'Mischievous' Mickey Mouse Character Canned In Epic Mickey News

When Disney and Junction Point Studios introduced Epic Mickey to us last year, they demoed three separate character models of Mickey Mouse that arose in the game depending on how you played it. There was the classic, happy-go-lucky Mickey who emerged if you played the game creatively, the 'Mischievous'/'Scrapper' Mickey that resulted from destructive play, or a third Mickey that was essentially a mix of the two.

However, due to some annoying focus group work that's been going on, Junction Point has now decided to can the 'Scrapper' Mickey character and reduce the game to two models: the classic Mickey mentioned above and a new character that takes on a "smudgy look" according to The Mainichi Daily News.

"We're not going to change Mickey's image so much," confirmed Junction Point's Warren Spector before he went on to explain how focus group sessions have returned negative feedback for the 'Scrapper' Mickey character.

"People don't like it when you mess with Mickey," he continued. "We did a focus test that was really eye-opening for me. There was a biker dude saying, 'Oh, I'd never play a Mickey Mouse game,' and then we showed him images of a changed Mickey. I was sitting there thinking, 'You're gonna love what we do,' but he said, 'No! Don't mess with my childhood.'"

There's your problem, Warren. Your asking bikers what they think of Epic Mickey rather than gamers!