By Zachariah Hosoda
World of Illusion is a platforming game that was released in 1992. You play as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. The game starts out with a short cutscene, revealing that during practice for their magic show, they stumble upon a magic box. Before Mickey can stop him, Donald immediately walks into the box. The two are then transported into a magical world. They then must work together to get back home.
This was one of the first games I remember renting from Blockbuster when I was a kid. And probably one of the only games that I rented multiple times. World of Illusion plays like most platformers of the time. Your main form of defense is a magic cape that you can wave at an enemy to transform them into various objects. You can also run by holding in A, and, of course, there is a lot of jumping. But what sets this game apart from other platformers, and co-op games of the time, is the fact that you actually must work together to get through the levels.
There are times that you come across a platform that is too high to jump to. In order to get to the next level, you must use the log catapult. To pull this off, one player must stand on one end of the catapult, as the other jumps on the opposite side. This will boost the first player to the next area. But then the player that was boosted needs to drop a rope so their teammate can climb up to them. Also, there are specific parts in the game where you need to jump on the shoulders of the other player to get higher up. Sometimes there are small gaps you must crawl under. Donald will not fit, so the player that controls Mickey must press A to pull Donald through.
The game is fairly short, consisting of only five levels. Some people may consider this to be a negative, but for me, I always appreciate a game I can play through in one sitting. Especially when you don't alway have a lot of time to dedicate to games. The difficulty is pretty manageable as well, but still might take a few attempts to beat.
Although, there were plenty of co-op games from this time, there just weren't many that actually required team work to progress through the levels. Sure, you were able to play side by side as you kill and dodge enemies. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, good team work can definitely benefit in those game. But what I'm referring to is the purest form of cooperative gaming. It's when having another player not only enhances the gameplay, but also involves mandatory teamwork. And without it, you simply won't progress. In my opinion, this is what makes a great co-op game.