Disney Speedstorm’s Newest Racer Is A Throwback: Steamboat Mickey

Disney Speedstorm’s latest racer goes all the way back to the earliest history of the company.

It’s Steamboat Mickey, commemorating the 1928 animated short Steamboat Willie, that introduced Mickey Mouse, as well as Minnie Mouse, to the public.

As shared by Comic Book, Steamboat Mickey will be appearing in a limited time event this Season 2. Steamboat Mickey’s racing car isn’t a steamboat itself, sadly, but you can get a ship’s wheel to replace his car’s steering wheel. There will also be a Steamboat Willie themed racing track.

Steamboat Willie is important not only for introducing Disney’s once and future mascot, but for its technical innovation in introducing synchronized sound. The short is part of the National Film Registry for its cultural significance. For those who were wondering, this cartoon isn’t in the public domain quite yet. Disney should not be able to take any more legal action stopping it from becoming public domain this coming January 1, 2024.

Interestingly enough, this is not the first time Steamboat Willie has come up in the world of video games. All the way back in 1994, the short inspired the opening stage of Traveller’s Tales’ Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mania released on a staggering amount of platforms, including the Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Sega CD. When it got a later release on the PlayStation, it was renamed to Mickey’s Wild Adventure. This game is now widely known to have been an engineering and programming marvel pulled off by Traveller’s Tales.

Steamboat Willie also appears in Square Enix’s strange and beloved crossover series Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix feature Timeless River, a black and white world based on Disney’s legacy of black and white cartoons. The main inspiration for Timeless River is of course, Steamboat Willie itself.

Steamboat Willie also appears in the unfairly forgotten Epic Mickey. In Gremlin Village, Steamboat Willie is the theming for three Projector Screens. Projector Screens are not stages in themselves, but an in-universe mode of transportation. Having been produced by Mickey superfan Warren Spector, he made sure to feature Steamboat Willie in a way that’s very nostalgic.

Steamboat Mickey isn’t quite like how Steamboat Willie was featured in these games, but he’s a great addition nonetheless.

Disney Speedstorm is now playable in beta on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Windows on Steam and Epic Games Store.