Software:Fantasia (video game)

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Fantasia
European cover art
Developer(s)Infogrames
Publisher(s)Sega
Designer(s)Didier Chanfray, Jean-Jacques Poncet, Philippe Agripnidis
Programmer(s)Richard Bottet, Thibault Lepoutre
Artist(s)Didier Chanfray
Composer(s)Frederic Metzen
SeriesFantasia
Platform(s)Mega Drive/Genesis
ReleaseNovember 1991 (NA, EU, JP)[1]
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Fantasia is a side-scrolling video game developed by Infogrames and produced by Sega for its own Mega Drive/Genesis system. The game was loosely based on the film of the same name.

Gameplay

The player controls Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's Apprentice through various side-scrolling levels in an attempt to collect musical notes that went missing whilst he was asleep.[1] The game's four levels were based on amalgamations of the segments of Fantasia, with each one themed around the elements: water (The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Dance of the Reed Flutes and Nutcracker Arabian Dance), earth (The Rite of Spring), air (Trepak, Pastoral Symphony and Dance of the Hours) and fire (Night on Bald Mountain, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor). The player defeats various enemies by jumping on them or by collecting magical bubbles that could be used to shoot at enemies as projectiles. In each level, the player collects a certain number of hidden magical notes in order for the song to play once again.

Development

Sega was inspired by the success of Castle of Illusion and by the 50th Anniversary of the 1940 film to create the game. Development began in January 1990.[2] The Sega producer Scott Berfield along with Stephan L. Butler monitored Infogrames development of the game to ensure it remained a faithful adaptation. The development team consisted of six people who lacked experience in developing console games.[1]

With pressure from holiday rush and the summer release of Sonic the Hedgehog, time to develop the game was tight. It was difficult to replicate the animation and music quality of the film to the 16-bit console.[1] By May, Sega presented Fantasia at the Consumer Electronics Show and by mid-summer was showcased at the Tec Toy launch.[3]

With no time to tweak the gameplay or polish the graphics, the game was shipped in time for the holiday season. The release of Fantasia was met with complaints by Roy E. Disney who had made a promise to his uncle Walt, that Fantasia adaptions would not be made. The licensing turned out to be granted in error. Sales of the game were to stop, every unsold copy (5,000 approximately) was to be destroyed and every advertisement about the game was to be removed.[1]

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
EGM5.75/10[4]
MegaTech49%[5]
Mega11%[6]
Mega Action80%[7]
Console XS81%[8]
Mega Play18/40[9]
Mean Machines61%[10]

The game was poorly received, with MegaTech magazine saying the game was "a massive disappointment. Poorly designed, bland and frustrating, with very little appeal". Mean Machines said that although appearing impressive at first with "excellent sprites and gorgeous backdrops, the gameplay is badly flawed and there are several highly annoying features that make the action frustrating".[10] Mega Play's four reviewers gave average to below average review, they unanimously praised the graphics and animations but also criticized the gameplay calling it choppy, substandard and awkward.[9] Mega Action gave Fantasia an overall score of 80% and praised the cartoon-like animation and criticized the games difficulty set far too high.[7] Console XS initially praised the graphics as "astounding" and the animation and scrolling as "superb". They criticized the game saying: "This game is full of poor collision detection, frustrating restart points and repetitive gameplay. Very, very tough".[8] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave average reviews praising the graphics, animation and game music. They criticized the game's controls and gameplay calling it repetitive, clunky and unpredictable and said that Fantasia does not measure up to Castle of Illusion.[4]

Mega placed the game at #6 in their list of the 10 Worst Mega Drive Games of All Time.[11]

See also

  • List of Disney video games

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Horowitz, Ken (21 October 2016). Playing at the next level: a history of American Sega games. Jefferson, North Carolina. ISBN 9780786499946. OCLC 948561018. 
  2. ↑ "Sega for the 90s". Computer Entertainer 8 (10): 14. January 1990. https://archive.org/details/ComputerEntertainerJanuary1990/page/n13. 
  3. ↑ "The Planet Disney enters the orbit of Sega". Supergame (2): 20–23. August 1991. https://retrocdn.net/images/6/68/Supergame_BR_02.pdf. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Fantasia Review". Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM Media, LLC) (25): 22. August 1991. https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Gaming_Monthly_25/page/n21/mode/2up?q=Fantasia+. Retrieved April 9, 2022. 
  5. ↑ "Fantasia - MegaTech". MegaTech (EMAP) (6): 77. June 1992. 
  6. ↑ "Fantasia - Mega Rating". Mega (Future Publishing) (20): 65. May 1994. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Mega Library". Mega Action (1): 65. June 1993. https://archive.org/details/mega-action-issue-1-1993-06/page/n63/mode/2up. Retrieved March 21, 2022. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "A-Z Software". Console XS (1): 129. June 1992. https://archive.org/details/console-xs-01/page/128/mode/2up. Retrieved March 24, 2022. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Mega Reviews". Mega Play: 63. July–August 1991. https://archive.org/details/mega-play-vol.-2-no.-4-jul-aug-1991/page/62/mode/2up. Retrieved March 9, 2022. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Fantasia - Meacn Machine Review". Mega (Future Publishing) (12): 54–56. September 1991. http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/pdf/fantasiamd.pdf. 
  11. ↑ "Fantasia - Mega Review". Mega (Future Publishing) (1): 85. October 1992. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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