Donald in Maui Mallard



Donald in Maui Mallard, also known as Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow is one of the lesser known Donald Duck action games. It was originally released in 1995 for the Sega Genesis in Europe and Brazil and later ported to the SNES (with different level designs and mechanics), Game Boy (Porting Disaster) and PC (based on the brazilian Sega Genesis version and featuring a improved soundtrack). Oddly, the SNES and PC versions remove any references to Donald's name.

Just as he is about to quit his job and spend the rest of his life as a silly and simple duck in sailor clothes, the detective who is also a ninja named Maui Mallard decides to do one last mission: search and find the missing idol statue of Shabuhm Shabuhm before the island it protects explodes. But that won't be easy since everyone in the island wants him dead for whatever reason...

Maui Mallard is equipped with a "1935 Westchester Bug Gun", a gun that shoots bugs. Besides the normal shot, there are three other types that can be mixed into more powerful attacks.

When he finds some obstacle he can't get through, it's time to turn into Cold Shadow and use a staff to attack enemies with combos, swing over pits and move at high speeds over lava surfaces.

This game contains examples of:

 * Abnormal Ammo: Bugs.
 * Advancing Wall of Doom: In the Genesis version, there are TNT barrels in the second part of stage 6. When they explode, they start destroying the ship's hull and will suck Maui into the background if he doesn't run away. In the SNES version, the explosion happens automatically when the level starts and is slower.
 * Agony of the Feet: In the Game Over screen of the SNES version, the Game Over letters drop on Maui's foot, and he jumps around in pain.
 * All There in the Manual: The manual describes the story, controls, items and levels from Maui's point of view. In fact, many things Maui says in the manual were supposed to be explained in other games.
 * Anti Frustration Features: Ying Yang coins respawn once your Ying Yang power runs low and are often set close to Checkpoints. Puzzles or bosses that require specific ammo to beat will have it respawn nearby.
 * Badass: Maui, of course.
 * Bag of Spilling: Once you clear a act in the SNES version, you'll lose every special weapon you had. This forces the players to battle the bosses with the normal gun.
 * Behind a Stick: Cold Shadow's crouch pose invokes this with his staff.
 * Bonus Stage: Babaluau Baby. In the Genesis version, it is a rather hard Death Course where Maui is on monocicle. There are no dangers in the SNES version, but he has to do a lot of exploring to find some fireworks and beat the level.
 * Boss Battle: Averted in stage 7. You'll get a Nintendo Hard Escort Mission + Rise to The Challenge level instead!
 * Breather Level: The Test of Duckhood appears after a Rise to The Challenge level. It's also the most upbeat level in the game.
 * Chekhov's Volcano: A volcano appears in the background of the first level. Maui is thrown inside it for the fourth level, which ends with an eruption.
 * Combos: Cold Shadow can peform combos. In the Genesis version he needs to collect red yin yang coins to accumulate them and in the SNES version, they use his normal yin yang meter.
 * Continuing Is Painful: You lose all of your collected ammo and Zombie Powder upon a single death.
 * Darker and Edgier: Let's see... in this game Donald has a gun, can turn into a ninja, fights monsters in creepy levels, gets dragged to Hell when he dies...
 * Defeat Means Friendship: After Maui defeats the muddrake army, an alliance between them is forged. Not. He must escape from a volcano and kill their frog god to earn their respect.
 * Dragged Off to Hell: In this game's Black Screen of Death, a big green hand comes from underground and quickly drags Maui to hell. He is shown escaping from there in the continue screen, but will be killed for real in the game over sequence.
 * Duel Boss: You fight a bunch of ninja clones in stage 2, an army of muddrakes in stage 3 and the final boss in this way.
 * Escort Mission: Happens in the second part of Realm of the Dead and in one part of stage 5 in the SNES version.
 * Expy: Maui Mallard is one of Thomas Magnum.
 * Flying Dutchman: Duckman, actually. It's the boss of stage 6, a sunken pirate ship... Where you don't get to play as Cold Shadow.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: In the Genesis version, get most of the treasure in a level to get the password to the next one. In the SNES version, doing this unlocks a bonus level so then you can try to get the password.
 * Guide Dang It: In the Genesis version, Cold Shadow can run really fast if you hold A and double-tap to his front. This is only mentioned in a footnote in the manual. Remember this well because you'll really need it in stage 2...
 * Haunted House: The Mojo Mansion.
 * Heart Container: A bag of... Zombie Powder (!) is hidden in each level (and bonus levels) of the Genesis version and increases Maui's HP by 50 points. In the SNES version it appears various times through the levels, but you don't get to keep the effects through the game.
 * Heroic Mime: Maui has no dialogue in-game, though he does talk in the manual.
 * Idle Animation: Maui looks around while pointing his gun or checks a map/scroll, but sometimes it's a chicken instead. Cold Shadow just turns around twice, or starts spinning his Bo Staff and use it as a hula hoop.
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: Donald by himself is already awesome. With a gun and a ninja transformation, then...
 * Lethal Lava Land: Stage 4, The Sacrifice Of Maui, takes place in a volcano.
 * Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: In the second part of the final boss fight, the Witch Doctor will steal all of Maui's weapons and force him into his ninja form.
 * Lighter and Softer: Thanks to the color pallete, a couple of levels in the SNES version feel less morbid. The creepy Game Over screen is changed to something funny.
 * The Name Is Bond, James Bond: Done in the manual.
 * Ninja: Cold Shadow and his clones.
 * Nintendo Hard
 * No Export for You: The Genesis version was never released in America.
 * No Name Given: Maui's ninja self was just called "Ninja Maui" in the manual for the Genesis version, but was named Cold Shadow in the SNES version. Also applies to some other characters.
 * Noodle Incident: The people of the island distrust Maui because of something he's done in the past, but we're never told what it is. The cancelled sequel could have explained that.
 * Password Save: Used by the Genesis, SNES and PC versions. The two releases of the Genesis version use different sets of passwords (only ININJA is the same on both) and the PC version uses the brazilian set.
 * Recurring Riff
 * Regional Bonus: The Brazilian release of the Mega Drive version had a few little things the European version didn't, such as some tutorials that played when the played died in stage 1 or 2. Those features were later used in the PC version.
 * Revive Kills Zombie: The first boss in the Genesis version is vulnerable in his startup animation, so you can kill it before the battle starts with the homing + lightning attack. There's also the third form of the fourth boss: just drop a Smart Bomb to kill it. In the SNES version, while the final boss has powerful, hard to dodge attacks, you can simply let yourself be hit by Collision Damage (which does only 1 HP of damage) and then abuse the Mercy Invincibility.
 * Rise to The Challenge: Rising volcano lava in stage 4 and rising sea of acid in stage 7.
 * Secret AI Moves: The ninja clones Boss in stage 2 can use various moves that Cold Shadow can't, like a harmful version of the running move, and sliding. The SNES version adds projectiles to their arsenal and lets them dodge your attacks.
 * Sequel Hook: "Watch for Maui's next adventure", they said... Grrr.
 * Sequential Boss
 * In the SNES version, the Giant Spider goes One-Winged Angel, Dracula-style.
 * In stage 2, Cold Shadow has to fight a pack of ninja clones. By the end of the battle he'll be fighting two at once and they'll be using unique attacks. In the Game Boy version, the clones have no extra moves, but they do get more HP.
 * The boss of stage 4 starts as a skull with a tail of ribs. After it loses it, it gets a shield of rocks, which it later uses as projectiles.
 * In the Genesis version, the Giant Frog in stage 5 has to be fought twice.
 * To defeat the final boss, Maui must destroy the barrier around him, then fight him directly as Cold Shadow.
 * Simple Staff: Cold Shadow's weapon of choice.
 * Smart Bomb: What you get by mixing all three weapon types.
 * Sound Test: The Genesis version has it. The SNES seems to have one, but it only has 8 sounds, none of them being music.
 * Spared By the Adaptation: In the Genesis version, Maui kills the Muddrakes' giant frog deity. In the SNES version he just sacrifices a bunch of muddrakes to it.
 * Spin Attack: Cold Shadow has one in the SNES version, but it's not very useful.
 * Stillborn Franchise: There were plans for a sequel and even a Maui Mallard animated series but they were all scrapped due to the game's flop.
 * Super Not-Drowning Skills: In Stage 6.
 * Title of the Dead: Stage 7, The Realm of the Dead.
 * Took a Level In Badass: The normally ill tempered, Butt Monkey stuck with bad luck is now a gun toting, ghost busting, island saving, sea diving, bungee jumping, ninja detective who even makes his way Like a Badass Out of Hell!
 * Under the Sea: Stage 6, The Flying Duckman.
 * What Could Have Been: Turns out there was indeed a sequel in the works, but it was cancelled due to the game's lack of popularity.
 * Wheel-O-Feet: Cold Shadow's ninja dash.