Goof Troop for the SNES, OOOOH GARSH
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
2 Player Co-Op and Single Player
ESRB: (Mature or other rating)
Published/ Developed by Capcom
July 11, 1993
Action Adventure/ Puzzle
4 out of 5 stars   Sleeper hit from the amazing Capcom/Disney Partnership, Legend of Zelda type game play
There is a couple of things I have learned in my years of almost exclusive retro gaming, first, Ebay is an evil entity in the vein of Sauron or FEMA, Secondly if a cartridge has both Capcom and Disney logos, it is good times to be had. When I found Goof Troop at the bottom of a bargain bin at the local Thrift shop, I had to add this dusty gem to my SNES collection. Â In Goof Troop, you play as Goofy or his son Max as you traverse the entire island of…Pirate island …I guess, Â fighting frogs, bees and the occasional pirate or sea-hipsters as this reviewer affectionately calls them. In the attempts to rescue his neighbor Pete and his son PJ from the King of the Sea-Hipsters, Keelhaul Pete, which bares a striking resemblance to the victim of this here abduction. You have to go through castles, jungles, caverns and a swanky Sea-Hipster ship, solving puzzles with help from locals with very bad Jamaican accents.
The level design seems to be taken directly out of a top down Legend of Zelda game, and has very similar game play, at least in the puzzle solving aspects of it. The puzzles are fun and challenging , progressing in difficulty at a good pace and teaching you different dynamics in-game play as you go along , not in a boring tutorial. Along with puzzles you also have to destroy your foes by throwing rocks, barrels and whatever else you find lying around. Additionally, you have a small but effective arsenal , items like hook shots, candles, shovels and pieces of wood. Choose wisely, you can only carry two items at a time in single player and only one each in Co-Op, which adds to the problem solving and puzzle solving, as it forces you to work with your partner in a very vocal way to manage items more effectively. The Co-Op also adds the much-needed re-spawn aspects of it, you will not die as long as the other player is still alive. Goof Troop surprised me as being one the most fun and addicting Cooperative games on the SNES, giving Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Turtles In Time a run for their money as the Systems definitive co-op gameplay. The game is fairly short, by your lonesome it won’t take you more than a couple of hours, but the Co-Op and speed run scenarios will have you coming back for more.
Having mentioned the puzzle solving and item management aspects of the game, I felt it necessary to lay some mind-blowing historic info on Dat ass. The development team that headed up this project over at Capcom was led by Shinji Mikami, the creator of Resident Evil. This was his debut as director of a game, his very next project was Biohazard or as us ignorant North Americans call it, Resident Evil. The Co-Op, Puzzles and item management game play got its start on a Disney licensed game…take that in for a second. It is no wonder why Capcom, Disney and Nintendo have such a good relationship, games like Viewtiful Joe, Oracle of Seasons/Ages, Four Swords adventure, Resident Evil 4 and Killer 7 would not have been possible if it wasn’t for these 8 and 16 bit classics.
Goof Troop is a game you should definitely get your hands on before people on the internet wise up and start over charging for it. Good for both cooperative and single game play.
