Retro spotlight: Daffy Duck: The Marvin Missions

This column is “Retro spotlight,” which exists mostly so I can write about whatever game I feel like even if it doesn’t fit into one of the other topics you find in this newsletter. Previous entries in this series can be found through this link.

In 1953, the world was introduced to the Merrie Melodies short Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century. One of many brilliant cartoons created by a team including legends like Chuck Jones, Michael Maltese, Carl Stalling, and, of course, the voices of Mel Blanc, Duck Dodgers was a play on the popular Buck Rogers in the 25th Century series, which had, at that point, been a long-running radio program, as well as a comic strip. It’s a brilliant short, and widely recognized as one of the all-time greats not just for its humor, but also because of the majesty of the sci-fi world created in its detailed backgrounds and architecture. Hilarious and a looker.

In 1993, Sunsoft, which had the video game license for various Looney Tunes properties, released Daffy Duck: The Marvin Missions for the SNES, a video game adaptation of the Duck Dodgers’ character and setting. It didn’t change the landscape of video games forever or anything, and it’s not considered an all-time classic even on the platform it released on, but it’s basically the Super Star Wars equivalent of Duck Dodgers: action-packed, with enough nods to what it’s based on to be worth it to those who are fans of both a good video game and the source material.

It really does have something of a Super Star Wars vibe —albeit far more cartoony — in the gameplay itself, not just as a helpful sci-fi analogy for another licensed property. Imagine a world where Luke Skywalker fires his blaster at an enemy that’s burst out from the wall of a cave, except he falls right on his butt and keeps firing away, cartoonishly bouncing with every shot. Where, upon taking damage, Skywalker exclaims, “Mother.” Where, instead of Force powers that allow him to subtly manipulate the environment and those within it, he got to go Nutty and “woo-hoo!” all over the screen so fast and chaotically that your eyes can’t follow the action.

Thinking more on this, they really should have let Mark Hamill do all of that in A New Hope.

That two adaptations for different sci-fi properties would go a similar route, gameplay-wise, shouldn’t be a surprise. That they have a similar vibe, aesthetically and in their sound, also should not surprise, given that both Star Wars and Duck Dodgers were based on some real B-movie sci-fi materials. George Lucas also threw in some Kurosawa, of course, and Chuck Jones et al were able to get a lot weirder with things due to the medium they were working in, but it’s all goofy space opera stuff.

And, it turns out, Lucas himself was a huge fan of Duck Dodgers’ whole deal, to the point that, during the original theatrical run of Star Wars in 1977, he attempted to secure the rights to Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century so it could run as a short before his film. Obviously, he failed in this, but getting later video game adaptations of both properties so closely aligned is a nifty way of accidentally coming full circle on this whole thing.

As much as I’d love to think about a Phantom Menace edit where Jar Jar Binks is replaced by Daffy Duck, The Marvin Missions deserves our attention. You play as Duck Dodgers, of course, with his sidekick Porky Pig relegated to actual sidekick status instead of being the guy much more suited for whatever mission they were on, while Daffy got himself blown up again and again. Marvin the Martian has captured “important politicians” with his army of Instant Martians, which you’ll have to fight your way through in order to rescue those guys. There are five planets to travel to and fight through, and each has multiple levels to explore before fighting against Marvin himself, in one giant contraption or vehicle or another.

The planets are themed, with the opening location a resort planet where people go to see volcanoes and have near-death experiences around pools of lava, and the second planet an aquatic one, and so on. Much is made of ensuring that the locations don’t just look different, but feel different, too: obviously, you aren’t about to go for a swim in lava pools, and the lava itself allows for some natural platforming barriers and obstacles to overcome, but water is something Daffy can dive right into, allowing for above- and below-water sequences, and riding on the back of a two-headed sea… snake, dragon-y thing for an entire level leading up to a boss fight.

In addition to the Instant Martians — you know, the big green bird-like baddies that Marvin grows from a seed by just adding water — you also have to fight some native life on each of these planets. Don’t worry, all of it hates you and wants you to die, so you don’t have to feel bad about blowing it all away as you chase after Marvin while he scurries away. To take them and everyone else down, you’ve got a pretty standard blaster with unlimited ammo that’ll get the job done eventually, as well as whatever collection of limited-ammo space pistols you’ve accumulated to that point.

Before every stage, you’re given the opportunity to buy some weapons, as well as maybe even continues, an extra life, or fuel for your jetpack. More on the jetpack in a bit. The weapons are pretty reasonably priced, but you also get all of 10 shots for each pickup or purchase, so you still have to be mindful of the low ammo before you end up making acquiring them expensive. You’ll want to save up cash and buy yourself a real stock of weaponry when you have the chance, because that initial blaster is weak. Like, it takes well over 100 shots with it to defeat Marvin the Martian in your first encounter with him weak. And while that vehicle telegraphs its attacks so well that you can avoid ever getting hit after you first see the pattern, still. That’s so many shots, and also it’s a trend that doesn’t abate as you get deeper into the game. The solution is to make sure you’ve got non-standard guns to fire — freeze rays and lightning bolts and three-way shots and bombs and such — which will drastically cut down on how many shots need to connect in order for you to claim victory.

You’ve got a health bar, and can actually take quite a bit of damage, since the four orbs that represent your health shrink after one hit instead of disappearing immediately, and you actually get one more hit even after all of your health has disappeared. There are plenty of health pickups for you to find scattered through the levels, which will refill it all, but you have to go looking for them: these stages are maze-like, with a whole lot of little just-out-of-the-way finds and hidden pathways and such which hold things like health, extra lives, or additional ammo. If you just stick to the most straightforward path, though, you won’t see anywhere near as much of this around, and that’ll make the game more difficult, not less. It’s worth the risk of wondering what’s on the other side of that lava pool, is what I’m saying, even if the answer might be “nothing” and you might accidentally take a molten dip to find that out.

You can use your limited-fuel jetpack to help you navigate, but it’s not designed for you to rely on it. In a pinch, it can save you from a long fall into something like lava, but it uses a ton of fuel to get going if you hold the button for any meaningful length of time, while being a bit more fuel efficient and wieldy the longer you use it. The best use of the jetpack is for reaching places you couldn’t otherwise get to, and that’s what you’re going to want to save your fuel for, in general. And you can even see this in the logic behind how the jetpack even works: jumping across a gap and using the jetpack to extend the length of your jump to reach the hidden platform that was previously off-screen will use less fuel, since it’s working with your existing momentum, whereas attempting to bring your momentum to a halt or fly straight upwards, against gravity, will burn through that tank.

The animation in The Marvin Missions is exquisite, both in terms of the artistic style of the worlds you travel through as well as the actual act of the character movements. Daffy is expressive in his walk, in his attacks, in his poses. Enemies without a basis in Looney Tunes all fit into the world without showing off any seams, and it’s all aided by the fact that Daffy has some minimal voice acting to go with the look of things. Greg Burson, Daffy’s voice actor, can be heard exclaiming Duck Dodgers’ various catchphrases, like saying “Mother” after taking damage, or an incessant assault of woo-hoos during a Nutty attack. That Nutty attack, by the way, is another limited-use item that you can purchase or find more of. It’s not screen-clearing, no, but it lets Duck Dodgers run wild, faster than the eye can see, damaging any enemies on screen until it runs out.

Now, this is all the good stuff about The Marvin Missions, but it comes with caveats. The controls are extremely floaty, with Daffy feeling all the time like he’s trying to run or jump while on ice without skates. Which makes levels where he actually is on ice the wrong kind of adventure. You get used to it, though, if you bother to push through and figure out the weird physics. Daffy falling on his ass and skating on it backwards across the screen because you’re firing your gun might be a little odd at first, but you learn to account for the action and make sure you’re not standing where that’s going to be a problem. You can also lean into it and use falling down to dodge shots fired above Daffy, while countering with your own blasts!

Those approaches aren’t going to work for everyone, of course, as there will be plenty of people who pick up this game and, fairly, wonder why it can’t just control like Konami’s Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose. Well, that game stars the children who are extensions of Bugs Bunny. Of course that game will make some kind of logical sense and give you the fairest chance of winning. This is a Daffy Duck game, however. And Daffy Duck is his own worst enemy. He is the reason his various schemes and adventures end in failure, because he is the one who stands in his own way. Falling down while doing the most basic of maneuvers expected of a sci-fi hero is about the most Daffy Duck thing possible, and, unlike Daffy himself, at least you’ll actually be able to overcome him and find success in the end, if only you stick with it.

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