DUCKTALES

GAME INFO: DuckTales is one of several games that Capcom developed from Disney franchises in the late eighties and early nineties, in this case based on the landmark animated series of the same name. This platformer follows Scrooge McDuck on a treasure hunt that spans across the globe, visiting the Amazon, Transylvania, the mines of Africa, the Himalayan mountains, and the moon. Multiple characters from the television show appear in support roles in each stage. A remaster of the game was released in 2013 with improved visuals, sounds, and comprehensive dialogue provided by voice actors who worked on the cartoon series.

SETTING: The game world follows that of the television show, wherein the same world that we occupy is instead populated by anthropomorphic animals. Consequently, the locations appearing in this game are loosely based on real parts of the world, albeit rendered in a cartoonish style that makes sophisticated use of the limitations of the home console. However, by the time that DuckTales Remastered was developed, technology had progressed to the point where the game resembles the original cartoon with startling veracity. Scrooge McDuck encounters malicious entities in each level that keep with the animated style of the show, some of which appear in the show itself while others are created especially for this game.

FUNERARY IMAGERY: Transylvania is set entirely within what appears to be a castle, replete with Gothic trappings such as animated skeletons, mummies, ghosts, haunted suits of armor, the sorceress Magica De Spell, and — revisiting the stage again at the very end of the game — a vampire named Dracula Duck. As such, the setting more closely resembles fictional representations of Transylvania in the mould of Bram Stoker and early horror cinema rather than real-world Transylvania, which was far more influenced by Byzantine and Neo-Classical aesthetics than the Medieval Gothic imagery of Western Europe that commonly appear in fictional Transylvania. Tall, black headstones emblazoned with "R•I•P" strengthen the stage's Gothic associations, appearing as structural elements throughout the stage that allow Scrooge McDuck to access higher parts of the stage. Should Scrooge strike a tombstone with his cane, the stone will release either a diamond or a vengeful ghost, adding an optional risk/reward system for players who seek a higher score.

ANALYSIS: DuckTales presents a good example of intermediality by merging its semi-realistic cartoon world with a flavor of Gothic horror that was not consistently present in the original show. The ruined castle of Dracula Duck, who is himself a figure invented exclusively for this game, transmits images that were developed in Universal and Hammer horror movies that have exhibited sufficient cultural visibility during the twentieth century to be readily identifiable to the average viewer. The headstones strengthen these associations despite the fact that they rarely appear inside castles and are rendered in a simplistic style that resemble neither Western nor Eastern European tombstones, ultimately creating a memorable experience that very effectively sets the stage apart from the others while maintaining a cartoonish yet visually distinct style.

Gallery

Upright tombstones appear in the horror-themed Transylvania stage


Upright tombstones


DuckTales Remastered redesigned the tombstones in three-dimensional rendering