Here’s the gaming trend of 2024 I didn’t expect: games about fake games. If you haven’t heard us gush about UFO 50 yet,you should fix that immediately. It’s an amazing collection of 50 games - yes, FIFTY games - packaged as the gameography of a fictional Atari-esque studio called UFO Soft. Imagine that the most prolific game studio of the ‘70s and ‘80s suddenly vanished from everyone’s memories, but then miraculously reappeared one day, allowing us all to play their entire catalog of beloved games as if for the first time. That’s UFO 50.
Similarly, Disney Pixel RPG invites us to imagine a world filled with classic and modern hit Disney games. Beyond the small handful of well-known titles - your Epic Mickeys, your Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescues - there’s an entire GameStop’s worth of hit Disney games you’ve never heard of before. But unlike UFO 50, you don’t actually get to play those games, you just get another generic mobile gacha game.
To be fair to Disney Pixel RPG (just this once), it isn’t completely devoid of value. As someone who collects Disney characters in the form of pins, plushies, andtrading cards, I don’t totally hate the idea of collecting my favorites in the form of cutesy pixel pals. Its multiversal story about a gameverse (distinct from the Marvel gameverse) where heroes from all kinds of fake Disney video games are brought together to fight off a pixel-eating plague, is intriguing too. But it’s pretty hard to get excited about yanking on a slot machine all day while simultaneously being told that somewhere out there is a stealth-action game called Zootopia: Infiltration Mission.
Like I said, points for creativity, but I can’t help feeling a bit insulted by this whole exercise. The first three characters you meet are a trio of Mickey Mouses: a classic from beloved family board game Mickey & Friends Magical Carnival, a DJ Mickey from the rhythm game Magic Disco, and black-and-white Mickey from the side-scroller series Pocket Adventure. None of those games are real, but I sure wish they were. I’d rather play any of those games over Disney Pixel RPG, which really isn’t a game, but an app where you watch Disney characters automatically complete turn-based battles until the enemies get too strong, at which point it’s time to start dumping money into the app hole.
I want to play the Final Fantasy-inspired RPG Princess Saga. I want to play the Winnie the Pooh farming sim Fantastic Honey Farm. I don’t really get what kind of game Science Action Mickey Mouse is supposed to be, but dang it, I wanna play that too. My favorite part of the game so far has been exploring the index and reading the little blurbs about the amazing games my characters came from that I’ll never get to play. But hey, at least I can open ten loot boxes at a time for a guaranteed pull of a 2-star character! Now that’s value.
Admittedly, I’m still a bit raw from theDisney Mirrorverse, so forgive me for painting all Disney gacha-based mobile games with the same magic paintbrush. I can’t say for sure how this one is any different from Disney Mirrorverse, Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, Disney Sorcerer’s Arena, or any of the myriad Marvel mobile games out there, but maybe it becomes strategically complex and rewarding to play once you’ve spent enough money on Truth Orb bundles to really get it. Maybe this is developer GungHo’s way of building up a war chest so it can actually make Zootopia: Infiltration Mission.
I’d like to think that the next UFO 50 will be Disney 50, but I guess I’ll have to settle for a mobile game with a credit icon featured prominently on the home screen.
