the tunes properly implemented.

[@harrysboy]

That opening shot of Mickey walking through the orchestra is so Infogrames.

[@MoltoRubato88]

Oh, no. Not this game! I was just talking about it the other day on the Sega Lord X channel. It is completely broken and shockingly awful. Kudos to you for playing through Fantasia, though. I would have thrown the controller at the tv in frustration.

[@nikfighter262]

I had this game as a toddler, I did remember this thing to this day.

[@RedStrikerBeetleborg]

and you wonder why Roy Disney ordered all unsold carts of this destroyed (about 5000)

[@AleksLazar]

A brand new sealed copy just sold for over $4300 on ebay, thanks to Roy in part

[@jeremyriley1238]

From what I read, it was because Fantasia was licensed to Sega by mistake, and he ordered the recall to honor a vow he made to his uncle Walt not to license Fantasia.

[@imthethriller]

I'm convinced they hired some of the developers from Radical Games to make this....thing

[@TopRetroGames]

Very good pixel graphics in game.

[@Scottwilkie18]

30 years

[@dazzla84_ssfc]

25:10 They clearly had not yet programmed in the possibility of a players score exceeding 1 million points in live play, it just resets Edit: the true score still appears at the end of the level

[@PedroCosta-lr6to]

Relaxing

[@AleksLazar]

I was just checking out what the game was like to see if it’s worth bidding on a new sealed copy on ebay. It wasn’t, but it didn’t matter, because it sold for over $4300. Craziest auction price I’ve seen in person.

[@jeremyriley1238]

Well, it's to be expected, as the game was pulled from shelves (it was licensed out by mistake, as Roy E. Disney promised his uncle Walt never to license out Fantasia). Only 5,000 copies were sold, and Roy compensated Sega by giving them further licenses, assuring them it was Disney's fault.

[@Justin-st5xv]

I had this game as a kid and knowing it's worth I wish I could find it

[@ExtremeWreck]

Over a thousand dollars for one of the lousiest excuses of a platformer released on the Sega Genesis. Just... wow.

[@rogerramone]

I had this and Castle of Illusion at same cartridge. So main choice used to be castle… more fun to play.

[@wiisalute]

Hope AVGN reviews this

[@NTxC]

Fun fact: at 30:38, you can see Mickey convert the score you earned in the world to musical notes. You can never have more than 15 notes, it's the maximum you can get.

[@Dimensioneer88]

Level 3 clearly got the Pastoral and Nutcracker themes mixed up.

[@Baximus]

I remember this game, I never could make it past the first stage. Good thing, because this game isn't very good!

[@spkru]

In 1991 i was 11 years old, i got this game as a present and i had only this game on megadrive for month, it was horrible but i had only this game damn

[@NTxC]

And one more fun fact: there is a jingle that's meant to be played when you die with no lives left (you can find it in the Sound Test), but you can never hear it ingame due to sloppy programming.

[@dktha]

Looks like I got into the last level decades ago but the difficulty was insane.

[@vectororbitex7866]

This game is so strange, I dare to say that i got scared as a kid. Maybe improving the music, the controls and some enemies sprites, the game could be too much better. Anyway, the game is very very hard, but I finished it at 11 years old, back in 2011, in a pirate Sega Genesis and a pirate cartridge. This brings me too happy memories... because the truth is I had a very happy childhood with 8 abd 16 bit games. I did not have money for actual consoles. If I only could back to 2011 😢

[@RabbitInIce]

💖

[@giordanosena8920]

Best game ever!!!

[@julienbraudel7109]

I read the comments here, and it is really INTERNET VS REALITY. The game is not great, but it is not as bad as you can read it here. People are always exagerating in comments. They often have a nowadays relecture of games without the context of the time games were made, which is making a mistake from the start.

[@exodere9105]

I owned this game on my Megadrive, it was a nightmare. Especially compared to Castle of Illusions.

[@julienbraudel7109]

@@exodere9105 I understand, but it is not a nightmare as you say. It is a game that is not great but not bad either. Castle of Illusions is a great game.

[@johntitor.]

Terrible ending.

[@balancer182]

When I played this game as a kid, I never reached the fire stage before the game ended. Can someone explain why that happened? I think I was stuck in either the water stage or air stage. I can't remember.

[@gvohardcore]

I vaguely remember that in the vertical stage (14:06) there is a fairy (15:40) that warps you to an additional even harder level (sort of a bonus, don't think is obligatory), if you win you go back from where you had warped from and it allows you to warp there again. Maybe you kept looping between both scenes?

[@sebapyro]

Me too. I was looking for that level wich I was stuck in my chilhood. The water stage. But in this playthrough, there is no such thing. Maybe was an antipiracy system

[@gvohardcore]

@@sebapyro There is one water stage at 3:57

[@sebapyro]

@@gvohardcore you re right. I remember to reach a stage after the 3rd world (the air world). But cant reach the fire world. I got stuck in a level where i cant get any further (another water stage?) Maybe becouse not getting the minimum points to reach the next stage.

[@NTxC]

Probably didn't have enough score to reach the next world. It's not the musical notes that have to be collected, it's just score. The notes just happen to give the most score.

[@matdst2378]

Excellent ce jeu..mais super dur..

[@YTPs2Glin]

Pour y avoir jouer récemment... super dur, musiques trop stridentes et BON SANG LES INPUTS >_< Tu appuies et tu comptes jusqu'à 2 pour esquiver un ennemi.

[@YTPs2Glin]

Toute cette souffrance pour un gif de poignée de main

[@awvalenti]

30 years later, I finally noticed that Mickey's eyes are closed during the whole game... Alas, he's sleeping! Great to watch but not so fun to play. This game had great potential, but the controls totally messed it up... Thanks for sharing!

[@anaduds]

You literally can see him blinking though.

[@awvalenti]

@@anaduds blinking?? Never noticed that!

[@avideogamemaster]

His eyes are not closed

[@BedtimeStory87]

the soulslike back in the days :D

[@Alexis2099]

23:19 so... for being a jerk, mickey was sent to hell? nice

[@exodere9105]

If you've plaid this game as a kid, you know he deserves it.

[@Spherrum]

I never even saw level 2...

[@Retlawasd]

nunca entendi el objetivo de este juego para fumancheros y siempre me hacian repetir el nivel

[@maximilianorobertoibarra4319]

Había que terminar el nivel con una buena cantidad de puntos si no te lo hacía repetir jajaja

[@matheusduarte6284]

man i jump on the enemies and get hit WHY

[@thehound1359]

I remember this game sucked because the controls were so terrible. Had fun with the challenge though

[@loganford3921]

I remember getting Fantasia after COL in Glasgow virgin megastore in the early 90s and I was bloody disappointed how bad the gameplay was. Tazmania is another one that's really bad and that mine cart stage drove me and all my friends crazy.

[@bcs9000]

looks much more a bootleg game than a licensed one

[@TheJPCatholic]

Anyone know if you can play this online? I wish this was on the gameboy

[@clemencejacob8575]

je connais fantasia 😂je sais que l apprenti sorcier c est là scène phare de fantasia mais ça force sur les balais 😂 😂mais pk y a pas les champignons ça aussi c est une scène culte de fantasia 😂 mais sinon pas mal le jeu bravo 🎈

[@renzogiglioli]

A masterpiece, slightly ruined by the difficulty that made me not want to play it...

[@user-kl8lh1pm2t]

Is this Fantasia videogame? This is HARSH REALITY!

[@jf6331]

Ugh, it looks so easy! But its noooot!

[@PedroCosta-lr6to]

Zayn

[@mamangkratos2251]

19:17 yotteno

[@dcboys4195]

For a 1991 release, the graphics are great! Sound is poor to medicore. The gameplay is poor but not unplayable.

[@trevorbayers2175]

I had a Sega Genesis. For one, I hated the regular Genesis controllers. The + pad was designed VERY poorly in that you had to make sure you were super careful when moving your character on the screen because if you weren’t the character would go in the wrong direction. It was EVERY Genesis game. Next, I owned this game and it was atrocious. Yes, very hard, horrible controls, meaning when you pressed the Jump button, Mickey would wait a second before he actually jumped. Inexcusable. Then there was the music in the game which was HORRENDOUS!!!! The ONLY thing this game had going for it was the nice graphics for its time. Other than that, this was and will always be one of the worst video games I’ve ever played on ANY console.

[@KingCastleGamer]

Good game

[@bensanchez8121]

An absolute butchering of one of the greatest soundtracks in cinema history

[@julienbraudel7109]

This is not an original soundtrack actually, this is a compilation of great composers works. Those musics would have existed without the movie.

[@avideogamemaster]

The greatest compilation of classic pieces in cinema history you mean

[@gegabw]

The platforms design is so lame, you can barely tell were to land 😂

[@RustyLeguito]

One of the worst Mickey Mouse games ever...

[@gimo80]

This, hands down, has the worst soundtrack on the SEGA Genesis. 12:14 onwards is honestly just a load of farts.

[@W4lmartbag]

Possibly one of the worst games ever made for the sega genesis/mega drive,mainly because of the very ear bleeding music and the fact the game is almost impossible to beat To make matters even worst as we all know fantasia's music is mainly classic music soo hearing these songs being distorded by this game is truly a disrespect to the people behind these pieces of classic music....

[@GenioInformatico-qk8by]

NON-Epic Mickey...graphics assets reused infinitely, bad music(considering that Fantasia is based on classic music it's even worse ), difficulty impossible, unplayable...

[@sadderthanyou7793]

A real crap game.