“The reality is that I have never seen a three-part story I conceived actually realized the way I intended."

Speaking with Nintendo Power earlier this year, Junction Point founder and Creative Director Warren Spector touched on this specific concession as he discussed the studio’s upcoming sequel, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.

“So, for instance, the second Deus Ex game, Invisible War, was nothing like the second Deus Ex game I originally envisioned from a story standpoint. The teams I’ve worked with have been pretty good about following the gameplay progression we planned in advance, but in terms of the story, it’s certainly going to change.”

As the continuation of 2010’s Epic Mickey, The Power of Two features the kind of alterations noted by Spector, in story as well as substance. In each case, the catalyst is the presence of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. An antagonist in the first game, the classic character now teams up with Mickey to set right the troubles of the Disney-inspired Wasteland.

Oswald’s addition satisfies what Spector has noted as a frequent request for the sequel—cooperative play—though he admits to his own desire to see mechanic added.

“The reason it was so important to do co-op… well, cutting to the chase, it’s what I wanted to do. I don’t tend to think much about what the competition is doing or whether I need these bullet points on the back of the box. I couldn’t care less about that stuff.

“But I look at co-op gameplay these days, and I don’t see much co-op. I don’t see systems that really force—or even encourage—players to work together. And I just thought it would be interesting to try to make a co-op storytelling experience where you’re going through a story together with someone.”

Rather than simply copying Mickey's twin abilities (painting objects into existence for his benefit and erasing them as he sees fit), Oswald brandishes a remote control with the power to emit electrical bolts. The device can be used in numerous ways, like activating various machines and changing the alliance of Beetleworx enemies. And, should Oswald and Mickey pull a Ghostbusters and cross their respective streams, the strength of Mickey's paint or thinner will be amplified. When a human player isn't taking control of Oswald, AI fills the role. The Lucky Rabbit also has a few unique powers, like using his ears as a helicopter to hover mid-jump, or detaching an arm to use as a boomerang.

"In the second game we were going to make Oswald a playable character,” Spector told Nintendo Power in regard to the character’s role. “Now that you know who he is and you presumably care about him, let’s allow you to be him for a while but not as the central figure of the game.”

In addition to characters and gameplay modes, it seems just about everything else is getting an overhaul as well. Although players will revisit some locations (Spector estimates about one-third to one-half of the game consists of previously used locations), Power of Two’s Wasteland isn’t a simple rehash.

"Literally, nothing got reused,” Spector affirmed in an interview with Official Nintendo Magazine. “So when we say you're revisiting Mean Street or Oz Town, it's all new. Every texture, every polygon, everything is new. And everything has been made deeper and richer and bigger."

Along with the recreated world, the darker, rather melancholy tone of the original is somewhat brighter in Power of Two. Although Wasteland is in trouble (the game starts with earthquakes and natural disasters), the tone is more mystery, asking players whom they can trust.

Such a change could be expected given that the presentation of the game is now described as "the first ever musical comedy game." Written by lyricist Mike Himelstein and composed by Emmy award-winner James Dooley, the soundtrack is inspired by sources ranging from “The Music Man” to “Snow White” to Disney films throughout the 21st century in an attempt to capture the "Disney sound,” as Spector puts it. The new musical shift is instrumental to the story, though Spector says the musical numbers themselves won't be incorporated into gameplay.

"Integrating songs into gameplay would have made The Power of Two a very different game, and we weren’t quite ready to make that leap. Yet.”

With the variety of changes coming in Power of Two (which will also see release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), Junction Point is also focused on improving the Epic Mickey experience.

"We've had a team working on the camera from literally the day we finished the first game," Spector said in a report published by the Associated Press in March. "They'll be working on it until the day we ship the second game. [There have been] over 1,000 specific changes made to the camera. Our goal is that you will not have to touch the manual camera controls even once to play through the main story path of this game."

Spector later confirmed that Epic Mickey 2 will not be released on Wii U (since development had progressed too much by the time they were aware of the new console), but didn’t rule out the possibility of a future project on the system.

"Clearly [intending the game for a younger audience] was the reason, perhaps the most important reason, why we were [Wii] exclusive on the first game," Spector said. "Certainly if you're looking for a broad, family audience, Nintendo is the place, right? I wouldn't go so far as to say we're never going to do a Wii U game, I'm just saying no comment right now."

Another meaningful alteration lies in the consequences of actions. Spector himself admitted that decisions in the first Epic Mickey “didn’t really matter as much as they could have,” and notes that the team is putting in effort to ensure that this isn't the case in Power of Two. For example, Mickey can now lose or gain powers depending on his decisions throughout the game, a quality Spector closely identifies with the theme of the game.

“This game is about the question of: is everyone and everything redeemable or is there evil in the world that is beyond redemption? Again, if no one notices, fine with me. Have a fun time. But at the end of the game, if some players are left thinking ‘hey I just learned something about myself and the world when I was having fun’, that’s the best thing a game can do.”