DuckTales was certainly one of the best Disney-related titles to have been made.

User Rating: 8 | Disney's DuckTales GB

This reviewer always had a soft-spot for Scrooge McDuck (and still does), who is well-known for his amusing sense of greed and his similarly whimsical cheapskate tendencies. However, more importantly, he has a bigger heart than he (& others) thinks he has and has on many (fictional) occasions revealed this compassion of his; this personality quirk is what made this otherwise despicable character so endearing.

Of course, personality aside, what made him quite the popular character for the generation that grew up with Disney's 1990s Saturday morning cartoons is the adventures that he had been involved in, namely those in the Duck Tales series.

Scrooge McDuck (at least in that series) has a history of spelunking and exploring ancient locales, both for the treasures that they may yield and the thrill of adventure (though he would readily brush off this insinuation with his trademark "Bah, humbug!" utterance). Even in his ripe old age, it is difficult for him to resist going on more expeditions just to unearth more fabulous wealth. The sight of a seemingly geriatric tycoon navigating his way through traps and monstrous guardians in said escapades was definitely very entertaining.

With such an exciting backstory, Scrooge McDuck was bound to get video games of his own. DuckTales is one such game.

Far from a true-to-material adaptation, the game takes liberties with Scrooge McDuck's prowess at treasure-hunting. Firstly, despite being of considerable age, Scrooge is far from being the frail old dude that he seems. He can take a few beatings from enemies and his cane has been modified into a spring-like weapon that can be used to reach high places as well as bonk the heads of foes. (Surprisingly enough, he doesn't get serious headaches when he hops up into low ceilings in a hilariously rapid manner, but then his top-hat has always been known to be quite durable.)

As Scrooge is a treasure hunter, the player can expect to have him collect all manners of treasure, from small trinkets with equally small value to hidden fortunes that are worth quite a handful. The former are generally easy to find and can sometimes be obtained from vanquished enemies, while the latter often involves more curious exploration and the solving of a puzzle or two. The monetary value of collected treasure acts as a score of sorts.

Scrooge does not go on his expeditions alone (though he would very much like to, as his canonized stories suggest). Members of his household and his employees would tag along, providing assistance whenever they can, or generally end up becoming captives of Scrooge's enemies (thus necessitating a rescue). As for the assistance provided, they either give Scrooge (& thus the player) clues on how to solve certain puzzles, or enhancements to his gear and/or durability. The latter includes new capabilities for his cane, such as being able to break through rocks that impeded his path before, and if not enhancements for his cane, it would be upgrades to his health.

Some characters such as Launchpad and Gyro take Scrooge elsewhere entirely instead. For example, Launchpad, when encountered (often in explicable places where his helicopter just can't be placed into), can be approached so as to give Scrooge a ride back to the hub-screen, where he can choose to tackle any locale in any order and as many times as desired to uncover previously inaccessible treasure. If not giving rides back home, Launchpad gives rides across otherwise unconquerable chasms. Gyro is involved in bonus levels, where Scrooge has to collect the diamonds that he fabricates from his oddball-but-wondrous machines.

Impeding Scrooge on his quest to gather ancient riches are all manners of arcane hazards that range from magical wards to booby traps and the typical bottomless pits. Conquering these obstacles are made easy via intuitive controls that alters Scrooge's jump from a weak but otherwise hearty hop to a gutsy spring-powered leap, courtesy of his aforementioned modified cane. Alternatively, his cane also acts as a reliable golf club, allowing him to punt obstacles like rocks (of not inconsiderable size) at obstacles to shatter them.

In addition, Scrooge has to contend with enemies such as his canonical nemeses like Magica DeSpell, Flintheart and the Beagle Boys, as well as less recurrent characters like twenty-tons-heavy tomb guardians and beasts. All of them can be generally defeated with hard bonks to the head from pogo-jumps with Scrooge's cane (or punted objects), but hazards that they create and the special moves that they have (like said tomb guardian's mighty leaps) prevents them from becoming forgettable bosses.

Capcom developed this game, so it was no surprise that it incorporated one beautiful feature of the Mega-Man series, which is the choice to complete any level, or even replay them, in any order, into this game. This feature is also critical to the main plot, as certain items needed in certain levels can only be found in others.

For a GameBoy game, the graphics are crisp and have generally high contrast (much like the Mega-Man games). Scrooge, being the star of the game, has the most number of animations; there are his always entertaining "pogo-cane" jumps, his endearing golf-like punts, ducking (pun not intended) and his Disney-style face-palm for his injury animations. Enemies also have their own animations and unique designs, though these are rather limited compared to Scrooge's.

There are many things to be interacted with in many levels, ranging from statues of armor and stones that can be broken to unearth goodies to vines and chains that can be climbed. It is therefore appropriate for the game to present these models distinctly, such that the player can have an idea of what to do next to progress.

However, the graphical presentation for Scrooge's allies are disappointing. All three of his identical-triplets nephews look exactly the same (especially on the GameBoy, where there is a lack of colour), none of his friends appear to have any animations whatsoever when they stand around waiting for Scrooge to approach them, etc. Considering that they are crucial to DuckTales' family-friendly themes, the lack of effort in their designs did not make for a good homage. Nevertheless, they do not seem to be that prominent in the game, and thus their disappointing roles as (little more than) bystanders can be easily overlooked when compared to the rest of the game.

The audio is perhaps the game's greatest asset. DuckTales has a terrific soundtrack, which is composed by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (who is more well-known for his Final Fight soundtracks), that goes along well with its theme of thrilling adventure. The game also has great sound effects, which include the charming recoils of Scrooge's pogo-cane and the chimes that play whenever he picks up jewels and precious metals.

If there was a significant flaw to be discovered within the game, it was its collision detection system. It was not broken, but there were many, many times where this reviewer had Scrooge attempting to bonk an enemy, only to have Scrooge missing and coming into contact with said enemy instead (thus injuring the old coot). Furthermore, there were certain glitch-ridden spots in the game, especially around platforms that do not have sharp edges, where Scrooge can get his cane hopelessly stuck in. Letting go of the spring-bouncing button releases Scrooge from such an unwitting glitch, but may well cause him to plummet to his doom.

In conclusion, if there was ever any GameBoy game (or Disney-licensed game) where being greedy was very, very fun, DuckTales certainly was it.