Retro Review: Goof Troop for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System

During the 1990s, popular Disney characters became the stars of many spectacular videos games. Some of them featured such major Disney characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, while others were based on movies and television series. Capcom, the company behind the Mega Man, Street Fighter, and Resident Evil series, ended up developing many Disney-based games. One of them, released in 1993 for the Super NES, was Goof Troop, based on the popular animated series and starring Goofy and his son, Max, on an epic adventure. The game is a wonderful adventure in the style of the classic Zelda games, and Goofy fans of all ages are sure to enjoy it.

Goofy and Max are out on a fishing trip with Pete, the used car salesman, and his son, P.J. Suddenly, a pirate ship appears and Pete and P.J. end up being kidnapped. It turns out that the pirates have mistaken Pete for their captain, Keelhaul Pete, who had been swallowed by a whale. Unaware of this, and fearing that Pete and P.J. are in serious trouble, Goofy and Max set off to rescue them. The story is nothing that you have not seen before, though a somewhat predictable twist late in the game delivers a greater sense of urgency.

As Goofy or Max (or both if you choose to play with a friend), you must explore five levels filled with nasty pirates and tricky puzzles. As with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to thePast, released just a year before, the game is presented in an overhead view. Each stage consists of multiple screens in which you must gather items, defeat pirates and other foes, and solve puzzles. To make things more interesting, each character has their strengths and weaknesses. Goofy moves slowly, but can take out many foes in one hit, making him the better character. Max moves around more quickly, but he is weaker when it comes to attacking enemies, with many of them requiring two hits to defeat. Players can experiment with both characters to see which one they like better.

Every stage has items that Goofy and Max can pick up, and they can store two items at a time. There is a hook shot that can defeat or stun foes, and can grapple onto hooks, allowing our heroes to cross over gaps. Bells can be used to lure pirates closer to you so that you can use blocks that can be kicked around to finish them off. Shovels are used to dig in the dirt for buried treasure, while candles are used to help you find your way through dark rooms. Lastly, keys can unlock doors, giving you access to later portions of the stage. In addition to these items, you can also pick up fruit that will replenish your hearts and, when you pick up enough of them, give you extra lives. Accumulating red diamonds will also net you extra lives, while collecting blue diamonds will earn you continues, which you can use to pick up where you left off should you lose all of your lives.

As you proceed through the levels, you will find rooms in which you must defeat every enemy or solve a puzzle in order to proceed to the next room, much like the classic Zelda games. The foes are largely not terribly difficult, but often require a bit of strategy to take them down, such as kicking blocks in their direction or luring them in front of cannons that can fire at them and defeat them. The puzzles, on the other hand, can be quite tricky. Solving some of them can take you many tries, though the lack of a time limit means that you can spend as much time attempting a single puzzle as you need. One puzzle in particular, which is encountered near the end of the game, is so vexing that there are walk throughs on the GameFAQS web site devoted exclusively to tips on how to solve it. Still, the amount and difficulty of the puzzles gives the game a good amount of challenge.

Each stage ends with a boss battle, and these fights involve having Goofy and Max throw items such as barrels, bones, and bombs at the bosses in order to defeat them. Some of these fights are quite difficult, especially the one that pits you against Keelhaul Pete himself. This is mainly because one hit depletes all of your hearts (if you have any), while a subsequent hit will make you lose a life. However, even when you lose a life, you can continue the battle from where you left off. This is also true of all of the other rooms on each level: lose a life, and you can keep right on going. If you use up all of your lives, you can then use a continue (if you have any) to restart from the current room. If you have no continues left, the game will be over. It is a good idea to stock up on lives and continues early on so that you will be more than prepared for the game's harder challenges.

For the most part, Goof Troop is an enjoyable Zelda-style game, filled with fun and tricky puzzles, exciting battles, and-dare I say it-plenty of goofy charm. There are a few minor flaws that keep it from being absolutely perfect, though. For one thing, the game is a bit on the short side, and can be completed within a couple of hours for experienced players. There is a password system for those who have to restart a level after using up every life and continue, or who has to take a break from the game before resuming it later, but once a person become fairly proficient with the game, the passwords are almost useless. Younger players may have a tough time solving some of the puzzles, and the challenge level is a bit unforgiving on occasion. Still, this is a very solid effort from Capcom, and it is certainly one of the best Disney games ever made.

The graphics are bright and colorful, and the animation is fairly smooth for a SNES game. Capcom tended to make their Disney games look as vibrant as the cartoons on which they were based, and this game is no exception. Even better is the soundtrack, which ranges from a funky island tune to a mysterious castle theme to an upbeat pirate ship song. Cartoon-like sound effects also add to the enjoyment, though there are no voice samples from Goofy or Max, which would have been welcome. Even so, Capcom succeeded in making the game a visual and audio treat for Goofy fans ages 2 to 92.

Goof Troop is a wonderful adventure game that should not be overlooked. Fans of tricky puzzles, challenging fights, and Goofy will surely enjoy it. It is a shame that the animated series did not last long enough to entice Capcom to make a sequel, which would have likely been equally superb. The game itself is hard to find, but worth tracking down. I really wish that Disney would release their games onto the Wii Virtual Console so that many people could experience what a quality Disney game should be like. Goof Troop certainly fits that bill, and it is a fine addition to any person's library of Disney-based games.