#55: Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers (Capcom, NES, 1991)

I mean, why does Bowser kidnap Princess Toadstool? Why are all of these villains kidnapping all of these princesses? It’s a question that is generally glossed over by the game, with the player left to fill-in the blanks with their own assumptions. But in Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers, it is explicitly stated that Fat Cat’s interest in Gadget is not sexual in nature, nor is it that she ‘belongs’ to the heroes and thus that taking her causes them pain. No, Fat Cat desires Gadget for her intelligence and her skills. It’s still a damsel in distress plot, but it is at least one with a spark of acknowledgement that said damsel is more than just an object to be possessed. Which is, in all honesty, a lot more than I’d expected from a game based on a Saturday morning Disney cartoon.

As is, you know, the game itself. Which is rather nice, as it’s the final stop on our tour of the NES, the console that started it all, at least as far as this blog is concerned. We already had our big curtain call in Super Mario Bros. 3, and obviously Chip ‘N Dale can’t compete with that colossus, but it is a genuinely fun game, with an interesting twist on the usual platform formula, in that your character cannot initially do anything to hurt the various enemies that prowl its levels. It is only by picking up small boxes scattered around the place that you have any form of defence save for running away, which, to be fair, remains an entirely effective strategy throughout. It is a game that requires a more cautious and thoughtful approach than most of its peers, one in which progress is an incremental process. But even the smallest of steps forward is still something worth celebrating. Especially when you’re only eight inches tall.