🗺️ Received: October 1st, 2014 🗺️
🗺️ Written: November 27th-December 7th, 2023 🗺️
Alternate Title: I Love Donald Duck: Guruzia Ou no Hihou [ ⬤ ]
Year: 1991 | Developed and Published by: SegaHello, gamers and readers alike, welcome to my blog and thank you for taking the time to tune in today, I really appreciate it.
There was also an 8-bit incarnation on the Sega Master System and Game Gear that soon followed
1990 saw the debut of Sega's Disney platformer Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse on their 16-bit MegaDrive/Genesis console, where it was released in Japan as I Love Mickey Mouse: Fushigi no Oshiro Daibōken (for which the subtitle translates to "Mysterious Castle Great Adventure"), which wound up receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews at the time of release (and is still receiving rave reviews to this day) and was the first game in the Illusion
It would also be remade as a 2.5D platformer by Sega Studios Australia in 2013
series. The gameplay, music, visuals, and charm have all seen near universal praise even to this day, and even though it's simple compared to all that came after it is often lauded as one of the best Disney games of all time (if not the all-time best) which just shows the testament of its lasting power and timeless quality. The Disney mascot's Sega 16-bit debut was a big hit during the console's modest success days*, so naturally it would only be a matter of time before a game featuring Donald Duck would follow suit.* Before the arrival of Sonic Team's Sonic the Hedgehog which forever changed the gaming landscape and ensured that Sega's 16-bit console would be a mega success
Images from GameFAQs
Donald Duck's shot as a video game protagonist on Sega's 16-bit console would arrive a year later with QuackShot starring Donald Duck which was released on the North American Genesis on December 19th, 1991 and on the European MegaDrive market that same year with Japanese MegaDrive owners receiving it exactly one day later on that December 20th as I Love Donald Duck: Guruzia Ou no Hihou (the subtitle which roughly translates to "The Treasure of the King Garuzia") with Jim Simmons acting as producer in one of only three Disney producing credits to his name (the others being the contemporary video game adaptations of Joe Johnston's The Rocketeer and Code to Go's MS-DOS title Coaster). Donald's 16-bit video game debut was designed and directed by Emiko Yamamoto with Sat Man acting as the main programmer and program coordinator (with additional programming by Muimui, Hiroshi Momota, Masato Ōmori, Keiichi Yamamoto, Ryuuchan, and Tastuyan).
Left: Beginning Donald Duck's adventure in the city of Duckburg | Right: Consuming five peppers will make Donald briefly invulnerable at the expense of being angrily temperamental
In the sidescrolling action platformer QuackShot starring Donald Duck you take control of the eponymous adventuring duck whom you can move left and right, duck down, and climb ladders on the way up or on the way down after positioning yourself in front of one which you can also edge little by little to either side. The default controls (which can be altered in the options screen accessed from the title) are C to jump with your altitude based on how lightly or how hard you pressed the button, Donald can slide his body across narrow openings by holding down while pressing C, A which you can hold down to have Donald dash at an
Left: Calling the airplane to fly off to other countries | Right: Be wary of sentient cacti enemies 🌵
increased speed, and B to shoot non-lethal plungers from his gun (ahead of you, while ducking, while in midair, or above you). Finally, by pressing the Start button you'll be taken to the inventory screen where you can switch guns--be it the default plunger gun which you can use an infinite amount of times during your quest or the popcorn and bubble gun which only gives you limited ammunition to use so they'll have to be operated sparingly and in moments that require it--and select whatever items you've gathered which you can either look at or use in any given situation. Throughout the course of QuackShot are items that will
Left: Trekking through the desert and across quicksand | Right: Crustacean-propelled platforms
be valuable to Donald's aid, whether they're in plain sight or hidden in a spot discovered by thorough searching or dropped by an enemy carrying a bag on their person after shooting a plunger at them: diamonds and bags of money for points, maize to add a little more ammunition to the popcorn gun, bubbles to add ammunition to the bubble gun after the inventor Gyro Gearloose supplies Donald with one, ice cream to replenish your health by one, roast turkey to completely refill your health, and a fedora to gain an additional life to your count. In a handful of continents are also a set of five peppers that you can choose to grab or not, for getting all of them will momentarily render Donald invulnerable as he becomes
Left: Blocking that boxing turtle's vision momentarily | Right: Stun Pete's gang by shooting plungers at them at any opportunity
susceptible to his trademark temper tantrum which enables him to do away with any unfortunate foe who just so happens to cross his path while in this state. The only downside is that while he's still in bad temper mode he won't remain still but luckily you can course direct him by pressing the opposite direction without fail. Once you reach a certain portion of the present country for the first time Donald will place down a green flag, for one last thing
Left: "Thank you, Señorita, but how do you know my name?" | Right: Exploring ancient Mexican ruins
you could do in the inventory screen (provided you're standing near the flag) is to call the airplane piloted by his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie who will happily fly him to any available part of the world. Another benefit to this is that any time you revisit a country you've been to before you'll be dropped off at the exact spot that the flag has been placed so you don't have to worry about restarting the whole country over from scratch.
Left: Sliding across narrow gaps will become very useful from time to time | Right: Time your plunger shot properly so that moving duck-faced platform can remain still for a short while
QuackShot is a vibrantly colorful and pleasantly likable game to look at, Yonesan, Mikarin Nishida, and Takashi Yuda (who also acted as art director credited as "Thomas Yuuda") have all done a very admirable job at capturing the lighthearted Disney tone and charm while simultaneously ensuring that each country in the world that Donald visits have got their own distinct look, culture, and feel to them. Duckburg looks very solid with the different buildings and has got a pleasant view of the whole city when you venture atop of its skyscrapers,
Left: Hooray, it's Goofy! | Right: Optional style points for sliding past that solitary flame
Mexico has got an expertly utilized sense of parallax scrolling with the cacti and rocky canyons, Transylvania starts you off in a spooky environment with creepy trees slightly enshrouded in mist, there's an absorbing shade of night blue when venturing onboard the Viking Ship with a pleasant moon in the sky, Egypt's got nice-looking pyramids in the background, the outskirts of India on the way to see the Mahārāja look sweet, and South Pole has got an atmospheric quality with the brightly colored snow, glistening icy waters, and the pretty calming yet beautiful Aurora Borealis in the sky. There's a good sense of
Left: Donald putting those newly upgraded plungers to good use 🪠 | Right: 📢💥
atmospheric depth when stepping foot inside the Mexcian temple and Egyptian pyramid with the looming backdrop of Mayan motifs and Egyptian hieroglyphics adorning its halls respectively, and at one point in Transylvania Donald finds himself in a water-filled room with effective dithering effects. Donald Duck looks very good in his 16-bit debut, setting aside his traditional sailor outfit (except for the opening story cutscene and ending credits) in favor of something adventure appropriate with a green backpack, brown-colored clothing, and a fedora not too dissimilar to what Indiana Jones wears. He animates solidly when he
Left: Well isn't that a very creative albeit highly impractical mode of transportation | Right: Gyro Gearloose and Little Helper are ready to assist Donald Duck by giving him something important
walks, jumps, climbs, and does a body slide, and this game really managed to capture his look and mannerisms to a T with his big expressive eyes and temper tantrums after consuming all five peppers as he flies out of control. I like his exaggerated sense of recoil after firing his gun, his idle pose is amusing as he impatiently taps his foot and occasionally looks at the screen (with one or both eyes open) as his tailfeather shakes for a second in the end, and I like how his entire body becomes all pointy and sharp after having sustained damage. Strewn throughout QuackShot are familiar Disney faces who largely amount to being cameos but are
Left: What a lovely Mickey cameo (even if it's just his face) | Right: Welcome to Transylvania
nonetheless well-designed for the time that they do appear: Goofy in his MegaDrive/Genesis debut looks absolutely on point with his tall and lanky stature, vacation attire, and straw hat, the bespectacled inventor Gyro Gearloose and his sentient lightbulb assistant Little Helper are affably and likably drawn in one of their rare video game appearances outside of a DuckTales license, Scrooge McDuck makes a snoozing cameo sitting on a chair in the background during the story introduction, after finding your way through the Mahārāja's
Left: Use the bubble gun to dissipate all those barrels in your way | Right: AGH, did that painting of Count Dracula just blink his eyes?!?
palace maze you find yourself battling a tiger who looks so much like Shere Khan if he put on a lot of weight to the point that he's rounder in shape, Donald's girlfriend Daisy Duck is colored and designed solidly during the story introduction and ending cutscene, and while on top of a skyscraper in Duckburg you'll see flying in the distance a blimp decorated with Mickey Mouse's face lifted directly from Castle of Illusion but with a slightly altered palette (it's such a small detail, but it's so appreciated nonetheless). Donald's enemies are designed
Left: Underwater | Right: Collecting soggy food and a bag of money
in a solid manner too, like Pete's henchmen (who might occasionally wear different outfits depending on the country you're in), boxing turtles who sometimes hide inside their shell, green-bodied birds (who in the South Pole wear a heavy snow jacket), sentient cacti, expressively goofy snakes (sometimes joined by snake charmers), Mexican temple guards, luminescent ghosts, Viking archers who emerge from inside barrels, stone guardians inside
Left: Cower before the ghost as it faces you (otherwise it will split into multiple parts and attack you all at once, and that would not be good for your health) 👻 | Right: Watch out for skeletons hopping out of coffins
the Island's temple who suspiciously resemble Donald's Uncle Scrooge, and the spirit of King Garuzia makes a cool entrance once you finally reach his chamber at the end. If you look closely at the world map you'll notice Thomas Yuuda's name etched in the bottom center of the parchment in such a subtle manner that it doesn't come across as distracting and is an endearing detail to look at once you take notice of it.
The soundtrack to QuackShot was composed by Shigenori Kamiya (as "Kamiya Studios") and produced by Tokuhiko Uwabo (who often got credited and nicknamed as "Bo"). Kamiya
for Sega Technical Institute's Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. Outside of the audio department Uwabo also wrote the scenario for Sega's MegaDrive port of Nihon Falcom's Sorcerian (which he also composed music for), supervised Office I and Sega's Switch/Panic!, and produced System Sacom and Organa LLC's Sega Saturn port of Dada Média's Le Livre de Lulu (known simply as Lulu in Japan).
Left: Forget everything you know about Dracula, his real weakness is plungers (according to this game) | Right: Landed aboard a Viking ship
QuackShot's soundtrack quality does share a bit of similarity to Castle of Illusion's music in certain spots, which is no surprise given the shared composer, but I think it's got a very good soundtrack all the same with a lot of good numbers and a good sense of variety in terms of the distinctive music for each country. Duckburg's theme is pleasantly catchy and has got a fun melody to it, Mexico's theme is enjoyably upbeat and complements the landscape,
Left: 🍦 | Right: Walking up the rope holding the mast
Transylvania's theme is fittingly spooky as you venture through the Prince of Darkness Count Dracula's castle, Egypt's theme is bouncily exotic and energetically paced, the Viking Ship's theme is soothingly relaxing and adventurously atmospheric, the South Pole's theme is so incredibly bouncy and lighthearted that it could also work as a tropical vacation theme if there had been a beach setting, and the theme for when Donald arrives in India has got a
Left: Meeting a friendly but sad Viking | Right: *QUACK*
strong Indian aura about it. One of my favorite themes from QuackShot is heard when you venture inside the Mexican temple and Egyptian pyramid as well as the secret island where King Garuzia's treasure is located for its appropriately foreboding and atmospherically intimidating composition as Donald has set foot on abandoned yet dangerous territory, the Mahārāja palace theme is the most pleasantly unique track in the game for how wondrously meditative it sounds, the minimal instrumentation island theme does a good job
Left: Huey, Dewey, and Louie dropping off their Unca Donald in the hot land of Egypt | Right: *insert temperamental angry Donald Duck sounds here*
at setting up what's to come, and the theme for when you infiltrate Pete's hideout is engrossing with an energetic tempo. The theme for any time you access the world map absolutely brims with adventure, the dialogue theme any time Donald talks to a friendly character has got a delightfully cordial quality to it, the theme for when Donald rides on a mine cart is bouncily fun, the boss theme is pressingly hectic, King Garuzia's theme when you face off against his spirit has got a dark vibe to it that makes the final battle effective, and the credits theme is a very rewarding listen for there's a nice triumphant quality to it as Donald's
Left: Donald's travels now take him to India | Right: Donald also loses his temper here
adventure has come to an end. The music in QuackShot can fortunately all be listened to in all its glory in the sound test when accessing the options screen. The sound effects are solid, I like Donald's repeated "quack" sounds any time he succumbs to his bad temper or how there's a distorted sound when he takes damage, the sound for when a plunger incapacitates a foe is funny, and given the involvement Shigenori Kamiya and Tokuhiko Uwabo I recognized a few sound effects lifted from Castle of Illusion (like for when certain items are procured and for when Donald takes a fall).
Left: Holding an audience with the Mahārāja | Right: Shoot the snake to stun the snake charmer
Each country Donald Duck visits is divided into segments, and the start of each segment serves as a checkpoint in the event that you lose a life (which is also the case in the boss battle sections). Each time the segments reset themselves after losing a life all the items will still be there to obtain in their designated places even after you grabbed them the first time around, which is an important thing to note when life garnering fedoras are involved. Losing all your lives will give you to option to continue your adventure or to return to the title screen, but if you grabbed an important item down the line be sure to clear the present country so that you can keep it otherwise if you lost your last life after the fact you'd have to start that part over (from the world map and nearby flag point to fly the airplane down there).
Left: Wow, Shere Khan sure has gained a lot of pounds, hasn't he? | Right: And he's gained the ability to breathe fire! ...which is ironic given his "red flower" fate in The Jungle Book
There were two different versions of QuackShot starring Donald Duck that came out on the same system: Rev 00 and Rev 01. Shortly after it originally came out Sega made and released a revision of it which made various changes, mostly of the optimizing variety. The order of the sound test was adjusted in Rev 01 (with "Duckburg" being the first track on the list as opposed to "Mexico", plus the music to "Hideout" and "The Island" were swapped out) and you stay on the inventory menu after looking at an item (whereas in Rev 00 it took you back to the game afterward), one of Pete's henchmen was positioned a little closer in the Viking
Left: Inside the Egyptian pyramid | Right: Body sliding across the narrow gap with spikes above you
Ship than he was initially, Hideout uses the "Hideout" theme the whole time, and a variety of items was added to the temple's entrance in The Island in Rev 01 (in Rev 00, the "Room2" theme plays throughout The Island). An easy way to identify whether you have QuackShot's Rev 00 or Rev 01 edition is in the opening cutscene: if Huey and Dewey's names have got a space between them that means you have Rev 01 but should the space between their names be nonexistent then that means you have the original Rev 00 version. I own the Rev 00 edition, I didn't realize until years after I had gotten it that it came out in two versions.
Images from GameFAQs
Both Donald's and Mickey's first Sega 16-bit games would twice be bundled together in the same package later in life: first in 1996 in the cartridge-based The Disney Collection: Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse/QuackShot starring Donald Duck for the MegaDrive in Europe, then I Love Mickey Mouse and I Love Donald Duck would both be made available in the last of thirteen Sega Ages CD releases on the Sega Saturn exclusively in Japan in 1998.
* There was Eurocom's Disney's The Jungle Book (which I did play on the PC beforehand, but the PC is not the same thing as the Sega 16-bit console) at a built-in Sega Genesis system with six games at the dentist in my preteen to teen years, but that was it
* It wasn't without issues: if there was a large body of white on the screen then it would visually fizzle out but outside of that the gameplay functioned very well, and games that had a save file such as Westone's Wonder Boy in Monster World wouldn't work
** And having to fidget around with it until the image quality on the display appeared just right? No thank you! 😑
World of Illusion also features, and I'm not saying it ironically, one of my top favorite credits music for any Disney video game license ever 🥰 There's just so much warmth to it
I had a lot of fun with Castle of Illusion (I genuinely think it's the ultimate 2D Disney platformer) that I thought it would only be logical to follow it up by playing the direct 16-bit sequel World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck the following month on November 2012 which I also ended up enjoying. I was happy owning two Genesis cartridges in my video game collection that I only had those for the next year.
Left: Carefully scale up that incline as you time your movements with the open part of the ring of fire | Right: A double whammy of collapsing bridge and raining fire from the ceiling, truly this is a trap-filled environment guarding an important artifact and/or treasure
When it came time to decide on what my fourth Genesis game should be, I decided to finally look into QuackShot on September 2014 which ended up arriving at the start of that October in CIB condition much like I had done with Castle of Illusion and World of Illusion in 2012. It makes sense, honestly, as these three games are all connected to the three-plus decade old Illusion series outside of just the Sega-fied Disney brand even if Donald Duck's first Sega 16-bit go-around is merely a case of tangential relatedness.
Left: Mine cart riding | Right: Watching the Sphinx Tear in action
QuackShot is a bit of a different affair compared to the more straightforward Disney platforming licenses, and because of it that gives Donald Duck's game its unique edge. There is a slight bit of nonlinearity in terms of some of its layout design and the ability to revisit each country but from a midpoint is a very nice touch especially after having procured an important item or upgraded your plunger gun. It's also a fun game with nods and homages to the Indiana Jones franchise here and there (the title is stylized in the exact same font) living up to the lightheartedly fun and adventurous nature of the comics that featured Donald Duck and/or his uncle Scrooge McDuck. I like Donald's plunger gun and how it not only is used to
Left: Entering inside the Viking ship | Right: Clinging on to dear life (at least that bird is properly dressed, unlike poor Donald who must be freezing his tailfeather off)
temporarily incapacitate any bothersome foe in your path but can also be used to access previously inaccessible areas once you've got it upgraded plus it helps that you can use them an infinite number of times. When you start the game off the plunger is a normal yellow, but once Goofy gives you the red plunger you can shoot them towards walls which will stick thereby enabling you to scale upward, and when the Viking on his ship thanks you for eradicating what was inside his vessel he gives you the green plunger which you can use to stick the plunger upward on a green bird whom you can fly upward and downward as you cross the very wide gap. There are also certain obstacles that can only be destroyed through the bubble gun, this and more gives QuackShot's gameplay its sense of depth.
There's also a major difference in terms of locations and environments for whereas Castle of Illusion and World of Illusion take place in a more fantastical setting, QuackShot transpires in the real world with real world countries in it (or at least the closest approximation to the real world as Disney would allow) which is another thing that makes this game stand out comparatively speaking. There are a good number of action scenarios that Donald goes
Left: Penguin alert, shoot plunger on sight | Right: Prettyyyyy, the igloo and the Aurora Borealis! 😍
through in his treasure-seeking adventure: such as jumping across the cliffs and canyons in Mexico (including ones with detonators the moment you step on them), perilously avoiding rings of fire and loose flames as you venture inside dangerous territories, plunging foes left and right on the rooves of Duckburg's skyscrapers, being sure to take the correct path in some of the halls of Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania otherwise you'll find yourself at the start of the same hallway until you get it right, navigating the maze of the Mahārāja's palace in
Left: Buff Pete stooge | Right: 🦭
India with careful consideration as there are numbered doors to enter through, dashing just far enough to not get singed by a fireball creeping behind you inside Egypt's pyramid, quickly solving the floor tile riddle before the ceiling flattens Donald like a pancake, riding mine carts on a handful of occasions, venturing inside the icy cavern of the South Pole as you contend with seals and occasionally do away with certain obstacles with the bubble gun, and jumping on certain platforms in Pete's hideout that frequently alternate between single and spread out which you must get through with perfectly timed jumps, et al. With the exception of Pete's hideout followed by the island at the end, it's nice that you can explore these countries in any
Left: Attempting to stick to the ceiling | Right: Ugh, that's just like the oldest Disney character to kidnap someone's family members and use them as a bartering chip to get what he wants, such a deplorable creature! 🙄
given order of your choice provided you've got the proper items you need to dig deeper, it gives the proceedings some replay value as well as a trial and error element on your first time. QuackShot was generally positively received at the time, it wasn't as universally regarded as Castle of Illusion before it but it did fairly well overall. The visuals, music, and puzzles were well-received but there was a slight bit of criticism over Donald's jumping controls feeling "floaty"* and easy difficulty on the whole as well as the lack of voice samples. I don't fully agree with that last one, I don't need every MegaDrive/Genesis game to have voice samples and don't mind that this one in particular doesn't have them (even if Donald's voice is one of his most notable of qualities).* Mickey Mouse's jumping controls in Castle of Illusion had a sense of float to them too, and no one made a big deal about those then, so I find that criticism leveled at QuackShot a bit weird, though maybe it's got more to do with execution than with the floaty nature (it helps to hold down the button to make higher jumps, particularly in the sequences that involve platforming)... but if we were to make comparisons Donald briefly remains in place upon sustaining damage whereas Mickey is still mobile even when hit in his game
The Disney corporation is partially to blame, too, for the Fantasia video game came to be because of a miscommunication giving off the impression to Sega that it was okay to adapt... except it wasn't, which upset the late Roy E. Disney as he promised his uncle Walt Disney that there would be no Fantasia adaptations before he died; thus he contacted Sega to have all unsold copies of the 1991 video game to be recalled or destroyed (of which there were about 5,000) and in return he'd grant them the rights to adapt other Disney properties without any additional fee
If nothing else, I think it helped wash off the bad taste left by the MegaDrive/Genesis sidescrolling platformer adaptation of the 1940 Disney film Fantasia which was seen a huge disappointment and performed poorly compared to Castle of Illusion. It wasn't developer Infogrames' fault, though, they simply worked under an uncomfortably tight schedule that was beyond their control which was not aided by the fact that the publisher Sega rushed the game out the door to take advantage of the 1991 holiday season before there was any chance to polish and finetune its gameplay structure. It's a very pretty-looking game, but unfortunately one where its troubled production is far more interesting than how the final product turned out: an awkward, bug-riddled mess that is blatantly incomplete. I feel bad for and sympathize with Infogrames, who ended up finding their stride with reliably solid licensed games throughout the '90s, but this was not a proud moment for the French firm.
Left: In the dark jungle | Right: Plunging the goofy-eyed snake above you 🐍
It's plainly evident that QuackShot shared some of the same staff that worked on Castle of Illusion which adds to its already endearing quality: particularly programmers Sat Man and Muimui (both of whom would also program World of Illusion) as well as Takashi Yuda/Thomas Yuuda--who after QuackShot would work as an artist for World of Illusion and as graphic designer for Sega's Sports Talk Baseball, work as animator and scene artist and character designer for Sega Technical Institute's Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles,
🥺 *sigh* I wish Krome Studios' Disney's Extremely Goofy Skateboarding was also released on the Nintendo GameCube, now that was a fun 3D skateboarding PC game when I was a kid (even if I only played the demo version)
Tokyo Disney Sea games, Konami's Disney Sports franchise, Capcom and Nintendo's Disney's Mickey Mouse no Fushigi na Kagami/Disney's Magical Mirror starring Mickey
* When watching a playthrough of it on YouTube, I was surprised to see her credited in the same special thanks section twice: once under her real name and the other time under her nickname! 😯 Either Aspect weren't aware that Emiko Yamamoto and "Emirin" were one and the same, or they knew but felt twice as compelled to show their gratitude to her by thanking her under both names. That's cool, I just hope it didn't make it awkward for all those who were only thanked once
Left: Platform multiplier | Right: Infiltrating Pete's hideout
I liked Donald Duck since I was a little kid (I feel as an adult that it's easy to resonate with him and his antics), but I always felt he got the short of the stick being in the shadow of Mickey Mouse always being relegated as the butt of the joke. And in recent years I felt like he also got the short end when it came to the number of games starring him as a playable character versus the number of games he's appeared as a nonplayable character or a cameo, particularly on the Nintendo side of things during the '90s.
Screengrabbed while watching LongplayArchive's respective Sega Master System editions of The Lucky Dime Caper and Deep Duck Trouble videos on YouTube
To be fair, one could opine that the same thing could be said of Sega's side, but Donald managed to get a couple more starring vehicles in the form of the Sega 8-bit Game Gear and Sega Master System titles Sega's The Lucky Dime Caper starring Donald Duck/Donald Duck no Lucky Dime* and Aspect's Deep Duck Trouble which like QuackShot are only tangentially connected to the Illusion series. QuackShot also came out at the right place at the right time having made its debut just three years after the 1988 release of the Sega MegaDrive console.* Japanese Sega owners got treated to twice the Donald Duck video game entertainment, as December 20th, 1991 saw the release of both Donald Duck no Lucky Dime on the Game Gear and I Love Donald Duck on the Sega MegaDrive
Left: Be sure to fire your plunger at the spot not covered by its shield | Right: Final slide
Is QuackShot the best solo Donald Duck game? Years ago I might have said "yes", but the more I considered it the more I thought that honor should go to another game.
Sure, it's got missing animations, lacks a special Cold Shadow move, and is structured in a significantly different manner than the MegaDrive original and PC versions, but the Nintendo 16-bit incarnation is still fun and worthwhile playing plus Steve Duckworth's exclusive "The Flying Duckman" theme is incredibly absorbing and powerfully atmospheric
That game, in my opinion, is Eurocom's Donald in Maui Mallard/Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow, the ultimate Donald Duck game to me (even if it is just his meta persona) showing us a side to him that has never been seen before (or since) with a darker atmosphere and keenly felt slice of edge, solid gameplay depth as he alternates between Magnum P.I.-styled gun-toting Maui Mallard and slick bo staff-wielding martial arts ninja Cold Shadow, enjoyably over-the-top Disney quality animation and endearing charm, gorgeously detailed visuals, a typically great Michael Giacchino soundtrack pre-movie career, nuanced open-ended level design, fair sense of difficulty, and on the whole a fun and entertaining game while it lasts. 😃 A truly unique Donald Duck game that's earned its cult classic status.
Left: If you've watched Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, you know the solution to get past here | Right: The spirit of King Garuzia has appeared to challenge you
QuackShot falls under the category of Disney games that must be beaten in one sitting for it takes roughly fifty to sixty minutes to play through once you've got it all figured out and are playing it on your best day, but if you're playing it on your less than best days it'll take a bit longer to complete it but fortunately it can be played in one go (so long as it doesn't exceed two or three hours, God forbid). It's a little longer than Castle of Illusion, but at least World of Illusion would introduce a password system a year later.
My Personal Score: 8.0/10
● I originally reviewed this game on my blog on October 2014 and gave it an 8.5 out of 10, the exact week that I got it (which was wrong of me). There's a reason I'd rather take some time after I got the game to get to know it better before I review it, because doing the exact opposite would mean missing a lot of things about it (and I did). 😞 I recently deleted the old review out of retroactive shame, so in its place I've created a much better articulated, eloquently written new review for QuackShot with a firmer grasp of research that I feel much more satisfied and accomplished with (hopefully I'll look back on this review and feel the same way years down the line). When I make my reviews nowadays, I want them to hold up over time.
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