QuackShot

QuackShot
Developer	Sega
Publisher	Sega
Platform(s)	Sega Genesis
Released	December 19, 1991
Genre	Platform game

Quackshot starring Donald Duck (simply known as Quackshot) is a platformer released for the Sega Genesis on December 19, 1991. It stars Donald Duck and his three nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, as treasure-hunters. It was part of a series of games that Sega of Japan produced for its Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console systems which featured a lot of the Walt Disney cartoon characters and was heavily inspired by the Indiana Jones films.

Quackshot was converted for the Sega Saturn and released together with Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse only in Japan as part of the Sega Ages series in 1998. It is a straight conversion of the game with no substantial changes.

Gameplay

The player, as Donald, ventures through a variety of side-scrolling levels. Generally, each level is divided into an overland part and a dungeon, such as the Maharajah's palace or the temple in which the Great Duck Treasure resides. Although the player may choose any order to play the overland sections, various obstacles prevent the player from entering the dungeons outside of a specific order. In addition to this some levels provide the player with vital clues which solve puzzles needed to progress in later sections. Once Donald has completed the overland section of an area, he may leave by calling his nephews' biplane, and will return to the dungeon entrance of that area if the player chooses to return.

Donald is armed with a special gun that can shoot plungers (which paralyze enemies for a few seconds), popcorn (which fire in a spray pattern to knock enemies off the screen) or bubblegum (which can destroy certain blocks). Donald has unlimited plungers and can collect popcorn and gum along the way or get the latter from Gyro Gearloose. After finding upgrades the plunger can act as a temporary platform to climb walls with or, when stuck to a passing bird, allow Donald to traverse longer distances. Donald can also pick up chili peppers in certain levels, which increase his temper. When full Donald rushes forward in a rage knocking any enemy he touches off the screen.

Characters

The following well-known Disney characters appear in the game:

• Donald Duck
• Huey, Dewey, and Louie
• Goofy
• Gyro Gearloose
• Pete
• Shere Khan
• Scrooge McDuck
• Daisy Duck
• Mickey Mouse
• Kaa

Plot

While Donald is flipping through some books in Uncle Scrooge's library, a treasure map from King Garuzia, the old-time ruler of the Great Duck kingdom, falls out. It leads to the king's most prized possession. Donald thinks this is his path to riches. Unfortunately, Pete overhears and pursues Donald throughout the game hoping to steal the treasure.

Donald, using a partial map from the library, travels to a variety of places around the world seeking clues to find the treasure, including Duckburg and Mexico. After defeating Count Dracula in Transylvania, Donald receives a more complete map pointing to the Maharajah in India, Egypt, a haunted Viking ship, and finally the South Pole, where Donald finds an ancient Viking diary said to reveal the location of the treasure. However, upon finding the diary, Pete shows up, holding Donald's nephews hostage in exchange for the diary. After giving Pete the diary, Donald travels to Pete's hideout to defeat Pete and get the diary back. The diary reveals that if the map is dipped in water, it will reveal the location of the Great Duck Treasure.

After evading the traps, Donald eventually reaches the treasure vault, but it is guarded by an ancient guardian forcing Donald to fight. After defeating the guardian, Donald enters the treasure vault, only to find a simple stone statue. He is clearly disappointed, but Huey, Dewey and Louie accidentally break the statue, which reveals a golden jeweled necklace was hidden inside. Donald gives the necklace to Daisy and the two fly off into the sunset together.

Reception

MegaTech magazine said, "the graphics are excellent, but the game is easy to complete". Mega placed the game at #7 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time.

Trivia

• Shere Khan appeared in the game as a "boss" at the end of the "India" level.
• Quackshot contains a wide number of references to the Indiana Jones series: the font of the title is very similar, and so is the outfit the two protagonists (Donald and Professor Jones) wear; Pete himself dresses like Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark. There is even a "Leap of Faith" obstacle course near the end just like in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", and like in the movie the final obstacle is a templar knight.

Gallery

Title Screen

Gameplay of the Duckburg level

Japanese cover

Back cover

External links

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page QuackShot. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.

• Title at Moby Games
• Title at Gamefaqs