Game Guides

Disney Illusion Island – 10 Beginner Tips You Should Know

August 10, 2023

Disney Illusion Island welcomes players to a world of pure platforming delight with its iconic characters. As you embark on this whimsical adventure, it’s essential to grasp some fundamental tips to make your journey smoother and more enjoyable. Whether you’re exploring Hidden Areas, collecting Glimts, or mastering Co-Op Abilities, this guide will equip you with essential knowledge for navigating the Disney Illusion World.

1. Find a Character That Suits Your Playstyle

While every character is mechanically similar, their animations and sound effects offer subtle variations that can affect your experience. Experiment with different characters to discover your preferred playstyle and the nuances each one brings to the table. Characters like Goofy, with his larger body and floaty movement, and Minnie, equipped with unique gadgets, present diverse ways to tackle challenges.

2. Hidden Walls and Missing Chip

Uncover secret rooms and collectible-laden challenges hidden behind seemingly solid walls. Look for a telltale rounded chip missing from the wall’s edge to identify these concealed areas. Exploring these hidden nooks can yield valuable rewards and add an extra layer of excitement to your adventure.

3. Prioritize Collectibles Wisely

Remaining on the topic of Collectibles in Disney Illusion Island, we’d love to tell you to try and gather everything you can at all costs. However, there are really only two you should focus on in the early goings of the game, leaving the rest for the post-credits.

These two Collectibles are Glimts and Map Pieces, as they are the only two Collectibles that directly impact your gameplay when gathering them. All other Collectibles have no tangible reward tied to them, making them excellent for post-game cleanup.

4. Glide To Slow Your Descent

It’s crucial to avoid blindly descending into any holes, as there’s a likelihood of encountering spikes at the bottom. You have the option to engage the glide ability whenever you’re in mid-air, offering a useful technique to gradually descend and gain your bearings rather than rapidly plummeting downward.

5. Strategic Health Pack Usage

Resist the temptation to snatch up health packs indiscriminately. Instead, save them for times when your health is genuinely low, as backtracking is a prevalent aspect of the game. Managing your health resources smartly ensures you’re adequately prepared for unforeseen challenges that may take place in the game.

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6. Swap Characters for Survival

Especially as you progress further in the game and acquire more health, it’s advisable to avoid venturing into challenging areas with only one heart of health remaining. To address this, make your way to the nearest mailbox for an automatic save, then exit to the Main Menu. Upon re-entering the game and selecting your character, you will respawn with your health fully restored.

Whenever you come across a mailbox and find your health less than full, it’s a practical choice to follow this approach and replenish your hearts.

7. Harness the Power of Jet Streams and Glide

The primary purpose of the glide ability is to harness the wind within the upward jet streams scattered across Monoth Island. While these streams come in various sizes, they consistently provide an upward boost that persists even after you leave the stream’s path. Employ this momentum to access elevated locations or effortlessly soar over obstacles, allowing you to reach distant platforms.

8. Collect Glimts

Glimts, those floating, bluish-bubbly entities scattered throughout the world in groups of three, serve as a distinct feature. Accumulating a specific quantity of Glimts triggers the unveiling of an image through the Glimts Reward screen. As the entirety of the image is gradually revealed, you’re rewarded with an Extra Heart to bolster your Health.

Through the collection of Glimts, you can amass a maximum of three Extra Hearts. Therefore, prioritizing the gathering of as many Glimts as possible becomes paramount in the game, considering that there are no alternative methods to acquire Extra Hearts apart from utilizing the previously mentioned Hug Co-Op Ability.

The milestones for obtaining Extra Hearts are as follows:

780 Glimts: First Heart
1560 Glimts: Second Heart
2340 Glimts: Third Heart

9. Mastering Your Platforming

Combat options are absent in Disney Illusion Island, requiring you to rely solely on your platforming skills to conquer every challenge and hurdle that comes your way.

The acquisition of new Abilities becomes extremely important, as each one grants you the ability to explore previously inaccessible areas, collect various items, and achieve much more. While there are boss encounters in the game, your Abilities are meant to help you solve mini-puzzles within the arena rather than directly attacking these bosses.

Drawing inspiration from Metroidvania games, Disney Illusion Island places a significant emphasis on these Abilities. They act as gateways to Collectibles and entire regions, so it’s vital to advance through the main storyline to fully experience and engage in all that the game has to offer!

10. Fast Travelling

Lastly, although you’ll have to navigate the entire game without this feature initially, you gain the ability to Fast-Travel between all Mailboxes (which serve as Checkpoints) in the game during its concluding stages.

This enhancement significantly simplifies the process of gathering the remaining Collectibles, particularly if you focus mainly on acquiring Glimts and Maps. It greatly enhances your ability to achieve a 100% completion of the game and fully explore all its offerings.

Even though this capability becomes accessible only in the game’s final moments, we cannot emphasize enough how advantageous it is in Disney Illusion Island. It allows you to swiftly address any pending tasks and objectives. If you’ve been dreading the prospect of traversing each zone again to locate the remaining Collectibles, this feature will be the one for you.