The Games that Changed Us – Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers

Donald Duck has always been my favorite Disney character. Perhaps the reason for this is because one of the first video games I played, and completed was Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers.

This game always allows me to go back to being a child. If that wasn’t enough, Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers kept me company during a dark period of my life.

Today I want to explain why this video game changed me and made me who I am today.

Just wanted a toy yard

It’s Christmas 1999, I was only 4 years old and I wanted a toy yard as a gift. My father built houses for work and I wanted a toy that would allow me to do what my father did.

On December 25th, I see a gift package appear under the Christmas tree with dimensions far too small to be that of a toy construction site. With my mind already disappointed, I opened the gift and found in my hands a decidedly strange object. No, don’t think anything wrong! It was a PS1 (specifically the SCPH-10X model).

My child’s soul was disappointed. What was I supposed to do with that thing? I wanted a toy yard, not a plastic box. My illiteracy and my lack of knowledge of the latest trends in technology (I was just 4 years old!) were blurring my eyesight. Any other child would have jumped for joy for that gift!

Along with the PlayStation, I was also given various video games, including Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers. I tried them all and it was love immediately. It only took a few minutes of play to make me addicted to that console.

In this regard, I would like to make a statement:

“Dad, it was you who gave me this devilry, do not complain saying that I spend too much time playing even though just 23 years have passed since that gift!”

Anyway, my adventure in the video game industry had just begun.

Read also: Games That Changed Us – Sonic the Hedgehog

Thanks for keeping me company, Donald Duck

The game that caught my interest the most was Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers. Its soundtrack was compelling, the gameplay seemed very difficult and I didn’t have a memory card, which is why I started the game from scratch every time I restarted the console.

In January 2000, for no apparent reason, my mother and I moved into a different house than my father was in. I didn’t know it at the time, but the reason was that my parents were divorcing. It left me a bit confused, but luckily Donald Duck was there to keep me company. Especially in the evening, after dinner and having turn on the heating to fight the winter cold, my mother would turn on the PlayStation to let me play Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers.

At the time the game seemed very difficult, and my mother noticed my difficulties. For this reason, one evening she asked me to try the game and I gave her the controller: never a choice was more wrong!

From that moment on, I lost the PlayStation exclusivity and found myself forced to share it with my mother. We took turns: every time Donald Duck died, the controller changed owners.

They were wonderful evenings that seemed to me to last tens of hours. Actually, the game could be completed in a couple of hours, but my mom and I were really bad players. Also, as already mentioned, we did not know about the existence of memory cards. Every night, therefore, we started the game from scratch.

It wasn’t just a video game

Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers wasn’t just a video game for me. Sometimes, my father would also join the evening game session my mother and I did. I have to thank Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers for the last memories I have of me along with my father and mother. Let’s be clear: my parents are great people and I had a childhood that I can’t complain about, but I still have a bit of nostalgia for certain memories.

Thanks to Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers, my  passion for video games was born, which in turn made me passionate about technology and led me to make choices that influenced my whole life. Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers for me was not just  a platform game, but a real companion of adventures!

“A hero can be anyone, even a Donald Duck doing something as simple and reassuring as staying close to young boy’s shoulders to let him know that the world hasn’t ended”. – Paperik

Google Chrome plagiarized Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers

I recently watched some gameplay of Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers and built a conspiracy theory of my own.

First, I noticed that the circle of health points of the game’s final bosses is frighteningly similar to the Google Chrome logo. Explanations for this similarity can be as follows:

The creators of the Google Chrome logo played Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers and were very influenced by the game.
Google plagiarized Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers (and, therefore, owes money to Ubisoft xD)
Chrome is also a final boss of Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers, but no one has discovered it yet.

Another thing that left me shaken is the presence of Donald’s nephews in the game. For each scenario in the game (there are four in total), there is a nephew of Donald. The problem is related to the fact that I knew that Donald’s nephews were three: Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Who is this fourth nephew?

Is Donald’s family hiding something from us? I will investigate and this time Disney will not be able to hide the truth from people!

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