As part of the new multiplatform release, Disney Illusion Island Starring Mickey and Friends is also getting new content in the form of Scrooge offering the playable characters a new special ability called Dig! This ability can then be turned in for permanent upgrades for a new game mode dubbed Cave Adventuring Scavenger Hunt (C.A.S.H.). This new content will also be released on Nintendo Switch.

Getting ready for its release on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, a new trailer for Disney Illusion Island Starring Mickey and Friends has been released. Check it out below. The trailer gives us quick glimpses at each of the four playable characters, before giving us a wider look at its gorgeous art style and levels and character designs.

As the trailer indicates, along with the new content, Disney Illusion Island‘s multiplatform release will also bring with it sharper visuals thanks to the higher resolution output that is possible on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

The multi-platform release was first hinted at earlier this week when PSDeals was able to scrape through PlayStation Store’s backend for details about the release. The game will include all of the gameplay features from the original Nintendo Switch release, including offline co-op multiplayer for between 2 and 4 players, along with the ability for players to help each other by using unique abilities.

Disney Illusion Island was originally announced back in September 2022. It was eventually released on the Nintendo Switch, even getting a trailer leading up to its July 2023 release date. The trailer gave us a glimpse at some of the areas that players would be exploring in the game, as well as some of the special abilities of each of the four playable characters.

In Disney Illusion Island, players take on the role of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy or Donald as they set forth to explore the titular island. The game has been structured like other metroidvania titles, complete with players needing to explore every nook and cranny in order to find upgrades and shortcuts that will help them progress further through its story.

Back when it came out, the title got generally positive reviews. Its Metacritic aggregate sits at around 73, and in our own review for the game, we gave it a score of 8 out of 10. While we praised the game for great visuals and animations, as well as the general charm it exudes thanks to its witty writing, we did find some of its gameplay mechanics a on the shallower end, and the lack of combat offering up some awkward boss fights here and there.

According to the store description as caught by PSDeals, Disney Illusion Island Starring Mickey and Friends will include all of the features of its original Switch release in the PS5 version. This includes support for offline multiplayer for between 2 and 4 players. Interestingly the PS5 release also has the “Starring Mickey and Friends” suffix in the title when compared to the original release. This might indicate additional content coming to the title.

While no release date has been given for the title, a PS Store listing existing in Sony’s servers indicates that announcement is likely not too far away.

Originally announced back in September 2022, Disney Illusion Island was released on the Nintendo Switch in July 2023. The title got a trailer leading up to its initial release, showcasing the various challenges that players will have to take on as they explore the eponymous Illusion Island.

The title also includes some features more commonly seen in metroidvania titles, with players having the ability to swim, jump and wall-jump, among other things, depending on the character they choose to play as. The base game featured Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy as its primary protagonists. Each character also has co-op abilities where multiple players can support each other in their exploration.

On release, Disney Illusion Island got generally positive reviews, with a Metacritic aggregate score of 73. In our own review of the title, we praised it quite a bit for its great visuals and animations, solid level design, and its witty writing. Our only complaints revolved around a lack of combat, uneven boss fights, and the title not being as complex as one would want from a metroidvania game. Ultimately we gave Disney Illusion Island a score of 8 out of 10, praising its universal appeal and accessibility.

Disney Illusion Island shines the spotlight on the elderly statesmen of the Disney family, i.e. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald. The four friends are headed out to a picnic on an invitation, but quickly discover that the invitation was a ruse to get them to the mysterious island of Monoth, where the resident Tokuns have called them for aid in search of heroes. What starts out as a picnic quickly turns into a quest to recover three tomes from thieves scattered in different parts of Monoth in order to prevent guaranteed disaster for the island and its denizens. It’s a simple, straightforward setup, but it’s surprisingly effective in its execution, thanks in large part to strong, witty writing that consistently delivers chuckle-worthy humour and endearing characterization for pretty much every character you come across, not just the four icons who serve as the main stars.

"Disney Illusion Island is not a standout experience that’ll rank among the genre’s greats by any means, but it has quite a lot going for it, with a few elements in particular that make it a surprisingly unique experience."

Even better are the animations. Quite a bit of Illusion Island’s story moments and character interactions happen during gameplay and with text boxes, but every so often, the game delivers beautifully crafted, lengthy cutscenes. Not only do these boast excellent voice acting – especially for the four heroes, with all of their instantly recognizable voices and quirks – they’re also wonderfully animated. Combining impressive attention to detail and a particularly nostalgic brand of old-school hand-drawn animations, each cutscene is a joy to witness, even if what’s actually happening on the screen isn’t particularly captivating on paper.

Those excellent animations can be found throughout the game, in fact, even outside of cutscenes. Disney Illusion Island is an excellent looking game, almost to the point where it kept surprising me with its visual strengths the more I played it. The gorgeous hand-drawn art never loses its charm, backgrounds and enemies are filled with small details that lend them a great amount of personality, and the four heroes themselves move about in a way that’s consistently fun to look at. From simply walking around or jumping over a small gap to more elaborate strings of platforming maneuvers, animations in Illusion Island are crammed with love and detail, and all flow excellently into each other, so it looks like you’re always watching a classic cartoon.

Each of the four playable characters also has the exact same moveset, but each of them gets a unique animation for every move- while Donald pulls out a plunger for his wall jumps, Goofy uses a comically large fork. Where Minnie uses a parasol to glide, Donald just flaps his wings. Mechanically, there’s no difference whatsoever in how any of the characters move, but the unique animations still inject a great deal of charm into every single thing they do. No, it’s no Cuphead, but to hold every game with hand-drawn animations to that ridiculously high standard would be insanity- so let’s not.

"Combining impressive attention to detail and a particularly nostalgic brand of old-school hand-drawn animations, each cutscene is a joy to witness."

When it comes to the actual gameplay, Disney Illusion Island is much less remarkable, even if it remains enjoyable the entire time, especially once you’re past the opening section where your moveset is limited to just a simple jump. Being a Metroidvania, Illusion Island slowly doles out new movement abilities that then let you get to previously inaccessible areas. With moves like a double jump, wall jump, ground pound, grappling hook, and the like, the game isn’t particularly inventive in the abilities and power ups you unlock, but it manages to make them interesting nonetheless thanks to how it implements those mechanics.

For starters, the moment-to-moment movement always feels great. Yes, it can get a bit too floaty at times, which is obviously down to the game’s bid to be a much easier and less demanding experience, but stringing together a variety of different moves together to get through platforming challenges is always satisfying. It helps, of course, that those challenges all tend to be very well designed. They start out quite simple and straightforward, but as you get deeper into the game, they get increasingly elaborate- never on the same level of platforming-focused Metroidvanias like, say, Ori or Guacamelee, but certainly to the level where the game actually leverages its platforming mechanics in a meaningful way.

Which is good, because platforming is all there is. There is no combat whatsoever in Illusion Island, which means that even though there will be plenty of enemies that’ll lie in your path, coming in different shapes and sizes and posing different threats, the only way to get past them is to, well, get past them. Avoiding enemies is inherently less engaging than defeating them, especially in a Metroidvania platformer, and even though I do understand that that’s a choice made by developer Dlala Studios in order to be as welcoming to as many demographics as possible, it did still end up feeling like the gameplay experience was lacking a key component. That ends up impacting the boss fights as well, which are unable to deliver the set-piece bursts of action you’d expect, owing to the fact that they’re completely platforming focused (not to mention the fact that they all last a bit too long).

"Platforming challenges start out quite simple and straightforward, but as you get deeper into the game, they get increasingly elaborate- never on the same level of platforming-focused Metroidvanias like, say, Ori or Guacamelee, but certainly to the level where the game actually leverages its platforming mechanics in a meaningful way."

Of course, exploration is just as important as platforming or combat in a Metroidvania (if not even more so), and that’s another area where Illusion Island delivers a solid, enjoyable experience, even if never does anything too remarkable. The level design has a good understanding of the Metroidvania genre’s biggest strengths, and going through interconnected environments and slowly unlocking the surprisingly large map feels satisfying. There are also plenty of collectibles to collect and hidden rooms and optional challenges to find, which combines with solid environmental variety to make exploration feel appropriately rewarding. Naturally, it all operates on a much more relaxed and easygoing pace than something like Hollow Knight or Metroid Dread, so don’t expect genre-defining design- but it’s more than serviceable nonetheless.

If those are the sort of expectations you’re going into Disney Illusion Island with, there’s almost no way you’re not going to have a good time on at least some level. It’s a Metroidvania platformer, yes, but it’s much more easygoing and relaxed than the sort of games you’d ordinarily associate that category of games with. It’s bursting with charm, whimsy, and personality, and delivers consistently fun platforming. Even if it never really delivers something on a gameplay level that you’ll be thinking about days after you’ve wrapped up its 6-8 hour adventure, as a whole, it’s an easy game to recommend to all players, regardless of skill level or familiarity with the genre.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch.

SETUP

Disney Illusion Island is set on the mystical and mysterious island of Monoth, where the game’s main heroes find themselves transported, only to quickly realize that there’s trouble afoot. Three magical books, referred to as Tomes, have been the vehicles for the island’s protection for a long time, but now those Tomes have been stolen, which means it falls to our heroes to explore Monoth Island and recover the books.

PLAYABLE CHARACTERS

Disney Illusion Island is looking to make use of several legendary Disney characters in its bid to attract a crowd, with thee being four playable characters in the game in total. These four are the ever-so-brave Mickey Mouse himself, the calm and resourceful Minnie Mouse, the troublemaker Donald Duck, and the clumsy and innocent Goofy. That said, in terms of actual gameplay, all four characters will play and move the exact same way, so which of them you choose to play as will be an entirely cosmetic decision, effectively.

CO-OP

Disney Illusion Island is promising Metroidvania sidescrolling platform action (more on that in a bit), and not just as a solo experience. The game will be playable in four player co-op, as you may have guessed from there being four playable characters. That said, those looking for an exclusively solo experience need not fret, because you’ll be able to play through the entire game by yourself if you so wish.

SKILLS

Regardless of which character you’re playing as, gameplay won’t change in Disney Illusion Island, but all four characters will, of course, have access to a pool of abilities that you’ll unlock throughout your journey. Some of these include rope drop, where you can drop a rope to a friend from a higher elevation; hug, where you hug a friend to grant them additional health; and leap frog, where you can play leap frog with a friend to jump across larger gaps.

OTHER CHARACTERS

As Mickey and co make their way through the island of Monoth, they’ll be crossing paths with plenty of personalities, some of whom we already have a few details on. There are the Hokuns, which are furry and loyal creatures charged with protecting the Tomes; the Sharpiks, which are slow moving slugs covered in spikes; the Boomrogs, who’re bulbuous creatures that are capable of releasing toxic gases; Toku, a trombone player and the leader of the Hokuns; Mazzy, who creates crazy contraptions using magic and science; and Jido, a scout who knows every inch of the island.

METROIDVANIA

Last time Dlala Studios released a game, the developer tried its hand at the beat ’em up genre with Battletoads, but its next title is going in a very different direction. Disney Illusion Island will, of course, be a sidescrolling 2D platformer where its moment-to-moment gameplay and core mechanics are concerned, but in terms of actual level design, it’s not going to be a very linear affair. As a Metroidvania game, it’s promising plenty of freedom in nonlinear exploration and an emphasis on ability-gated progression and backtracking.

NO COMBAT

One area where Disney Illusion Island is promising a different experience from what you might be expecting, especially for a game that’s billing itself as a Metroidvania, is the combat- in that it has none. According to its developers, this is an experience that’ll focus purely and exclusively on platforming and movement mechanics, which means if you run into enemies in the world, you’ll be tasked with avoiding and getting past them rather than taking them on in combat.

BIOMES

Outside of the combat and platforming, when it comes to the island itself, the game is promising a fair bit of variety in the locations that you’ll be traversing and exploring. In total, there are three main biomes in the island of Monoth, each hiding one of the Tomes. There’s Pavonia, a fruitful and prosperous area that’s rich in flora and fauna. Then there’s Gizmopolis, a hub of engineering, clockwork, robots, and what have you. Finally, there’s Astrono, which is all about astronomy, where even gravity is different. On top of those three main biomes, players will also explore the Library, an old and abandoned hub that’s filled with dusty old tomes and manuscripts.

SECRETS AND COLLECTIBLES

As a Metroidvania game, Disney Illusion Island will, of course, place its fair share of emphasis on exploration, which means there will also be secrets and collectibles to track down. For starters, there are Glimts, which are wisp-like things scattered throughout the map that you can collect and spend on unlocking upgrades, from additional health to concept art. Mickey Memorablia will cover a variety of items from the character’s long and stories legacy that you can find hidden in different places. There are also Tokuns, which are essentially in-game trading cards featuring a variety of in-game characters.

DIFFICULTY

Metroidvania games love to put up a challenge across everything from combat to traversal, though Disney Illusion Island is taking a different approach in this area. This is, after all, a Disney game with characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck front and center, which means the goal for Dlala Studios has been to cast as wide a net as possible. Speaking in an interview with Game Informer, creative director AJ Grand-Scrutton said, “It’s not a kids’ game. It’s a family game. What that means is it is difficult at times. There’s some complicated platforming. But then we give people the tools to be able to customize the experience. Every time you start the game on the character select screen, each player can individually set their starting health. For those players who just want to enjoy a story, or for younger players, you can actually set yourself to infinite health from the beginning.”

ANIMATIONS

Disney Illusion Island’s undeniably pleasant art style is clearly one of its bigger highlights from what we’ve seen of it so far, and it looks like the game is going to be just as striking when viewed in motion, if not more. Dlala Studios is promising gorgeous and detailed hand-drawn animations, with a great deal of detail crammd into every movement. Given the property that it’s based on, it should be interesting to see just how much the game impresses in that area.

MUSIC AND VOICE ACTING

In addition to its visual strengths with the art style and hand-drawn animations, Disney Illusion Island is also promising a strong aural experience. Dlala Studios has confirmed that the game features fully orchestrated original score, as well as voice over performances from “authentic voice talents”, as the developer describes them.

INSPIRATIONS

It seems Dlala Studios has taken inspiration from a great deal of sources for Disney Illusion Island’s development, beyond even the obvious ones. Visually and from an art perspective, the game has taken a leaf out of the Rayman games’ book, while the studio is also describing it as an homage to Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion, and Magical Quest, rather than a direct sequel. Meanwhile, in its level design and focus on traversal and platforming, you’ll also find similarities with the Ori games.

PRICE

Disney Illusion Island is being billed as a family friendly, relatively small-scale experience, so it’s no surprise that, happily enough, it won’t be a full-priced game. When it launches exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on July 28, it will be available for purchase for a price of $39.99.

FILE SIZE

The game’s smaller-scale nature and relatively compact scope will be reflected in its file size as well. According to the Switch eShop, Disney Illusion Island has a file size of 6.6 GB, which is pretty much par for the course for most games on the Switch, especially if it’s sidescrolling platformers you’re talking about.

Developer Dlala Studios teamed up with Rare and Microsoft to bring back the beloved beat em up franchise Battletoads back from the dead last year, and though that revival may not have blown anyone’s socks off, it was exactly the kind of game it needed to be. Now, it seems like Dlala’s next project might be headed in a similar direction- at least as far as visuals are concerned.

The developer currently has a few listings for job openings up on it careers page, and two in particular are quiet interesting. The openings for positions of 2D VFX Artist and 2D Environment Artist suggest that their next game is, of course, going to be 2D. What’s even more interesting is that both listings refer to the game as a new instalment in a “much-loved established IP”.

With Battletoads, Dlala Studios definitely showed they have the chops to develop 2D games in beloved properties, so it should be interesting to see what this turns out to be. Perhaps they’re working with Microsoft again, maybe even for a Battletoads sequel? The previous game was definitely successful enough to warrant a follow-up, so maybe. Either way, that’s just speculation for now, but you’ll keep you updated, so stay tuned.

Earlier this year we got the revival of an old Rare favorite IP, Battletoads. The game was both a send up and a satire of the beloved beat’em ups as it had all the zaniness you’d expect from the property as well as delighting in taking the piss out of the elements that haven’t aged too well. It also seems that it struck a cord with a quite a few people, too.

Via the official Rare Twitter channel, it was announced that the game has bounced passed 1 million players. Considering the game was on Game Pass day 1, as all Microsoft first party titles are now, it’s hard to parse what the actual sales are, but still 1 million unique players isn’t too shabby. There’s also plenty of other stats here such as the most played toad, fastest speed run, how many collectibles gotten, etc., to give you an idea of how much the game has been played.

Battletoads is available now for both Xbox One and PC and available on Xbox Game Pass on both platforms. You can check out what we thought of the game with our review through here.

As Battletoads bounces past a million players, we've swiped some staggering in-game stats since launch! Poor Chet and his turbo bikes, we'll be surprised if he's still in business. Read the post for the lowdown and take a swing at the game today: https://t.co/ZNlGjdzGt0 pic.twitter.com/e1W3PHZGDW

— Rare Ltd. (@RareLtd) October 26, 2020

It’s been 26 years since the last major Battletoads title but the crew is back and better than ever. Developed by Dlala Studios and Rare, the new Battletoads releases today for Xbox One, Windows 10, Steam and Xbox Game Pass. To help celebrate, Xbox’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb – or at least, the animated version of him – interviewed Rash, Zitz and Pimple in the new launch trailer.

The trailer also showcases some of the content that fans can expect. Along with the usual beat ’em up style gameplay, there minigames and other hooks. Turbo Bike racing, as terrifying as it was in the original games, also makes a return (though impressions indicate that it’s not as difficult here).

Along with drop-in, drop-out co-op, Battletoads also features customizable difficulty settings. The art-style is also very much in-line with the launch trailer, presenting a hand-drawn cartoon aesthetic compared to previous games. Stay tuned for more details on Battletoads as it goes live today.

Battletoads was one of the many franchises that Rare created in their heyday, and one that had the most ’90s ‘tude you could imagine alongside some hard as nails gameplay. Now, they are returning with a cartoon aesthetic closer to modern animated shows with the same type of brawling action we know and love, and we got a huge look at it today.

Ahead of the official release tomorrow, Microsoft and Rare shared nearly 25 full minutes of a gameplay showcase. Developer Dlala Studios definitely did their studying on the old school games, and it looks like they’ve added their own bit of tricks to the mix. Check it out below.

Battletoads releases tomorrow, August 20th, for both Xbox One and PC. Like all Microsoft first party titles now, the game will also be day and date with Game Pass across both platforms. For PC players, you can check out the requirements you’ll need to run the game through here.

After a year of radio silence about Battletoads from Microsoft following its reveal at E3 2019, they recently announced that the brawler – with dashes of several other genres thrown in – will be releasing later this month, and the game certainly looked significantly better in its newest trailer than it did at its first showing.

Now, other details for the game have also been revealed. Via its Microsoft Store page, it’s been confirmed that Battletoads’ file size on the Xbox One is just under 20 GB- 19.29 GB, to be precise. Meanwhile, the game’s PC system requirements have also been revealed via Steam, and they’re pretty easily doable, as you would have expected. Minimum requirements mention either a GTX 650 or an R7 250x, while recommended settings stipulate either a GTX 650Ti or an R7 260. You can check out the full system requirements below.

Battletoads launches for Xbox One and PC on August 20.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Pentium G620
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GTX 650 or AMD R7 250x
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 15 GB available space

RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: AMD Phenom II x4 965
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GTX 650Ti or AMD R7 260
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 15 GB available space

First announced at E3 last year, the revival of the classic beat ’em up franchise Battletoads has been missing from all major Microsoft showings since then, while developers themselves have remained oddly quiet about it. Recently, the game received age ratings in Brazil and Australia, fuelling speculation that it would be releasing soon. That has now been officially confirmed.

In a new trailer released for the game, Microsoft have announced that Battletoads will be coming to Xbox One and PC less than a month from now, on August 20. The game promises beat ’em up action, but it’s looking like it’s going to be a mishmash of genres beyond that. The trailer has glimpses of platforming sections, arcade shooting, and more. It’s also worth mentioning that the game is looking significantly better than it did at E3 last year. The visuals, too, are looking much sharper and more vibrant. Check out the trailer below.

As with all Microsoft first party games, Battletoads will be available via Xbox Game Pass on PC and console at launch. The game is also available to purchase on Steam.