Rapscallion
Member
"Ya'll goofed if you don't play this game" - No One
I had some free time this weekend, so I decided to play through some old SNES games. In addition to beating Super Castlevania 4 for the first time, I played through the entirety of Capcom's Goof Troop, based on the Disney Cartoon show of the same name. Capcom was known for making great Disney related games during the late 80s and early 90s, including such classic as "Mickey's Magical Quest" and DuckTales, so I thought I'd give one of their lesser brought up games a try.
Let me first off start by talking a little bit about the Goof Troop show itself. For anyone who missed the show, it's a animated show about Goofy seemingly having a suburban life; if you've seen the "Goofy Movie" it's essentially that...but slightly different. Goofy, who is a widowed father (?), is trying to raise his teenage son Max, who is relatively normal mannered in relation to his goof prone father. The father and son move back to Goofy's hometown into a house next to Pete , Goofy's old friend, and his family. Most of the shows plot deal with the two families being a slight odds against each other, although Pete isn't the villainous role he typically takes on in Disney storyline. I watched the show when I was a kid, and it was fine enough; It didn't have the same adventure vibe as shows like DuckTales or Chip and Dale, but it was a funny enough show that had some redeeming elements.
Now onto the game. Forgot most of that plot to the show, because it really doesn't matter. The game's premise is that Pete and his son have bee kidnapped by Pirates who mistakenly thought Pete was their captain and Goofy and Max have to save them. So each level consists of Goofy and Pete infiltrating pirate strongholds in search of their friends. It's a strange plot for a game based on Disney characters in a suburban setting, but whatever.
The game is a mix of an adventure and puzzle game. It has a similar top down perspective as games like Legend of Zelda or Metal Gear, and I can imagine it took inspiration from both of these franchises. Each stage consist of strung together screens featuring enemies, puzzles, obstacles, and GOOFS. The best description I can give is that each of the 5 game's levels feel like an individual dungeon in the Legend of Zelda style format (In fact one level looks like it was ripped almost completely out of A Link To The Past). The level designs have a little variation, with one level taking you to a haunted house, but the game doesn't stray very far from its general format.
The challenge of the game comes in two ways: inventory management and puzzles. Goofy and Max do not have a standard attack, in fact the only thing they can without an item is pick up crates and throw them at enemies. Instead they pick up items they find throughout the level or simply defeat enemies with crates or blocks. These items come in 5 ways: A grapple gun that allows you to grapple across designated distances and can also stun enemies, a candle that illuminates dark spaces a little bit, a bell that calls enemies to you, a wooden plank that allows you create a bridge across designated gaps, and keys to open doors. The management comes in with both characters only being able to hold 2 items at any given point, meaning you'll often have to drop a item to make room for something you hope is more important. It can kind of be a hassle, as you'll often have to backtrack to retrieve a certain item because you had to drop it to progress. This system may have worked better if you're playing with a second player, but it led to some unnecessary go back and forth to find a specific items.
The rest of the game is broken up into puzzles, which typically take the form of block sliding puzzles or hitting all the switches. The puzzles themselves aren't bad, but they're certainly not going to stump anyone who has had experience with similar type games. If you ever played a Zelda games or even a Pokemon game, you'll be fine against the game's harder puzzles. The game often makes them a little more difficult simply by throwing more things at you while you're doing them, for example some puzzles will simply just have a cannon shooting at you while you try to figure the specific steps to pushing blocks. This wouldn't be a problem if the game didn't have an odd health system: you collect fruit that gives you hearts, and if you collect enough fruit you'll receive a extra life. If you're attacked by an enemy your hearts will deplete and you'll have to use a life The problem comes in that the game pretty much punishes you for getting enough fruit for an extra life; essentially if you get hit with no hearts you'll use a life and you'll start that life with zero hearts. If you are to hold off on getting the extra fruit to get a new life, you'll have 2-3 hits before you use an extra life. This means that if you go for the extra life you'll have less hits before you deplete your lives, because once you get a new life or use a life you have zero hearts, than if you had not gotten the extra fruit to give you an extra life, because you'll have full hearts. It was a minor annoyance, especially in a game that has a continue system that will start you at the beginning of the level.
That said, the game isn't that hard. Maybe if you're playing with a second player it might be more difficult due to limited health, but the game is pretty good about giving you enough extra lives to make it through each level. If anything the game could have been more difficult, as the entire play through probably only took me an hour or two to beat.
Overall, it's a fun game. It's certainly the level of quality of game that fans might have expected from Disney games of the era. I played by myself, but I can imagine this being a great couch co-op title for anyone owning a SNES. It's interesting to see Capcom take on this type of gameplay, as it's definitely reminiscent of Zelda. In fact, it utilizes a lot of mechanics that we would later see in The Four Swords, a Nintendo title that was co-developed by Capcom. It makes me wonder if some of the team at Capcom who worked on Four Swords had worked on this title or if Goof Troop was some sort of inspiration for the elements found in those games. Another interesting tidbit is that this game was one of the first games designed by Shinji Mikami, who would go onto be the director of the first Resident Evil game. The inventory management element is the one shared element that I can gather, but they utilize items in a completely different way.
So did anyone play this game? What are your thoughts?
I had some free time this weekend, so I decided to play through some old SNES games. In addition to beating Super Castlevania 4 for the first time, I played through the entirety of Capcom's Goof Troop, based on the Disney Cartoon show of the same name. Capcom was known for making great Disney related games during the late 80s and early 90s, including such classic as "Mickey's Magical Quest" and DuckTales, so I thought I'd give one of their lesser brought up games a try.
Let me first off start by talking a little bit about the Goof Troop show itself. For anyone who missed the show, it's a animated show about Goofy seemingly having a suburban life; if you've seen the "Goofy Movie" it's essentially that...but slightly different. Goofy, who is a widowed father (?), is trying to raise his teenage son Max, who is relatively normal mannered in relation to his goof prone father. The father and son move back to Goofy's hometown into a house next to Pete , Goofy's old friend, and his family. Most of the shows plot deal with the two families being a slight odds against each other, although Pete isn't the villainous role he typically takes on in Disney storyline. I watched the show when I was a kid, and it was fine enough; It didn't have the same adventure vibe as shows like DuckTales or Chip and Dale, but it was a funny enough show that had some redeeming elements.
Now onto the game. Forgot most of that plot to the show, because it really doesn't matter. The game's premise is that Pete and his son have bee kidnapped by Pirates who mistakenly thought Pete was their captain and Goofy and Max have to save them. So each level consists of Goofy and Pete infiltrating pirate strongholds in search of their friends. It's a strange plot for a game based on Disney characters in a suburban setting, but whatever.
The game is a mix of an adventure and puzzle game. It has a similar top down perspective as games like Legend of Zelda or Metal Gear, and I can imagine it took inspiration from both of these franchises. Each stage consist of strung together screens featuring enemies, puzzles, obstacles, and GOOFS. The best description I can give is that each of the 5 game's levels feel like an individual dungeon in the Legend of Zelda style format (In fact one level looks like it was ripped almost completely out of A Link To The Past). The level designs have a little variation, with one level taking you to a haunted house, but the game doesn't stray very far from its general format.
The challenge of the game comes in two ways: inventory management and puzzles. Goofy and Max do not have a standard attack, in fact the only thing they can without an item is pick up crates and throw them at enemies. Instead they pick up items they find throughout the level or simply defeat enemies with crates or blocks. These items come in 5 ways: A grapple gun that allows you to grapple across designated distances and can also stun enemies, a candle that illuminates dark spaces a little bit, a bell that calls enemies to you, a wooden plank that allows you create a bridge across designated gaps, and keys to open doors. The management comes in with both characters only being able to hold 2 items at any given point, meaning you'll often have to drop a item to make room for something you hope is more important. It can kind of be a hassle, as you'll often have to backtrack to retrieve a certain item because you had to drop it to progress. This system may have worked better if you're playing with a second player, but it led to some unnecessary go back and forth to find a specific items.
The rest of the game is broken up into puzzles, which typically take the form of block sliding puzzles or hitting all the switches. The puzzles themselves aren't bad, but they're certainly not going to stump anyone who has had experience with similar type games. If you ever played a Zelda games or even a Pokemon game, you'll be fine against the game's harder puzzles. The game often makes them a little more difficult simply by throwing more things at you while you're doing them, for example some puzzles will simply just have a cannon shooting at you while you try to figure the specific steps to pushing blocks. This wouldn't be a problem if the game didn't have an odd health system: you collect fruit that gives you hearts, and if you collect enough fruit you'll receive a extra life. If you're attacked by an enemy your hearts will deplete and you'll have to use a life The problem comes in that the game pretty much punishes you for getting enough fruit for an extra life; essentially if you get hit with no hearts you'll use a life and you'll start that life with zero hearts. If you are to hold off on getting the extra fruit to get a new life, you'll have 2-3 hits before you use an extra life. This means that if you go for the extra life you'll have less hits before you deplete your lives, because once you get a new life or use a life you have zero hearts, than if you had not gotten the extra fruit to give you an extra life, because you'll have full hearts. It was a minor annoyance, especially in a game that has a continue system that will start you at the beginning of the level.
That said, the game isn't that hard. Maybe if you're playing with a second player it might be more difficult due to limited health, but the game is pretty good about giving you enough extra lives to make it through each level. If anything the game could have been more difficult, as the entire play through probably only took me an hour or two to beat.
Overall, it's a fun game. It's certainly the level of quality of game that fans might have expected from Disney games of the era. I played by myself, but I can imagine this being a great couch co-op title for anyone owning a SNES. It's interesting to see Capcom take on this type of gameplay, as it's definitely reminiscent of Zelda. In fact, it utilizes a lot of mechanics that we would later see in The Four Swords, a Nintendo title that was co-developed by Capcom. It makes me wonder if some of the team at Capcom who worked on Four Swords had worked on this title or if Goof Troop was some sort of inspiration for the elements found in those games. Another interesting tidbit is that this game was one of the first games designed by Shinji Mikami, who would go onto be the director of the first Resident Evil game. The inventory management element is the one shared element that I can gather, but they utilize items in a completely different way.
So did anyone play this game? What are your thoughts?
