Alice in Wonderland: The Return of Ace

Alice in Wonderland: The Return of Ace is a platform video game developed by Kuboian game show Gem Interactive and published by Emerald Games. It is based off the 1992 animated television series Alice in Wonderland which itself is based off the 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The game was released for the PlayStation in PAL regions in February 1997 and in North America in July 1997.

In 2000, an enhanced port titled Alice in Wonderland: The New Saga was released for the Dreamcast, which featured improved gameplay and graphics, as well as two additional side modes. A PlayStation 2 version followed shortly afterwards. A sequel titled Alice in Wonderland: Tales of the Alterverse was released in 2006.

Plot
Whilst on her way to visit her friends, Alice finds a note from The White Rabbit, which tells her that they have all been captured by Ace, the Queen of Hearts' former rabbit minion. After reading the letter, Alice sets out to rescue her friends.

Gameplay
Alice in Wonderland: The Return of Ace is a 3D platformer with a camera that follows the player but is always fixed in a certain angle (like Wario World). The game centres around guiding Alice through eight different levels, each of which end with a boss.

Development
Despite having ended its run in 1993, the Alice in Wonderland cartoon was still popular in Europe, so a video game was conceived to help expand its interest and popularity. Though the game was originally listed for a Winter 1996 release, its release was delayed to allow for more development time, and to avoid being released during the same time period as Crash Bandicoot, another platform game for the PlayStation.

Esther Redbarron, Charlie Karma and Roy Bradbourne all reprised their roles as their respective characters. When speaking about the game in the run-up to its release, Karma said that The Return of Ace has graphics and sound quality that Super Mario 64 "couldn't dream of having".

Reception
The Return of Ace received mixed reviews from critics. PlayStation Magazine noted the game was visually appealing, noting the game had a lot of vibrant backgrounds and smooth character models, but criticised the gameplay for being too repetitive, and also noted the short length of the game, which could be beaten in just a few hours.