If you’ve heard of the unlicensed NES multi-game cart Action 52, you’ve likely heard that the cartridge itself becomes hot and starts to smell of burning plastic after a while. A sure sign of quality if ever there was. What could possibly be worse than a cartridge potentially setting your beloved NES ablaze? How about if there was a mischievous spirit inside that forced you to play every game included. Oh, and now there are 100 games in total, not just 52.
That’s DUCK: Dangerous Ultimate Cartridge Kidnapper in a nutshell, only it’s neither a dodgy bootleg and nor have its mini-games been hastily thrown together and made on a budget of jellybeans. The set-up is that a group of ducks find a mysterious 100-in-1 game cartridge while playing outside, and upon shoving it into their DES (Duck Entertainment System) it happens to free a spirit that demands that all 100 games are beaten. Many resemble 8-bit titles, with a handful crossing into 16-bit territory. As tempting as it is to compare this package to Wario Ware, many game have a 60 second timer and feature mechanics that take a few attempts to master.
There are even two sets of instructions to follow: the TV screen is adorned with a “handwritten” note that outlines a game’s premise and controls, while a much shorter description appears on the game’s start-up screen – one of which simply reads ‘Kill the Bastards’. Some games can be figured out instantly, mimicking the look and feel of Game & Watch, Atari and NES classics, while others are more in-depth or require trial and error. Helping bolster the general presentation, many games have opening cut-scenes along with amusing celebratory endings.
Games fall into different themes, with a handful of returning characters. There’s a jungle explorer placed in precarious situations, an intoxicated dwarf with a range of beer barrel rolling/catching games, a mad scientist in dire need of a lab partner, and a family of insects trying to forage and fend off invaders. Retro fans will notice lots of cheeky nods (even the Dendy, an infamous NES clone, gets a shoutout) and the Russian development team has snuck a few pop culture references in too, including a bunch of well-known internet memes. This makes for a light-hearted experience.
The story mode is split into chapters, each starring a different duck, and presents ten random mini-games and a five-minute boss stage that’s more elaborate, including a first-person maze, a wave-based top-down bug-blasting shooter, and a fully-fledged 2D ninja platformer in which the hero automatically runs to the right. Five lives are given per chapter and retries are infinite – which is most unexpected. If you reached the boss without sacrificing a duck this longer mini game can be skipped too. This culminates in a campaign that takes 2 hours to beat, although the final stage – a precision platformer mockingly titled ‘Stupid Ducks’ – may see as much as an hour added to that total, being unfairly difficult due to woolly jumping mechanics.
There’s a lot more to get stuck into beyond the campaign and it’s doubtful all 100 mini-games will be experienced on the first playthrough, being a randomised assortment. It also has a few difficulty modes to try and a ‘Golden Duck’ mode that involves replaying each game three times over while the difficulty increases. There are two different multiplayer party modes as well, with one being competitive and turn based, and another centred around a haunted house where players must help one another escape. These can be played with up to four others.
What appeals most about DUCK: Dangerous Ultimate Cartridge Kidnapper is its presentation. The UI is suitably nostalgic, the cut-scenes are well drawn, and there’s a wealth of secrets to find – not just within the menus but inside the mini-games too. If you’re an achievement/trophy hunter, you’re in for a fun time as most of require playing games in outlandish ways.
But while the frontend is appealing, some mini-games will likely leave you scratching your head. There’s an underwater take on Bomberman that suffers from iffy collision detection, and a clone of Donkey Kong Jnr. which looks the part but is more frustrating than fun. Despite retrying dozens of times, a couple of the timing-based games I simply couldn’t figure out either. When taking the bothersome final stage into consideration, this leaves DUCK feeling not quite as refined as it could be, almost as if the developers had bitten off more than they can chew. It’s hard not to appreciate their ambition though – a lot of games have quite complex physics, such as the snowboard racer with a trick system.
All too real, DUCK: Dangerous Ultimate Cartridge Kidnapper is a bit like playing through the genuine NES library. There’s plenty of good stuff to discover, but you’ll need to wade through the not-so-good stuff to find it. The presence of memes and pop culture references does help to alleviate some of its woes (if you’re so inclined, of course) and as these are mini-games they never stick around for long. It’s an experience best viewed as a whole rather than picked apart – and if you do that, you’ll find something worthwhile.
Valkyrie Initiative’s DUCK: Dangerous Ultimate Cartridge Kidnapper is out now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Play Anywhere, and Switch.