As a child of the late '80s, DuckTales

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Hopping around Transylvania.

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Then again, nothing clouds memories like nostalgia, and that’s where talking about DuckTales: Remastered gets dangerous. The thing is, the very existence of WayForward’s HD remake of Capcom’s classic NES platformer – 20 years after the last episode of the cartoon aired and 23 years after Capcom released the game – begs a simple questions: was NES’ DuckTales really as good as we remember? Reluctantly, I have to conclude it only holds up pretty well.To its credit, WayForward has done an expert job of crafting its own spin on DuckTales, at least when it comes to how faithfully Remastered compares to the original. It is, at times, a screen-by-screen recreation of Capcom’s non-linear classic, right down to enemy and hidden treasure locations. It isn’t just guided by the NES original; in many ways, it is the NES original, just with a shiny new sheen. It will be instantly recognizable to fans, especially when it comes to its reworked, totally awesome soundtrack.But there are a list of things that DuckTales: Remastered gets wrong, not only in some of the liberties WayForward decided to take, but in the reality of what Capcom’s DuckTales has always been. The fact is, DuckTales is still a great NES game – I went back and played it for roughly the millionth time when reviewing Remastered just to be sure – but it doesn’t fully translate to the 21st century, and frankly, it’s just not as epic as we remember. While Mega Man, Castlevania, Zelda, and Mario fully stand the test of time, DuckTales doesn’t. That means DuckTales: Remastered is fighting with deficiencies inherent in the original.That doesn’t mean Remastered is a bad game; in fact, it’s quite good, with a lot of things going for it. The original DuckTales was created on the NES Mega Man engine by the core team that made those games, so it comes as no surprise that its hallmark, like Mega Man’s, is non-linearity. Five core stages can be visited in any order, culminating in a sixth and final stage. What made DuckTales stand out at the time was that its non-linearity was carried over into the actual stages. There are hidden paths and areas galore, lots of secret treasures to find, multiple endings, and plenty of reasons to see it all over again. Remastered has all of that, and it makes playing it a pleasure, since you can rush on through or explore every nook and cranny.Meanwhile Scrooge McDuck, DuckTales’ filthy rich protagonist, looks great (no more off-model red coat!) and is wonderfully animated. Indeed, WayForward really outdid itself with the overall look of Remastered. Characters ranging from Launchpad to Fenton look amazing, and even Scrooge’s nephews Huey, Louie, and Dewey, while mere palette swaps of one another even in the cartoon, all have personality courtesy of Remastered’s full voice acting. The voices are really nice touch – original actor Alan Young makes his return as Scrooge’s voice and knocks it out of the park in the process – but it’s an alarming emphasis on story that begins to unravel Remastered.WayForward decided to make the plot a gigantic part of DuckTales: Remastered to the point that it becomes intrusive, stymying, and annoying. The introductory scene with Scrooge and company is fun, and the opening tutorial stage – totally unique to this version of DuckTales – is oft-interrupted, but understandably so. But by the time you get into Remastered’s short roster of stages, the constant disruption reaches a fevered pitch. It seems like every 10 seconds Scrooge has something to say, or some long, drawn-out conversation to have with someone. Pressing start and skipping cutscenes becomes a regular occurrence as a result, especially since Remastered doesn’t even remember if you’ve witnessed a cutscene before. The story quickly goes from complementary to obnoxious.Remastered feels as refreshingly unique as the original, with a complete lack of guns or projectile attacks (save the occasional rock smash, of course). Remastered is also as difficult as the original, though the playing field isn’t always level. Its design suffers from an inordinate amount of cheap collisions with enemies and obstacles alike, and even when using the new simplified pogo-attack option WayForward added to make it more accessible to new players, controls aren’t always responsive. Indeed, be prepared for some frustration as Scrooge occasionally decides not to react to a button press, even when it’s the same exact button you’ve been pressing for the whole game.In the plus column, I give WayForward credit for its reworked boss battles, which are an excellent addition. In Capcom’s original, boss battles were typical NES fare, but Remastered makes each of the seven bosses feel unique and challenging. They, too, suffer from some of the same control problems mentioned earlier, but that means there’s something unexpected for long-time fans to encounter at the end of each level that builds on the original and twists it in a creative way. Unfortunately, WayForward went a little too far with one post-boss twist, which is so frustrating and cheap that it’s worthy of a classic 1980s controller-throw. You’ll know what I mean when you get there.Remastered does do a nice job of giving us lots of extras, with multiple difficulty levels, hardcore-baiting achievements, unlockable concept art, sketches, music, and more. Further options would have been nice – such as ways to facilitate continues so you don’t get booted back to the stage-select screen after losing all of your lives – but such is a fact of old-school gaming life. DuckTales: Remastered is tough, just like the game that inspired it. Don’t go in expecting anything else.