Two worlds collided at a first-look event for Disney Magical World 2, held at the Nintendo store in New York City.
The preview began with some time to mingle with other invitees or play the game itself before the official presentation. I seized the time to familiarize myself with the game a bit, getting some helpful hints from a developer named Danny. But my time playing was cut short when the presentation portion of the event began.
Once everyone was settled, a representative from Nintendo started the festivities by introducing everyone to Danny. I need to preface this part by saying that this event as a whole was geared towards children, with all the invitees encouraged to bring along any youngsters they may have. With that in mind, the presentation by Danny was based around what children would want to hear, but I did manage to glean a lot of good information about the game from it.
The game starts with the player creating a character who lives in Castleton, the main hub of all of Disney Magical World 2. Your character is one of the only characters in the whole game who is able to use magic, so you are always being called upon to help others sticky situations. Completing these challenges gives you stickers, which help you unlock items. But if you think collecting everything will be easy, think again because there are over 3,000 different items unlockable in the game.
Not all of the action takes place in Castleton, however. Castleton is set up like the Magic Kingdom parks, with a central castle and different lands surrounding it. Each of these lands is based on a Disney Animated Classic, namely, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie-the-Pooh, The Little Mermaid, Lilo & Stitch, and Frozen. In each of these worlds, you can meet all of your favorite characters and help them with their problems using your special magic powers.
But one of my favorite features was the opportunity to engage in Magical Dreams. Taking a cue from the Disney park classic, the Main Street Electrical Parade, players can hold a Magical Dream parade throughout Castleton as an extra way to earn stickers. From the footage I saw, the parade floats have a similar aesthetic to the classic attraction, plus you get to interact with some of your favorite characters during the parade.
From what I heard, Disney Magical World 2 truly builds on its predecessor, including four new worlds (Alice and the Hundred Acre Woods were used previously) and plenty of new items. Plus, the fun won’t stop with the initial purchase of the game, as there will be periodic free downloads available from Nintendo to increase the number of items available in the game.
After giving us the full rundown of the game, Danny made way for the event’s special celebrity guest, Disney Channel’s own Olivia Holt (Kickin’ It). Olivia let all the kids loose to go and explore the different activities available, sticking around the entire time to interview some lucky kids and help them dress up as their favorite Disney characters.
Invitees could start off at Daisy’s Boutique (one of the stores in the game), in order to fulfill all of their Disney costume needs. With countless dresses and pirate outfits to choose from, there was a little something for everyone. Plus, everyone was able to keep their costumes after the event was completed.
With their outfit in place, young adventurers had the chance to visit Minnie’s Style Salon, an area dedicated to all their beauty and tattoo needs. Princesses were made beautiful and pirates, swashbuckling, to truly immerse children in the entire Magical World experience.
The event also gave these kids (and their parents) the chance to be among the first to play this brand-new game. People were consistently over at game station, regardless of their age, so I think the game should do a good job of crossing over the age-barrier provide fun for everyone.
All in all, I thought the entire event was really well put together and a blast to attend. With all of the different items to collect, the game will offer hundreds of hours of playable content, so you definitely will receive a lot of bang for your buck. If you enjoyed the first one or are just looking for a fun, new experience, I recommend checking it out.
Disney Magical World 2 will be released October 14th, 2016 for the Nintendo 3DS.