Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers
Encyclopedia
Donald Duck: Goin' Qu@ckers*!, known as Donald Duck: Qu@ck Att@ck in Europe, is a platform game
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...

 developed by Disney Interactive and published by Ubi Soft Montreal
Ubisoft Montreal
Ubisoft Montreal is a Canadian video game developer owned by French publisher Ubisoft.Ubisoft's North American studio is located in Montreal, Quebec...

 for various consoles and Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

-based personal computers. A completely different game with the same title was released for the Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...

, as well as on Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...

, the latter being given the title Donald Duck Advance.

Gameplay is similar to Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot may refer to:* Crash Bandicoot , a video game protagonist* Crash Bandicoot , a video game series* Crash Bandicoot , a 1996 PlayStation video game and first Crash Bandicoot...

. The levels alternate between a 2D and a 3D perspective. The story focuses on Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...

 and his quest to save Daisy Duck
Daisy Duck
Daisy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1940 by Walt Disney Productions as the girlfriend of Donald Duck. Like Donald, Daisy is an anthropomorphic white duck, but has large eyelashes and ruffled tail feathers to suggest a skirt. She is often seen wearing a hair bow, blouse, and shoes...

 from the evil magician Merlock.

The game's reception has been overall mixed, with reviewers praising the music, backgrounds, and animations, but criticizing the short length and the fact that it is mostly for the younger audience. It is the most ported game in Disney history, being ported to 9 platforms, counting the Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo 3DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...

.

Gameplay

Goin' Quackerss gameplay is very similar to that of Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot may refer to:* Crash Bandicoot , a video game protagonist* Crash Bandicoot , a video game series* Crash Bandicoot , a 1996 PlayStation video game and first Crash Bandicoot...

, and requires the player to move through various settings in 24 levels in 4 warp rooms. The 4 level themes are a forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

 theme, a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

 theme (presumably Duckburg), a haunted house
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...

 theme, and an Ancient Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

/Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...

 temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

. Donald Duck has to dodge various enemies and obstacles throughout the levels and defeat bosses at the end of each warp room. There are also bonus levels where Donald Duck has to outrun a bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

, a car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...

, a dismembered hand
Hand
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered extremity located at the end of an arm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs...

, and a Moai
Moai
Moai , or mo‘ai, are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Chilean Polynesian island of Easter Island between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the...

 statue, respectively. The viewpoint of the levels change from a 2D
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...

 side-scrolling
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...

 perspective to a 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 perspective. Re-doing the levels in order to defeat Gladstone's time in same, gives the player advantages in the game.

Plot

Goin' Quackers begins with Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...

, Gladstone Gander, and Gyro Gearloose
Gyro Gearloose
Gyro Gearloose is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic chicken created by Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company. He is part of the Scrooge McDuck universe, appearing in comic book stories as a friend of Donald Duck, Scrooge and anyone who is associated with them. He was also a frequent star...

 watching television reporter Daisy Duck
Daisy Duck
Daisy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1940 by Walt Disney Productions as the girlfriend of Donald Duck. Like Donald, Daisy is an anthropomorphic white duck, but has large eyelashes and ruffled tail feathers to suggest a skirt. She is often seen wearing a hair bow, blouse, and shoes...

 discovering the mysterious temple of the evil magician Merlock. As she tells the story, she is kidnapped by Merlock. His arch rival Gladstone sets out to find her before Donald, who decides to use Gyro's new invention, the "Tubal Teleport System", to track down Merlock and Daisy. However, a piece of Gyro's device is missing, and to make the machine working again, Donald must go on a journey to recover it. Along the way, he must compete with Gladstone, reverse the spells that Merlock put on Huey, Dewey, and Louie's toys, and defeat several bosses
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...

, including the Beagle Boys
Beagle Boys
The Beagle Boys are a group of fictional characters from the Scrooge McDuck universe. Created by Carl Barks, they are a gang of criminals who constantly try to rob Scrooge McDuck. Their introduction and first appearance was in Terror of the Beagle Boys, in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #134,...

 and Magica De Spell
Magica De Spell
Magica De Spell is a fictional character of the Scrooge McDuck universe, a sorceress created by Carl Barks. She constantly steals or attempts to steal Scrooge McDuck's Number One Dime, which she believes will play a vital role in magically obtaining the same fabulous wealth of its...

. In the end, Donald is able to locate Merlock; he defeats him and rescues Daisy. The temple collapses, but Gyro is able to teleport them back to his lab, where Donald receives a kiss from Daisy for saving her.

Development

The game was developed in 2000 by Ubisoft Montreal
Ubisoft Montreal
Ubisoft Montreal is a Canadian video game developer owned by French publisher Ubisoft.Ubisoft's North American studio is located in Montreal, Quebec...

 in a collaboration with Disney Interactive as a homage to Carl Barks
Carl Barks
Carl Barks was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , The Junior Woodchucks , Gyro Gearloose , Cornelius Coot , Flintheart Glomgold , John D...

, who died the same year. The Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, PC and PSX versions of the game are built on an optimized Rayman 2 engine. The score for Goin' Quackers was composed by Shawn K. Clement.

Donald Duck Advance

Donald Duck Advance is a re-release of the original game for Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...

. The game was also developed and published by Disney Interactive and Ubisoft, respectively. It was released December 15, 2001 in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

; November 16, 2001 in the PAL region
PAL region
The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...

; and December 21, 2001 in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The game received an ESRB
Entertainment Software Rating Board
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games as well as entertainment software in Canada, Mexico and...

 rating of E for Everyone and an ELSPA rating of ages 3 and up.

Reception

Goin' Quackers has received mixed opinions. Jon Thompson of Allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....

 reviewed the PlayStation 2 version and commented that although "it's an easy, competent game, it won't bother you while you're playing it because everything is so darned fun."

Gerald Villoria of GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

 praised the Nintendo GameCube version's music, saying it was of solid quality with "uplifting" and "upbeat" melodies, but he criticized the game's short length. IGN's Craig Harris lauded the Game Boy Color version's graphics, citing "stunning" character motions and "beautiful" backgrounds, although he also was dissatisfied with the length of the game.

Villoria also reviewed the Dreamcast version; he felt the CG
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....

 sequences were "great", and that the character animations were "fluid" and "seamless". He also commented that the level designs were much more interesting than in the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo 64 versions. Although Villoria thought the Dreamcast and PlayStation versions were very similar, he felt the Dreamcast version suffered in terms of gameplay since it did not feature special moves.

Cory D. Lewis of IGN reviewed the Nintendo 64 version, commenting that the game is better suited for younger players and will bore older gamers. He also stated that despite the Nintendo 64 version reusing the optimized Rayman 2 engine, the visuals in Goin' Quackers could not compare to the same level of quality the engine provided a year ago. Moreover, he praised the "bright-colored" cartoon objects and animations.

The PlayStation version was reviewed by Adam Cleveland on IGN, who found the game to be "a lot of fun". He commented that the bosses
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...

were creative and fun, but that they were extremely simple and provided little challenge. He summed up the review by stating "Although it may be on the quick and easy side, it's got all the right stuff."
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