I never owned the original Duck Tales NES game, but I used to rent it pretty often. Most Fridays my mom and I would head to the local video store, where we would get a couple of movies and a game. Duck Tales became my fallback game. If I couldn't find something I was interested in, at least there was Duck Tales. It's not like that was a consolation prize, either. I was always excited to get it home and play it again.
So when I heard that Capcom was remastering this game, getting in the voice actors from the series, but keeping the core mechanics, I was thrilled.
The nine-year-old me loves this game. The nine-year-old me is wondering why I bothered going to work this week when I could have been playing more Duck Tales. Nostalgia just drips from Capcom's reimagining. It's all the fun I had as a kid, with a shiny coat of paint.
The thirty-one-year-old me notices things that aren't stellar. Sometimes there are weird control issues where your down-thrust attack will just stop mid-air, leaving you open to unexpected damage. This only happened to me a few times, but reading around it seems to be a common complaint.
Some of the controls don't hold up with an analog stick (and lets be honest, the d-pad on the 360 controller is even worse). This may explain a bit of what was going on with the down-thrust attack, and also leads to some really frustrating deaths later in the game when you have to hold left and jump to get to another chain, then hold up again to catch the next one.
The three hours it takes to beat the game leave a little to be desired, though to be fair there are many reasons to run through it multiple times, not least of all the pure fun.
The visual overhaul and the voice acting are astounding. It feels just like playing an episode of the show-- awesome, but with a downside. The humor they put into the script works for the audience of the original series, but kinda falls flat for a more adult audience. That said, it's incredibly true-to-form, and who's playing this game for plot, anyway?
The updated music is awesome but I do love the ability to swap between the new music and the classic chiptune music. It just feels more right with the old music. Again, nostalgia.
You have multiple difficulty modes, neither of which is a good fit for me. WayForward stretched the levels out a bit, which means dying can be quite demoralizing without checkpoints. The "Easy" difficulty level gives you checkpoints, infinite lives, and only takes off half a heart each hit, arguably making it too easy. That said, some of the difficult platforming sections were still just as difficult, and pulling off trick jumps to get treasure is just as satisfying.
There's lots to love here, with a few missteps. Thirty-one-year-old me wishes some things had been different, but nine-year-old doesn't care about any of that and just wants to play more. Listen to him.
So when I heard that Capcom was remastering this game, getting in the voice actors from the series, but keeping the core mechanics, I was thrilled.
The nine-year-old me loves this game. The nine-year-old me is wondering why I bothered going to work this week when I could have been playing more Duck Tales. Nostalgia just drips from Capcom's reimagining. It's all the fun I had as a kid, with a shiny coat of paint.
The thirty-one-year-old me notices things that aren't stellar. Sometimes there are weird control issues where your down-thrust attack will just stop mid-air, leaving you open to unexpected damage. This only happened to me a few times, but reading around it seems to be a common complaint.
Some of the controls don't hold up with an analog stick (and lets be honest, the d-pad on the 360 controller is even worse). This may explain a bit of what was going on with the down-thrust attack, and also leads to some really frustrating deaths later in the game when you have to hold left and jump to get to another chain, then hold up again to catch the next one.
The three hours it takes to beat the game leave a little to be desired, though to be fair there are many reasons to run through it multiple times, not least of all the pure fun.
The visual overhaul and the voice acting are astounding. It feels just like playing an episode of the show-- awesome, but with a downside. The humor they put into the script works for the audience of the original series, but kinda falls flat for a more adult audience. That said, it's incredibly true-to-form, and who's playing this game for plot, anyway?
The updated music is awesome but I do love the ability to swap between the new music and the classic chiptune music. It just feels more right with the old music. Again, nostalgia.
You have multiple difficulty modes, neither of which is a good fit for me. WayForward stretched the levels out a bit, which means dying can be quite demoralizing without checkpoints. The "Easy" difficulty level gives you checkpoints, infinite lives, and only takes off half a heart each hit, arguably making it too easy. That said, some of the difficult platforming sections were still just as difficult, and pulling off trick jumps to get treasure is just as satisfying.
There's lots to love here, with a few missteps. Thirty-one-year-old me wishes some things had been different, but nine-year-old doesn't care about any of that and just wants to play more. Listen to him.
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Yeah, this is on my list to pick up at some point, no question. Kind of wished Capcom had ported this to at least Mac, but they didn't.
Can't wait to head back to Duckberg!
Oh, Launchpad was in the original NES game, does he make an appearance in this one too?
Oh yeah, Launchpad is pretty much in every level intro cinematic. Still a dolt, as you'd expect.
Yeah, he was kind of a doofus. But I was jealous he was a pilot.
That's interesting! I had Duck Tales on the Gameboy and remember playing it around the age of 12.