Ducktales Remastered (PC) Review

Race cars, lasers, aero-planes – Capcom’s Ducktales Remastered was a long time coming, but is it what fans of the classic platformer were looking for in a remake?

I have some extremely fond memories of both the Ducktales cartoon show from Disney and the Ducktales video game from Capcom. Both mediums featured cantankerous, old rich duck Scrooge McDuck and his never-ending pursuit of wealth.

Surrounding the duck in question was an imaginative universe filled with characters of the heroic, villainous and just plain old silly variety. I honestly can’t think of too many programs on television today that have the same feel as the star of the Disney Afternoon block of programming that appeared in the early to mid-90s and that’s a shame.

For that matter, there haven’t been too many platformers licensed off of an existing property that captured everything that makes said property a hit like Capcom’s Ducktales either. The game still stands as a legendary testament to a purely fun game that plays beautifully and is absolutely loaded with characters and in-jokes from the show.

Fast-forward to the modern age and we have Capcom finally revisiting Duckburg with a game that recreates the classic title under the skilled hands of developer (and current master of the genre) Wayforward, but with a modern look and feel. So- does it work? In short, yes.

Although this is a recreation of the original game, there’s little that looks the same. All-new sprites, level designs and animation highlight Ducktales Remastered and give it a super modern look that’s way more in line with what the TV show actually looked like than the NES original, as charming as it was.

The storyline is still a simple one, albeit a bit more fleshed out, with a mysterious map showing the locations of five ancient treasures. Scrooge, being Scrooge, just has to have them and sets out to collect all five in an adventure that’ll take him and his crew around the globe and has plenty of stuff for fans of the show to enjoy.

Along with the graphical overhaul, the sound is all new (well… except for the intro music) and is very well done. The full musical score is highlighted with all of the original voice actors from the cartoon series too and brand new cut-scenes that (obviously) never appeared in the first game.

This also has a secondary effect on Ducktales Remastered in that it gives the game way more of a story. Now like I said, this still isn’t a classic tale filled with drama and suspense, but it really becomes a playable episode of the classic show with all the new additions and for a fan that’s pretty darned awesome.

Ducktales Remastered plays very nicely too. The game has all of the platforming conventions that you remember and translates well into the new coat of paint. Scrooge can jump, pogo-hop on his cane (which is how you attack) and collect tons and tons (and tons) of shiny treasure. It’s old school gameplay and it’s a joy to play through.

As an added bonus, you can even take a dip in Scrooge’s Money Bin and play in the billions of gold coins he has locked away. There are also some extras in the form of a character art viewer and art gallery. All of the extras are kind of superfluous and are just kind of there for fun (and to unlock some achievements) though- so don’t expect a lot in that area.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I had a blast with Ducktales Remastered. Maybe that has something to do with being a fan of the cartoon, but there’s no denying that there’s a rock-solid platformer under all those new looks- and that should make any fan of the genre happy.

Ducktales Remastered is short though, so keep that in mind. My initial playthrough only lasted a little over three hours, though there is some replay value here since there’s so much treasure to find and plenty of extras to unlock in the art gallery if you feel like hoarding and then spending some cash.

For the faults that it has though, Capcom’s remake of Ducktales shines like a gold coin where it really counts; looks, playability and (most of all) fun.