Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow: 3HN Duck Disappointment

In one of my previous posts, I dubbed the Disney character Donald Duck as the top Sega Genesis game character in terms of personal nostalgia; with a tough and determined demeanor that belies his Disney cute factor and with underrated winners under his belt like Quackshot and World of Illusion, Donald Duck has certainly earned the top spot on my list. So, when I won Super Metroid on eBay last year and a Donald Duck game called Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow was packaged with it, I was pleased to get two games for one.

Unfortunately, unlike Donald Duck's Genesis titles, Maui Mallard on the Super Nintendo is lackluster not because of its graphics (with colorful and sharp backgrounds and character sprites), the animation (which is fluid and comical), or the in-game sound (which is good by SNES standards), but because of its gameplay. One problem is figuring out where to go. Playing the first level, it is initially confusing and difficult to know where to go; for example, I had trouble solving how to enter the background (outside of the house) from the foreground (inside the house). Once I overcame that, I found it annoying trying to navigate in the background with walls and window edges in my field of vision. Even after I successfully returned to the foreground, I could not easily determine where to head (or what to do) to exit the level.

Okay... I realize that it may seem lame that I cannot navigate the first level. Admittedly, Super Metroid is all about figuring out where to go; like Super Metroid, I could just watch someone's longplay video on YouTube or read a walkthrough to solve Maui Mallard. Anyway, it isn't navigation that makes Maui Mallard almost unplayable as much as the slippery controls. In Maui Mallard, jumping feels imprecise, running feels like sliding across ice, and shooting Donald's gun lacks the "fun" factor of Quackshot. What is he shooting -- tomatoes?!

Navigation and controls are the two major gameplay elements that bog down Maui Mallard, but I must also mention the act of collecting objects. Is the point to simply amass a higher completion percentage? I wasn't sure and I grew to not care after a few minutes of gameplay. After a while, the game felt pointless, which is not as much a reflection of gameplay as a lack of a cohesive story. Who is Maui Mallard? Why do I have to wait until later levels to turn into Cold Shadow, the icy, deadly ninja duck? What's the point of having to transform when I could just be a ninja throughout the game?

Yet, more important than these questions was my concern about the "Eastern philosophy" elements in the game, such as the Taoist yin-yang symbol and ninja iconography, as well as the Polynesian-type idolatry present. What kinds of images would be impressed upon my sons' minds when viewing these symbols? All of these questions flooded my mind as I turned off my Retro Duo and pulled out the Maui Mallard cartridge.

As I wrote this post, I pondered how Maui Mallard and Super Metroid share some similar features: laudable graphics, vivid sprites, platform gameplay, somewhat baffling and confusing level navigation, and tracking of percentages of items collected are aspects of both games. Yet, unlike Maui Mallard, Super Metroid features fluid gameplay with accurate jumping and movement along with special abilities gained as the game progresses. Super Metroid also affords Samus Aran wall jumping, which comes with much practice but is available from the game's onset. Maui Mallard is plagued with a feeling that you have little control over where Donald Duck goes and, eventually, little desire to go anywhere. Sadly, because of this game, Donald Duck doesn't rank too highly on my list of nostalgic characters on the SNES.

Top Ten First-Hand Nostalgia Sega Genesis Characters (1)

It has come down to number one. Like Sonic, this character needs no introduction; but, unlike Sonic, this character has been around much longer than the Sega Genesis, video games, or even color television. My Top First-Hand Nostalgia Sega Genesis character is... Donald Duck.

As almost everyone knows, Donald Duck is one of the marquee characters in the Walt Disney stable. Along with Mickey Mouse and Goofy, Donald Duck is highly visible in Disney entertainment, appearing in cartoon shorts, movies, merchandise, and, of course, video games. Some may thank Donald Duck for the advent of other successful Disney duck characters, like Uncle Scrooge, Launchpad MacQuack, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie of DuckTales fame, and Darkwing Duck. These characters went on to also appear in lucrative game ventures like the DuckTales games on NES and Darkwing Duck's own game. However, the focus here is on Donald Duck, who appears on two games for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive: Quackshot and World of Illusion.

In Quackshot, Donald Duck is an adventurer a la Indiana Jones, sporting a leather jacket and fedora along with a plunger gun. As one progresses through Quackshot, Donald Duck upgrades his plunger gun to plungers that stick to walls for climbing, and then to birds so that he can hitch rides under them. Donald also goes into a "berserker barrage" kind of frenzy when he eats five chilis, though this happens irregularly in the game. In any case, Quackshot was one of the first games I played on the Genesis and was memorable for its colorful sprites and catchy music, not to mention the irrepressible Donald Duck and his standstill animations.

World of Illusion was Donald Duck's second game, which can be played solo or cooperatively with Mickey Mouse. With a magic cape as a weapon, Donald Duck can flick his cape to transmogrify baddies into butterflies and flowers. Yet, the funniest aspects of Donald Duck's character in World of Illusion are, once again, his standstill animations (in which he shows his impatient side) and his big behind: to pass through tight spaces, he needs Mickey Mouse to pull him through because of his substantial derriere.

Admittedly, both games were not side-scrolling, platforming masterpieces, but I cannot deny the Disney mystique present in both games; up until recently, Disney was able to combine cartoon fun with a sense of dignity, as if we must acknowledge the classic nature of their characters and hold them in reverence. Some may count this as hubris on Disney's part (and I may not be making any sense here), but I used to buy into how "special" Disney characters were and how they stood apart from most other cartoon characters. I suppose that multiple trips to Disneyland and watching numerous Disney cartoons would engender such a reverence for drawn characters.

For all of the reasons stated above, Donald Duck stands at the top of my list of nostalgic Genesis characters. When I look back at my high school and college days and my days of Genesis playing, I hold Donald Duck in the highest regard, even though I know that there have been many other wonderful Genesis characters, like Earthworm Jim, Ristar, and Knuckles, whom I just recently got to play in Sonic & Knuckles. Do you disagree? If so, please comment -- I'm always eager to read other people's opinions regarding their favorite or best video game characters.

Quackshot: 1HN Underrated Classic

When I was in high school, I remember hanging out with my friend Ed, who owned a Sega Genesis (before I eventually got mine in college). One of his brothers had rented a game called Quackshot, which was a side-scrolling adventure game starring Donald Duck. I remember playing the game and being impressed by the cartoonish graphics, the quirky background music, and, most importantly, the amusing and unique gameplay. Nineteen years later, I decided to buy the game used and include it as a retrogaming Christmas gift for my two sons, along with a Gen-X Dual Station and some other NES and Genesis games. Upon opening the gift, both of my sons were taken by the game and wanted to play it. Needless to say, like I was 19 years ago, they were impressed by the game.

Quackshot is one of those underrated classics that many gamers do not recognize, except for those Genesis gamers that are now active retrogamers. However, in what other game does the protagonist shoot a plunger gun that becomes more versatile as one acquires power-ups? Or, in what other game does a Disney character, vaguely dressed like Indiana Jones, travel from Duckburg to Mexico to Egypt to Transylvania to a haunted Viking ship? Not many other games but Quackshot. The unique gameplay not only involves using your plunger gun to stun foes, climb walls, and hitch rides attached to flying bird, but also involves the ability to slide as well as jump and duck -- most games did not have such versatility of control 19 years ago.

If you can, look for Quackshot on eBay or (if it's available) on Wii's Virtual Console. Because Donald wields a plunger gun and the game has that Saturday Disney cartoon look, it's a relatively innocuous game for young children, and it's a hoot for older kids who aren't averse to a good ol'-fashioned side-scroller that doesn't feature blood, guts, and explosions.

World of Illusion: 3HN Afternoon of Fun

Yesterday, my wife and I gave our oldest son a Sega Genesis game called World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. The game is a one- or two-player game that follows Mickey and/or Donald as they try to find their way out of the World of Illusion. Along the way, Mickey and Donald encounter all manner of bad guys and obstacles, some of which require teamwork to overcome -- obstacles such as see-saws and low-lying crawlspaces (which requires Mickey to pull Donald through them). Mickey and Donald dispose of baddies by waving magic capes, which transmogrify their foes into flowers or butterflies.

The magic of this game, however, is not in the World of Illusion itself, but in the small details that the developers programmed into the game. Watch as Mickey or Donald balance themselves on ledges; notice when one character lands on another, causing the bottom character to teeter and struggle as he holds up the top character. The animation in the game and the teamwork are the big selling points of this game.

As I watched my oldest and youngest sons play, I found that I enjoyed watching them play this slice of nostalgia more than playing the game myself. Watching as they "accidentally" stunned each other with their magic capes and their ensuing laughter proved to me, once again, that there was simple greatness in retrogaming.