Pap the Disney Gamer Highlights: Chip N’ Dale Rescue Rangers

Developed by: Capcom

System: Nintendo Entertainment System

The name “Capcom” carries a lot of weight in the video game industry. The Japanese company is known for creating some of the most famous franchises in history, such as Mega Man, Resident Evil and Street Fighter, among others. For Disney fans, though, they are known for producing some of the best Disney based games ever released on Nintendo systems. Whether they were based on a movie or a TV show, the quality of the game was very high. Today I will talk about one of my favorites: Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers.

The TV show was one of the first series to be featured on the Disney Afternoon, a very beloved afternoon block that featured series such as Talespin and Darkwing Duck. It took the classic Disney characters, Chip N’ Dale, and turned them into small detectives. They were joined by burly cheese addict Monterey Jack, his friend Zipper the Fly and Gadget, the crew’s inventor. They would take on larger than life cases, often involving Fat Cat, the series’ main baddie. Rescue Rangers was a very fun show that brought back classic characters in a captivating manner and features some very cleverly written stories.

It was popular enough that a video game was created based on it. Back then, it was seen as a licensed game. Today, it is regarded as a classic of the NES era.

Rescue Rangers the game follows the plot of the TV show closely. Gadget has been kidnapped by Fat Cat and thus Chip and Dale must rescue her. The game is a side-scrolling platforming game where you control either character. You can pick up items such as apples and boxes and throw them at enemies. Best of all, if you have a friend you can play as the other chipmunk and either co-operate in beating the level or just annoying the stuffing out of each other.

This mechanic alone proved to be one of the most popular as players would have great memories of either playing together or throwing boxes at each other (I am guilty of this myself!). Rescue Rangers also featured the appearances of the other characters. Zipper the Fly was a power up that would destroy the enemies when picked up, making your character invincible for a brief period of time. In some levels you can pick up a block of cheese. Doing so will cause Monterey Jack to appear and destroy a wall.

Gameplay wise, it was rock solid. While it wasn’t as feature rich as Nintendo’s Super Mario series, the level design was creative, making the player feel like they were small rodents in a giant’s world. Not only that, you could fight many creatures from the TV show, including the robot dogs from one of the show’s episodes.

The music is perhaps one of the most notable aspects of the game. Capcom is known for creating some of the best NES soundtracks, and Rescue Rangers is one of their greats. The melodies are extremely catchy, and of course the unforgettable theme song is present and accounted for.

In the video game world, licensed games carry a negative stigma. This is because the games would often be rushed to market in order to coincide with the release of a product (movie, TV show, toy line etc.), making it a game of poor quality. Capcom proved that a great licensed game could happen, and Chip N’ Dale Rescue Rangers is just one of the many games that were fun to play and captured the magic of the Disney legacy in any of its facets.