DuckTales: The Quest for Gold is a Licensed Game based on the DuckTales (1987) show developed by Incredible Technologies and released for the Amiga, Apple ][, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and IBM Personal Computer in 1990. It puts the player in the role of Scrooge McDuck who has been challenged by Flintheart Glomgold to earn more money than him within 30 days, to prove who's the richest duck in the world and deserves a place on the Dime magazine's cover.
The game has you select the location you want to travel to, which is then done in Launchpad McQuacks plane. After it's done, you play one of several minigames and attempt to win them to find treasures located in the area. This gameplay loop is done for the rest of the game.
This game provides examples of:
- Anti Idling: Standing too long in one in one place in the caves minigame causes a Beagle Boy to show up and drop an anvil on the controlled nephew.
- Big Damn Heroes: If you end up falling or getting caught by a mummy in a cave, Launchpad McQuack shows up and saves the day.
- Copy Protection: If you access the control center in Scrooge’s office for the first time, you have to decode a message with a guide in the manual to prove you're not a Beagle Boy. According to the manual, the control center in Scrooge’s office is protected by Gyro Gearloose’s Super Anti-Spy Security System. It prevents Glomgold’s henchmen, the Beagle Boys, from stealing Scrooge’s business secrets.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: If Scrooge and the nephews go into a pit in the cave, they stand on it, look down, and realise they're about to fall.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: Based on money-related terms - Easy Standard, Standard Wages, and Hard Earned Cash.
- It's a Wonderful Failure: The bad ending shown when Glomgold has more cash than Scrooge by the end of the month, which has Glomgold on the cover of the Dime magazine and the playable ducks being sad.
- Justified Extra Lives: The hiking minigame has the nephews counts as extra lives, and when one of them falls, another one tries again from the start.
- Piano Drop: A hot air balloon may drop a piano on Launchpad's plane.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: There are noticeable breaks between Scrooge's words when he says "fair and square!"
- Timed Mission: Scrooge has 30 days during which he must make more money than Glomgold.
