Rescue Rangers review - Nintendo Entertainment System

When their next door neighbour's cat goes missing, Chip and Dale, the Rescue Rangers instantly volunteer to get her back. But what seems like a routine mission swiftly turns to disaster when Chip and Dale discover that their evil arch-enemy Fat Cat took the cat to keep them occupied while he kidnapped their good friend and inventor, Gadget. Now the two rodents have got to rescue Gadget before Fat Cat forces her to invent something really evil...

The one or simultaneous two-player action takes place over a series of platform levels, with Chip and Dale being guided through the hazard-laden environment. Not only are there traps a-plenty, each level is also inhabited by hordes of Fat Cat's minions all out to thwart Chip and Dale's heroic antics! Can they rescue Gadget and teach Fat Cat a lesson he'll never forget, or will it be the obese feline who wins the day?

What the Mean Machines staff thought

Although it hardly pushes back the boundaries of console gaming, Rescue Rangers is tough and enjoyable. The action is fast and furious and there's a huge playing area to explore. The idea of incorporating simple puzzles into the game is a good one, and while they're hardly taxing, they help add variety to an otherwise pure platform game. The graphics and sound are of the usual Capcom high quality, particularly the sprites, which although small, feature nice detail and animation. If you're a platform game fan, this is well worth checking out.

If there's one thing the NES is definitely not short of it's platform games. Nearly every licensed game converted to the Nintendo - be it TV or film - is a platform game. Still, Rescue Rangers is good enough to stop it getting lost in the crowd. The graphics are quite good, with small but detailed sprites and cartoony robots. The sound is adequate too, with a decent rendition of the Rescue Rangers theme playing throughout the game. But what sets Rescue Rangers apart from other NES platformers is the speed of gameplay and the level of challenge. The game is really fast-paced with Chip and Dale zipping around the screen at a great rate of knots. It's also one of the most difficult Nintendo platform games to date; the action never lets up and keeps you constantly on your toes. Chip and Dale is a recommended purchase, providing you're not yet tired of platform games.