Before Sonic the Hedgehog became a hit, one of Sega’s earlier Genesis successes was a game starring Mickey Mouse. Sega licensed the character from Disney and created a side-scrolling platformer. Sega went on to create a few more Disney titles including the Master System/Game Gear sequel Land of Illusion and Quackshot, but lost the license to do so years ago.
It appears Disney wants to do something with Castle of Illusion now. The media conglomerate filed a trademark for the term specifically for use with video game cartridges, discs, and software. Unlike other trademarks, the Castle of Illusion registration is specifically for video games. Perhaps, Disney is planning on a remake or a new game with the same setting?
A digital re-release is another possibility. Since rights changed, Disney licensed titles from the ’80s and ’90s were not distributed for Virtual Console or other platforms. The title is now properly tied to Disney, but all of this seems like a lot of work for a giant like Disney to do just to digitally distribute a two decade old game.
