QCF: DuckTales Remastered

s binary as the term “remake” would suggest by definition, the reality can actually elicit a variety of responses, anywhere from positive to “this is horse-shit.”  I’ve mentioned nostalgia quite a number of times and the sensitivity that revolves around applying it when you’re remaking a game versus re-releasing it.

The dilemma of mishandling swings both ways, you either desecrate the source material and kick the loyalists right in the childhood, or you over coat your product with the rose-tinted sugar of reminiscence that panders down memory lane instead, isolating your audience from the youngsters who’re late to the party, and just don’t get what the fuss was all about.  There are certain exceptions to this scenario, where the experience is so brilliant that they’re regarded as a timeless treat to everyone who plays them—to be completely honest, DuckTales is not one of those exceptions; and that what makes DuckTales Remastered amazing…WayForward recognized that the sacred cow wasn’t beyond the flaws of time.

The studio famous for injecting whimsy and charm, made subtle tweaks to an admittedly aged but solid formula, and in the process, adapted a twenty-four year old gem into a game that appeals to everyone in today’s video game generation.

Duckberg hasn’t been relevant since Disney’s awful attempt at embracing the nineties with Quack Pack, so the aside the fact that it’s a classic Capcom platformer, a large sum of today’s youth probably couldn’t tell the difference between Darkwing Duck and DuckTales.  The question remains on whether or not the license itself can hold up, and whether or not the game does anything with it for that matter—and the short answer yeah, in fact, this is where the game shines at its brightest. The richest duck in the world also happens to be rich with character and fiction that was ahead of it’s time when it hit the afternoon cartoon circuit, and the same charm of the cartoon is immaculately within Remastered in a way that it was never been able to before outside of the cartoon and comics. Alan Young voices the titular Scottish tycoon as if he still lived in the year 1987, alongside the rest of the cast, the voice work and direction of the composition recaptures the presentation of the animated classic to a tee. Remastered’s soundtrack compiles tracks from both the NES title and the show into a seamless juxtaposition of media that caters to both senses in fantastic work of fan service.

The core game is still there, with some small enhancements, the direct mechanics of Scrooge’s pogo jump/attack are lifted from the near-forgotten DuckTales 2.  Meaning, that instead of holding down on the D-Pad/Analog stick simultaneously with the action button, you can now simply push and hold just the action button (the option to keep the classic button input structure of the original still intact for the hardcore purist.) The stages have also been given the upgrade of a Metroid-like map for easy navigation considering that some of the levels can be labyrinth-like. Bosses have also been significantly upgraded and have a significantly large palette of attacks and hazards to contend with, which I refreshing considering that these were the weakest aspects of DuckTales in hindsight—especially the quote unquote “last boss.” The one gripe as far as the core design of the game goes is the lack of diversity from the original, understandably this is a remake to the core, but the lowly addition of two new stages on what was already a fairly short game even by NES standards is a bit of a missed opportunity. Still, if one thing is for certain, it’s that the studio spared no expense revamping the throwback with a modern aesthetic, and in the process, the redux Capcom title sets a whole new benchmark on how future re-releases should be done going forward.

The graphic and visual design operates with the same ideals and does everything it can to recreate the aspects of both the license and the game. Between Scrooge sporting his Blue/red wardrobe of the cartoon fame versus the red/white attire of the Carl Barks version that the NES versions displayed, to the Pogo jump and golf swinging into a solid wall, all the sprite work involved boasts an authentic detail down to the look and every frame of animation. Like most platformers from the era DuckTales hearkens from, paper-thin plots were the norm and DuckTales lucked out with the Scrooge’s Macguffin being treasure, a material object that you can collect and increase. A dynamic that fits in nicely into nearly every foundation of your standard video game’s framework, especially DuckTales, but this new Remastered edition ups the ante.

WayForward adds a ton of exposition and cut scenes this time around, and while it attempts to stick with the same values that were enforced into the presentation, the execution of collocating the show’s narrative versus the simple cognitive flow of DuckTales’ traditional platforming roots are a bit of a hit and miss.

Be it the intro to a stage, or its transitions, and even points in between that, McDuck and company will always stop to ensure that relish any opportunity they can to characterize the situation, regardless how mundane or minor the highlighted turn of events may be. These scripted scenes of sequence warrant themselves at times, like elucidating how Scrooge is able to breathe in space on the Moon; that particular scene was an excellent example on how to cinematize the usual dramatization in the show for the game, all the other cut scenes though—not so much. DuckTales is a platformer, the very nature of the genre is movement, action, bouncing, and agency in its most primal form, and when it’s broken up so often through scripted sequences that are so superfluous to the point where it’s saturated, it slightly hurts the game as a result. Again, the labor of love in DuckTales Remastered’s presentation is one of its most prominent qualities, but there are moments when it takes away from the game.

All the sights and sounds are engrossing but they’ll get in the way, and while I appreciate the idea to apply the theatrics of the cartoon the NES classic, this is still a really dumb game where a billionaire duck smashes the craniums of several bad guys, with his walking cane…like it’s some sort of death-pogo stick.

It’s a bit ironic to phrase that players shouldn’t expect gold with DuckTales Remastered, but Nostalgia aside, the game hasn’t exactly aged gracefully, and while the presentation is the crown jewel of the package, it’s a bit bloated for its own good. Still, I’d be damned if I told you that you wouldn’t get something really valuable out the experience, DuckTales Remastered is still something worth playing, just not a money-bin’s worth.