When a person's public image becomes skewed or twisted, for good or bad, it is often hard to shake the way they are viewed or looked upon to the outside world. In the world of gaming, Mickey Mouse can be a good example. Ever since he was seen fighting Heartless and Nobodies with his own unique form of justice, Kingdom Hearts fans have never been able to watch the animated television show Mickey Mouse Club House without wondering where his shiny Keyblade has gone (your kid sibling had it on, right? I see).

So, when news of a dark, upcoming Wii game called Epic Mickey hit the web, Kingdom Hearts fans immediately associated it with, what else, the Keyblade wielding Mickey Mouse. The mouse of all mouses was truly epic in Kingdom Hearts II, how could this game be unrelated? But no, it was soon learned that Epic Mickey was not Kingdom Hearts III, but instead, an entirely original game from Disney in combination with legend Warren Spector and his Junction Point Studios. Shock and awe followed.

Epic Mickey takes Disney once again out of their comfort zone thanks to a partnership with another company, and is not afraid to poke fun at themselves which makes the game all the more epic and appealing to older Disney aficionados as well as the casual and young Wii gamers, not unlike Kingdom Hearts' demographic.

Themes that would go with Epic Mickey would be redemption, determination, and the power of the heart. The villains in Epic Mickey do not have hearts of their own; instead, they want Mickey’s --- he has the strongest heart of all. This theme almost exactly parallels the struggle of Organization XIII gaining hearts of their own and the role Sora plays in it. Although the character of Mickey Mouse in Kingdom Hearts and Epic Mickey are entirely different anthropomorphic mice, was the basis of Epic Mickey the image of Disney’s most famous character wielding a powerful weapon and fighting darkness? Yes and no.

Everyone who has played Kingdom Hearts II or Chain of Memories would agree that Mickey’s character was quite epic, thus that's where Spector could have been trying to rally Kingdom Hearts fan's interest. But that’s where the two Mickeys differ. One is trying to undo the mistakes made by others, while the other has to deal with his own blunder and fix the world he destroyed. Does this make the Epic Mickey more heroic?

In the first Kingdom Hearts, we were only shown a brief flash of King Mickey. This was Disney hesitantly allowing Square Enix to use their most treasured character property. Gradually, King Mickey was granted more of a role in the lives of Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi. He helped Riku fight the darkness within himself in Chain of Memories and thus, his character becomes three dimensional, instead of just a figurehead or mouse-in-distress. After the success of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Disney gave Square Enix full creative control of Mickey Mouse, and Kingdom Hearts II was the full transformation for him, from humorous and worrisome cartoon to confident and powerful master.

Will Epic Mickey be using the same type of character? They will probably be similar in that they both are determined on their quests to right wrongs and help people, but Spector is barely taking his cues from Kingdom Hearts and instead making a highly original game. Should Kingdom Hearts fans still be interested? Yes, if they enjoy the familiar being taken out of their comfort zones and given a new story that defies belief.

Epic Mickey is not King Mickey, but the two are similar in different ways. I'm glad to see Disney letting go once more, trying different and creative things with their characters. If it was a success once, it could very well work again. I'm looking forward to the originality of Epic Mickey, and besides, painting things is cool.