DuckTales comes twofold with why I bring this to you for this monthly gaming escapade.
Firstly. Scrooge McDuck!
Named after Ebenezer Scrooge from the famous “A Christmas Carol” (which you’ve surely seen in some form or another). Also, speaking of christmas, his debut was in 1947 in comic form for the Disney story “A Christmas in Bear Mountain” which is available in hardbook form if you’re super keen for Disney history [Amazon UK] [Amazon US]. The most likely scenario though, is that you’ll be aware of him and his nephews from the beloved (for darn good reason) Disney cartoon “DuckTales”.
Also, he’s SCROOGE. So if you’re a christmas hater, he’s your man duck.
If you’re a seasoned gamer, or perhaps an avid YouTube video game content watcher, then you’ll most likely of heard about the beloved DuckTales video game too…
Released in 1989 by Capcom. This game is one of the earliest examples (at least for home consoles) of a must have licensed game. Capcom had developed a tasty formula for strong platforming gameplay through their “Mega Man” games. So when you have that mixed with a lot of the charm and character from the TV show, further garnished with an amazing soundtrack, it seems suspiciously TOO good.
It was probably about 3 years after it’s release that I played DuckTales, and this was the same era I was also playing things like the Home Alone NES game or the Teenage Mutant Hero Ninja Turtles NES game which as a kid I’d just tell myself “no game is bad, the only thing that is bad is my ability if I can’t beat it”.
Speaking of which. Tackling Ducktales as a kid I found it pretty challenging (and don’t get me started on Mega Man). Faster and more varied enemies than some of the other games I was accustomed too. The timing of certain jumps, and the overall multi-tasking with a lot on a screen at once seemed to require higher dexterity than what Super Mario Bros 1 through 3 did.
I’m mentally creating paragraph after paragraph in my head as I write about this game wanting to speak so much about nostalgia for the game, the cartoon, and licensed NES games…but that’ll have to wait for another opportunity that I’ll surely create, or feel free to leave a comment and I’ll love to get into any chit chat there given the time.
The actual reason why this game to mind when creating this winter feature overlooked the character name relation. Originally I wrote “DuckTales” on my launch uh, note pad, was because I remembered the Himalayas stage (a SNOW level) from the game whilst I was picturing virtual winter worlds in my head. Perhaps the most significant thing you’ll find about the stage first of all is that the game disables a defining piece of the way you move. This being Scrooge’s pogo hop technique using his trusty cane.
When you try to pogo in Snow you’ll get stuck into it and have to wiggle free (the realist of Pogo physics engines), so you have to be careful when dealing with the apparently evil rabbits, goats, spiders, inhabiting the land, and eventually a Yeti. The music alone isn’t especially wintry listened to by itself, but if you have the memories of playing the game a lot then it’s easy to associate certain songs with certain looks (and also certain moods when related to stage music for relaxing or difficult stages).
Turns out you can’t keep a good duck down though… and I certainly can’t deny fanboying when Capcom teamed up with the amazing talent of WayForward to bring back DuckTales for a HD remaster in 2013 (trailer below).
In fact I’ve bought the game more than once since. Digitally on WiiU and physically on Playstation 3 (actually an import from USA just for the cool limited edition Disney pin).
So if you have a PC, XBOX360, PS3, or if you want to try and control it on a smart phone I heartily recommend the remake as your easiest course of action, unless you fancy seeking out the NES game on eBay or someplace.
Now if Capcom or WayForward could only go ahead and grant my other wish of remaking “Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers” on NES. I was a huge fan of that, the fact that it had a good 2 player co-op mode, and naturally I loved the cartoon (so much so I actually have a pet rat named “Gadget Hackwrench“).
ARTICLE CLOSED… aside from the videos and such below if you seek more DuckTales in your life
>>Video: Ducktales theme remade with real ducks<<
I’ll leave you with this beautiful Piano rendition of the “Moon” stage theme from DuckTales on perhaps the great Piano I’ve ever seen.
and how the song might have sounded if it was in Sonic & Knuckles or Final Fantasy 6
edit:
*Ooh, 1 more addition I originally forgot to even mention. I dressed as Scrooge McDuck for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party this year (2016) at Orlando Florida. Had a lot of props from cast members at Disney World and park go’ers alike. Conjured up a lot of good conversation and hype and speculation for the Disney XD new series of DuckTales coming in 2017 too. Here’s a pic below combining a park shot photo and me trying to keep my hat on whilst on Space Mountain.
