9 wonderfully wacky things you can do in Fantasia: Music Evolved

When it comes to Disney's Fantasia, I would guess that the amount of people who remember the hippo ballet or the baby Pegasuses or the circa-2000 flying whales hovers somewhere around 99.9%. Even if you can't for the life of you remember the name of the classical piece it was set to, those memorable, peculiar, and sometimes downright silly sequences have a way of sticking in your mind.

While Fantasia: Music Evolved was made in the spirit of its predecessors, it's not an adaptation or a repeat, so you won't see any dinosaurs or spring sprites or heroic toy soldiers. But dont worry, it's got its own quirky features to capture your imagination, which you can unlock as you explore more and more of the game world. Want a taste before the game hits shelves? Check out the following slides to learn more!

I normally wouldn't recommend interacting with any food products found in a subway, but these are magical, singing food products so I'm not sure what the procedure is on that. Either way, playing through CeeLo Green's "Forget You" in The Neighborhood opens up access to a subway system where you'll find two advertisements: one for meat, and one for veggies. Choose one or the other, and you'll get a band composed entirely of those culinary delights for your conducting pleasure. I feel like there's a nutrition lesson in there somewhere.

What's a good time in the city without a little space-time bending? In The Neighborhood you'll find a school of fish in a rooftop pond, and by selecting them with your Muse (i.e. you blue, sparkly, magical pointer), you can goad them into going 2D and becoming art on a nearby wall. Give them another poke will have them turning into goldfish noodles and leap into a billboard bowl of tomato soup. That isn't where I'd want to be if I were a noodle, but to each their own.

After you play through "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes, a quaint little cottage will appear in an empty part of the forest. How cute, you might say, until you scrub your cursor over it a bit. Then it sprouts giant chicken legs and you have no idea what's going on anymore. Yes, this seemingly innocent stone house is actually of the half-poultry persuasion, and scrubbing it a second time will have it stand up, marching to a punk rock beat, and reveal an egg that drums when touched. Well. All right then.

When you first enter the Hollow, you may notice an animal behind the dark and twisting trees, the sort of mysterious elk/deer/horned quadruped that Disney loves to feature in their nature-y films. However, this creature is far and beyond Bambi's dad. Play through "Night on Bald Mountain" and it will reveal itself to be a majestic, bell-antlered stag called the Spirit Elk. You can play out a tune on its horn-chimes using the Muse, which it will tolerate with dignity, lucky for you.

At the same time the Spirit Elk appears, you'll be able to access the inside of a nearby log, where you'll help mushroom spores grow and--wait no come back. Remember that this is the Fantasia world, and these are no ordinary mushrooms. They're magical and musical as everything else around, and by helping them spread you'll be able to create your own symphony that will fill the entire realm. Now that's some noteworthy fungi.

What would a mythical Disney creation be without fairies? I know this question keeps some of you up at night, but don't fret. Music Evolved pushes that question back for another day with a band of glowing fae folk who call the Hollow their home. Finishing "Seven Nation Army" will goad the little ladies out of a nearby well, and interacting with them after that will prompt them to follow your Muse around. This will reveal little bits of music in the environment, and give you your own fairy posse, and who wouldn't want that?

You might think that the days of shooting apes into space are over, in which case I direct you to exhibit A, Fantasia's Capsule world. A tiny, half-functional space station drifting in the atmosphere, you'll find an ape captain hard at work, all by his lonesome. Using Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" and the appropriately placed "Rocket Man" by Elton John, you can get the Capsule running again and brighten the space simian's day a little. Because who doesn't love soft rock ballads?

If Monsters Inc. taught me anything, it's that yetis are actually gentle folk who will invite you into their home and give you snow cones. Music Evolved continues this fine traditional of not-so-abominable snowbeasts with not one, but two of these big guys hidden in the snowy Haven. Completing "Some Nights" by fun. will open a yeti cave, causing the first yeti to scramble and make a valiant but fruitless attempt to hide amongst the realm's skinny birch trees. The second will keep comfy in his cavern, where you can conduct both him and a flock of robins in a melodic duet. You might want to cover your ears, but the yeti will be happy, and that's what matters!

The creatures hiding in the Haven's frosty caves might look intimidating at first, since all you can see is their eyes and that's the universal sign for run away as fast as you can! But this is a musical Fantasia land, so even its scariest residents are all about the tunes. Peeking into the cave will give you the opportunity to both wave the critters up and conduct them with the Muse, creating a lively song to fill the land. I wouldn't recommend trying this in real life, ever, so best to try it out now.

Those are just a few of the fun, whimsical, patently and pleasantly absurd things found in the new Fantasia realms. Any of these pique your interest? Looking forward to finding the rest? How much do you wanna bet you can find the color-changing cat and her invisible kitten without me letting on where they are? Tell us in the comments below.

Want more Fantasia? Check out our Music Evolved preview and our deeper look at The Neighborhood.