50. Mickey Mouse III: Yume Fuusen (Kemco, Famicom, 1992)

Mickey Mouse III: Yume Fuusen ("dream balloon") is nominally the third game in a series where the first 2 games (Mickey Mouse and Mickey Mouse II) were only released on the Game Boy. Because Disney video game licensing was a bit of a mess before the mid-90s, these games are only Mickey Mouse-related in their Japanese releases, with the first 2 being rebranded as Bugs Bunny games in North America. The third title was also reskinned for a western release, but this time to feature a character that Kemco owned, Kid Klown in Night Mayor World.

I had played the previous Mickey Mouse game (released by Hudson in 1987) on the Famicom, but it was a boring, straightforward arcade game with not much to keep me interested. Thankfully Mickey Mouse III (as Kid Klown's eye-watering roughly $250 market value suggests) is an entertaining platformer with great presentation and a few good ideas. The main feature of the game that sets it apart from its contemporaries is that Mickey Mouse is a balloon salesmouse, which means that he can generate and throw balloons at enemies. Crucially, you can hold any balloon you generate before releasing the button to throw it, and while holding it, you also fall much more slowly, so there is a feeling of control that is often missing from these early platformer titles. The way your balloons bounce off of the walls gives me big Gimmick vibes, and that's one of my favorite Famicom games.

There is a general level of polish here that you don't usually see in a Famicom game, even one like this developed later in the system's life. The animations are much better than average, there is a nice graphic displayed when you pause instead of just freezing the action, and there are actual level and screen transitions (some of which look bizarrely smooth on the Famicom classic mini I'm playing on). I realize that none of this sounds extraordinary for a modern game, but it really does make a Famicom game feel more put-together.

5/5, easy, breezy, beautiful, I wish more Famicom platformers were this good.