| Squirrel King | |
|---|---|
 Title screen for Mega Drive version. | |
| Publisher | Gamtec |
| Developer | Gamtec DVS Electronic Co. (SNES) |
| Console | Sega Mega Drive, SNES |
| Date | 1995 (Mega Drive) 1999 (SNES) |
| Engine | Original (Mega Drive) |
| Sound engine | Gamtec (SMPS Z80) Bonkers (SNES) |
| Alternate names/hacks | Squirrel Super Mario World |
Squirrel King is a pirated game which resembles Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers for the Famicom, made by Gamtec for the Sega Mega Drive and SNES in 1995.
Overview
Gameplay.
The gameplay mirrors that of Chip 'n Dale for the Famicom, and even has the titular characters from that game. Similar to that game, there is a two-player mode where the characters play cooperatively. In this game, the player can throw boxes, hide in them and throw fireballs, the latter of which couldn't be done in Chip 'n Dale. The player starts with 5 hearts for health. They can collect med-kits that restore one heart or acorns which restore health completely. They also have a limited amount of gloves which throw a fireball at the enemies. They start with three of these and extra ones can be collected by finding more gloves inside boxes. The player starts with 4 lives and 5 continues. 100 diamonds are required to get an extra life in single-player, while only 50 are needed in cooperative play. The graphics are similar to those of Chip 'n Dale, but none of the graphics are ripped directly from that game. However, several of the enemies are clearly based on those from the sequel, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2. The music is mostly original, although several of the songs used in this game are from other sources. The music for the "Secret Nucleon Dump" and "Pay a Visit to Grotto" stages is the Donkey Kong Country theme, while the music for the "Graveyard Encounter" stage is "Be Prepared" from Disney's The Lion King.
The game is split into 7 acts in total, of which only the first act is based loosely off the original Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Unlike that game, no acts can be skipped and there's no map screen to go through between them. All 7 acts have a boss at the end. Most are unnamed, although the final boss is identified in the final act as Barnett, who is a hat-wearing elephant which jumps around on a lift. Like Chip 'n Dale, all of the bosses can be defeated by throwing randomly appearing objects at them, although in this game they also take damage from fireballs. All of the bosses take 8 hits to defeat, aside from Barnett who takes 12 hits. The ending shows a "cast of characters" for all of the enemies in the game, excluding the bosses, followed by a credits sequence.
Credits
企画 (Planning)
JAZZ
DARK
程式 (Programming)
林翠娥 (Lin Cui E)
美工 (Art)
林文欽 (Lin Wen Qin)
魏宏亮 (Wei Hong Liang)
朱貞信 (Zhu Zhen Xin)
技術指導 (Technical Guidance)
洪吉民 (Hong Ji Min)
魏士傑 (Wei Shi Jie)
音楽 (Music)
廖漢明 (Liao Han Ming)
測試 (Test)
黄宝儀 (Huang Bao Yi)
揚忠溪 (Yang Zhong Xi)
林永章 (Lin Yong Zhang)
張家維 (Zhang Jia Wei)
方質銘 (Fang Zhi Ming)
許漢生 (Xu Han Sheng)
張葮菖 (Zhang Duan Chang)
監督 (Supervise)
揚國哲 (Yang Guo Zhe)
Trivia
- The names for the enemies in the ending are incorrect, with the first two being named Chip and Dale. This is most noticeable with the candle enemy, which according to the ending is called Dick and another enemy being called Candle.
- In the credits, one person is listed as Jazz Dark while the rest of the names are in Chinese.
- The continue screen depicts Chip and Dale tied up over a fire; continuing puts the fire out. Amusingly, Squirrel King implores the player to "CONTIUNE".
Super Mario World
This section is about Super Mario World. For games with a similar title, see Super Mario World (disambiguation).
| Super Mario World | |
|---|---|
 Title screen. | |
| Developer | Ex-Gamtec(?) |
| Console | Sega Mega Drive, SNES |
| Date | 1996 |
| Engine | Squirrel King |
| Sound engine | Gamtec (SMPS Z80) |
| Alternate names/hacks | Super Mario Bros. |
Super Mario World, also known as Super Mario Bros. (the game has both title screens) is a hack of Squirrel King of unknown origins.
Overview
Chip and Dale were replaced with the Mario Bros although this time around, you can't choose between the two. The first two acts are replaced with levels from the Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, with Bowser serving as the boss at the end of each one. Everything else remains the same as Squirrel King, including the gameplay - this means elements such as the pipes and blocks in the "Mario" stages do not function at all. The third act starts on Forest Adventure and the fourth act starts on Traverse Red Ravine; with the rest of the acts following in normal order (without repeating Forest Adventure).
The level graphics are taken from the SNES Super Mario All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros., but the Mario, Luigi, and enemy sprites are completely original. Two new songs were also added: a rendition of "Infernal Galop" (a.k.a. the can-can dance song) from Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach (heard in the main menu) and the Super Mario Bros. overworld theme (heard throughout all "new" levels, including the castle stages).
Though the back of the game's box shows it, the 3rd sunset stage for some reason is skipped and not playable in this version. The level title cards were also removed from this game, yet the credits were left intact.
Trivia
- The back of the box shows Mario in a level from Pay a Visit to Grotto; a level you can't access normally in the game.
- The continue screen fixes up the "CONTIUNE" error that Squirrel King had.
Squirrel
Squirrel's title screen on SNES.
Squirrel is a SNES port of the original Squirrel King presumably published by DVS Electronic Co.. This port features the same level layouts as the original Sega Mega Drive version. The graphics are somewhat different: Chip and the enemies appear to be redrawn and the title screen is different (using graphics from Seiken Densetsu 3). The music, like many of DVS Electronic Co's other ports of Sega Mega Drive platformers, is taken from Bonkers and the game most likely runs on the same engine as those platformers.
Music (SNES Version)
The music was stolen from Bonkers from SNES.
| Name | Description | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| Starring... | The song plays on the title screen. | [1] |
| Heroes ~ Cast Roll | The tune plays on the levels:
|
[2] |
| Bonkers | The tune plays on the levels:
|
[3] |
| Fabulous Mansion | The tune plays on the levels:
|
[4] |
| Sewer Hideout | The tune plays on the continue screen and the levels:
|
[5] |
| Battle with the Bandits | The tune only plays on Factory's third stage. | [6] |
| Lightning Sky | The tune plays on the final stage against Barnett the bat. | [7] |
| Wacky Studios | The song plays on the end of the game while clearing. | [8] |
| Comedy Club Continue | The song plays on the game over screen. | [9] |
Trivia
- The PCB of the SNES cartridge reads D1B9945 which translates to April 5, 1999.
Re-releases
At some point in the 2010s, Piko Interactive acquired the rights to Squirrel King. It is likely that Piko purchased the rights from Super Fighter Team, who themselves purchased some (all?) of Gamtec's library several years prior. Through Piko's license, Squirrel King has appeared on the following consoles and services.
AtGames Legends Ultimate
In some models of the AtGames Legends Ultimate arcade machine, Squirrel King appears as one of the built-in games. This inclusion is particularly bizarre, as the Legends Ultimate machine has official Disney-licensed games built in as well; among titles from companies like Atari, Jaleco, and Data East (G-Mode). It is unknown if the game was altered in any way, or if it was left untouched from the original. Barver Battle Saga: Tai Kong Zhan Shi and several other unlicensed Mega Drive games from the 90s also appear in the official game list.
AntStream
Squirrel King - as well as the SNES port, Squirrel - would later be added to the Antstream Arcade streaming service. Both games have had no modifications made to them whatsoever; even still referring to the playable characters as Chip and Dale on the title screen (and in promotional material). Several other Gamtec games, including Magic Girl, are also available on the service - alongside licensed games from numerous other publishers.
Gallery
- Main article: Squirrel King/gallery
_Box_art_and_Cartridge.jpg "Super Mario Bros. (Ex-Gamtec) Box art and Cartridge.jpg (130 KB)")
Videos
