In the wrong hands, this videogame based on Disneys show of the same name could have been (ahem) something of a dead duck. However, when tasked with bringing DuckTales to Nintendos NES console, developers Capcom made the canny decision to enlist the brains behind the Megaman series and by doing so unleashed one of the best Nintendo platform adventures of all time. The game itself puts players in control of Scrooge McDuck as he goes on a planetary scavenger hunt for buried treasure. Offering a choice of five levels The Amazon, Transylvania, African Mines, The Himalayas and The Moon which can be played in any particular order, each stage requires the minted patriarch to do anything as basic as some ledge hoping in the rainforest to some head-scratching puzzlework in a castle littered with magic mirrors. Although an unlikely protagonist, Scrooge has enough neat combat tricks in his coin purse to keep things challenging and exciting (theres nothing sweeter than pogo-sticking on top of an enemys head, courtesy of his trusty cane) and as this was one of Disneys earliest licenses there is a loving attention to detail here that gives the game an iconic status. Recently given the high definition treatment on the now previous generation of consoles, DuckTales is an example of how a platormer should be done.
Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing.
He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.
