NYCC: Disney’s ‘Epic Mickey’ Panel (Spoilers and New Oswald Featurette)

Junction Point creative director Warren Spector addressed the filled-to-capacity room yesterday evening by stating he had intended to make the panel mostly Q&A from the audience, but it wasn’t until eight minutes prior to the scheduled end of the panel that the questions even began (fortunately the panel was the last scheduled in the room for the day, so it went long as a result). Before that announcement, however, comics writer Peter David unofficially set the panel in motion by leading the entire room in a round of the Mickey Mouse Club March (which went surprisingly well I might add).

After showing the official Epic Mickey box art to a chorus of oohs and ahhs, Spector began talking about his own objective for the game. Job 1, he explained, was making Mickey Mouse a hero in the vein of Nintendo legends Mario and Link. Job 1.5, however, was to tell the tale of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the first true commercial success of Walt Disney’s while he was performing subcontracted work for Universal.

Spector then debuted the following featurette titled ‘The Tale of Oswald,’ featuring arguably some of the best footage (archival and gameplay) released to date:

Spector spent a great deal of time talking about how honored he felt bringing Oswald to the console screen — any screen — after more than 80 years. During the Q&A session, Spector also noted that since Epic Mickey is the first time Oswald ever had a voice of any kind, he bore and took delight in the responsibility of casting the individual who would henceforth be known as the voice of Oswald forever: Frank Welker. Assuming Job 1.5 pans out for Spector, he anticipates that Oswald will be launched into commercial success once more and repeatedly offered his hope for an Oswald plush.