Welcome to the Disney Kingdom.
Walt Disney Co. Has been entertaining people for almost a
full century. As Walt himself said: "It all began with a mouse". In 1928, A new cartoon character made his way to the silver screen, and captured the
hearts of the entire world. His name...Mickey Mouse. As everyone is aware, Mickey was an international success, along with his friends Donald, Pluto, and
Goofy. The advancements made by the Walt Disney Co, and its founders love of technology and music paved the way for the companies biggest breakthroughs.
When color was introduced to film, Disney was the first to use it in animation, with The Flowers and the Trees. Walt's keen ear for music lead to the
success of songs in animation with The Three Little Pigs. The invention of the Multi-Plane Camera by the company made possible a sense of depth and
realism in a animated short. All of these innovations, and pushes ahead in animation over that first decade lead the Walt Disney Company to their greatest,
and most well known success...the animated feature film.
In 1938, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released to the world. It was called the Disney Folly while in production, because people could not
fathom sitting through a full hour and a half of a cartoon. These same people were the ones who gave it a standing ovation on its premiere. The first of its
kind in film history, Walt received a special Academy Award. It has a regular statue accompanied by seven smaller statues. Shirley Temple gave him the
award, and when asked if he was proud of it, he replied "I'm so proud, I think I'll blush." This was not the end though, Disney and his team of artist have
gone on to create some of the most loved films of all time. And throughout it all, they have pushed the boundaries of technology and animation to its utter
limits and beyond. In the mid 80's, Nintendo brought the video game craze abck to the
USA. Disney saw a marketing opportunity in this, and began creating video games. In the early 90's, Disney once again found a resurgence in their animated
films. Successful hits such as Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, and Pocahontas were some of the greatest films to be produced by
the company. The Lion King holds the record for highest grossing traditional animated film, Pocahontas holds the record for largest premiere in the world,
and Beauty and the Beast is the first and only Animated film to be nominated for Best Picture. At this time, the advent of the computer was coming into the
field of animation as well. Video games were extremely popular, and Disney saw an opportunity to make their animated films into games kids and adults could
play through the stories of their favorite films again and again.
Disney has created close to 30 games since the video game craze began, and they are some of the most graphically beautiful, and challenging games around.
Everything from Mickey Mouse, to Simba, Pinocchio, Aladdin, and The Jungle Book has been sampled into a video game. But for some reason, with the exception
of Mickey's magical Mirror for the Game Cube, there was no games made by Disney for the consoles past the 16 bit era...then something happened that no one
ever expected.
In 2000, Squaresoft announced the Kingdom Hearts project with the Walt Disney company.
People were stunned. Squaresoft, soon to be Square-Enix, was the head of the massively popular Final Fantasy and Chrono series. It seemed like a completely
different entity from that of the Disney companies entertainment. Most gamers scoffed the idea of the two making a game together, and it was for doomed to
be a flop game, before it was released. Very similar to the way Snow White was regarded as a folly before her release back in 1938.
When Kingdom Hearts was released in 2002, it was widely received as a masterpiece between the two companies. It was given great reviews all around, and has
since spawned a total of 5 sequels/prequels, and has become a major franchise for both Disney and Square-Enix. This title shows Disney still has what it
takes to make great gaming titles. The characters used in the games were done just as they were in their films. Voicing, (Though not always the same as the
original) was done as close as could be done. The giant leaps of video gaming by the Disney company in the decade between the game rush of the 90's and
Kingdom Hearts is still mind blowing.
The Disney Kingdom is for those classic games that are all but forgotten. Those great games that lead up to the present Kingdom Hearts series. As I find
more titles from Disney, I will place them in here. Right now I am opening the Kingdom with two of the best titles in their cannon: The Lion King, and
Aladdin. Both are great titles, with the Lion King holding my pick as the best of the SNES era. Please feel free to come in and enjoy the magical world of
Walt Disney, and the great characters and games they have created.
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