Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

All has been well in Wasteland since Mickey helped defeat the Shadow Blot, with all the forgotten characters rebuilding their home. However, a series of earthquakes threatens to undo the work and the world. The Mad Doctor (who survived his defeat and mostly communicates by singing) arrives and asks Oswald to join forces with him to help repair Wasteland. Not trusting the Mad Doctor, Gus, the leader of the Gremlins, and Ortensia, Oswald's wife, contact Mickey Mouse. Mickey once more enters Yen Sid's workshop and takes the magic brush to aid him as he enters Wasteland. Oswald joins up with them in Dark Beauty Castle, explaining the Mad Doctor warned him of the Blotworx - Blotlings piloting mechanical suits - which have taken control of the Beetleworx production. The castle begins collapsing from an earthquake, forcing them to escape; Oswald retrieves his powerful remote en route.

Mickey and Oswald arrive in Mean Street, where Gremlin Jamface advises them to fix the disabled Projectors via their control station in Rainbow Falls. They fight their way through Wasteland, defeating Blotlings, Beetleworx, and Blotworx. After heading to the Mad Doctor's lab in Disney Gulch and defeating a giant robotic dragon, they find out the projectors were intentionally sabotaged, and notice one of the Gremlins named Prescott is acting strangely and follow him. This takes them to Fort Wasteland, an area that was seemly destroyed before the events of Mickey's last visit, and help a ghost named Ian befriend the local Blotlings, whom he believes are just misunderstood. They are then lead to the Floatyard, where they find Prescott has built a massive robot designed after him, which he sends to attack the group. Destroying or trapping the mech, Mickey and Oswald try interrogating Prescott, only to have Animatronic Daisy Duck's news team and the Mad Doctor arrive; the doc seems to put Prescott in a hypnotic trance, making him confess to being behind the chaos which convinces everyone except for the duo. The Mad Doctor later announces a new mystery attraction he will be building in Wasteland.

Concerned, Mickey and Oswald follow the Mad Doctor's trail through Ventureland to his hideout, which leads them through Autotopia, another area that was also supposedly destroyed during the Blot's revolt. While traveling through a projector leading to Lonesome Manor's attic, they learn what happened after he was sent flying away during Mickey's previous visit: he crash-landed in Disney Gulch and set up a lab there. It is also revealed that he was the one who created the Blotworx, made from captured Blotlings and cars from Autotopia, but was forced to cast them out because of their hostile nature. After saving Jamface from Beetleworx, they find the Mad Doctors diary, from which they learn that he convinced Prescott to build him a TV to broadcast a show called The Mad Doctor's World of Evil into the Cartoon world so people can remember him and give him the heart to escape Wasteland and that he wishes to become a Toon again using creatures of paint and thinner called Guardians. He was also the cause of the earthquakes via Guardian extraction devices found in Autotopia. They confront the Mad Doctor at his "mystery attraction" (which is actually a doomsday device used to destroy Wasteland), where he demands the magic brush from Mickey in exchange for their friends whom he has kidnapped, but Oswald prevents this from happening as it will make the Mad Doctor unstoppable. They defeat the Mad Doctor, whose robotic body finally gives out and is either defeated or redeemed depending on which path was taken in his fight. Afterward, the Wasteland celebrates Mickey and Oswald's triumph with a parade highlighting the duo's major choices in the game.

However, the Petes of Wasteland, with Petetronic being present if Mickey and Oswald achieve the bad ending, kidnap Prescott, presumably having plans for both him and Wasteland.

Like its predecessor, Epic Mickey 2 takes place in a world based on classic and retired Disney characters and attractions. Likewise, the gameplay in Epic Mickey 2 closely resembles that of the original. One of the biggest updates is the addition of Oswald as a supporting character for Mickey; Oswald can either be controlled by the computer or a second player. Oswald uses a remote control in a way similar to how Mickey uses his paintbrush, to attack or befriend enemy characters and to alter the environment as needed to complete tasks. Oswald also has many other abilities, such as flying with his ears, taking off his leg, using his arms as boomerangs, etc. There are also some special abilities that can only be used when Mickey and Oswald are working together. In the PlayStation 3 version of the game, players are able to use motion controls using the PlayStation Move controller.

On August 27, 2011, Destructoid posted an article that speculated that a sequel, Epic Mickey 2, was in development and showed possible box art for the game.[3] These rumors were further encouraged when Disney France and Warren Spector invited the French media to an "epic project" taking place on March 27, 2012. Nintendo Power magazine also commented on the rumor, stating that their April 2012 issue would include a "top-secret" title preview, with the preview for the issue showing a cropped down picture of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Game Trailers also stated that their March 22, 2012 episode would include a "world-exclusive preview of Warren Spector's new epic adventure" and that it would be "notably significant".[4] Warren Spector himself also commented on the game's development, revealing that he had "a team of over 700 people working on the sequel".[5] Following this, on March 20, 2012, the official French Nintendo magazine posted a comment on Twitter, revealing that Disney had plans to create a companion to the main sequel for the 3DS, under the name Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.[6]

Warren Spector, on March 21, 2012, officially confirmed the rumors, revealing the sequel's title to be Epic Mickey: Power of Two.[7] Spector also directly addressed the camera issues that reviewers criticized in the first game, stating that "They'll be working on it until the day we ship the second game. (There have been) over 1,000 specific changes made to the camera. Our goal is that you will not have to touch the manual camera controls even once to play through the main story path of this game."

Spector also revealed that the game was to include voice acting and musical numbers, both of which were absent in the first game. Spector said: "I'm such a geek about musicals, I love the co-op and next-gen stuff, but for me, when a character breaks into song, which they do on a regular basis in this game, it's magic."

Spector also commented on the sequel's co-op features, stating that: "It's drop-in, drop-out co-op, you can sit down at any time with a friend who is playing as Mickey, and you can take control of Oswald. If you're playing as a single-player, Oswald will be there every second of the game. He's not just a multiplayer character, he's a helper, whether you're playing alone or with a friend or family member." Wasteland itself will feature old areas ruined by earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as new areas such as Disney Gulch, based on Disneyland's Frontierland.[8]

12 screenshots for the game were released on October 4, 2012. Fans long speculated that the recently located Oswald cartoon Hungry Hobos (1928) would appear as an unlockable, but the final game included the Silly Symphony Skeleton Dance (1929) instead.

On March 18, 2013, the UK division of Disney Movie's announced via Twitter that Disney's Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two would be receiving a port to Sony's PlayStation Vita platform. The Vita version will be developed by Blitz Game Studios (in collaboration with Sony Computer Entertainment), which has already dealt with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version of the game. Was announced that this version will be optimized especially for the Vita and that the defects of the original version will be placed, in particular the frame-rate and artificial intelligence. Furthermore, boasts of a co-op online or ad-hoc.[9]

In October 2013, the previously canceled PC port of Epic Mickey 2 was given a limited release in Central European countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic.[10]

Japanese magazine Famitsu confirmed that the game would arrive in Japan exclusively on Nintendo's consoles (Wii and Wii U) on September 26, 2013. The Nintendo 3DS sister title Power of Illusion (renamed as Mickey’s Marvelous Adventure) would arrive with The Power of Two on the same day in Japan. Unlike the previous title Epic Mickey, Epic Mickey 2 was published by Spike Chunsoft in Japan.[11]

On October 6, 2014, Epic Mickey 2 was made available on Steam.

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (Wii) 67.60%[12] (X360) 60.80%[13] (PS3) 57.83%[14] (Wii U) 55.42%[15] (Vita) 51.50%[16] Metacritic (Wii) 64/100[17] (X360/PS3) 59/100[18][19] (Wii U/Vita) 57/100[20][21] Review scores Publication Score Destructoid 2/10[22] Famitsu 32/40 (Wii U)[23] Game Informer 5.75/10[24] GameSpot 5/10[25] GamesRadar+ [26] IGN 6.2/10 (Vita)[27] 6/10 (Console versions)[28] Nintendo Life 5/10 (Wii)[29] 4/10 (Wii U)[30] Nintendo World Report 6.5/10[31] ONM 80% (Wii) 57% (Wii U)

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two received mixed reviews, with most complaints being the game not fixing issues that were present in the original, as well as issues with Oswald’s AI. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Wii version 67.60% and 64/100,[12][17] the Xbox 360 version 60.80% and 59/100[13][18] the PlayStation 3 version 57.83% and 59/100,[14][19] the Wii U version 55.42% and 57/100,[15][20] and the PlayStation Vita version 51.50% and 57/100.[16][21]

A sequel titled Epic Mickey 3 was originally intended to be the third and final part of the Epic Mickey trilogy. Due to the poor sales of Epic Mickey 2, Junction Point Studios closed on January 29, 2013, therefore canceling production on Epic Mickey 3.[34][35][36] It was also one of the last games to be published by Disney Interactive Studios before it closed in May 2016.

In 2016, concept art was leaked of a canceled kart racer based on the Epic Mickey franchise, named Epic Disney Racers, which was to include a number of other playable characters from Disney's legacy including Scrooge McDuck and Cruella De Vil, as well as Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Rabbit.[37]

• Official North American website