Home on the Range
Ok, so our first number that we get is 1448, which translates to Home on the Range (U). Great...a Disney game...
For those not in the know, Home on the Range is one of the last Disney films that were animated with traditional methods (until the Princess and the Frog recently came out). I have never seen this particular movie, so I have no clue on what the plot is like. How will this translate into gameplay? Let's find out.
Our farm adventure begins with a sign plopping out, in the middle of a country road, bluegrass plucking along in the background. Press Start! the game insists. I decide humor the game and I get rewarded with a main menu. One thing of note is the option for a "password", meaning that the old timey theme of this game won't be restricted to the banjo tunes. No thanks, I'm probably just going to use save states (conservatively of course, so as to keep the challenge to what was originally intended) A quick look at the credits also tells us that this game was actually Canadian made. Not sure what that'll mean for the actual game, but it's time to stop putting it off and getting to it.
After that monologue, we're greeted with our serious looking horse that seems to be the protagonist, along with a snarky looking rabbit telling us how to jump and fight. I push the fight buttons, expecting it to kick the enemies, or maybe bite them. Instead, the horse hops up on its hooves and starts to punch out the assailants (although since horses only have feet, I guess that could count as still kicking them). Jumping while pushing the attack button leads to a handy "flying" (if you want to call the short distance the horse travels flight) kicks that stuns the enemies. You can bet that I'll be exploiting this one.
After clearing out the baddies, the monologue continues:
Horse: "Nothin' this old hero horse can't handle, no sir..."
Rabbit: "Buck? Buck? BUCK! Snap out of it!"
Buck: "Huh? What? What?" (It was Just a Dream...who knew?)
Rabbit: "No time for daydreaming, old pal! I've just heard that Alameda Slim, Rico, and the Three Willies have escaped from jail."
Buck: "What?!? Oh no! That means they're going to try to get back at the cows from Patch of Heaven for putting them there in the first place!"
Rabbit: "You've got that right! You oughta go to Patch of Heaven right away and warn them."
Buck: "Right. I'll get on it right away."
Rabbit: "Better go quickly, young feller, 'cuz I heard they're leaving soon for a country fair, and you don't want to miss them."
Buck: "Right! Right! Let's go!"
And with that, the gameplay changes, to a racingish short of game
, where we have Buck rush down a dirt road with obstacles in the way. It kinda reminds me of this moose chasing sequence in Mickey Mania on the SNES, except the runner is going up the screen instead of down it. I think I prefer it this way. A has us hopping over obstacles. I don't have much time to see what happens if I fail though. A few hops and skips and I'm ready for the first password that I'm not going to use.
Our horsey hero has arrived at Patch of Heaven, and managed to catch up with the cows. I won't be scripting everything due to my lovely laziness, but basically Buck was able to warn them that all of those gang peoples have escaped from jail, and that we can capture them and collect a bounty again
(implying that this probably takes place after the original movie). We need to do something about wanted posters so that we can capture these rascals "by the book". Also the cows are apparently weak to Slim's yodeling, so they had to convince (read: trick) some old goat named Jeb to help them out. Apparently goats still fall for the "'would you NOT help us?' 'No' 'Kthnx!'" trick
.
So we're off to scarecrow hills. This romp seems to be a classic platforming segment. In a way, it reminds me of the old flash game, Save the Sheriff. A lets Jeb jump, and B lets his smack scorpions (which seem to be the only foe) with his mighty horns. And who needs coins. Jeb has Tin-Cans for us to collect instead. Before we get too far, that rabbit whose name I've still yet to learn pops out of nowhere to teach us the fine art of double jumping, which happens when you eat some magical floating beans
. Unfortunately for him, the effect only lasts a few seconds, just long enough to get past whatever double length troubles stand in my way. Later, he warns us of another treacherous obstacle, a lake that must be crossed by climbing on a crate.
Shockingly, I managed to die not once, but twice here. I blame myself for skipping over the rabbit’s dialogue, so I didn't know how to get moving with the crate. I also blame the game for not letting me repeat the rabbit’s dialogue. Who would have known that I would WANT to see the annoying helper critter give me more advice? Turns out that by using the b button while in the air, the goat will ram his horns into the ground, which shakes the crate into the water for me to cross. Good thing 100 tin cans=an extra life
.
The swift flowing water would claim this goat’s life a few more times, but eventually we made it to the next piece of mystery produce that requires the wise rabbit to educate us about. This time it's a Red Pepper
that'll let us jump farther when we run, along with stronger attacks and super heartburn...
That's what the rabbit said at least. But I can NOT figure out how the heck it actually works...congratulations Barry. You just game over'd on a new age Disney game. We're stopping it here for now.
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