Nintendo Mouseketeers are getting a double shot of Disney's mascot with the release of Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two for Wii and Epic Mickey: Power of the Illusion for 3DS. Both games will feature Mickey and his magic brush in familiar Disney locales, but judging by Dreamrift's first set of screenshots for the mouse's 3DS chapter, that's where the similarities end.
A study of the new images shows Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion to be an ode to classic Mickey Mouse side-scrollers; specifically, Sega's Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. Not that this is a bad thing. in fact, GR has a certain soft spot for Mickey's video game past, as evidenced in last week's feature, "Why Mickey Mouse used to be at the cutting edge of video game entertainment. No, Really..." (really!)
A handful of other Disney characters appear to be coming along for the ride, including Scrooge McDuck, Peter Pan, and Beast. But while Power of Illusion looks to be heavy on unique cameos, its re-use of the same enemy type in every locations is slightly concerning.
Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is slated for a fall 2012 release, while Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two has a more concrete launch window of September 2012. You can read our early thoughts on the latter console edition in Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two preview - what's new?