In 1985, Nintendo had saved the failed American video game industry from the devastating crash of 1983 thanks to their Nintendo Entertainment System, and by 1989 it had staked its claim in millions of homes. It was no surprise that seeing the success of the NES, a video game based on DuckTales would be an inevitability. developer Capcom had acquired the rights to exclusively develop Disney games for Nintendo consoles. After porting a Hudson Soft game based on Mickey Mouse, Capcom's first proper game based on a Disney product would indeed be DuckTales. Developed by some notable Capcom names at the time including Keiji Inafune and Tokuro Fujiwara.
DuckTales' plot is pretty simple. Scrooge sets off to keep himself the richest duck in the world by collecting several rare treasures from around the world. Using his trusty cane as a weapon, Scrooge ventures off to exotic locales like the Amazon, Transylvania, the Himalayas, the African Mines, and even the moon, all while dealing with many iconic DuckTales villains like Magica De Spell, the Beagle Boys, and Flintheart Glomgold.
Scrooge's cane is one hell of a weapon as Scrooge can use it like a pogo stick to smack the heads of his foes, or swing it like a golf club to send rocks launching. And they're definitely needed for the many hidden diamonds and gems that Scrooge needs to collect to raise his cash amount.In fact, that cash amount is required to get the best ending in the game. The more money you get, the better your chances at having Scrooge get the motherload. In fact, there's even a hidden bad ending where Scrooge can actually end up with no money.
On the graphical end, the game looks excellent for an NES game. The game sprites well represent the characters of the cartoon with great representations of Scrooge, the nephews, Launchpad McQuack, Gyro Gearloose, Mrs. Beakley, and more. On the audio side, the music is some of the best of the console, most notably the beloved moon theme, but also tracks like Transylvania and the Himalayas.
DuckTales is a great title for the NES. It is a tad on the easy and quick side, but it's still a fun play. And the world seemed to agree with me as DuckTales would prove a massive success for Capcom and Nintendo, selling over 1,600,000 copies. Capcom also ported the game to the Game Boy one year later, which proved to be a solid port that did suffer the fate of being somewhat squashed due to the GB hardware. Naturally, you'd imagine a DuckTales sequel would be immediate, but no. Disney and Capcom continued to make games based on other Disney Afternoon properties like Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin and Darkwing Duck.
DuckTales 2 still did happen, albeit in 1993, very late into the NES' lifespan. The plot sees Scrooge find a piece of a map that leads to a hidden treasure from Fergus McDuck. But the map pieces are scattered in five locations. Mu, the Bermuda Triangle, Egypt, Niagra Falls, and Scotland hold other pieces of the map, along with their own pieces of treasure. So it's up to Scrooge to find the big score before his longtime rival Flintheart Glomgold gets to it first.
DuckTales 2 plays very similar to the first game with Scrooge pogo caning his way through levels, defeating enemies and collecting diamonds and gems. However, this time around the game rewards the player for exploration instead of just trying to run through the game at a quick pace. Each level hosts a piece of the treasure map that you need to earn the game's good ending. There are also new abilities for Scrooge's cane, which can be collected by finding Gyro Gearloose. These strengthen Scrooge's cane, allowing him to destroy stronger obstacles.
The use of money in this game is now slated for currency which can be used in a shop after every level. From buying extra health points, a map piece, continue globes and more. It's definitely a helpful addition to what can be a somewhat trickier quest than the previous DuckTales game, as since this game is more exploration-heavy than its predecessor, having access to stuff like extra continues and health restoratives is very nice to have indeed.
Graphically the game looks great, but doesn't feel like it's that different from the original DuckTales in 1989. Which considering how great that game looked, isn't really a big issue. My real gripe is with the sound as the soundtrack is kind of mediocre. None of the songs are terrible, but lack the earworm-level quality of the original.
Overall, DuckTales 2 is a good game. Not as good as the original, but it's definitely a quality title. Unfortunately a victim of a late release in the NES lifespan, the cartridge now goes for insane prices. However, Capcom did manage to finally release the game as part of the Disney Afternoon Collection just recently, so it you haven't played this game, and avoided emulation, you now have a chance to try this game out for yourself. In the end, the DuckTales games were great stuff. Fine representations of the television show, while also being well built platformers. Proof that when Capcom put in effort, they actually delivered results.
Next time on DuckMonth (Woo Hoo!) It's our final stop. We've seen the show from its origin, the height of its popularity, and its success in the digital world. Now there's only one place left to try to conquer, the big screen. We end DuckMonth with a review of DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp.
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