Autopia Computer Games

With Autopia/Tomorrowland Speedway being a car-based attraction, it's perhaps not surprising that it features in a number of Disney computer games.

One of these is Adventures in the Magic Kingdom.  This was a Nintendo NES game which featured the player retrieving various keys from various attractions at Disneyland.  Autopia is a race game you can play to gain a silver key.  Mickey informs you that Panhandle Pete has stolen the key and challenged you to a race to gain it back.  You take control of a red Autopia car and 'speed' along the track avoiding various obstacles such as cones, collecting stars and jumping off ramps.  There are some 'hidden' Mickeys along the way in the shape of bushes.  For a relatively basic digital recreation of the ride, it isn't bad with a grey track and grassy, flowery banks on either side.

Game play is okay and there are some tricky sections of navigate giving it a bit of challenge.  On completion, Pete - true to his word - gives you a key.

Another game based on this attraction is the Tomorrowland Speedway level of Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour.  This is a game which was released on a number of platforms including Gameboy Colour, Playstation and PC.  I own the PC version and spent many a happy hour playing through the levels with my wife.  The graphics, nowadays, look rather crude but at the time it was a fun time racing through various attractions of Walt Disney World including the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Blizzard Beach.  There are a number of characters you can choose to race as from including Chip and Dale and a variety of other animal characters based around the rides but not, as far as I'm aware, appearing in any actual films or TV shows.

The console/PC version of the game is very similar to Mariokart.  You race around quite complicated 3D tracks gathering coins and finding items to use against your opponents such as rockets, tea cups and acorns.  There are shortcuts in each track, speed ramps and a wealth of scenery to admire.  The Tomorrowland Speedway, for example, takes you past Space Mountain, Disney's Contemporary Resort and a giant Mickey Mouse hot air balloon.  The track itself is relatively uninspiring including road signs, lamposts, billboards and other ordinary road related paraphernalia but as it is based on a relatively uninspiring attraction this is to be expected.

The Gameboy Colour version is a little less appealing and features left/right scrolling game play through a similar variety of courses although with far less detailed environments.

The final game to feature Autopia in its gameplay is Epic Mickey 2: The Power of 2.  In this game there is a section entitled Autotopia.  Mickey and Oswald find themselves in a futuristic world where there are some cars.  As they move around they encounter baddies to defeat who are robots with cars for heads.  The Autopia theming for this level is fairly slight and there isn't much to link this game with the attraction aside from the name.

The other main Disney-related game to feature Autopia is one of my favourites, Kinect Disneyland Adventures.  I've mentioned this before after reviewing Snow White and Pinocchio.  It is a game which involves walking around a very faithful recreation of Disneyland, meeting various characters, completing quests and playing games based on various attractions.  Unfortunately, Autopia is not an attraction which has a game to play but you can walk around the entrance to the ride and see various cars rolling around the track.  There are also a couple of hidden items in its vicinity.

Although Autopia and Tomorrowland Speedway may be lacklustre attractions, they do make for fairly entertaining games.