What do DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Tailspin, Darkwing Duck, Bonkers, and Goof Troop all have in common? Aside from highlighting one of the best cartoon line-ups in television history, The Disney Afternoon, each received the video game treatment courtesy of Capcom.

Any classic gamer worth his salt knows that these games were not quick cash-ins by Disney to squeeze the allowances from their young viewers, but excellent action and adventure games in their own right. Although the Disney/Capcom legacy is most remembered for their NES titles like DuckTales, the companies' partnership remained just as strong into the SNES era. Goof Troop was one such game on Nintendo's 16-bit system in 1993.

I remember first seeing Goof Troop advertised in an issue of Disney Adventures, a supermarket magazine in the 90's that published comics and all the news important to kids at the time like Jonathan Taylor Thomas's favorite number. The ad showed pirates and a tropical island setting, all the funky ingredients to make for a perfect weekend game rental.

I couldn't tell you how far I got during that rental period, but I know I never came close to finishing. Unlike Rescue Rangers, which I would rent constantly from West Coast Video (why didn't my mother just buy it?), I only recall taking out Goof Troop one time. Once was enough for me. I'm not saying that it was a bad game, I'm saying that it was a hard game. Really hard. Goof Troop certainly stood out from the other Disney/Capcom games in terms of challenge.

In another developer's hands, this game could've gone terribly wrong. The Goof Troop TV show is more grounded in reality when put up against the international treasure-bound adventures of DuckTales or the detective, crime busting cases of Rescue Rangers and Darkwing Duck. More intent with issues of growing up and the struggles of adolescence and parent-child relationships, these themes can prove to be big trouble in translating into a riveting gaming experience (see: every Mary Kate and Ashley game ever made).

The cartoon takes place in the calm, quiet suburban town of Spoonerville, where a single (and incredibly eccentric) father, Goofy, raises his cool, shade-wearing son, Max. Former high school friend, Pete, now a sleazy used car salesman, lives next door with his son, PJ (Max's best friend), Peg (his feisty wife with features so curvy that you could bounce a silver dollar off her badonkadonk), and Pistol (his cute, little, rambunctious daughter). Seeing the way these wildly different personalities clashed made up most of the entertainment in each episode. It's a tween cartoon sitcom, basically. Because of that, a literal toon-to-game adaptation just would not have worked. ('Cept maybe for a Peg tiddlywinks mini-game. That would've worked out nice. Real nice.)

Thankfully Capcom took plenty of liberty with their game, moving the whole cast out of boring suburbia and into the exciting tropics of Spoonerville Island, a getaway chock full of pirates, ghosts, and other things that kids eat up. The resulting game may not be the most faithful video game interpretation ever, but it works, and I think most fans would agree that abandoning Spoonerville's used car lots was the right move to make. The only thing I can fault Capcom with is not somehow incorporating the show's incredibly hip theme song ("We're the Goof Troop, and we always stick together / We're the Goof Troop, best of friends forever") into the video game.

Not a standard platformer, not a straight-up puzzler, Goof Troop took a risk by blending the two together while mixing in some top-down Zelda-style action for good measure. The result is a game that pushes your mind with its ingenious puzzles and tests your coordination during the clever boss fights. The game also supports simultaneous two-player co-op, with one player being Goofy, and the other, Max. When playing in this mode, each player carries his own item, and success rests on working together as a team to get through levels and accomplish tasks.

Take this basic puzzle on the right as an example. There are two helpful items stored in the middle of this room, but the only way for the spikes to drop down is for that yellow tile switch inside to be stepped on. But how to reach it from outside the wall?

Equipped with the bell, just one of the items in the game, Goofy can lure the pirate inside this closed-off area with his ringing. Moving up and down the screen, the player can manipulate the goon through the maze of crates and closer to the tile.

Lead him directly onto the switch, and the pathway unlocks. Garsh, Goofy, you solved the puzzle!

 

 

 

 

 

The game mostly operates by throwing these kind of brain teasers at the player, only they become progressively harder and more complicated to the point where I can see most younger gamers getting frustrating. This was the reason why I only rented the game that one weekend as a kid. It's a game I can appreciate more now than back then.

 

The downside is, despite such inspired gameplay, it's over far too quickly with only five levels: an island beach, a pirate village, a spooky castle, an ocean cavern, and a pirate ship.

 

This Goof Troop prototype came to me by way of the Netherlands. As you can see, the cartridge won't win a beauty contest any time soon. That's right, ugly, I'm talking about you. You have no flashy label, no stickers, just your title scrawled unceremoniously in blue magic marker. Honey child, how you gonna find a man looking like that? Pull yourself together, girl!

The number "266." is written on top of the cart. Your guess is as best as mine.

Capcom uses a sticker over the inside EPROM similar to the ones standard on their NES prototypes (see: Adventures in the Magic Kingdom). "O" and "GFT-M" are printed on the sticker below the company's logo.

Interestingly enough, there's a battery compartment on the prototype PCB, even though Goof Troop uses passwords and does not have a save system.

This was the first game to have given me any kind of trouble during the dumping process. My back-up device had a hard time recognizing it, and I could get nothing but corrupted overdumps that wouldn't play in an emulator. For at least a half an hour, I kept taking it out, putting it back in, taking it out—this was more work than sex, but believe me when I say I gained no pleasure from the thrusting, not to mention all of the blowing. If this were Atlantic City, I'd have made enough by the time I quit for both the buffet and an hour at the five-dollar slots.

After upgrading the device's hardware, I decided to try dumping this game again. To my surprise, the damn thing was recognized on the first attempt.

While going through the game's code, I saw this message on the right repeated over and over.

The ego on this guy! The nerve! We get it, M. Night Shinohara, you worked on Goof Troop. Now try working on your spelling ("Programed").

I can't find any other game that Masasugo Shinohara has ever contributed to before or after Goof Troop, so this is literally the whole shebang for him. This was his one gift to the world. Shine on, Shinohara-san. Wherever you are, shine on.

The date written in the code is April 21, 1993. Goof Troop was released to North America in July.

Any differences from retail? None! Zilch! Zip! Nada! The prototype is 100% the same.

Don't cry, Keelhaul Pete. Don't cry. I know your pain. God knows how I feel your pain. With a little yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, we'll persevere.