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You know how games based on movies and TV shows are usually awful? That wasn�t always
the case. At least, not on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and certainly not for Capcom. Back
then, there weren�t many developers on the planet releasing better games than Capcom.
So when they teamed up with Disney, greatness ensued.
Mickey Mousecapade, Duck Tales, Rescue Rangers...
Darkwing Duck.
Let�s get freaking dangerous.
Now, obviously...this is not the Nintendo Entertainment System. This is actually the
Game Boy version of Darkwing Duck, which came out a year later. And although you might expect
an NES game of that caliber to be just a shell of its former self on the Game Boy, that�s
not the case with Darkwing Duck.
This is a really good port.
One of the things that makes Darkwing Duck so good is its connection to Mega Man. In
fact, it was actually built from a modified Mega Man game engine, so what you basically
got with Darkwing Duck...was another Mega Man game, for the NES. The level layouts,
the enemy design...even the way you stagger backward after taking damage.
It all feels exactly like Mega Man.
Turns out, though...uh, and I looked into this, and it checks out...ducks are not, in
fact, robots. So there also are differences between Darkwing Duck and Mega Man. The first
being...you can actually hang from the bottom of platforms, which makes it a lot easier
to avoid enemy fire. You can also deflect enemy fire with your cape, another addition
that feels like it was added to tame the difficulty for younger players.
Too bad it�s still hard as balls.
Especially on the Game Boy. I mean, with less screen real estate to work with, the enemies
seem to get the drop on you a lot faster. Another problem is that...I mean, it�s nice
that Capcom was able to do such a faithful port, but it does have some problems running
on the Game Boy. Which is to say...lots and lots of slow down.
Darkwing Duck is a classic NES game, one of the best action platformers on a system packed
with action platformers. The Game Boy version is largely the same, but...it kinda reminds
me of Donkey Kong Land, in a way. It was a great Game Boy game, and it was ridiculously
impressive from a technical standpoint. But Donkey Kong was just better on consoles.
And so is Darkwing Duck.