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 Duck Tales is one of the Disney
Afternoon shows from the early 90s that has really held up over the years
in terms of popularity. Its
classic theme song is fondly remembered just as this NES game is. In fact when Nintendo Power released their list of the Top 20 NES games of
all-time in 2008 DuckTales cracked
the poll at #13. The Disney show ran
from 1987-1990 and features Donald Duck’s children Huey, Dewey and Louie
who go on many crazy adventures while living with their insanely rich and
greedy uncle Scrooge.
In addition to being the leader of the Disney Afternoon on TV, DuckTales also was the first game
in the amazing Capcom/Disney relationship. For five years Capcom pumped out many
high quality titles featuring Disney characters and created by some of
the same people responsible for the Mega Man series.
In the video game version of DuckTales
the nephews cede the stage to their Uncle Scrooge. In the game you star as Scrooge McDuck in your continuing quest to find all of the
gold in the world. You will make
your way through five platforming levels with nothing but your cane to
protect you. Your nephews stop by
along the way to give you hints but are barely seen in the game at
all. The locations vary from the
snowy Himalayas to the creepy Transylvania
to the not so empty Moon. In each
level you will find lots of treasures, bad guys and obstacles. At the end you will discover a very
easy to beat end guy. You can
choose to take on the levels in whatever order you want, which seems to
be a Capcom trademark. You get
three guys and no continues but you can find
some extra lives along the way. DuckTales is noted for being
extremely easy but that isn’t entirely true. It is much more difficult than some of
its fellow brethren (Chip ‘N’ Dale’s
Rescue Rangers comes to mind) and is actually a bit tough until you
get used to the controls. Of
course it doesn’t take long to master the game and once you’ve beaten it,
you can run through it very quickly on subsequent replays.
DuckTales was popular enough
to warrant a sequel in 1993 called, appropriately enough, DuckTales 2. This game is very similar but was not
as popular since no one even knew the NES still existed at that point.
Positives:
 This game has great graphics, music and
control. It features Scrooge McDuck and is an awesome platformer. There are lots of hidden treasures to
find by exploring every inch of the level. You also have to find to secret
treasures in order to unlock the secret ending to the game.
Glaring
Negatives:
There are three difficulty levels,
which is nice but what’s the point if none of them are especially
difficult?
Graphics
and Sound: Great
The graphics are very good,
they are bright and the enemies are large and easy to distinguish. The music
in DuckTales is awesome; there
are a bunch of catchy tunes including the extremely popular “Moon Theme”. Surprisingly (and sadly) the DuckTales
theme song is only played on the menu screen and is not featured in the
game. The problem, though, is that
the sound effects when you kill a bad guy are so annoying that you may
end up wanting to mute your game in spite of the killer tunes.
Gameplay
and Controls: Good but awkward
As Scrooge McDuck
your only weapon is your trusty cane, which you also use as a pogo
stick. Scrooge can jump normally
or he can hop on his cane to perform a high jump. If he lands squarely on top of the bad
guy he will kill them as well.
This can be a little awkward as the game isn’t forgiving if your
cane doesn’t land directly on them.
This causes the entire game to be slightly more difficult than
your average Capcom/Disney game but in the end that’s actually a good
thing.
Features:
Three Difficulty Levels
 DuckTales features
three difficulty levels but none of them are particularly difficult. Even cooler than the three difficulty
levels are the two different endings you can get. Most mortal gamers will achieve the “normal”
ending but if you can accrue over 10 million dollars and find both hidden
treasures then you get a slightly different ending.
Fun?: Definitely
This is probably the toughest
Capcom/Disney effort and with its smooth gameplay and catchy music you
will definitely enjoy this platformer.
Challenge:
Not A lot
This game isn’t a cakewalk in
the sense that you will beat it the first time you pop it in like some of
the other Capcom/Disney games but it certainly can’t be qualified as
hard. It is definitely tough to
get the secret ending if you don’t use a FAQ to help you.
Replay: Lots
DuckTales provides
lots of replay value because you have three difficulty levels, lots of
hidden gems to find, two secret treasures and great overall
gameplay. It is also a quick play
to beat since there are only five stages.
2
Player: No
There’s none to be offered…
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
You can find every NES manual at www.nintendoage.com
Bottom
Line: Very good platformer
Any DuckTales fan must have this in there collection but so
should any fan of good platformers.
This is one of the better ones on the NES and actually provides a
modicum of difficulty if you shoot for the secret ending. I also think that this is the best of
the Capcom/Disney games.
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