Darkwing Duck

~ DARKWING DUCK ~

Radiance Software / TTI

HuCard

1992

Wow, this is one of the worst-playing games ever. The controls are bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Seriously, they're fucking HORRENDOUS.

But otherwise, uh, the game isn't so bad. Had its areas been fleshed out more, and had there been more of them, Darkwing had the potential to be a poor man's Castle of Illusion. As in Castle, you have a typical hop-attack along with limited-use projectiles as you travel through stages that are sometimes more "open" than what you typically find in side-scrolling platformers. The final board (of a small group of four) shows off what the adventure should have offered more of, with lots of platforming and bullet/machine/debris dodging and running around to do. As things are, the best fun here comes from "bounce chains" that you can put together, as the game allows you to bound from one enemy/icon to another. There's a little exploration to do too, as you have to locate pieces of a huge jigsaw puzzle (which can usually be found along the main route but are occasionally sequestered in tough-to-reach spots, like when a couple are placed below the terrain in the cave level). Humorous skits after the puzzle completion and during the ending help keep that fun factor up.

The graphics aren't what I'd consider great but certainly impress at times, particularly at the conclusion when you face a giant, cool-looking Darkwing clone-bot in what turns out to be a pretty enjoyable battle. Nice background scenes highlight the other boss rumbles, and sprinkled multi-layer effects enhance various sub-stages. The music has its own quirky appeal.

Pitting this game against TaleSpin is a popular thing to do, and it really isn't much of a contest, as Darkwing demolishes its Disney brother in almost every way, especially (and most importantly) in actual gameplay concepts. DD simply has too many positive things working in its favor for it to be lumped in with the worst games for the system, though it certainly can feel like one of the worst at times.

Select a criminal to bust and get the lowdown on him...

...and then contend with all kinds of weird enemies and obstacles as you search for the puzzle pieces...

...some of which can be located in very out-of-the-way places.

Put the puzzle together to figure out the bad guys' secret plan.

Sort out a few henchmen...

...and take down the giant mimicker.