Darkwing Duck

"An enjoyable little gem"

Darkwing Duck was a Disney cartoon from the early nineties and apparently was meant to be the successor to Ducktales. Like many franchises at the time there had to be a game. And when such a Disney related game appeared on a Nintendo console, Capcom was always involved. This was the time before this developer lost the licence to Virgin Interactive. One aspect of that time was that these games where mostly rather good. Does the same also apply to Darkwing Duck?

GRAPHICS
Fluid animation, an abundance of details and well done environments ensure that Darkwing Duck's graphics are nothing short of great. The only annoyance are the occasional slowdown and flickering but these occur only very rarely and therefore do not ruin the overall experience. This game really shows what the Game Boy can be capable of, especially when taking the NES version into account. Apart from the missing colour palette, the game looks identical.

SOUND
There is nothing wrong in this department either. The sound effects are spot on. The music is also excellent with tunes that stick in your head. Considering the limitations of the Game Boy hardware, Darkwing Duck is something of an achievement.

GAMEPLAY
Darkwing Duck is a fairly typical platform game, although the game also heavily features some shooting elements. Darkwing Duck himself can perform the usual actions (running, crouching, jumping and shooting) and he can also use his cape as a shield. His gas-gun comes with three secondary modes including a arrow that can be used as a platform. The game benefits from the necessary tight controls.

Darkwing Duck starts out with three levels and when completed three more become available. When these are also finished, a final seventh is unlocked. The seven levels are neatly designed and provide a good amount of fun. Each level comes with a end of level boss which are a joy to fight against. In a decidedly old-fashioned manner, they have a certain attack pattern and a weakness which must be found and exploited. Figuring these out while dodging the attacks is sure to raise a nostalgic smile.

There are no passwords or a battery backup system but these are not really needed. The length of the game is more then sufficient and although Darkwing Duck is challenging, it is not too hard. It is not really necessary to record the progress made. In fact, it would probably have ruined the experience.

With all this praise Darkwing Duck is receiving it must surely be perfect? Unfortunately there are several small niggles which prevent the game from obtaining a perfect score. Although the controls are tight, clinging on to certain objects like hooks can be tricky and can lead to unfair deaths. Although Darkwing Ducks gas-gun comes with three secondary modes, only one (the arrow) is truly useful and then only at certain voluntary moments (to obtain extra lives for example). Finally the scrolling can be somewhat peculiar. Moving horizontally provides no problems and allows for some backtracking. Moving vertically however prevents this. This can place Darkwing Duck in life threatening situations and is simply be annoying in parts. It can prevent obtaining an extra life for example. All these flaws can be overcome however. Especially the last one is something that can be excepted as part of how the game works.

FINAL REMARKS
All in all Darkwing Duck is one of the top games on the original Game Boy. Great graphics and sound complement a thoroughly enjoyable and well constructed platformer. This is a perfect and welcome reminder that licensed games don't have to be mediocre and unimaginative common tripe.
Darkwing Duck can probably be bought very cheaply either on the Game Boy or the NES, so there is no excuse not to try one of the best platform games from the early nineties, albeit a forgotten one. This may not be in the same league as the Mario platformers, but Darkwing Duck surely is the next best thing.

OVERALL: a deserving 9,0

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/22/07

Game Release: Darkwing Duck (US, February 1993)