Goof Troop

"It's Groofy And Max Teaming Up For An Adventure!!!"

You probably know what Groof Troop is, don't you? The first character that will probably come to your mind first is Goofy, and perhaps the second character will be Max. Am i right or wrong? Anyway, i suppose there's a cartoon on it. Well, i didn't watch the cartoon. The game was released by Capcom in 1993 for the SNES. It's another disney game again. Okay, before i discuss the gameplay, i will like to talk about the story first. Note that the two paragraphs below are directly taken from the game itself at the title screen. Why? Because i don't know the story that well.

It was a great day for fishing in Spoonerville so Goofy and his pals headed out to the ocean with their boats. Cruising for the big ones in open water, Pete and PJ were suddenly caught in the ominous shadow of a gigantic ship. When Goofy and Max looked up, they saw a huge pirate ship heading out to Spoonerville island. Pete and PJ were onboard, victims of a pirate kidnapping.

Goofy bowed for all he was worth, but he couldn't catch up to the pirate ship before it landed on the island. Determined to rescue their friends, Goofy and Max set out to explore the island and find the pirate stronghold.

So..., having the story discussed, let's move on to the gameplay. Hmm... how am i going to describe it? The game supports up to a maximum of two players. Choose between Groofy and Max. The game plays from a top down perspective. Along the way, you will encounter many different kinds of enemies, including pirates, snakes, bees, ghosts and so on. To kill them, all you need is to carry an item, be it whether it is a barrel, stone or anything else at them. Note that this isn't Mario, so no stomping is allowed.

I have to strongly admit that Groof Troop is a very well-designed game. There are plenty of puzzles for you to solve, a wide variety of enemies to keep you busy and pretty challenging bosses that await you. Exploration is aplenty. Along the way, you can pick up tools to help you. These tools include a hookshot, a bell, a shovel and so on. The cherries that you pick up along the way, also recover your life.

The puzzles include activating a switch by pushing a large metal object to step on it, using a hookshot to get to the other side, deactivate a switch and so on. Sounds easy? What do you think?

The graphics are really good. Don't forget that the game was made in 1993? The backgrounds are very well designed. Bright and colourful! The enemies also look very detailed and big. Just watch the fish hopping out of the water at the beach in the first level. Also, take a look at the swash and the backwash; how the waves travel. And then, just watch how the cannon fires.

The music is generally quite good, with some decent tunes. The tunes do fit the atmosphere quite well. Well, actually, i don't have anything really much to complain about the music. As for the sound effects, i guess it's pretty good. Whenever you throw an object towards an enemy and send the enemy flying away, be it whether the object is a barrel, stone or whatever, you can hear a pretty long echo and the sound gradually gets softer as time passes. Pretty good, right?

Overall, Groof Troop is one of the most unique games for the SNES. The vast exploration of the game will definitely attract any diehard fan who simply loves to explore. Furthermore, anyone who loves to solve puzzles, will definitely welcome Groof Troop. And, it's pretty fun for a two players game. Groof Troop does worth my recommendation.

Story : 7.5/10.0
Graphics : 8.5/10.0
Concept : 8.5/10.0
Control : 8.0/10.0
Music : 7.5/10.0
Sound : 8.0/10.0
Gameplay : 8.5/10.0
Replay : 8.0/10.0
Challenge : 8.0/10.0
Overall : 8.0/10.0

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/16/00, Updated 12/16/02