Chip’n’Dale Rescue Rangers
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| When you're a smol chipmunk, every zone is Macro Zone. |
After a quick quest that involved the Rescue Rangers
finding a lost kitten, they return to HQ and discover that their ally Gadget
has been kidnapped! And they have to go save her, she isn’t just the team’s
token girl, she’s also their pilot and inventor! They can’t do much without
her! Or can they?
As it turns out, they can still do pretty well. In
this platform game, you control Chip or Dale and go through various levels on
this quest to find Gadget and defeat Fat Cat. Monterey Jack and Zipper are
around to help too, although Monterey Jack’s only contribution is to smash
through a few walls to let the team through, while Zipper grants temporary invincibility
to Chip or Dale and instantly kills every enemy that shows up on the screen.
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I mean, I wonder how they can have the strength to lift
these heavy steel boxes, but hey, it's not like I'm gonna
complain. |
As for the chipmunks’ primary means of attack, they
are technically harmless… although they’re surrounded by potential weapons. For
you see, anything the two heroes can pick up can then be thrown at enemies. The
levels are littered with hundreds upon hundreds of light wooden boxes, heavy
steel boxes, apples, bombs and everything else, oh my! There are multiple
advantages to this: Chip or Dale always has something to throw, and there’s
always enough room still to allow them to keep on throwing. By pressing down,
the PC (player chipmunk) can even hide into wooden and steel crates, killing
enemies coming into contact with them. The wooden crates then disappear,
while the steel crates survive and can be reused at will. Gravity also
decided it only wanted to work intermittently, as wooden crates will be flung
all the way across the screen (no matter how far that is, in spite of the
strength our character should have) when used to attack, when sthrown forward or upwards, while the
steel crates are so heavy they’ll just drop right in front of the chipmunk that
threw it. The advantage is that steel crates can then be used to complete
little puzzles where Chip or Dale has to reach a higher ledge… usually to get more
flowers or stars.
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| Flowers, stars... all we need now is mushrooms. |
Oh, right. Because
the game apparently wasn’t easy enough, you have two types of collectibles:
Flowers (collect 100 to get a floating 1-Up coming on the screen) and Stars
(collect 10 for an instant extra life). Many of them are revealed when a
chipmunk takes a box, and since there are hundreds of boxes, it makes these collectibles very easy to, well, collect. That’s not even getting into the post-level bonus stages,
where you can almost always find a 1-Up Star at the top of the screen, in more
time than you need to get to it. You’ll usually get to the final level with
plenty of lives to spare, which is useful since that level is the most
challenging one of the lot.
As for other items that can be tossed, apples are
large and heavy and you can’t hide in them, while bombs will explode a few
seconds after they were picked up. Then there’s the red ball. Do not taunt the
happy fun red ball. It’s your only means of killing bosses.
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| Bosses that don't move are very easy to kill. |
On to that subject, bosses are ultra-easy in this game. Many
are stationary and, thus, their weak points don’t move at all – though they’re
usually located high up, forcing you to throw the ball upwards. The red ball always appears when the boss fight starts, and never disappears - so you can throw it as often as you need. Each boss’s
attack pattern is predictable, as once again, most of them have only one attack
– and those that move may try to ram into you, though there aren’t many. Some
attack relatively quickly, like Fat Cat at the end, so you just have to learn
how to avoid their projectiles. The only tough bosses I can think of
are the alien spaceship (since it moves fast, drops aliens, and goes at
different heights), the green grouper (a fish that is fairly slow but tosses thunder
like a Bullet Hell shoot’em-up boss), and the robot (which is big, tosses an
entire row of harmful marbles over the screen, and it has very small weak
points located high enough that the chipmunk must jump with precision before
throwing the ball forward).
As for the levels, there’s 11 of them, but they aren’t
all mandatory for completion. This is the first map.
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B, D, F, G... H, I, J. Okay, that's not so bad.
The extra levels are good for bonus lives if you want
to collect plenty of flowers and stars, though. |
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These villaisn are so much more dangerous; instead of 1 HP...
They have 2! Oh the horror! |
You only need to beat the levels on the way to Level
G, so three levels can be skipped – not like it gives anything to beat them,
though I suppose they’re good for challenge. Level G is Fat Cat’s casino, and
upon beating it, Chip or Dale saves Gadget, even bringing her a bouquet of
flowers. How sweet. However, that’s not all – using her rocket, we reach a
second map, with three levels that must be completed. Levels H to J, and the
fight against Fat Cat! Level J is the toughest, but by that point if you’re of
the kind to pick up and throw every crate you find, you will have collected
plenty of extra lives so it’s not so bad.
There’s also no scoring system, so that’s one less
thing to worry about.
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Quick reminder that you can also play as Dale, but who would
want to be a chipmunk in a hawaiian shirt? |
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| Water hurts, apparently. |
With Fat Cat defeated, his menace has been stopped
temporarily – but he’ll be back. He and his gang, they always come back.
Such is the reality of a recurring villain. But at least, for now, he’s got his
lesson. And as long as this Mafiosi cat will be around to cause trouble, the
Rescue Rangers will be there to stop him! For the moment, the group can
celebrate.
It’s a pretty good game, longer than DuckTales (though
here, the levels are linear, so there isn’t much exploration), and with a lot
of neat features. It takes a moment to get used to picking up and throwing
everything around you, but you get the hang of it quickly. The levels aren’t
too difficult, though some have quite tricky sections. There’s also few to no
replenishing hearts (or, well, chestnuts, since that's what refills the chipmunks health), so the three hearts you start with might be the only ones
you can rely on – oh, and checkpoints, too, obviously. As for the bosses, as I
said, the weapon of their demise is always available from the start, so
they’re usually easy, as long as you get the patterns down.
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Cigarette burns already hurt when you have a normal size.
Imagine when you're so small. |
The story is also decent, although this game marks a
trend between some early Capcom Disney games to have scenes where a character
explains what happens in the upcoming level before you’re thrown into it, with
accompanying pixel art – which is pretty well done. Long story short, Chip’n
Dale Rescue Rangers is relatively easy, but still a pretty good time if you
want to enjoy a quick throwback to the NES platforming era.
TaleSpin
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| Good gracious, these games are older than me! |
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Thanks, Rebecca! But I wanted to sleep in the hammock
some more... Can I make up the excuse that I should be
hibernating at this time of the year? |
Say hello to a first proper challenge! TaleSpin is one
of the weirder ideas the Disney Afternoon has brought: The animal cast of The
Jungle Book as educated citizens, Baloo as a cargo pilot, Louie as a bar owner,
Shere Khan as a… businessman? Sounds about right for a tiger. And yet, it worked surprisingly well! That was a good show!
The game starts as Baloo is
tasked by his boss, Rebecca, to deliver a bunch of packages to a bunch of
places, which for a bunch of reasons have been invaded by a bunch of enemies.
We’re never quite sure why, maybe it’s just Baloo’s bad luck that sky pirates
show up in his way, or maybe Don Karnage just hates Baloo so much, he
practically has a bear radar in place of a brain. Which… would explain quite a
few things, actually.
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Yes, Baloo is going backwards... upside-down.
Now that's a thrill. |
Unlike every other game in this collection, this is a
shoot’em-up, with Baloo in the skies, piloting a smaller plane, delivering
cargo to multiple places. No levels can be skipped, and they’re all played in
the same order – which isn’t so bad. You just need to get used to the
unexpected twist on the gameplay. See, in this scrolling game, Baloo can shoot
bullets with B (although his firing rate isn’t too great), but what’s the A
button for? Well… it turns Baloo 180 and makes you go backwards. This doesn’t
work in vertical areas, but it works in horizontal ones – as long as you
remember that the enemies defeated will respawn off the screen.
There is another use to this: Since the screen scrolls
in the direction Baloo is facing, turning 180 will allow Baloo some leeway in
movement, which is vital in some areas (there’s a part in Level 2 where it’s
pretty much needed in order to navigate tight vertical passages, as the screen
scrolls a little too fast to otherwise let you move in time).
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"Navigate tight passages". Seriously though, with
Baloo's body shape, every alley must be a tight passage. |
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| Go Kit! You can pick up most of the Baloo-ns! |
Your main task in each level is to defeat the enemies
and the boss, but you must also collect cargo on the way – pictured by boxes,
bags of money, and various fruits. Each item collected will give you a score
bonus at the end of a level. Turning 180 is useful for that, since you can flip
back and forth in an area until you’ve picked up all of the cargo. Then there
are items that appear out of thin air when some areas are struck by bullets,
usually fruits, but also money bags, hearts and lives. Oh, and every level has
a secret, hidden area in which Baloo’s sidekick Kit will go around on his
flying board, popping balloons and collecting more fruits, with an additional
life or two as well.
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Hm... what can I buy for 230,000$? ...Almost
nothing? How friggin' expensive is this stuff? Did
you sell out your cheaper parts to Launchpad McQuack? |
At the end of a level, the cargo and items collected
are added to your score, and you can buy various upgrades for the Sea Duck from
Wildcat, Baloo’s trusted (if confused) mechanic. A faster fire rate (two
upgrades), one that makes the ship move more quickly, and one that gives an extra hit
point (which you’ll need, believe me). Oh, you can also buy extra lives and
continues, but it’s not really worth it unless you absolutely need them – plus,
the price increases with each one you buy. Gathering money is tough
(you do get an extra 100,000 on any level where you picked up all of the seen
cargo), but if you do well you should have all the upgrades by Level 8, the
final one.
Oh, and get ready, because this game is TOUGH! You’ll
need to quickly adapt to the 180 gameplay mechanic and the Sea Duck’s fire
rate. You also need to adapt as, when you press up or down, Baloo doesn’t shoot up or down on the screen – he shoots upwards or downwards
diagonally in the direction he’s looking. Remember that when you try to aim at
an enemy located beneath! It’s not a very simple system to master, it will
cause issues at first, but it’s necessary against many later bosses.
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It's no Bullet Hell, and it never becomes such, but sometimes
the enemy shots can still screw you over if you don't know
how to react against them. |
Speaking of! After the tough levels, we have tough
bosses! Many of them use tactics to hide their weak spots, whether it’s that
giant baseball in the stadium that can only be hurt when it’s shooting at you,
or the digging machine that can be hurt only when its panel is open, revealing
the character inside. Others have nastier strategies, like those two that force
you at the center of the screen, making it difficult to dodge their bullets,
while they can only get hurt when they suddenly stick together (don’t ask me
how that works. Magnetism = stops invincibility? I doubt that!). Some other
bosses combine invincible parts, weak points and cool strategies like that
giant ghost whose weak point is its bowtie, usually protected by its fists –
good thing it aims those at Baloo’s ship, giving Baloo some time to aim at the
bowtie.
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This boss is so hard, it might as well have been the
final boss. The true final boss is kinda disappointing,
in comparison. |
Toughest boss? That construction machine. A wrecking
ball that tracks down the Sea Duck and descends, never letting Baloo stay in
one place. It can be killed, but then you have to deal with a constant stream
of bullets from the main machine. Your only chance of beating it is to stay in
altitude, descend only for a split second to shoot diagonally at the weak point, which is the controller’s cabin, while the bouncing bullets can go high enough to strike
you regardless. You need incredible precision and patience to beat that one!
At the end of the game, Baloo defeats Don Karnage and
his big flying vessel, then delivers the final cargo. We see that Shere Khan
had sent Karnage to stop Baloo’s delivery – but that plan failed, thanks to
you! Baloo and Kit celebrate. The end.
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Here, the jungle is one of the final levels.
Certainly not the first. |
When I say this one is tough, I’m not kidding. It’s surprisingly
challenging, featuring complex controls, tough bosses, and a ton of secrets.
Replaying through the game, you’ll frequently find new secrets hidden in the
skies, as fruits, hearts or lives hidden in the levels. The bosses are creative
and offer a decent range of challenges. The levels stay fair, although they
like to pull a trick here and there. I would complain that sometimes, the
controls are a bit unresponsive, and Baloo sometimes refuses to go in places where there
aren’t actually any obstacles, as if there used to be something there. As with
Chip’n Dale, the greater pixelated pictures during cutscenes are fun to look at
and quite detailed. I like the upgrade system, even though it’s very basic; it
was sort of an experimentation at the time.
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| KHAAAA-Nah, I'm not doing that. |
All in all, this game isn’t bad, but I played through
it three times in order to properly discuss it (and get the Steam achievements
for it), and it’s one I doubt I’ll go back to. Which doesn’t mean it’s bad,
just not one I like as much as the others – if you are a fan of shoot’em-up
games, this might be a fun title to try, less complex than proper shoot’em-up
games, but still decent for anyone who’s got a bit less than an hour of spare
time.
In Part 3: More aviary action,
with Darkwing Duck and DuckTales 2! Heh, aviary… after a game spent in a plane,
we move on to birds…
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