Looks like someone's taken the Mickey out of Junction Point's upcoming game. The mean Mickey, that is...

Late last year, when Warren Spector was teasing the world with his vision for Disney Epic Mickey, an interesting gameplay mechanic was touched upon. The original plan was to have Mickey gradually change his look into something more resembling a snarling rat (dubbed by Spector 'the Scrapper') if players chose to cause destructive mischief in the Cartoon Wasteland.

Now though, The Mainichi Daily News reports that the developer opted to scrap the 'Scrapper' look based on a lukewarm reaction to the look from a focus group. Spector elaborated on the decision.

"People don't like it when you mess with Mickey. We did a focus test that was really eye-opening for me. There was a biker dude saying, 'Oh, I'd never play a Mickey Mouse game,' and then we showed him images of a changed Mickey. I was sitting there thinking, 'You're gonna love what we do,' but he said, 'No! Don't mess with my childhood.' ... We're not going to change Mickey's image so much."

Spector gave Nintendo's E3 conference audience a pleasant surprise by showing up to give a demonstration of the game in action. If you missed it, check out the video here.

What do you make of Epic Mickey so far? Sound off below...