Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow (SNES)

[Zack Burner]

It's Springtime, but the weather still isn't warm, what's a man to do? Play something that will make you think of summer of course! Here's an underrated gem of an SNES game: Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow, where you play as Donald Duck as a detective/ninja trying to recover an idol for a tribal civilization. You get many different gameplay modes, in detective mode, you shoot a bug gun, and as the ninja you can whack foes with a staff, chafe up narrow vertical paths, swing on points like in castlevania, and swing a mighty swing. You get plenty of interesting locations, such as a mansion, ninja training grounds, a tribal town, a volcano, a jungle, a sunken ship, a grave area with a demonic eye for wallpaper, and a stronghold. You square off against many foes such as spiders, ghosts, ugly ducks with teeth (they even lose their pants at some point), lava spirits, zombies, ninjas, and more. The graphics are quite detailed and colorful, the music is lively and jazzy, plus you here Donald's quacks whenever he gets hit. This game is quite underrated, not enough attention at the time, there were hints of a sequel but due to poor sales, that was not to be. Maybe sometime the dream will come true after decades.