Day 91, Game 91 - Fix It Felix Jr.

Not to brag or anything, but this might be the coolest game I'll add to my list of games all year. I never expected that I would actually play this game, as I didn't even think it was a real game to play. I played a game, here at Disneyland, that is a fictitious game in a Disney movie that has been turned into a real game.

Of course, I'm talking about Fix It Felix Jr. from the Wreck-It Ralph movie.

When we were strolling through Tomorrowland here on our last day at Disneyland, we stopped at a gift shop. As we were browsing, I noticed some old-looking arcade gaming cabinets sitting around. I immediately b-lined for them, to see what was going on, and sure enough, it was an arcade littered with all the old, classic games. Ms. Pacman, Donkey Kong Jr., Joust, Asteroids ... They were all there. In total, there was 20-30 machines, also featuring a couple of pinball tables. Mixed in the madness, however, were two giant displays looking like electrical outlets. I recognized them immediately from Wreck-It Ralph. This, of course, peaked my curiosity.

I went over to the displays, and their they were - four Fix It Felix Jr. machines. I thought it was a joke, honestly, or just a display. But nope, they were legit, fully operational games, built to look extremely aged and designed to play exactly like the game is conveyed in the movie.

Oh, and they were free, also, as opposed to the other games that of course required tokens.

Now, I knew they had designed a few of these things as promotional displays for the movie before its release, but I didn't think they could still be found anywhere other than a collector's basement. I guess that will teach me for underestimating Disneyland.

So I fired up the game and gave it a go. Everything is spot on, from the animation to the death sequence of Felix, to the audio. Everything you imagined the game playing like from watching the movie, it's all that and then some. It's a surprisingly fun, accurate-to-the-concept game, and could have easily been a real game 20+ years ago as the movie would suggest.

It's also quite difficult, but I'm assuming the atmosphere isn't great for focusing much on gaming. The arcade portion of the shop wasn't too crowded, however, and I got to play several times before anyone lined up behind me waiting to play.

All in all, it was an awesome experience to play that game, especially with how much I enjoy the movie. Even my little four year old loved playing it, even though she could barely see the screen.

Thank you, Disneyland, for making my Play A Game A Day project not only easy to fulfill, but super enjoyable as well.

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