Bookmark This Page; The story of Maui Mallard

Did you know that there was a time when Disney was making some of the best sprite based games of the 16-bit era? Donald Duck, or rather a look alike named Maui Mallard was going to be the next big mascot. If you want the full breakdown then Bookmark This Page.

Remaking an Icon, Maui Mallard, part 1

Remaking an Icon, Maui Mallard, part 2

Remaking an Icon, Maui Mallard, part 3

Remaking an Icon, Maui Mallard, part 4

Remaking an Icon, Maui Mallard, final part

Did you have a favorite Disney game in any console era? Tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Epic Review, Part 1 - A 1UP Classic from Dec. 20, 2010

This series is a look back at the Disney games that helped pave the road to Epic Mickey. This is an homage to the great and even the not-so-great titles that cluttered shelves and filled game store back rooms. Some of these games were filled with potential, some were sadly forgotten before their time. In order to appreciate Epic Mickey we have to understand how far gaming has come and how much Warren Spector and the people at Junction Point and Disney Interactive owe to the legacy titles. This blog will not trace every Disney videogame ever made, only the notable ones, the ones whose inclusion here helped shape genres and even the industry.

The first major player for Disney, one which wasn't regarded as another childish licensed game was was built around a popular Disney Afternoon series titled DuckTales. The afternoon series was successful for numerous reasons, not the least of which was a solid animation effort, memorable music, clever writing with stories and situations inspired the legendary Carl Bark's library. Capcom actually had a long and storied relationship working with Disney well past DuckTales but it was mainly the adventures of Scrooge McDuck which most gamers remember today.

The Capcom game was based mainly on the full screen level designs featured in their other classic NES titles, including Trojan, Strider and Mega Man. DuckTales took the tried and true platform design and built a series of adventures that took Scrooge around the world. Each level was filled with appearances from the supporting cast, the nephews Huey, Dewey, Louie and the pilot Launchpad McQuack. The game introduced a new mechanic to the Capcom formula, something akin to the swing for the Bionic Commando or slide for Strider, Scrooge had a pogo-stick-like bounce attack using his cane. This ability to trounce opponents and traverse gaps in the stages gave diversity to the gameplay and allowed for many original level designs. This mechanic combined with some catchy and quirky songs made the game stand apart from the million other Mario-clones that had flooded the market by 1990. The game was so influential among gamers and Disney aficionados that Warren Spector has mentioned it in more than one interview. Capcom followed up with a sequel to DuckTales that was all but ignored.

The early 90's were a transition period for consoles. Minor upgrades to 8-bit money makers like Mega Man were not enough to satiate the "arcade quality" look and feel of the 16-bit generation. The graphics, sound, animation and design of subsequent games were leaps and bounds better than the best the NES had to offer. The most note worthy of the new titles, the "new" DuckTales, would feature Mickey Mouse in the Castle of Illusion. Sega would wrestle the quality label from Capcom by providing discerning players with a game whose design, animation and playability was up to the big mascot titles. With Castle of Illusion, Mickey would no longer play second string to Mario or the newcomer Sonic the Hedgehog. The expanded memory in 16-bit cartridges, more powerful graphics card and support for stereo sound meant that gamers would demand higher levels of detail and design in games. The fluid movement of Mickey through the levels was far ahead of the curve. This generation of Disney games inspired a generation of gamers, artists and animators.

As great as Castle of Illusion was, it was surpassed in almost every regard by Sega's follow-up. Mickey Mouse was joined by Donald Duck in the World of Illusion. This title featured levels inspired by animated movies, larger characters, more frames of animation, new abilities and co-op gameplay. Gamers that had grown up on the animated adventures of the duo were left in awe by how fluid characters appeared in game. Mickey, Donald and the baddies had a familiar "stretch and squash" quality to their movement. It was more lifelike than the "stiff" animation that plagued the Mario character. It was assumed that some day consoles could present animated character indistinguishable from their television counterparts. Combining this animation with traditional 2-D level design meant that gamers could easily get into the gameplay. Between DuckTales and World of Illusion gamers were under the impression that Disney might be on the verge of conquering the consoles as they had animation. Unfortunately this momentum was short lived.

Donald Duck's solo effort, Quack Shot, also by Sega, felt rushed and lackluster. The premise was among the first in Disney history to change the look of the title character in order to fit the game plot. Gone were Donald's sailor blues and cap, they were replaced with a fedora, leather jacket and gun, very much in the Indiana Jones style. It was obvious that Donald had evolved into some sort of adventuring hero. Characters from DuckTales made cameos, including the nephews and Uncle Scrooge. Donald's trick gun could shoot different type of projectiles rather than bullets. Although the gun fired plungers, bubblegum or popcorn, it was a more intimidating act than most gamers were used to seeing. The magic cape and apple throwing from previous titles were far simpler and less menacing to young audiences. A rating concern aside, the lack of originality in level design, forgettable music and formulaic boss battles meant that Sega was simply going through the paces. Just like Capcom had done two years prior, Sega lost the magic within a generation.

The Disney titles suffered because gameplay marginally evolved between the 8-bit and 16-bit generations. Level design was based partially on gun mechanics, such as the ability to create barriers and build ladders. This gameplay element pushed Quack Shot along and allowed gamers to revisit levels and do more exploration after they had acquired different shot types. Unfortunately these were the same mechanics that Capcom had exploited years before in the Mega Man series. The lack of originality was beginning to show and the Disney name could no longer make up for average gameplay.

The things that Disney had going for it were the recognizable characters and top-quality animation. Clever themes, familiar characters and bold colors helped anchor the mascot characters with the gaming public. Unfortunately gamers would be more critical of Disney because they had begun to saturate the market with average titles. While there were significant gains between DuckTales and World of Illusion, Disney seemed to fall flat with the other titles in the 16-bit wars. One of the last notable attempts to make Disney's greatest icon connect with audiences was with Traveller's Tale's release of Mickey Mania. This title featured a new game engine and new team, one of the first Western-lead efforts, with Mickey Mouse in a starring role. The type of game was familiar, it was a platform title yet rather than put Mickey into a fictional world with loose ties to the Disney universe, this game placed Mickey in the middle of several animated shorts. Each level was a self-contained world based on the shorts, there was a lot of diversity, from Steamboat Willie to the Prince and the Pauper. The black and white as well as color worlds made for clever level design. The characters were far larger and more fluid than had even been presented in World of Illusions.

Mickey Mania was a solid effort to recapture the magic and awe that gamers first felt when playing Castle of Illusion. Even better, it served as a primer on the classic animated shorts that made Mickey popular with previous generations. Most gamers were not familiar with the library of Mickey films, possibly because there were only two shorts featuring the character produced between 1953 and 1990 (Mickey's Christmas Carol and the Prince and the Pauper). Prior to Epic Mickey this was the love letter to the character from the gaming community. Unfortunately Disney could not maintain the high level of quality and attention to detail. Many studios were beginning to match and surpass the quality of the best Disney games, especially with regards to animation.

There were two basic types of Disney games on the consoles. Those that were based on an existing movie or series and those that were based on a variation of a character. Disney was not alone in licensing or releasing classic films to the consoles. Lucasarts had a string of hits on the SNES with their Super Star Wars series. Disney was not as successful despite the memorable stories, and superior animation of titles like Pinocchio or the Jungle Book. Why did the latter Disney games fail to connect with audiences? In a word it was lack of evolution.

Lucasarts was busy exploiting the state-of-the-art Mode 7 capability of the SNES to achieve depth and the illusion of 3D perspective for many levels in the Star Wars series while Disney had kept everything in two dimensions. Disney had failed to push the characters into something other than a platform genre, which hadn't evolved greatly since the time of Mario or Sonic. Whether it was collecting badges as the Disney Afternoon character Bonkers or collecting fruit as Mogli from the Jungle Book, there was little to distinguish the jumping and collecting formula after the World of Illusion. For gamers there was little difference between the jumping and collecting in other titles on the SNES or Genesis, Vectorman, Rayman and the other characters that made their mark on the 16-bit generation were variations on a familiar theme. Relying on the same old formula had failed for most of their Disney Afternoon titles and not even their famous movie characters could help sell games.

The alternate to titles based on shows or movies showed that Disney Interactive was willing to experiment and allow their characters to mature and feed into the tastes of the gaming public. Variations of iconic characters would be released to mixed reviews over the following decade. Donald seemed to lend himself more easily to the fighting-type adventurer that was popular among most gamers. The title Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow was a bold step by the House of Mouse. It was a very fresh take on the Duck persona. Maui Mallard, presented with a Hawaiian shirt and pistol was a thinly veiled Magnum P.I.. His alter-ego Cold Shadow was a blindfolded ninja that fought with a bo-staff. The game was far more mature than Quack Shot, but not insulting to the audience. It featured animation and design that were leagues ahead of World of Illusion, and moreover, were placed over two completely different styles of gameplay. Gamers could use the run and gun mechanics of Maui Mallard to clear a level or the up-close fighting of Cold Shadow.

The levels were refreshing takes on classic themes, the traditional jungle, underwater and volcano levels were combined with unique designs. Maui was tethered to a springy vine in the jungle and could be yanked about by the player. It was tricky navigating the jungle floor as Maui had to use his hands to climb across fallen bamboo poles. The underwater stages saw skeleton pirates and sea monsters fighting our hero while the volcano stage could be navigated by jumping from rocks or by swinging overhead using the ninja staff like a grappling hook. Maui Mallard was far from being the average Disney platformer. It stood out for its originality, in concept and execution it was one of the most notable but overlooked games in the 16-bit generation. Gamers had experienced many of the same features that made Maui Mallard very playable in a different title.

Earthworm Jim was an exceptional platformer. It combined run and gun gameplay with the leaping, climbing and swinging mechanics which were not good but great. Few games managed to capture perfect control and frame them within unique level designs. What made Earthworm Jim stand out from the peers was that it wrapped impeccable gameplay in a shockingly original, twisted, cartoon wrapping. Earthworm Jim was possibly the greatest traditionally animated 16-bit game of all-time. It stands to reason, Shiny founder David Perry cut his teeth as an animator for Disney's Aladdin game. The bold colors, warped designs and absurd amount of detail (and humor) that went into the game were imitated but rarely duplicated. Earthworm Jim represented a paradigm shift in platforming. It was an answer to the the unspoken reality. Specifically it acknowledged that gamers were getting older and more mature. The tastes that they had were changing. 

While fond of the Disney Afternoon from years prior, they were now tuning into the edgy Ren and Stimpy animation from Spümco. Cartoons were not solely for kids and neither should video games. Gamers acknowledged that many of the Disney games were well made and animated, but too simplistic. Earthworm Jim was a very demanding game that layered equal parts style over substance. Shiny made icons out of Jim and Princess What's-Her-Name overnight and Disney games had all but been forgotten. Maui Mallard was a response to the Earthworm Jim fan, two years after the fact. The peak of traditional 2D animation for gaming had been met. The next barrier would be 3D. Earthworm Jim would not remain king of the hill for long and Disney would not be ready to move into that position.

As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Rock and Roll, and Combat Cars Racing - Originally published on 1UP - March 30, 2009

In the early 90's I was finishing high school and looking for new challenges in gaming. The arcade scene was still growing steadily but some of the best times I had were on the consoles. The Super Nintendo and Genesis split my time evenly. Two of the more memorable racers were in the combat genre, years before Twisted Metal was even announced. Rock and Roll Racing (RnRR) had a number of things going for it. The characters were a mashup between mutants and heavy metal gods. The cars they drove were equally intimidating, sports cars with monster truck tires or jet cockpits on tank treads. The game was established around an intergalactic competition so the rides could be as eccentric and intimidating as any science fiction movie. Tracks consisted of grades and jumps, not really explored in RC Pro Am or most other console racers. The mix of rock music, bright graphics and monstrous protagonists said this was a boys game. Even "the voice" of motor sports, Larry "Supermouth" Huffman lent his talents to this 1993 title by Silicon & Synapse, before they became Blizzard Ent.

Rock and Roll Racing was an isometric car combat game. Not quite as fast paced and frenetic as RC Pro Am but whose graphics and sound effect were absolutely top-notch. The digital covers of many rock standards made it stand out to many gamers.

A year later the Genesis saw its own car combat game named, what else, Combat Cars. The game by Accolade seemed kind of dated. It was presented in the overhead view rather than isometric. The characters seemed like the usual assortment of ugly guys and mutants. The music was some odd type of electronica, rock music was out. There was no air of authenticity to this game, no connection to the racing world as there was with Rock and Roll Racing. That was with the exception of the cover art. Car art legend Ed "Newt" Newton was the person that designed the box art. That little detail was enough to get me to pick up the title.

These differences between this game and Rock and Roll Racing didn't amount to much as the game was very well made. The racing element in particular was very solid. In addition to being mindful of the track players had to line up shots and avoid opponents. The tracks were diverse, upgrade options numerous and the gameplay very fast paced. The design of the combat buggies even grew on me, more so than the three basic car types in RnRR. To many it was graphically inferior to Rock and Roll Racing but the play experience was anything but lacking. It was proof that a studio could create a fun experience with the overhead format. Make the player handle multiple elements in a racer and they will step up to the challenge. Provided that the balance is there, the controls are dialed in and the multiplayer mode isn't lacking. Combat Cars had all of the above.

Ten years earlier I would have never thought that a memorable overhead racer was possible, let alone on a console. Bally published a racing game, not one year after the amazing Spy Hunter, which almost killed the momentum of the overhead genre. I hope to see you back tomorrow to find out which game it was.

Were there any rare games that you enjoyed? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

My favorite Games of All-Time #3: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Originally published on 1UP - August 11, 2006

Welcome back to the countdown. Sorry for the week off but as you can understand I've been a little busy catching up on work and everything. The focus is back on the list though! I wonder if I should shoot off some fireworks or something now that I have reached the final 3?

These are the games that define me, the games that I consider my favorite of all-time.

Number three is a lock. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 by Yuji Naka and Sonic Team. Yuji is the only man to make the list twice and both times in the top-10. He really put Sega on the map as far as console gaming goes. Yu Suzuki may be the undefeated Sega arcade champ but his work on home consoles falls short of Yuji's. Don't even tell me that Shenmue was better than anything Naka did because it would be a lie.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 may be the greatest Sega platform game ever. Perhaps you think I have a bias against Nintendo, seeing as how Zelda, Link, Mario and Metroid don't make my list. Kid Ikarus almost did. To me Sonic was the Mario game reduced. That shouldn't make me a Nintendo hater.

Super Mario Bros. was fun for it's day, but each consecutive Mario game felt like the previous one. Levels were always stacked, plain, Mario went left to right and on occasion donned suits that game him special powers. Still, each world, each level felt like the last with minor changes to the color palette. We were growing up but it felt like Mario was not.

I don't believe the hype in Sonic as a character with 'tude meant for the jaded Nintendo gamers.

The Sonic games were boiled down into far more basic components than Mario. You only used one button in the series and it worked. It worked because Sonic had only basic attacks. It worked because the levels were organic and lent themselves to simple attacks. It worked because Sonic had a chance to open up and speed away from enemies instead of fighting.

For the first time that I could remember I was excited to run on levels because of minor changes in elevation and pitch. Think about it for a second. Previous to Sonic, most games were very two dimensional, every stage was literally a platform. There were no hills, dips, bumps or grades. Go diagonal while running? Never in a million years!

Sonic broke the mold and the blue hedgehog became less like Mario jumping up and down between platforms and more like an electric pinball whizzing here and there on a roller coaster track. Some said it was a gimmick, others called it disorienting sliding down tunnels and shooting across a level. I thought it was genius and platforming evolved.

Sonic needed momentum to do loops and corkscrews, players sometimes had to get a running start before taking on a series of loops. The sense of running through a level with reckless abandon has yet to be topped.

Just as amazing as the level design was the second player that Sonic had. A little buddy, almost the tag-along little brother in "Tails." His twin tails could propel him forward to follow Sonic through the levels and help him from time to time. Tails could be controlled by a second player and this would come in handy when trying to collect rings during bonus rounds. It would be years before Luigi would join Mario in the middle of a game...

The game still had Sonic trying to defeat Eggman (Dr. Robotnik) but just like the previous title you also had to collect Chaos Emeralds. The original Sonic game had chaos emeralds stuck inside a perpetually rotating room, while disorienting, the level was actually quite cool. This time the emeralds were at the end of a long, pseudo 3D race track. Mixing side scrolling with 3D racing shattered the concepts of what could be done in a console game. Sonic could still run on walls and even flip himself 360 degrees on the track, Naka had broken the third dimension and there was never any going back.

Each level, each zone in the Sonic universe was unique. When I think of a Mario game, even the SNES versions, the levels are usually outdoors, indoors or underwater, again and again. The zones in Sonic looked completely different, at once a grassy hill and next an oil field or a floating airship. Each zone had its own music, tracks written by Dreams Come True, then a budding j-pop group and today considered one of the longest-running, most successful international music acts ever.

Some levels had multiple paths, hidden secrets, blast tunnels and trap doors. Credit where credit is due, learning to play each level became an art. Gamers with experience could not only beat levels quickly, they could also collect Chaos Emeralds and defeat most of the enemies in one fell swoop. Of course no two zones played exactly alike. Some required small steps and timed jumps, others flat out speed. Deconstruct the zones and see how logical this type of level design became. Naka introduced the world to a new way to game, sorry to say but Mario had become antiquated.

At no point did Naka's vision supersede the technical limitations of the 16-bit Sega Genesis. Things that would return in Sonic Adventure games on the Dreamcast and GameCube were pioneered in two dimensions. Sonic spanned the world chasing Eggman and collecting emeralds. When Eggman took flight so too did Sonic, on top of Tail's biplane the "Tornado." Eventually Sonic tracks Eggman to the "EggCarrier" flying fortress and even to a rocket that blasts into outer space toward the "Death Egg" (a clone of the Death Star from Star Wars). The Tornado, EggCarrier and space station all returned in the Adventure games. As did levels based in the desert, caves and high-tech factories.

This type of epic game was told within the span of a few levels on a few-megabyte cartridge and featuring things never before seen on a platformer. Themes of the levels and plot would return time and time again not only in the Sonic games but in other titles from the industry as well. Yuji had raised the bar in Sonic 2, the effects of which remain to this day.

Sonic was never one to fight many bosses, just one, the Eggman. The rivalry spans decades but I think the best battles were in Sonic 2. Eggman would throw some type of mechanical device at Sonic and it was up to the gamer to figure out the timing and weakness and knock Eggman's contraption apart.

From buggies to tanks, drills and helicopters, Eggman threw everything he had at Sonic. In the Death Egg level we were treated to an epic boss battle. Eggman fought from inside a giant mechanical suit, complete with missile launcher and spike fists. The sprite of the robot was gigantic, taking up a third of the screen. For the time it was easily one of the largest sprites and boss characters ever. This "David versus Goliath" battle helped lend tremendous scope to an already epic game.

The characters, good and bad, were designed by Naoto Ohshima and Yasushi Yamaguchi. The designs were a mix between Japanese anime and Western cartoon. Simply timeless. The levels, plot and boss battles were usually an homage to classic Japanese and Western sci-fi. The closer you look into the levels and characters the more you'd see.

In the end it was one design that turned a great sequel into one of my favorite games of all-time... Super Sonic. You could beat the game without ever collecting one Chaos Emerald. Or you could go for broke and collect all of them. The reward for doing so was unlocking a supercharged Sonic. The ending of the game even changed to show off Sonic's new ability. Did I mention that Mario had become antiquated by then?

Upon collecting 50 rings, after gathering all of the Chaos Emeralds, in a level Sonic would turn "super" when he jumped. He was impervious to harm and able to fly through levels faster than ever before. The effects and animation associated with Super Sonic were brilliant. Super Sonic was without a doubt an homage to Dragon Ball Z, which at the time had the main character Son Goku evolve into a "Super Saiyan." This featured many of the same properties and looks that Sonic had inherited. A nod to the genius of Akira Toriyama aka "Dr. Slump," the creator of Dragon Ball Z.

My brothers were there when I first turned into Super Sonic. The reaction was a unanimous "holy shit!"

I never looked back.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will remain one of my favorite games of all-time for ever and ever.

Sorry Mario.

I hope you get a chance to play it and hopefully become Super Sonic yourselves. Until next week take care and have a great weekend!

I’d like to hear your personal top-10, top-20, top fighting games, top sports games, or top games in any genre. Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Remaking an Icon, Maui Mallard, part 4

After everything that Maui had endured above, below and inside the heart of a tropical paradise he only had a few challenges remaining. Maui would have to return the remains of the great Muddrake shaman Quackoo to his final resting place. In order to do this Maui had to cross over and journey into "The Realm of the Dead." Disney Interactive had hoped that they had given players enough time to practice all of Maui and Cold Shadows moves because the final stage required gamers to switch between the personalities on the fly. Maui had to shoot ghosts, swing over bottomless chasms and even "swim" through green semi-transparent ectoplasm in order to navigate the complex stages.

Just about every element in this game was a fresh change of pace from Disney Interactive. The use of tiki imagery, the undead and occult elements might not have gone over well at just about any other era at the company, including today! Having the trust with the developers that this was what the community wanted in a game was unheard of. The decisions at most big game studios were based on research and marketing data instead of original ideas from the developers. The marketing person leading the research could skew the data to support his or her beliefs. This would lead to a mediocre game that failed to win over audiences and of course the developers would be blamed for that and be let go instead of the marketing "gurus." Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow was one of the rare games in the Disney game history that was almost completely unobstructed. I would dare say that not even Epic Mickey took as many chances with the IP.

The Realm of the Dead was one of the levels where the Super Nintendo version of the game looked amazing when compared to the Sega Genesis build. The colors and details really popped on the Nintendo console. Everything from the fire effects to the rippling ectoplasm to the enormous duck eye tracking our hero in the background were brilliant.

This level also offered the one place in the game that gave me a genuine fright. Buried in several places throughout the stage were zombie ducks. The would reach out of the ground for our hero while letting out a loud yell. I was startled the first time I played through the level because I didn't know what to expect. Nothing had me prepared for that.

The zombie ducks were grotesque and required multiple shots to be killed. As players unloaded their bug gun the zombies would fall apart but continue advancing. It was probably the most gruesome thing ever featured in a Disney game but at the same time it was also one of the coolest.

The final part of the Realm of the Dead stage was also one of the hardest portions of the entire title. Players had to escort the jar containing the remains of Quackoo to an altar. The jar rose steadily through the air and players had to use Maui and Cold Shadow to keep enemy spirits from stealing him away. Players could try to get ahead of the jar and shoot ghosts before they came around but they never wanted to be too far from Quackoo in case a ghost managed to sneak around them.

Once Quackoo arrived at the altar the stage had finished. This was the only stage in the game that did not feature a boss battle but that was perhaps because the next level, the Mojo Stronghold, was one long boss battle.

It seemed that Maui was not a moment too soon. The evil Witch Doctor had the idol of Shabuhm Shabuhm in his clutches and was casting a spell on it. As the idol rose into the sky a storm broke out. The clouds turned an eerie shade of crimson, this supernatural power would surely destroy the island and its inhabitants unless Maui could do something about it.

Before they could reach the Witch Doctor players had to disable his protection. Large glowing crystal balls created a shield around the villain. Players had to shatter those before they could advance.

Once a player was able to get close enough they discovered that the bug bullets did nothing against the Witch Doctor. The final battle would have to be hand-to-hand combat using Cold Shadow.

The Witch Doctor would shoot fire and teleport all over the platform, making it difficult to get more than one hit on him at a time. Even up close the Witch Doctor was not easy. He would kick and strike at Cold Shadow using his magic staff.

If a player managed to survive the conflict then the Witch Doctor would burst into flames. It was an awesome site in the Genesis and PC versions of the game.

Once the great evil had been defeated then the idol of Shabuhm Shabuhm was finally free to return to Earth. Maui fell from the sky and landed in a soft patch of grass. Unfortunately for him so too did the idol. Thankfully Maui cushioned the impact with his body and the Muddrakes were able to carry it off in one piece. There was a final gag that the team at Disney Interactive wrote for the idol but I'll let you play the game and find out what it was.

Hernea the High Mojo Sorceress returned to congratulate our hero. It turned out that she had misjudged him and owed him a debt of gratitude. Of course it was difficult for Maui to hear any of the apology considering he was buried upside down in the soft Earth.

Instead of telling Maui what reward he had earned she decided to show him instead. A calypso version of "Here Comes the Bride" was mixed in with the various Maui themes during the end credits. Were wedding bells in the future for Maui Mallard?

The audience was left with the satisfaction of completing a challenging platform game but also with the knowledge that Maui would return. The character and the universe that he inhabited was inspired. It would be a shame if this was the one and only chance for the character to shine. His destiny was written in the stars after all...

Disney Interactive was not content with delivering one completely original game. They had started work on a sequel. What became of it and what hampered the development of the original game will be covered in the next blog. I hope to see you back for that. If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Remaking an icon, Maui Mallard, part 3

When we last saw our hero Maui Mallard he was thrown into a volcano by the native Muddrakes. "The Sacrifice of the Maui "was the fourth stage of the game and the stakes had never been higher. Everywhere the player looked there was lava with only a few small stones to leap onto. Players had to turn into Cold Shadow right away and use his bo-staff to swing over opponents and a certain fiery death. Since Cold Shadow was constantly losing his Yin Yang energy it was up to the player to keep moving. To keep climbing higher and higher and try to avoid transforming back into Maui until he reached the end of the stage.

Some of Cold Shadow's ninja abilities came in handy on the level. He could run at super speed over long patches of magma without injuring himself. Of course doing so came at the raid loss of his Yin Yang energy.

The level made good use of light and shadow to frame a hellish scene for our hero. Depending on the version played the background was made up of cascading walls of magma (PC / Sega Mega Drive) or an eerie skull shaped cave (Super Nintendo). The graphics were amazing with lots of little details poured into every corner of the cartridge based systems. In other Disney games one would expect to see "Hidden Mickeys" but in Maui Mallard the developers made sure to hide as many duck shout-outs as they could. Temples, rock-work and even puffs of smoke had hidden duck faces within them. Because this level was meant to invoke fire and brimstone it was reminiscent of another great stage from the library of Earthwork Jim.

The opponents in this stage were unique. Every stage in Maui Mallard featured opponents that reflected the level and this was no different. Inside the volcano players faced bats made out of fire and goggle-clad fire sprits mixing drinks and spitting fire at our hero. They could be taken out with bug bullets or with the staff depending on the strategy of the player.

The level was quite challenging because on certain portions the player would be stuck on a tiny rock as the magma rose. If a player could transform into Cold Shadow then they might get ahead of the magma and find some treasure in the process. Sooner or later however the player would have to land back on that tiny rock and then navigate their way through tunnels that became increasingly smaller. As if that weren't enough the magma would rise faster and faster until the player was navigating the smallest corridors at breakneck speed.

The final boss for this level was an enormous fire spirit shaped like a snake. The player had to keep breaking off pieces of the creature using either bug bullets or well-timed staff attacks until all that was left was a gigantic head. The Genesis version of the character looked far more intense than the SNES one. 

After another Babaluau bonus stage the story continued. You would think that Maui had enough of the Muddrakes at this point but Herneae returned to say that he needed their help in order to recover Shabuhm Shabuhm and save the island. It would be a shaky truce and before the Muddrakes would help Maui he had to prove himself in a "Test of Duckhood."

The fifth stage in the game was a completely different experience depending on which version of the game you played. The Super Nintendo build had our hero attached to a vine that acted like a bungee cord. He was dropped from high above the forest canopy and would have to take out moving Muddrake targets as he fell and bounced back up. It was tricky but not impossible to master with a few tries. The Genesis and PC versions were much better experiences. In it Maui was still tethered to a bungee cord but the level designers had players use bungee physics in order to navigate through the complex levels. They would have to find high platforms to leap from in order to generate enough of a recoil to be snapped into a higher portion of the stage. 

In other portions of the Genesis / PC build the character has to walk hand over hand while tethered to the vine. The stages were tricky mazes with sharpened bamboo posts blocking the player above as well as below. Navigating the stages took some practice but again the springy mechanics were a welcome change of pace.

I'm certain that many players saw the similarity between the bungee mechanics and those featured in the Major Mucus battle in Earthworm Jim. For the SNES version of Maui Mallard there was a similar level of difficulty. Players had to avoid the jagged edges of a Muddrake maze while carrying the little ducks to safety. The final battle in the SNES version against a gigantic frog was a bit anti-climactic. The frog sat there while Maui shot his belly forcing the frog to snap up Muddrakes using his extending tongue. The frog eventually ate all of the Muddrakes and then Maui could proceed. In the other version of the battle players had to use exploding bug shots and time them to fall into the mouth of the frog every time he opened it. All the while they were tethered to a cord and would be pulled back into the jungle canopy. 

At this point in the story Maui had passed the Test of Duckhood. The Muddrakes welcomed him as a brother and were now willing to help him in his quest. The Muddrake chieftain said that his magic was not powerful enough to track down Shabuhm Shabuhm and the only one that could was an ancient Muddrake shaman named Quackoo. The catch was that the remains of Quackoo were at the bottom of the ocean, resting inside of a haunted pirate ship. Just another day at the office for Maui when you stop and think about it.

The Muddrake chieftain put a spell on the duck which allowed him to breathe underwater. The following stage, "The Flying DuckMan" was one of the most memorable ever put in game form. Maui could not transform into Cold Shadow in this stage. It wasn't a bad thing considering the unique game mechanics that Disney Interactive featured on the levels. Maui moved in slow motion as one would expect underwater. He jumped further than normal but also much slower. The ship was enormous and navigating it meant that Maui would have to find some sort of propulsion. It turned out that firing the bug gun underwater allowed Maui to move in any direction. Players learned to shoot opposite of the direction that they wanted to move. It was an amazing experience that really set this title apart from Earthworm Jim and every other 16-bit classic.

With the newfound ability to move through "three-dimensional" space our hero could get into every corner of the ship while seeking out the remains of the Muddrake Quackoo. Finding hidden treasure along the way was a bonus for our ninja detective. Of course nothing in the game was easy and neither would navigating the Flying DuckMan be. Puffer fish and pirate ghosts were waiting at every turn to bring Maui down. The animation and character designs throughout the game were all amazing but the ghostly ducks really set the bar for console animation.

An underwater tempest would rage on certain portions of the DuckMan stage. The tempest would rip the ship apart in chunks and it was up to the player to navigate through the maze-like ship before the wall of foam and debris claimed Maui as well. The side-scrolling portions of the tempest kept me on edge as I fired my bug gun furiously in an attempt to stay just ahead of the wave of destruction. 

In the end of the stage Maui found the remains of the Quackoo inside of a glass jar. A pirate duck took Maui off the ship aboard a tiny schooner named the Sea Hag. Of course getting away without a fight wouldn't make sense. In this case the floating head of the pirate captain rose out of the captains quarters and launched sea mines and puffer fish at our hero. If he managed to get enough shots in on the giant head then he would finally be allowed to surface and continue on his journey. The next blog will feature the final stages in the game. I hope to see you back for that. If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!