What it was
The Rescue Rangers take a case: a girl named Mandy has lost her kitten. Gadget scouts ahead, Monterey Jack and Zipper chase reports of mechanical dogs, and Chip and Dale head into the streets. Then Fat Cat shows his hand. The kitten was a decoy, and he has kidnapped Gadget to build things for him. She rigs up a phone, sends a map by carrier pigeon, and the chipmunks go to get her out of his casino.
You pick your route on a map of the city. In each stage the chipmunks walk, jump, duck, and pick up whatever is lying around (acorns, crates, barrels, balls) to throw at enemies and bosses. Three hits and a chipmunk loses a life, and there are no passwords. Monterey Jack turns up to smash barricades, Zipper makes you invincible for a moment, and Gadget sends tips from captivity.
Two players can play at once. Controller one is Chip, controller two is Dale.
Where it sits in history
Capcom developed and published it in 1990, its second Disney game on the NES after DuckTales. Tokuro Fujiwara, who had worked on Ghosts 'n Goblins, produced it. Disney's producer at the time, Darlene Lacey, said it was one of the least troublesome Capcom projects to bring in line with Disney's family standards. It came out in Japan and North America in June 1990 and in Europe in December 1991. Nintendo put out an arcade version in 1990.
It sold about 1.2 million copies, Capcom's fourth best seller on the NES. Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the two-player mode and the cartoon look, then complained it was too easy and over too soon. Mean Machines in Europe called it tough and fast. Nintendo Power ranked it 79th among the best Nintendo games in 1997, and IGN 71st among NES games in 2009. A sequel followed in December 1993.
How it plays today
Everything you need is in the throw. Pick up a crate, toss it, pick up the next one. The stages are short and quick and the bosses are big cartoon set pieces, so a full run fits in an evening.
EGM had a point about the length, but it misses what the game is for. With two players it becomes a shared run where you both race for the same crate and both die laughing. As a first co-op game for a younger player, it is close to perfect.
Compared with
Why it matters
Rescue Rangers is a game about a team, and on a couch it becomes one. Two chipmunks, two controllers, one crate between them. It asks very little of either player except that they keep going together.
Ryan, Rigby and Przybylski found that games satisfy three needs, competence, autonomy and relatedness, and that meeting them predicts enjoyment and the wish to play again. Easy games often get marked down for the first. Rescue Rangers is strong on the third, and for a lot of siblings in 1990 that was the one that counted.
Read: The second controller →
- Ryan, R. M., Rigby, C. S., & Przybylski, A. (2006). The motivational pull of video games: A self-determination theory approach. Motivation and Emotion, 30(4), 344-360. doi:10.1007/s11031-006-9051-8
What you're levelling up
You have been training these without noticing. Here is how to do it on purpose, and where it pays off away from the couch. All the skills games teach →
Teamwork
In the game. Controller one is Chip, two is Dale, and you both race for the same crate. As a first co-op game for a younger player, it's close to perfect.
Do it on purpose. Play with someone newer than you and let them take every crate for one stage. Watch them get good.
Off the couch. Teaching someone, a little brother, a new workmate, without taking over is the sign of a good egg. People notice who makes them better.
Hand-eye coordination
In the game. Pick up a crate, toss it, pick up the next. The stages are short and quick, so it's all about clean throws.
Do it on purpose. Play one stage counting missed throws. Next go, halve it.
Off the couch. Throwing a ball at the park, catching keys, a bit of backyard cricket. Small physical stuff done well reads as easy confidence.
Winning and losing well
In the game. With two players you'll both die laughing at some point. It's not about who finished, it's about how you played.
Do it on purpose. When your mate gets you killed, laugh it off and keep going. No blaming for a whole run.
Off the couch. Being good fun when things go wrong is one of the most attractive things a person can be. Everyone loves the one who laughs first.
Verdict · 8/10
Short, bright and made for two. Capcom's Disney touch at its friendliest.
