Nathan vs His Game Collection Day 19: Ducks and Dungeons

Smooth McGroove is back with an even crazier song, one that was the famous piano "Death Waltz" thing that was making its way around the internet a while back.
Two reviews for you today! Let's do it!

Duck Tales

A little background

DuckTales (a woo-hoo), released in September of 1989, is probably one of the best known NES Disney games. Widely remembered and regarded as a classic, it's also currently undergoing the Wayforward treatment to be remade with modern graphics and the original voice actors. Does the game really need to be reworked for a modern age? Eh, probably not, but since they never bothered re-releasing it I'll take what I can get here.

It's worth pointing out that in Japan this game is called "Naughty Ducks Dream Adventures," which is, again, brilliant. I don't know where Japan gets these awesome names for their games, but they're really something else. 

This also was the start of a long and glorious line of Capcom Disney games, that would run all the way up to the SNES era before Disney started making their own sucky games. Duck Tales also spawned a sequel, but it came out late in the NES's lifespan and is considered one of the more difficult (and expensive) games to get for the system. 

First impressions last forever

Man, this game was so obviously made by the Mega Man team. Mega Man style graphics, Mega Man style music, Mega Man style stage select: it's crazy! Crazy I tell you!

But the game certainly doesn't play all that much like Mega Man (though I square Scrooge's walk cycle and animation are dangerously close). In fact, it doesn't play like any platformer I can think of to date. You have two attacks: you can swing your cane like a golf club and strike objects into enemies (or just out of the way, but you can't strike enemies) or you can bounce on the pogo Commander Keen style and jump on top of enemies. Scrooge's basic jump is kind of garbage, so the pogo is the way to go.  

But as I played further...

I might as well link the Moon stage song, because everybody just loves that song to death (myself included). 

What is cool about DuckTales is how it's secretly kind of an open-world game. You adventure through the various stages, finding unlocks and secrets, but if you get to Launchpad you can always take the treasure you got and head back to the base and go somewhere else (or the same location from the start). The game is more about exploration than combat and bosses (although there is both), which is probably why Scrooge isn't really all that well equipped to attack, but is very well stocked to do platforming with his pogo stick. 

Since there aren't really any upgrades to speak of, the stages can be tackled in any order (unlike Mega Man, which wants you to do them in order of weakness). Also, the goal is different as well: just get money. Lots and lots of money. You can beat the bosses, but be sure to get money. Delicious money. 

Exploring the stages can be tricky, but as you dig deeper and find secrets as well as master the cane jumping (which is tricky at first), you'll get the hang of it. This game also begs to be replayed, and since there's no option to save or continue, you'll need to take what you learned before for future playthroughs. Kind of like Dark Souls. Only with ducks. Duck Souls. 

So what's the conclusion? 

I could easily go on and on about DuckTales. About a "no money" run, or playing the game on Difficult or otherwise. About all the fantastic graphics, music, and locations. About how it pretty much did something no other 2D platformer had done (or has done since, with the exception of its direct sequel). 

But I won't, because everybody knows this game is fantastic. Even today, after replaying it, I'm surprised they felt the need to "Remaster" the game at all. They could re-release this game as a straight up port and it would hold up. Though I guess a save system wouldn't hurt it (or adding a few more levels to explore). Maybe in the Remaster they'll fuse it and DuckTales II together. That would be cool.

Regardless, this is one of the best NES games ever released. It's clever, original, has great production values, and is a blast to play. If you have a NES, this needs to be in your collection.

Copies are usually reasonably priced, around $10. 

Dungeon Magic: Sword of the Elements

A little background

Dungeon Magic: Sword of the Elements is another Taito game, which some may find similar to Bard's Tale. It was released in July of 1990 and designed specifically for the NES system, which is crazy because usually games like this are ports (or at least it felt like a port when I played it). This was an era of "Let's try really hard to rip of Dungeons and Dragons but not get sued" level of games, and Dungeon Magic certainly gets close. 

It's also in first person, 3D. Yeah. Crazy. 

First impressions last forever

 Ok, so it's a Daggerfall-esque game but on the NES. Which means literally no draw distance. I can only see the square in front of me and nothing else. This isn't going to make walking around town hard.

Also, the HUD takes up 90% of the screen. Like Hydlide. The Daggerfall reference was a compliment, this one isn't. 

I do think it's crazy they have a full 3D world on the NES, though. I also like talking to townspeople. 

But as I played further...

 This game was too ambitious for the system it is on, which is too bad because it might have been ok. The first thing I did was, after the townspeople told me to go do something and I ignored it, run out of town and battle the snake that's on the cover. It killed me in two hits. 

So I decided to attempt wandering this town of bad draw distance, finally finding what I need to to progress. I got some gear and headed out of town, battling that snake again. And it killed me again.

That's when I started using a guide. After playing a bit further I found a few more minor details: you gain XP but have to go to a church to "cash it in" to gain levels. You can save (hooray for batteries!) but only an an inn. There's a magic fusing system, but despite touting "Over 125 spells!" they all seem to be either Heal or Fireball. Plus, I still can't see where I'm going. Ever. 

So what's the conclusion? 

This isn't a game worth getting. I really tried hard to like it, because I admired its ambition. But, in the end, it's cumbersome and not fun. The lack of any ability to see where you going is a massive problem, and paired with the boring battles and not-as-good-as-it-sounds magic system, the game's just another bad NES RPG.

I wouldn't even consider it worth it as a novelty. Avoid. I have no idea how much copies are, but I'd imagine between $5-10.