By Luca Newton
It's been around 5 years since Disney Infinity was discontinued. However, I have many fond memories of it to this day..
Disney Infinity "1.0"
When I was younger, I really wanted an Xbox 360. It was the big new console everyone had, so I required one. And I got one, with a Kinect too. And... never really used it. See the thing is, I didn't think of that part. I wanted an Xbox 360, but I had no games in mind. And as an innocent child, I thought it was this criminal thing to play games with mature ratings - if I even would've even been allowed to play them. So, my Xbox 360, sitting there, was only played for Kinect games such as the riveting London 2012 Olympics game. However, fast forward a couple years, Minecraft was the game at my school - I begged for that console port. Minecraft was probably the first game I actively played on the Xbox 360. Additionally around that time, there was a specific game reveal that was all around YouTube, especially from the channels that I would be subscribed to. I sat there, in awe at this new game. I saw so many characters I loved. All the Pixar characters, and even Phineas from Phineas and Ferb?! I knew I wanted this.
For the first time in my life, I was actively excited for a new game. I have always been a huge Disney shill, and Pixar movies had always been there in my life. So, this new Disney game with all these characters - what more could I ask for? Well, turns out that it's also a toys to life. So I could satiate my impulse to want new toys, that double as useful parts of this video game. As a cherry on the top, the game was very toy oriented, it had this idea of a Toy Box, and that gave me Minecraft vibes in some ways, something I was madly obsessed with back then too. I couldn't think of a more perfect storm.
I remember, Christmas morning - ecstatic and impatient. I knew I'd get the game, but was still anxious to see if I actually did. As I unwrapped the starter pack, I was filled with excitement, and at that point I knew I would be keeping up with this game. I was pretty committed. Opening the game, and starting the intro, it was truly magical. And I would play this game all the time. Me and my sister would play plenty of co-op in the Toy Box, messing around. My main was definitely Ralph, he was my favourite. I definitely played lots of Phineas too. When it comes to the playsets themselves. I don't think I ever finished them all. My favourite one was definitely the Incredibles one. I would mess around in that one all the time, because of the endless enemies. I honestly remember being confused on what to actually do in terms of story, but man was that exploration and messing around so fun, it didn't matter to me. The Pirates one is often called the best one - I'm pretty sure I never played it because it looked to bland and confusing for me at the time. As for the Monsters University playset, I liked it but never knew where to go even though it literally told me every time. I was very dumb.
Disney Infinity 2.0
Picture this, a young boy who adored the original Disney Infinity game, and is currently wildly obsessed with the MCU, and loved it to death. One day, a sequel to said game is revealed, and the theme is fully Marvel. My small mind was completely blown away and filled with excitement. I must've watched that trailer dozens of times, over and over again. Then after that I compulsively search YouTube and watch anything and everything I could that relates to Disney Infinity 2.0. It was my entire personality for several months. And the thing is, a lot of my friends were also into it, so we had that in common for every conversation ever. I remember going to see something at the cinema, and there was that exact trailer before the film and I lost it internally.
Another thing around that time that factored into my enjoyment of Disney Infinity, was this weird hatred I had for Skylanders. The original toys-to-life game. Trap Team was set to release that year, around a similar time than 2.0. So I completely swore against that series. I remember my best friend at the time had both and liked both - but for some reason I had to make this war, and I was firmly on Disney Infinity's side. It's not entirely relevant to this post but it's funny how bad my mentality was back then, and concerning how grown adults have that mentality to this day when it comes to stuff like the console wars.
Tangent aside, Disney Infinity 2.0 released later that year. Instead of waiting for Christmas, I actually saved up for the game, I was that excited. Anyway, I only got the starter pack on release, and waited for Christmas for other figures and playsets. Honestly the base game was enough for me at the time. 2.0 is generally regarded as the weakest of the trilogy, and while that might be true, I remember a lot more from playing this version than the first. I definitely preferred it when I was playing it. It might be my Marvel bias I have to this day, but everything about this game was MY shit. The Avengers playset, with hindsight wasn't great, but when I played it, I adored it. Mainly because flying around as Thor and Iron Man in New York City was unrivalled. Unlike 1.0, I actually finished this playset, though the final boss took me ages to beat. The highlight of 2.0 for me, was not specifically that though. It was still the Toy Box. In 2.0, it's even better thanks to one addition; interiors. Now you could create doors that go inside buildings, and you have freedom to build the interiors of them - and they didn't care how big it was in comparison to the building. Man, let me tell ya - I spent way too much time making a full interior with different themes in each room and hallway. It was so ridiculously fun, I don't think it's possible to sum it up in words. I was also a big fan of the skill tree, that made the game miles more fun to play. By the time I got more figures, Spider-Man's playset was my favourite mainly because of the web-slinging.
The game did have only a few playsets, and 2 of which were in the same location. So there was a lack of variety, and each playset was shorter than the first game's base 3 playsets. And outside of interiors, the Toy Box was the same, so all these Disney characters didn't have much to do except these small minigames I never touched. Undoubtedly a flawed game, but one I have fond memories of.
Disney Infinity 3.0
The long awaited third entry in the series introduced Star Wars to Disney Infinity. Something teased with the lightsaber in the first game, and was finally being realised within Disney Infinity. This game I remember keeping up the most with, but at the same time the least. I remember the game being revealed and being excited. I did like Star Wars, not quite as much as I did love Marvel, but enough that I was eager to get the game. I also remember this game coming out around the same time I entered my secondary school, and when I would mention this game, people would make fun of me. It was pretty horrid, but I never let it get me down. I also remember when the Original Trilogy playset wouldn't come for a month after release, and Sony got Boba Fett earlier.
When it came to actually getting it, we took a completely different approach from the previous 2. Instead of getting the starter pack, we got just the disc and Chewbacca and Sabine Wren. I think we were a bit strapped on money, and we already had the portal from the previous 2 games. I didn't get a single playset until Christmas. There I got most of them. I distinctly remember the playsets in this game - they were so good. The combat was really fun and well done in my opinion. Surprisingly, my favourite was the Clone Wars one. I really loved the OT one, but that was mainly for the characters within it, the Clone Wars one had its own vibe to it. I also remember being very excited for the Force Awakens set. That one was solid too. My main in 3.0 was distinctly Yoda. He was the best, fast and agile, strong and cool. The Toy Box had been changed too, the hub was more interactive, and there were actual games for the Toy Box characters, my favourite was definitely the racing one. I remember in the Toy Box, in this game I was more focused on levelling up my characters. I remember grinding for Yoda.
As said before, Boba Fett was a figure that was coming a lot later in my country, but I found it in a game store, and I actually still have it because I remember being so excited that I had managed to get it early. I even went home and instantly grinded him to max level in that evening. Times like that were parts of why I really loved Disney Infinity.
Disney Infinity Cancelled?!
In 2016, I was in bed under my cover, scrolling through YouTube on my incredibly outdated iPod Touch, and there it was - the news that Disney Infinity was cancelled. And man, that hit me like a ton of bricks. As someone who was REALLY into the series. I remember constantly wondering what they'd do in 4.0. All that for it to be stopped abruptly. I was pretty attached to the series, a bit more intimately than you'd expect.
I think what made Disney Infinity more intimate for me, was the community. I feel Disney Infinity had one of the nicest and active communities, and the developers really interacted with them, all the time. They had a YouTube weekly series with 2 lead devs and they'd give updates on the games and they'd show off the best Toy Boxes based on a theme they'd set. It just felt so incorporated, I felt like I was a part of a group instead of just a corporate game. Each week I'd try to join the challenge - though I never did, because I was not good at building good levels and would procrastinate. The cancellation was just that much sadder because of the way I felt about the game and how close the devs were to us as fans. I felt bad for them.
However, after I got over the cancellation, a sleuth of details came out about stuff planned for release, stuff that was basically done and stuff that was in development. 3.0 would have a Moana playset that was later shown through an unreleased trailer. Rogue One, Thor Ragnarok, Doctor Strange, etc were all planned for playsets. I really would've loved to see these. What's sadder is how we actually got to find out what 4.0 would've been like. The real kicker is, it was going to focus on the crossover part of the concept of Disney Infinity. In an unfinished build, we see Aladdin and Yoda team up in an Agrabah playset that would blend all properties together. One flaw with the first 3 was that outside of the Toy Box, the playsets were too restricted with who you could play as. It would've been cool to take advantage of the crossover potential - they have Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel in the same game! And they were making it! And it was cancelled! I am still thoroughly disappointed.
The reason it was cancelled was because the figures were costing too much to make and not making enough back to make a fair profit. I can see how this would be an issue, one of my favourite parts of the series is how cool all the figures look. They all have that "Disney Infinity" look to them, and all are super well made and are true to character. However, it's really sad anyway. Could Disney Infinity ever come back? Possibly if they get to pitch the game removing the toys. It's probably too long after, but I feel like Disney's issue would be a non-problem if they remove the toys. Sure the toys are a part of the game's identity, but sacrifices need to be made. Although, they did close down the studio entirely, so they'd probably need a game company willing to make it licensed. I'm not very hopeful for it though.
Did you ever play Disney Infinity? If so, which game was your favourite, and who did you play most?
Thank you for reading.
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