Sometimes good things come to those who wait. It was always a little odd that, despite being a collection of NES games, Capcom and Digital Eclipse’s The Disney Afternoon Collection didn’t release on any Nintendo platforms. Chalk it up to timing, most likely. The collection released in April 2017, too late to consider the Wii U but still early enough days for the Nintendo Switch that no one really knew how that whole thing would go. For its part, Digital Eclipse seemed interested in bringing it to the Switch if it had the opportunity. Well, it took a little while, but it seems that opportunity finally came around. We even get a Nintendo Switch 2 version, as a treat.
That chance appears to have arisen courtesy of Atari, which is on one heck of a comeback tour of late. I won’t pretend to know the details behind all of this, but given that Atari now owns Digital Eclipse, it’s easy enough to see how it ended up involved in all of this. It’s a little odd to see Capcom just hand off a release like this, but we live in unusual times. Atari even went as far as to pick up a couple more of Capcom’s games to sweeten the pot, and if you don’t think Goof Troop was worth waiting an extra nine years for, I don’t know what to tell you. This version for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 is the most complete one, and it would take some doing to expand it further without breaking out of the whole theme of the set.
On the off-chance that you don’t know anything about any of this, The Disney Afternoon was a block of rotating animated Disney TV shows that ran through most of the 1990s. It played host to several beloved shows (and a few less-beloved ones), many of which ended up getting video games based on them. Most of those came from Capcom, and it’s that company’s games that serve as the basis for The Disney Afternoon Collection. Six of them were NES titles: DuckTales, DuckTales 2, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers 2, TaleSpin, and Darkwing Duck. Capcom also released a pair of Super NES games based on The Disney Afternoon: Goof Troop and Bonkers. There were also a bunch of Game Boy ports of these games, but those aren’t included here so we won’t talk much more about them.
That adds up to eight games in this collection, with the two Super NES titles being newly added (seemingly exclusively) for these Switch/Switch 2 releases. That’s a good number of games, but what really sells it is the quality on offer here. The DuckTales and Rescue Rangers games are unquestionable classics of the NES library, Darkwing Duck is a decent Mega Man-adjacent affair, and TaleSpin… sure has a nice rendition of the theme song? Okay, TaleSpin isn’t very good. Over on the 16-bit end, Goof Troop is a fantastic spin on Capcom’s classic arcade game Pirate Ship Higemaru, and Bonkers is a decent if not spectacular platforming romp. I’d consider at least half of these games to be essential plays for fans of classic gaming.
Admittedly, Goof Troop and Bonkers feel just the faintest bit tacked-on here. Unlike all of the other games in the collection, they don’t offer a Time Attack or Boss Rush mode. There’s a bit of Gallery content related to the two games, and you can listen to their soundtracks just as with all the other games. The games themselves are here to play, though, and while you’re in-game, you have access to all of the same options and features that any of the other titles offer. That includes a handy rewind feature, a save state, button remapping, some basic instructions, and a few display options. Nothing that really goes above and beyond, but it has what you would expect. I do wish Digital Eclipse would get in the habit of offering multiple save slots, though. Just having one per game is a bit of a bummer.
The Gallery is quite thin compared to what you might expect from a Digital Eclipse release, but it’s important to remember that this originally came out nine years ago. The company’s push into interactive documentaries was still a way off. This Nintendo Switch 2 version of The Disney Afternoon Collection is basically offering that same experience, just with two more games added in, along with a little extra material related to them. That extends to the front-end itself, which is identical to the previous releases of this collection in every respect except having two more games in the list.
We can’t really take anything for granted these days, so I’ll mention that the emulation is of decent quality here, both for the NES and Super NES games. A little input lag, but within an acceptable range and relatively consistent with prior Digital Eclipse offerings featuring these consoles. It’s a good way to enjoy these games. Given some of the hiccups in other recent Digital Eclipse collections, it’s good to see even if it ought to be expected.
It may have taken its time coming to Nintendo’s consoles, but The Disney Afternoon Collection is in fine form here. The original assortment of games was already good enough, and adding Goof Troop and Bonkers gives you even more things to play. Goof Troop, in particular, is a wonderful game that I think slipped under the radar back in the day, so if you haven’t tried it out before, I encourage you to do so here. Whether you have nostalgia for these toons or not, the games stand the test of time admirably, and so does this collection.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review Copy Provided by Atari
