Donk

Donk!: The Samurai Duck! is a Platform game, developed by The Hidden and published by Supervision, which was released in Europe in 1993.

We have seen it all now. Mutant Turtles, Biker Road Rats, Superhuman Thunder Cats, but Samurai Ducks? Come on! Well, surprising as it may seem, that is just what Supervision’s new hero is, a fair-feathered fowl with a taste for the orient. After a good stint on the Amiga, and then on the consoles, it was only a question of time before the yellow feathered one got the taste for some CD action.

When all the hurly burly has been seen and the mystical smoke clears, Donk is basically just another platform game, albeit with a slightly oriental crispy fried duck aroma to it. He is not the greatest character to grace the video game world, being rather unresponsive and having an annoying habit of falling off any platform you try and position him on when jumping. Animated sequences also link the levels, but they are nothing special and you would not miss them if they were not there at all.

There are 112 uninspiring levels to negotiate and, if you can stick with the programme long enough, you will be able to collect the magical properties necessary for Donk to perform. The shelled one can protect himself with an egg shield and blasting bombs and a simultaneous two player mode is also included with a very restricted viewpoint of the level and reduced sized sprites. This can prove to be a laugh, but at the expense of frustration.

So, yet another flop for the humble CD thirsty machine. A huge stack of great games can only be just around the corner now. Lets hope we can all hang on a bit longer, eh?