Genre: Platformer
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release: Jun. 1990 USA / Dec. 21, 1991 EUR / Jun. 6, 1990 JPN
Players: 1-2
Rated: N/A
Back in late 1980s to early 1990s, Disney had a wonderful cartoon block known as the Disney Afternoon. It was composed of original cartoons such as Darkwing Duck as well as taking already established cartoon characters and placing them in entirely new roles, such as thrusting Baloo in the position of a cargo pilot in Tale Spin. During this period, Capcom had the rights too a good chunk of Disney characters, making a slew of games, the bulk of which were pretty good. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers placed everyone's two favorite chipmunks in the roles of pint sized detectives along with original characters Gadget, Zipper and Monterrey Jack. Like the show itself, the game that Capcom produced was quite good and while there was no mystery solving to be found, the delightful platform adventure that gamers received was a fun romp.
The game begins with the Rescue Rangers splitting up to search for a lost kitten. But this is all a ruse devised by the team's arch nemesis, Fat Cat. While the Rangers search in vain, he kidnaps Gadget and holds her hostage at his casino base. Chip and Dale must travel through trees, toy stores, farms, and restaurants to make it to Fat Cat and save Gadget. And once the's saved, the adventure still isn't over. The fat feline flees to his warehouse for the final confrontation. Not a story for the ages to be sure, but it's nice and surprising to not have the adventure end when the damsel in distress is saved.
Straying away from most platforming conventions, Chip and Dale cannot jump on enemies to defeat them. Instead, they have but one weapon to defend themselves with: the humble box. Each stage is littered with boxes and you'll be using them constantly. These boxes can either be thrown at the enemy to send them flying off screen, or hidden under. Enemies that touches you while you're hiding under a box will be taken out as if the box were thrown at them. Caution should be exercised when hiding under a box because some enemies require two hits before they fall. Boxes come in two varieties, wooden and metal. Wooden boxes are only good for one attack while metal boxes and be used again and again. For guys that aren't even a foot tall, Chip and Dale use a box with far more efficiency than Solid Snake ever did.
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| Go solo or team up with a buddy. |
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| Some of the bosses are straight out of the TV show. |
Straying away from most platforming conventions, Chip and Dale cannot jump on enemies to defeat them. Instead, they have but one weapon to defend themselves with: the humble box. Each stage is littered with boxes and you'll be using them constantly. These boxes can either be thrown at the enemy to send them flying off screen, or hidden under. Enemies that touches you while you're hiding under a box will be taken out as if the box were thrown at them. Caution should be exercised when hiding under a box because some enemies require two hits before they fall. Boxes come in two varieties, wooden and metal. Wooden boxes are only good for one attack while metal boxes and be used again and again. For guys that aren't even a foot tall, Chip and Dale use a box with far more efficiency than Solid Snake ever did.
Most stages in the game have you scrolling in one of two directions: right and upward and sometimes mix in both. You can't scroll the screen backwards so once you advance the screen, anything you didn't pick up is gone. If you're playing with a buddy, try not to scroll him or her off the screen when scrolling upwards. That's such an aggravating way to die.
Monty and Zipper will occasionally lend a hand in a few stages. Monty will break through walls with the help of a cheese attack and finding Zipper gives you invincibility and he'll kill any enemies on screen with the quickness. Monty's "help" could have easily been left out, but it's still nice that he was included in the gameplay in some form. Of the five Rescue Rangers, Gadget is easily the one who got the shaft, being regulated to hostage status.
It isn't exactly Mega Man, but you are given some freedom on how to proceed from level to level. The game consists or 12 stages total and you don't even have to complete all of them. Some stages are shorter than others and don't even have a boss fight at the end. The bosses aren't too difficult, with each one only needing five hits before he's done for. There's always a red ball for you to use to throw at the boss. Sometimes you can even get in two hits with one throw if it bounces off the walls or the edges of the screen. The biggest difficulty you'll probably encounter in terms of bosses are the giant caterpillar that breaks apart when hit and Fat Cat and even then, they aren't too much trouble with some careful dodging.
Seeing as how Chip and Dale are a couple of rodents, just about everything is bigger than they are. As such, you get to see the world from their point of view. Even on the NES, the feeling of being a rodent in a man's world is highly convincing. It takes them time to ascend telephone poles, climb bookshelves as well as walk across a lab table. They have to use boxes to throw at switches to turn off machines that could otherwise end their existence, jump on a faucet to turn off water, or avoid falling into a cooking pot, which is instant death. Even the locations they go through are interesting when seen from their eyes. Jumping through sewers, libraries, and casinos is so much fun and given Capcom's knack for excellent visuals on the NES, its never hard to identify what type of environment you're in. Chip and Dale are easily distinguishable as are Monty and Zipper, even if the later is green instead of blue. Gadget's in-game sprite on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. You'll see what I mean once she's saved. Of course the music is absolutely catchy, most of it being happy go lucky songs. If you know the lyrics to the cartoon's intro song (every '80s kid should) you can even single along to the excellent 8-bit rendition of it.
Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers won't take you long to finish, alone or with a friend. Even if you choose to do all 12 stages, it shouldn't take you much time to wrap everything up. But this is a licensed game done right and the platforming is unlike a lot of other NES offerings. Hiding under boxes to take out foes is addicting and fun. Since Capcom no longer holds the rights to Disney games, the odds of seeing this game get released in digital form are slim to none. It shouldn't cost you much for a copy and it's pretty easy to spot, which more than I can say for it's elusive sequel. If you have an itch for some platforming that won't take you hours to complete, this is an excellent game to have in your library.
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| A lab desk from a chipmunk's viewpoint. |
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| The level select screen, complete with Ranger Plane. |
Monty and Zipper will occasionally lend a hand in a few stages. Monty will break through walls with the help of a cheese attack and finding Zipper gives you invincibility and he'll kill any enemies on screen with the quickness. Monty's "help" could have easily been left out, but it's still nice that he was included in the gameplay in some form. Of the five Rescue Rangers, Gadget is easily the one who got the shaft, being regulated to hostage status.
It isn't exactly Mega Man, but you are given some freedom on how to proceed from level to level. The game consists or 12 stages total and you don't even have to complete all of them. Some stages are shorter than others and don't even have a boss fight at the end. The bosses aren't too difficult, with each one only needing five hits before he's done for. There's always a red ball for you to use to throw at the boss. Sometimes you can even get in two hits with one throw if it bounces off the walls or the edges of the screen. The biggest difficulty you'll probably encounter in terms of bosses are the giant caterpillar that breaks apart when hit and Fat Cat and even then, they aren't too much trouble with some careful dodging.
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| Unlike the Sonic games, you can't unleash your gambling fanatic here. |
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| I could make some terrible axe pun, but I'll fight the urge. |
Seeing as how Chip and Dale are a couple of rodents, just about everything is bigger than they are. As such, you get to see the world from their point of view. Even on the NES, the feeling of being a rodent in a man's world is highly convincing. It takes them time to ascend telephone poles, climb bookshelves as well as walk across a lab table. They have to use boxes to throw at switches to turn off machines that could otherwise end their existence, jump on a faucet to turn off water, or avoid falling into a cooking pot, which is instant death. Even the locations they go through are interesting when seen from their eyes. Jumping through sewers, libraries, and casinos is so much fun and given Capcom's knack for excellent visuals on the NES, its never hard to identify what type of environment you're in. Chip and Dale are easily distinguishable as are Monty and Zipper, even if the later is green instead of blue. Gadget's in-game sprite on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. You'll see what I mean once she's saved. Of course the music is absolutely catchy, most of it being happy go lucky songs. If you know the lyrics to the cartoon's intro song (every '80s kid should) you can even single along to the excellent 8-bit rendition of it.
Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers won't take you long to finish, alone or with a friend. Even if you choose to do all 12 stages, it shouldn't take you much time to wrap everything up. But this is a licensed game done right and the platforming is unlike a lot of other NES offerings. Hiding under boxes to take out foes is addicting and fun. Since Capcom no longer holds the rights to Disney games, the odds of seeing this game get released in digital form are slim to none. It shouldn't cost you much for a copy and it's pretty easy to spot, which more than I can say for it's elusive sequel. If you have an itch for some platforming that won't take you hours to complete, this is an excellent game to have in your library.
2 comments:
My brother loved this game when he was little
Loved this game when I was a kid myself. It's still fun to run through from time to time.
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