"Are you a hero?"
"I'm trying to be a hero."

There are once-beloved games from my youth I now dismiss. Radical Rex, Virtual Bart, The Ren & Stimpy Show presents: Stimpy's Invention... rubbish for the landfill. Somehow, QuackShot endures.

Younger folk may not know this, but cartoon licences used to be a bit of a ruse. Butter up some big American studio with your best spritework, and you could go wild with a (relative to independent projects of the time) huge budget. Don't forget, Donkey Kong was originally proposed as a Popeye game. This doesn't mean you're getting quality if you buy any pre-96 Disney game, but if it's from a studio like Capcom, Konami or Sega, you've probably got something to look forward to.

I think the thing in QuackShot that makes it special for me is that it's the first game I played that felt like a real adventure. I was a Mega Drive kid. I didn't have Metroid or Zelda back then. Sonic could reach the end of the level, James Pond could save Santa Claus, and the men in World Cup Italia '90 could score a goal (theoretically), but they didn't explore the world. Donald Duck visits diverse, exotic locations, from MEXICO to EGYPT to TRANSYLVANIA to VIKING SHIP. Each new environment is distinct, richly atmospheric and full of their own one-off ideas.

QuackShot is something of a light Metroidvania, really. Each level is separated by a world map, and you can visit each destination on it in whatever order you choose. Some levels are fairly flat action stages, full of obstacles and enemies to traverse, while others are huge dungeons, scrolling upwards, downwards, left and right as you try and figure out their traps and puzzles. Sometimes you'll come to a dead end where an NPC will tell you about the item they're looking for, and you'll go back to the map to figure out where you might find it. Coming back with a new weapon or piece of equipment can feel as exciting and liberating as any Varia Suit upgrade. QuackShot has far more going on than just about any other cartoon game.

Turning on QuackShot is a commitment. There's no saving, no passwords. Just Donald Duck and the Planet Earth. There's limited health, a very irritating continue system and unreliable power-up distribution. It takes nerves, skill and patience to make it across these hallowed grounds.

The game looks great, following up on the standards set by Castle of Illusion. They've drawn distinct backgrounds for each area in a level, and they're fun, evocative and lovely. The Disney style guide has been thoroughly consulted for character designs, with snakes and killer whales clearly inspired by Kaa and Monstro. It's all through multiple layers of specific offshot weirdness, though. This is largely based on old Donald Duck adventure comics (that I'm only kind-of aware of), reimagined as an Indiana Jones parody, and explored by early 90s Sega developers. There's deadly speakerphones that shoot out the word "BOOM" in balloon letters, and a "Viking Plunger" you can shoot to grab onto birds flying overhead. When I speak of my fondness for QuackShot, it's not through affection for any of the media that surrounds it. It's very specifically targetted at this one, stupid Mega Drive game.

Donald Duck has a gun. He can shoot to kill. That's only if he has the right ammo, though. Your default plunger shot only stuns most enemies. The popcorn ammo spreads out like a shotgun blast, decimating any buzzards or Petes in its wake. He also has a Temper Meter that's always on the screen. It rarely gets much use, though. When he swallows an entire chilli pepper (he is a duck), one of the Calm Donald Heads on the meter turns into a red ANGRY DONALD HEAD. Get five ANGRY DONALD HEADS and he goes ballistic, rampaging through all in his path with furious punches, and weirdly floating up to the top of any walls that block him. Such is the nature of his blind fury. This heavily foreshadowed mechanic is only utilised twice in the entire game, but I like that. QuackShot doesn't do any one idea too much.

Well, perhaps the Maharajah's Palace is too much.

That's the "Water Temple" of QuackShot. The part of the game you feel like you could only reasonably force your way through once in your life, but is always a mandatory part of the otherwise beloved game. Throughout the palace are multiple numbered doors. The numbers don't tell you which room is on the other side, but which room you're in, so they're more of a confusing abstraction than a helpful place marker. Do so much as clip one, and Donald will insist on walking through it, entering another room. Through trial and error, you must figure out which sequence of doors will lead you to the boss, all while your precious popcorn ammo depletes, taking on the many enemies you'll face countless times as you're spawned back at the start of your trail. Get lucky, or devote a special part of your brain to memorising the sequence from a previous playthrough, and you can get through the palace in a couple minutes. I have spent hours in the Maharajah's Palace before. The fully Calm Temper Meter constantly at the bottom of the screen, only to mock me. If you can overcome all this, you'll reach the firebreathing tiger boss. Better hope you saved some popcorn shots, because he is a right fucking bastard to kill with the plunger. I wish you the very best of luck if you attempt this challenge.

The game does have its fair share of aggravating nonsense beyond that (top tip: if you reach a dead end puzzle with no clear solution, remember to LOOK at your inventory), but we're in 1991 Mega Drive territory here. Have you actually tried getting through one of those old Shinobi games recently? This is relatively kind, and it's worth it for the consistently great art, music, setpieces and amusing leaps in logic. Zip lining on the electricity cables at the end of Duckburg remains thrilling for me. It holds a unique significance in my personal history with games, but I'd cautiously suggest it holds up for new players with a taste for this era of Sega. Maybe give it a go? Just make sure you've reset your Temper Meter before you come looking for me afterwards.

A good follow-up to the first game and introduces some staples to the series like the new explorable city of Sotenbori. I may be in the minority in saying that I somewhat prefer the first game's story, though this one had higher highs. Kiryu gets some good development and the main antagonist is much more compelling than Nishiki was in the first game.

Unfortunately, I feel like the story gets extremely messy towards the end and I've never been 100% on board with the romantic approach they took with Kiryu and Sayama. However, in every other aspect, this game surpasses the original in terms of gameplay, the combat is remarkably smoother than it was before.

Overall, a solid entry that fumbles a bit towards the end but is good fun for most of its duration.

Having played this after 0, it is difficult to judge it solely on its own merits. That isn't a detractor per se because Y0 was something else, an amazing experience. The side missions (Substories) are of less quality than 0, the stakes and pacing of the main plot is shakier, and the world overall feels smaller.
Yet Kiwami 1 is a good game, because zero was an amazing game.

Despite only playing Y0 and Kiwami so far I'd say I'm on the team that recommends playing Kiwami 1 & 2 before jumping back to 0. This way I believe will get you to enjoy a fresh perspective on the Kiwami remakes before topping them with the gem that Y0 is.

A pretty fricking cool platformer.

I gotta say the writing took my by surprise. As much as I would have liked more world-building the dialogue specifically deserves commendation. Almost all characters have some depth and the way they interact was always a pleasure to witness, never was I bored through a cutscene.

Boss design was also a pleasant surprise, I wouldn't say it's a perfect cast but Iconoclasts has some of the best bosses I've fought in a platformer period, not to forget the narrative setup for some of them heightens it up even more.
I wouldn't call it a metroid-vania because it's too linear to be labeled so. Discretionary exploration is only for upgrades so no content missed here, and I have no qualms with well designed linearity.

I played because of a few name drops by YouTubers and I'm glad for that.

(6-year-old's review, typed by her dad)

I met a goat guy 3 times. He had a long beard and I just felt weird.

[Dad's note: She had her tonsils out the same day TotK came out, so she was in a semi-delirious state when she insisted on reviewing the game. I was very impressed that she still managed to get through a couple shrines on her own!]

If you still like this game, your kids are about to go to college.

I spent a good chunk of my adolescence playing this stupid game. I've only beaten it once throughout my many playthroughs! It starts off strong with Angel! Kinda slows down in Sunset but still a moderate pace. The shit peaks with Cloudman. Andre Ulmeyda stays goated. The game never comes close to getting as good as that. Everything else is just vapid, tedious, and obnoxious in comparison. Also, I just don't give a shit about this guy's nerd culture! note: I don't care about nerd culture in general, but especially here.

Perhaps I've just lost the appeal to a lot of this game's charm, I've out grown it or some shit. Which is why setting this bs as "retired" is more fitting to me. I COULD set it as 'complete' but nah. Who cares. Anyways.

Suda LOVES video games, I fucking hate them. This is the difference between us.

Cool characters I'm glad we saw some of them come back in 3

I think this definitely was a great addition to the series

And a great send of for scooter