Darkwing Duck Game Sample -- TurboGrafx-16
0I've heard a fair deal about this game, but I didn't believe it until I played the game myself. A lot of people I know only think that Darkwing Duck was made on the NES (Published by Capcom), but there WAS one made for the TG-16 on a HuCard. You probably don't hear more about it because it sucks.
With all the cool music that Darkwing Duck had (including the memorable opening theme from my childhood), this game somehow gets some pretty lame and completely unremarkable themes that few (if anyone) can relate to. Right from the creepy looking title screen with DW's limited frames of animation, the music completely failed right from the start...it feels like this is some pirate game where they didn't even ask Disney for permission to use their memorable music or other cool elements of Darkwing Duck...makes you wonder if they even had the rights to use the original music. Also, being made in 1992, the Turbo CDs were already out...why not switch to that instead?
Anyway, while the visuals don't look too bad on the surface, I feel that a lot of things have really "cheap" looking animation...I mean, look at Tuskernini when he rolls down the sewer hole and street. The real reason that this game fails though isn't that the music sounds more suited to something at a funeral rather than DWD music, or that the graphics are pretty average, it really sucks due to limited game mechanics and unnaturally poor game control.
DW gets a few kinds of ammo that he can shoot (that all seem uninteresting) and he can jump on enemies. Let me state that if you are playing this for your first time that he cannot simply "jump" on enemies; you must press jump twice for him to do a butt-bounce (like Castle of Illusion, etc.). The problem is that there is such poor response time and his controls are so slippery that you'll want to take a hammer to this game. Not only that, but enemies like Tuskernini move 2-3 times faster than you (it's ridiculous...he goes from standing to rolling or "0-to-60" in 0.1 seconds). The Tusk's stage is easy enough...though the peguins' random jumping can piss you off; they can just go to hell. Also, jumping over Tuskernini without getting hit on the first part of his level is like an act against God (only succeeded ONCE in like 45 minutes).
Other stages like Megavolt's will have you swearing for all sorts of reasons as you die from ridiculous platforming segments and find it just about impossible to avoid being hit mercilessly from projectiles raining from everywhere. There are platforms where you have to move immediately as standing on them too long will cause you to die instantly and this is the same stage where a moving puddle of "something" (looks like water) hurts you. If you run out of ammo for whatever reason when facing a boss, you're in for the time of your life. Just watch this video. See how fast Tuskernini moves and how slow you do? Imagine trying to kill him by jumping on him. You "can" (I know how it is done), but see those bags that drop down? Their placement is random and often unavoidable without getting hit by either them or Tusk as he rolls from coming down...I got a little lucky in this video.
Even if the controls were perfect though, this game would still be mediocre; generic stage design, crap music, average visuals...but since that isn't the case, I honestly think the game blows. As one who used to love watching the cartoon and playing the NES game, this game had a real chance to be better or at least as good as the NES game, but ended up being abysmal. It's also very short if you know what you're doing (collect all puzzle pieces to reach boss, defeat boss, decipher secret weapon).
Basic Format: Turbo Chip / HuCard