Goof Troop

Before Capcom got into Resident Evil, one of its young designers named Shinji Mikami honed his skills on a cute game with Goofy and his son Max. Goof Troop is a cooperative action adventure based on the Disney series, and surprisingly it is one of the first titles on which the future father of the horror series worked. For that reason alone it deserves attention.

Capcom released Goof Troop in 1993 on the Super Nintendo and bet on the then-not-so-common combination of puzzles, exploration and simultaneous cooperation of two players on one screen. Goofy and Max set off for a pirate island to rescue kidnapped friends, with each location being essentially a small logic puzzle.

Mechanically the game does not build on combat, but on cleverness. The characters have no classic weapons; instead they pick up and throw objects, pull levers, push crates and search for keys. The cooperation of two players is crucial, because many puzzles require coordination. This emphasis on logic and teamwork makes the game a pleasantly different piece in a sea of action platformers.

Culturally, Goof Troop fits into the rich period of Disney games from Capcom, which includes for instance the Aladdin series or DuckTales on the NES. From today's perspective, however, it is most interesting as an early work of Shinji Mikami, who would later forever change the shape of the horror genre. The union of a cute Disney license and a future legend is trivia that fans love.

The game remains popular mainly for the cooperative experience and as a curious fragment of gaming history. It is neither long nor extremely demanding, but it offers a laid-back shared evening at one console.

Why play: A pleasant cooperative adventure full of puzzles, and on top of that an early work by the creator of Resident Evil, which makes it a delicacy for fans of gaming history.