Toy Story Midway Mania Wii – First Look

I’m a grown, 33 year old guy and I still likes me some Disneyland. I don’t know if it’s just all the memories I have of park or that I can act like a kid and not get the stink-eye from everyone around me. So knowing, that my wife and I get the chance to see Mickey about twice a year. Our favorite of the recent additions to the resort, in this case the California Adventure sister park, has been a video gamer’s dream come true. Toy Story Midway Mania combines 3D movie technology, a family friendly shooter and a ride into a competitive (and secretly co-operative) experience to park visitors. Riders wear polarized 3D glasses in spinning cars on a track and travel through 6 virtual environments based on classic carnival games with a Toy Story twist.

So that’s the setup. You score points based on accuracy and working together with a partner can trigger easter-egg  events. It warrants lots of re-rides that can suck a good portion of your day away. Disney recently announced that fans would be able to take the experience home, and Toy Story Mania is coming to the Nintendo Wii starting in September. We got our hands on alpha version at E3.

Forgiving the lack of screen-to-controller calibration at the show, the title is a fantastic translation of the ride. Not only do levels mimic it’s theme park counterpart, but a slew of mini-games are included and hosted by all your favorite Toy Story characters. Fire off darts, cream pies and rings at targets in the main game or hurl rubber balls at toy block structures or get in some ski-ball. Our Disney rep promised many many more games and that the 3D effect experienced on the ride wouldn’t be lost completely. Toy Story Mania will have anaglyph 3D support (red/blue glasses), but can be switched off at the user’s push of a button.

Flat out, the 15 minutes of demo time we had were some of the most memorable of the show and I’m chomping at Bullseye’s bit to play more.

Here’s our first look video: