Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. Considering this is at least the fourth time I’ve talked about the alliance of Disney and Capcom, it’s safe to assume that by now you know that the alliance of the two companies produced utter magic on the NES. Pretty much every game released was an instant classic, save for a couple exceptions. And in the case of this week’s review, we’re definitely looking at one that’s often considered an exception. In fact, it’s usually considered more hated than loved. But is this hatred really justified? I’m going to see if I can take the negativity and “Spin It” with this week’s review of TaleSpin
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1991
PUBLISHER: Capcom
GENRE: Scrolling Shooter
Of all the unique cartoon concepts to come out of the 80’s and 90’s, the one that always has me scratching my head is how exactly the ides tor TaleSpin came to life. I gotta believe it wasn’t exactly an easy sell for some. So picture this. We take Baloo the bear from The Jungle Book, make him a cargo pilot, put him in a 1930’s setting, and have him deal with sky pirates and go on big adventures. It’s definitely an original idea, you have to give it that. But lo and behold, it turned out to be a pretty darn good one. TaleSpin debuted in the fall of 1990 and was the fourth official cartoon of the Disney Afternoon weekday block of the 1990’s. The show proved a strong success, although probably not as strong as the previous cartoons on the block, but still popular enough in its own right.
With the massive success of Ducktales and Rescue Rangers on the NES, a TaleSpin game was an obvious eventuality, and of course Capcom would be at the helm. Their version of a TaleSpin video game would be released on NES and Game Boy in 1991, and was a modest hit at best, far less than the two Disney Afternoon games before it. Probably again due to Talespin not being a super hit, and more than likely due to being released at the beginning of the NES Dark Age. That time when the Super Nintendo’s release and the prominence of the Sega Genesis were becoming bigger by the day, and it was becoming harder for NES games to sell. The game also had no favors with critics who often panned the game. But again, was this panning really deserved? Let’s delve deeper.
COVER STORY
Not too much to go over, as once again we have another top quality Disney cover. I will say the only issue is the vehicle Baloo is piloting, but we’ll get more into that when we get into the gameplay portion. But like the other coves for Disney and Capcom games, it’s once again a perfect delivery.
STORY
Baloo and Kit are busy as always delivering cargo for Rebecca Cunningham and Higher for Hire. But the evil business tycoon Shere Khan has set out to put Higher for Hire out of business once and for all with the help of the notorious Don Karnage and his crew of sky pirates. It’s up to Baloo and Kit to make it through 8 harrowing levels with the use of Baloo’s new Mini Seaduck plane (I guess the actual Seaduck was broken I guess) to find and deliver all the cargo and put the stops to Karnage and his cronies once and for all.
GAMEPLAY
TaleSpin is a one player scrolling shooter. You control Baloo, who has to fly his Mini Seaduck plane from level to level, fighting off the evil sky pirates of Don Karnage along with other enemies, all while collecting all the cargo in each level. The D-Pad moves Baloo in all directions, and the B button will shoot either straight or diagonally by pressing up and down. You can also flip your plane upside down with the A button to backtrack in the levels, or move through some of the trickier obstacles in the levels.
The object of each level is to collect the cargo in each stage. You don’t have to collect all of them to complete the level, but going through the trouble to collect all of them in each level will set you up with bonus money that can help you buy upgrades for your plane. You star with a basic Seaduck that moves rather slow, and shoots one slow shot bullet at ta time. After completing a level, you will be greeted by Wildcat, Higher for Hire’s mechanic. He can set you up with upgrades that can increase the performance of your plane.
The upgrades are a boosted engine for better speed, a stronger body that will give you one more heart, an extra weapon shot that is essential early on, and a rapid fire that can eliminate the hindrance of the slow shots. You can only upgrade each of these once. You can also buy 1-ups and continues, but their prices increase will each purchase, so I’d say save them for once you’ve completed building up your plane to peak perfection.
The levels are littered with items to pick up, most of them being hidden until you shoot at their area. These items are various fruit that will add to your points, money bags that will give you extra money to help with the upgrades, small and big hearts that will restore health, and 1-ups. You’ll find plenty in each level, so no matter how item starved you end up, you can always find something by shooting randomly.
Another method to collecting items is through the game’s bonus level. In each level there are usually two hidden doors that you can find by shooting at their area. Once entered in the door, you will play as Baloo’s sidekick Kit Cloudkicker. Kit will use his sky surfing abilities to pop the various balloons in the area, each containing either fruit or extra lives. The levels have two basic patterns, which you can get the hang of quick. This is also a perfect way to rack up on extra lives without the worry of spending useful money.
You start the game with 4 lives, three hits and a handful of continues. And with this game’s initial difficulty for those new to it, those lives and continues can run out fast. There are no passwords either, so once those continues run out, it’s back to the beginning. However, once you get the hang of the learning curve of the game, specifically getting the hang of moving your plane both upside down and regular, it shouldn’t end up too difficult.
There are 8 levels in the game. Each moderately sized. Nothing too short, and nothing too overly stretched out. You’ll fly in levels like above the sea, through stormy clouds, and over mountains, like you would expect in a game with plane flying in it. But then the game starts to get weird in its choice of levels. One level will have you fly through a baseball stadium, both above, and underground, another stage will have you fly through ancient temples, and perhaps the strangest of all will have you fly through what has to be the largest haunted house ever. Sure it adds the all important level variety, but it does feel a little too strange for a scrolling plane shooter.
You will face plenty of bosses through the game’s 8 levels. From a submarine, a giant baseball, and a giant invisible man, to plenty of sky pirates, as well as the leader himself Don Karnage. In the game’s final level, you’ll have to destroy the iron vulture, the base of the sky pirates. The bosses for the most part are pretty easy to get the hang of, although learning the pattern on a couple can be trickier than expected. But like a lot in this game, they shouldn’t take too long to get the hang of.
The game controls well enough, and there are no real issues with hit detection to note. Everything controls quite well, and playing as Baloo can be quite fun. But I will gripe that I would rather use the actual Seaduck over the rinky dink Mini Seaduck in the game. I can understand why they did it, since you do want to see Baloo’s sprite in the game in some capacity, but it still feels like a really odd design choice to go with. That could be one of the main turnoffs people had when the game was released. The game is short, as expected for one of these Disney/Capcom games, and once you get the hang of things, you can easily beat the game in under an hour at best.
GRAPHICS
As you would no doubt expect, the graphics are once again top form from Capcom. All the sprites are well designed, everyone looks like their show counterparts, they take full advantage of the limited palette of the NES, and there isn’t too much that one can gripe about. It’s another solid work from a company that knew how to bring out the best in the NES
MUSIC
While the music in this game is once again some great work by Capcom, I will admit that there really isn’t anything too special for the game’s soundtrack. Other than another brilliant 8-bit rendition of a classic theme song (and one of my personal favorites) the actual level songs are quite forgettable. That’s not saying that the music is bad, just don’t expect to be humming any of them after you’ve finished with the game.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This game seems to get an awful lot of hate from people, and is usually considered the proverbial black sheep of the Disney Afternoon NES games. Even Derek Alexander, the internet personality best known as the Happy Video Game Nerd has stated his own hatred for the game. I honestly say that I don’t feel the same way about this game. I thought it was pretty fun. Not perfect mind you, but for what it was, it never left me feeling too bored, and had a decent challenge for one of these games. Plus it held somewhat true to the source material, which in itself is pretty darn good. That said though, I can see why some people hate it, and I respect that opinion. Hell, when I rented the game was a kid, I myself didn’t like it. But now that I’m older, and own the game, I find myself enjoying it more than I did back then. My suggestion is to give the game a try for yourself, you may either agree or disagree with me about it, but whichever way you choose, at least give it a “Spin”.
RATING: Thumbs Up