Where's my Water? screen grabs.
The Walt Disney Company is best known for Mickey Mouse, but it's not the friendly little mammal with the big ears who is making a splash in the mobile marketplace. A brand new character named Swampy the Alligator is infiltrating smartphones with his rubber ducky sidekick.
"Where's My Water?" is the name of the new Disney app, which is currently the number one paid app in the iTunes Store, bumping mobile favourite Angry Birds into second position. The "physics-based puzzle game" revolves around Swampy's quest to be clean. With 80 levels and an evolving storyline, there is an addictive quality to digging through dirt and getting water to the alligator. Not surprising, Disney also created an original soundtrack for the game.
We've seen the House of Mouse take their well-established brands into the app store before, such as launching a racing app for Cars 2, but this is the first time we've seen them launch an original character for the mobile platform. So far , the online community is giddy about "Where's My Water." As blogger Rob Rich writes on 148apps.com, "It's possibly one of the best iOS puzzle games in recent memory, and it's available at a price that's downright foolish to pass up. I strongly suggest getting a smaller cup of coffee tomorrow morning and buying this instead. I doubt there will be any regrets."
The app is only 99 cents, a steal for what could lead to hours of entertainment. While the new Disney star has captivated the mobile market, I'm curious about when we might see Swampy hit theatres. Moreover, I wonder if this could be the future of new Disney characters, take a dry run on the small screen to see if they're cut out for the big screen. Will any of them be able to outlast Mickey? Probably not, but it's certainly an interesting to watch a 90-year-old company continue to experiment and innovate.