…well, why don’t you watch me play for a while? I’m sure you’ll get the idea.

As you can see, I’m playing as Scrooge McDuck, traversing 2D platformer levels and collecting treasure in the world of DuckTales.

DuckTales… ah, yes, I encountered these “tales” of “ducks” in my History of Media studies. This franchise was a favorite of the historical “Generation X.” I am surprised anyone would make a game about it in the modern era.

Well, it’s not exactly a new game. This is actually a remake of the NES game DuckTales from 1989, based on the television show of the same name. It’s a nostalgia property targeted toward people like me who grew up playing the original and watching the show.

If you’re nostalgic for the old game, why not just play that? Are you pretending it’s not as old as it really is?

In a sense! After all, when you’re nostalgic for something it’s not about the thing itself, but the way it made you feel. It’s been over twenty-five years since the original DuckTales was released, and both technology and expectations have made huge strides since then. The graphics, sound, and storytelling that worked so well on the NES seem outdated and insubstantial now. Bringing them up to modern standards allows the new version of the game to feel the way the original felt when it came out back in 1989 - it fills in the gaps that we filled in with our imagination when we were kids.

Why are you nostalgic for a game that you had to imagine was good?

The game was good, but a lot of the polish was just implied. Here, listen to the song that plays in Scrooge’s office.

So this is the sound of anatine paperwork.

The song is exactly as majestic and soothing as I remember it. But here, listen to what it actually was in the 1989 original.

Ah, a masterwork of minimalism. So much is conveyed with so little.

It’s two instruments playing a three second loop! It doesn’t soothe at all - it would quickly drive someone nuts. For the song to be the way people like me remember it, it had to be completely redone.

So the game has to change everything in order to feel the same. Are the “tales” of these “ducks” as you remember them in the end?

Well, there’s a new opening tutorial level and a new final level to wrap things up. These actually don’t fit well with the pre-existing levels since they’re very scripted and linear rather than being open to exploration - the final level even includes some frustrating timed challenges. Aside from those additions, however, the changes and updates are all on the game’s surface level. By polishing the exterior, the developers allow the core to shine once more. The underlying mechanics and level design hold up wonderfully and thus have been left essentially intact. A few other bits and pieces have been carried forward as well - crucially, the pogo stick sound effect is unchanged.

What do you mean, “pogo stick”? That doesn’t sound anything like a pogo stick, and Scrooge appears to be bouncing on his cane. A bouncy cane would provide no support for walking. This game is not a very accurate simulation.

There’s a level of silliness that we just accepted from games of this era, like Scrooge somehow using his cane as a one-handed pogo stick, or Mrs. Beakley appearing unexplained in the middle of dangerous areas to bring Scrooge a snack. Trying to provide justifications for these things now would only highlight how silly they are - for example, the remake explains your ability to survive on the moon without a spacesuit by positing oxygen-flavored taffy, which is somehow more ridiculous than the original just casually putting you on the moon with no explanation at all.

Oxygen-flavored taffy? Ingenious. If Scrooge were a real businessduck, he’d be better served by marketing such wondrous inventions than by gallivanting across dangerous locales in search of treasure. In fact, I have serious concerns about Scrooge’s competence as a guardian for his nephews and niece. He should hire a fleet of babysitters. And a better pilot.

Scrooge’s approach may be unorthodox, but it works in the game because it’s the same sort of silliness that would have happened on the old DuckTales television show. The game goes to great lengths to preserve the show’s feel and tone. It even includes new story scenes featuring the original voice actors and popular elements from the series - such as the nephews checking the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook.

According to the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, this is a game about exploring cartoony levels and collecting treasure while indulging nostalgia for DuckTales and Nintendo platformers.

Exactly right!