Darkwing Duck (video game)
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Let's get dangerous!
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Darkwing Duck is a platform video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. It was based on the Disney animated television series Darkwing Duck. It was ported to the Game Boy in 1993.
Plot
A mysterious crime wave has hit St. Canard and S.H.U.S.H. requires the services of the caped crime fighter Darkwing Duck to stop it as it appears that F.O.W.L. and their valued operative Steelbeak is behind the uprising. They have hired six of Darkwing's greatest foes to wreak havoc in different areas throughout St. Canard. Darkwing must subdue each of these criminals in order to find Steelbeak and save the city.
Why It's Dangerously Rocks
- First off all, this version is far better than TurboGrafx-16 as this versions is a fast-paced action like Mega Man (See below). Keep in mind, both versions are release at the same time in the 1992.
- The gameplay is very fun and resembles a lot to Mega Man, which was also developed by Capcom; it's also a bit altered so it won't feel like a clone of Mega Man, unlike The Krion Conquest, which was way too similar to Mega Man, but not as fun.
- To differentiate the game even more, you don't get special weapons or any new abilities, which makes the game stand out from Mega Man.
- The gameplay is also fast and action-packed, so you will never be bored playing this game at all.
- Like Mega Man, you can select the level you want, which is a nice touch considering how hard some stages can be. If you block a stage, then you can select another.
- The controls are tight and responsive, like the Mega Man games on the NES. They also never have a chance to be unresponsive, so you won't fall to your death if you play extremely well, like Mega Man 8.
- Awesome soundtrack, especially on the NES version. This includes the boss theme, the Quacker Jack stage, the Wolfduck stage, and many others.
- The graphics are great for a 1992 NES game, with the graphics being very accurate to the TV show, having a lot of details for a NES game, and having a vibrant color palette compared to some other NES games. In fact, many sprites and graphics look like 16-bit, despite being on an 8-bit console.
- The boss fights are very fun and demand some strategies to beat them, and it's really fun when you know how to beat them, plus most of them aren't that frustrating, except the final boss.
- There's a lot of challenging levels that require strategies and skills that can make them very fun to master, and it's not that annoying most of the time, although this game is considered to be Mega Man in easy mode by most reviews and players.
- The game is relatively faithful to the animated series, with a similar plot and the theme song on the title screen of the game.
- There's a lot of replay value due to how fun the game is, but there's not much in general because the game is very short.
Bad Qualities
- The game can be frustrating at some levels, such as the sewer level, where there's a lot of birds to dodge, and there's also the problem of not having enough checkpoints (see BQ#2).
- There's not that many checkpoints, which can be a problem if you have trouble with the gameplay. This can be a huge problem in the sewer level, as said in BQ#1.
- The Game Boy version, while good, has some problems and is a bit downgraded.
- The soundtrack was a bit downgraded, especially the sewer level and the stage select music that are rather bad sounding compared to the NES version.
- Some levels are inferior to their NES counterparts, but they are still incredibly well designed for the most parts.
- And worst of all, the screen crunch. The screen crunch can make it difficult to see the projectiles thrown by the enemies or the pits, which can be a lot harder to see than in the NES version due to the screen crunch.
Reception
The game received mostly positive reviews from critics and players alike, who praised how faithful the game is to the show. The critics also praised the graphics and soundtrack.