QUACKSHOT STARRING Donald Duck

THERE ONCE WAS A TIME, WHEN GAMES BASED ON FAMOUS DISNEY PROPERTIES WERE ALMOST GUARANTEED HITS - THAT ESPECIALLY GOES FOR GAMES MADE BY SEGA UNDER THE DIRECTION OF EMIKO YAMAMOTO. QUACKSHOT STARRING DONALD DUCK WAS MAYBE HER MOST AMBITIOUS WORK FOR THE 16-BIT CONSOLE

- BY THOMAS NICKEL

In the days before Sonic, Sega tried many things to establish an actual rival to Nintendo’s Mario - and one of the most promising approaches was a licensing deal with Disney. The first game to come out of this agreement was Castle Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, a well-made Mega Drive platformer released in 1990 and directed by newcomer Emiko Yamamoto.

With its beautiful graphics, many clever ideas and precise controls, Yamamoto and her team proved that Sega could absolutely produce excellent, console-style platformers that didn’t need to fear comparison to Nintendo's output. But instead of going for a straight sequel, which put the famous mouse through another gauntlet of stages, the team went with the second big name in Disney's lineup. As a result, the ever unlucky Donald Duck and his famously short temper would star in Sega's second 16-bit Disney-game, QuackShot Starring Donald Duck.

For inspiration, Yamomoto and her team looked at some new sources. While Castle Of Illusion took a lot of inspiration from fairy tales and early classic Disney movies such as Snow White and others, QuackShot has more in common with the adventurous tone of more modern works. Comics by Carl Barks and Don Rosa, the 1987 TV show DuckTales and European, mostly Italian, Disney comics seem to have had a major influence on the Japanese development team - and the same goes of course for George Lucas’ and Steven Spielberg's popular Indiana Jones movies.