McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure
McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure | |
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Platform | |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure
Treasure Land Adventure was developed by Treasure in conjunction with the
Both at release and retrospectively, the game was praised for its gameplay and graphical style and is cited as one of the better licensed games from the era.
Gameplay
McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure is a
The player controls Ronald throughout the game's four worlds: Magical Forest, Magical Town, Magical Sea, and Magical Moon, which are divided into three stages each.
Development
McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure was developed by Treasure, a company founded by Masato Maegawa and a group of former Konami employees.[2][4] Maegawa formed Treasure in 1992 after he and his team became frustrated with Konami's growing reliance on developing sequels to established series, such as Castlevania and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and wanted to focus on creating new and original titles.[4] Treasure had begun working on its first game, the 'run and gun' platformer Gunstar Heroes (1993), when it was unable to secure a publishing contract with Sega as Treasure lacked a proven track record.[5] Sega instead contracted Treasure to develop a game based on the McDonald's fast food franchise, specifically its McDonaldland marketing campaign.[5]
Treasure Land Adventure was developed in conjunction with Gunstar Heroes, sharing several of its staff members.[4][6] Koichi Kimura served as the game's director, with Maegawa assisting as producer and Katsuhiko Suzuki composing the soundtrack.[6] The team needed to design original enemies and characters apart from the ones in the McDonaldland franchise.[6] They abandoned many of their ideas for not fitting the feel of McDonaldland.[6] Suzuki composed the soundtrack with this same mindset.[6] Maegawa maintained that Treasure Land Adventure had to remain respectful and faithful to the McDonald's licensing and characters, in a manner similar to licensed games featuring characters like Mickey Mouse.[6] Treasure Land Adventure helped familiarize Treasure with the hardware of the Sega Genesis, which became essential for its later projects.[6] The game was completed before the development of Gunstar Heroes concluded, however, Treasure decided to delay Treasure Land Adventure and release Gunstar Heroes first as it wanted its debut to be an original title.[5]
Treasure Land Adventure was released in Japan on September 23, 1993,[7] and was promoted in 1,000 McDonald's restaurants in the country.[8] Sega forecast the game to sell over 500,000 copies.[6] It was published in Europe in October 1993 and in North America that December. The North American version replaces the tribesmen enemies in the first world with robots, presumably to avoid black stereotypes.[1] The European version is more difficult than the other releases, with the player beginning with less health and enemies taking more damage.[1]
Reception
McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure is cited as being one of the better examples of a licensed game during the 16-bit console era.
Retrospective feedback on Treasure Land Adventure has also been positive, though critics believe it lacks the same polish and technological power present in its other works like Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy.[1][2] Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 believes it served as a base for Treasure's later games, such as Dynamite Headdy, with similar mechanics and musical composition.[1] Kotaku's Luke Taylor commended the game for being far above the usual quality of licensed titles, with an interesting graphical style and solid gameplay. Though he was critical of its short length and extensive usage of blind jumps, he strongly recommended it for platformer fans.[2] Paul Staddon, a writer for Retro Gamer, found some of Treasure Land Adventure's ideas innovative for the genre, and possessing fun gameplay and colorful visuals. He wrote: "It’s not the best game in Treasure’s library, but it is very entertaining and just about worth the high eBay prices that it currently sells for. If you’re looking for an unconventional platformer then give it a whirl. You won’t be disappointed."[3]
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Kalata, Kurt (August 26, 2019). "McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Taylor, Luke (March 19, 2012). "The Horror, the Glory of Treasure's Ronald McDonald Video Game". Kotaku. G/O Media. Archived from the original on January 16, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
- ^ a b Staddon, Paul (December 15, 2013). "McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure". Retro Gamer. Imagine Publishing. Archived from the original on September 26, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
- ^ a b c "An Interview With: Treasure". GameFan. Vol. 1, no. 11. October 1993. p. 60.
- ^ a b c "前川正人「ガンスターヒーローズ」スーパーバイザー". Sega (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 22, 2017. Retrieved December 22, 2018. (Abridged translation Archived December 1, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ SoftBank Creative. October 1993. p. 112. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived March 30, 2019, at the Wayback Machine).
- ^ "[セガハード大百科] ゲームギア対応ソフトウェア(ライセンシー発売)" (in Japanese). Sega. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
- ^ "Clowning around". The Japan Times. Vol. 33, no. 16. September 6–12, 1993. p. 16. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
- ^ "Knallebunt und Herisch lang". Aktueller Software Markt (in German). August 1994. p. 31. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
- ^ a b c Homsy, Richard (March 1994). "Mega Drive Review - McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure" (in French). No. 30. M.E.R.7. Consoles+. pp. 142–143.
- ^ a b c Semrad, Ed; Carpenter, Danyon; Manuel, Al; Williams, Ken; Weigand, Mike (December 1993). "Review Crew - Major Mike's Game Roundup - Treasureland Adventure - Sega / Genesis". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 53. Sendai Publishing. p. 48. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
- ^ "NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: マクドナルド 〜トレジャーランド・アドベンチャー〜 (メガドライブ)". Famitsu (in Japanese). ASCII. October 1, 1993. p. 38.
- ^ a b c Halverson, Dave; Sgt. Gamer; Rickards, Kelly; Puryear, Jay (December 1993). "Viewpoint - Sega - Treasure Land". GameFan. Vol. 2, no. 1. DieHard Gamers Club. p. 30.
- ^ a b c Boyle, Lance (January 1994). "Genesis ProReview: McDonald's Treasureland Adventure". GamePro. No. 54. IDG. p. 61.
- ^ Ulf; Sandrie (February 1994). "Mc Donald's Treasure Land". Mega Fun (in German). pp. 74–75. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
- ^ EMAP. pp. 120–122.
- ^ "Treasure Land Adventure". Video Games (in German). April 1994. p. 84. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
- ^ Andy; Gerry (January 1994). "Ronald McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure". Mega Drive Advanced Gaming. No. 17. pp. 28–29. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
- Sega Magazine. No. 2. p. 101. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
- ^ a b "Mega Drive – ProReview: McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure". Sega Pro. No. 26. Paragon Publishing. December 1993. pp. 52–53.