Squirrel King is an unlicensed Sega Mega Drive game based on Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers for the NES/Famicom. It was developed by Gamtec and originally released on an unknown date.
Overview[]
Gameplay.
The gameplay mirrors that of Chip 'n Dale for the NES/Famicom (and its sequel), even starring the titular characters from that game. Similarly to the original titles, 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. The player also has a limited amount of gloves, which are used to throw fireballs at enemies; the player starts with three gloves, and can obtain extra ones by finding more gloves inside of 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 majority of enemies, bosses, and level themes are modeled after those seen in Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2; however, all graphics are completely redrawn in comparison. Some later bosses in the game are fully original, in both design and gameplay. The music is mostly original, although several of the songs used in this game are renditions of music 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; the first act is based loosely off the original Rescue Rangers game (rather than its sequel). 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.
- The game has a code for selecting a level: you need to hold A + C + Right, then skip the game demo, and then a numerical value will appear on the title screen, which is responsible for the order of the level (you can switch it with the C button; pressing START will start the selected level).
- 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".
- In the real world, the term "squirrel king" refers to a disturbing phenomenon in which a litter of squirrels' tails become tangled together, rendering them immobile unless saved by a human. It is unknown if the game was intended to reference this term.
Super Mario World[]
This section is about the Squirrel King hack titled Super Mario World. For games with a similar title, see Super Mario World.
Super Mario World, also known as Super Mario Bros. (超級瑪莉兄弟), is a hack of Squirrel King loosely based on the Super Mario series of platforming games. Both the developers and publishers of the game are unknown, although it is likely the developers are connected to Gamtec in some fashion.
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 original 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 that cannot normally be accessed in the game.
- The continue screen is the same as Squirrel King, with the only difference that now depicts Mario and Luigi tied up over a fire instead; continuing puts the fire out as usual. Also, the continue screen fixes up the "CONTIUNE" error that Squirrel King had.
- Unlike Squirrel King, the game over screen, doesn't show the closing red curtain with the gray elephant face, simply leaving a freeze-frame of the continue screen.
- Pausing while holding Down, Up and C at the same time resets the current level the player is on. A similar code is present in another Gamtec-developed game, Super Donkey Kong '99.
Fixiki[]
Fixiki (Фиксики) is a Russian hack of Squirrel King created by unknown developers. It was released on the EXEQ FreeStyle consoles, as well as on the FX-025 multicart. The hack changes the sprites, removes some levels, and adds text with a plot.
History[]
In 2014, the Russian company Proyavlyay Emotsii (Проявляй Эмоции) received a license from the Aeroplane company to produce products based on the Russian animated series "Фиксики" [2](also known as The Fixies in English). It is noteworthy that these products were various game consoles on which the game "Fixiki", which is a Squirrel King hack, could be found. This hack was distributed on portable consoles EXEQ FreeStyle in special edition with this cartoon. The company also released a Mega Drive clone with Fixies on the cover, but, oddly enough, this hack was not used on it. In addition, a cartridge was released with 25 games containing this hack, but the origin of the cartridge itself is unknown. The creator of the hack is also unknown.
Changes[]
- Translated to Russian (a pirate Russian translation from unknown authors was used).
- The title screen has been changed. Chip and Dale have been replaced by Simka and Nolik. The Fixiki logo is copied from the original cartoon.
- Added text with a plot that says: "Viruses have settled in the console and the Fixies have to fight them. Help Dim Dimych's friends defeat all the villains!"
- Changed character and power-up sprites. Chip and Dale in the game are replaced by Simka and Nolik, whose sprites were drawn from scratch. Crystals are replaced by screws, and fireballs by the "Tideesh!" icon. Enemies and bosses are replaced by robots.
- Removed level 2-3, as well as the entire Graveyard Encounter act.
- The Barnett's logo was cut out at the final stage and the hieroglyphs were replaced with arrows.
- Developer credits have been removed.
Name of levels[]
| Squirrel King | Fixiki |
|---|---|
| Street Cruise | Путь По Городу |
| Pay A Visit To Grotto | Зловещие Пещеры |
| Traverse Red Ravine | Схватка В Горах |
| Forest Adventure | Лесной Лабиринт |
| Secret Nucleon-Dump | Тайная База |
| Graveyard Encounter | Ночное Кладбище (removed) |
| Battle Decisive In Factory | Завод Игрушек |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The monkey enemy sprite in the forest level has been replaced with Buggy the spider, who is actually a positive character in the cartoon series.
- The snake enemy sprite has been replaced with the Roadkill Rodney sprite from the SNES game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles in Time.
- All boss sprites are taken from the Shining Force game.
- In the Russian translation used in this hack, instead of enemy names, the text at the end tells the player that the game is over and there is no point in waiting.
- Remote levels can be accessed by activating the level switch. If you beat level 2-3, then after it, Act 3 will start, since in a normal game after level 2-2, there is a boss fight, and only after that, Act 3. The last Battle Decisive In Factory act is numbered 6, and the removed Graveyard Encounter act is numbered 7, although in Squirrel King it is the opposite. The boss in the graveyard level is the same as in the original, and after defeating him, the final act begins.
- The sprite of the green ghost cat that appears in the remote graveyard level has been cut, but its hitboxes are still in the game. And touching this invisible enemy will still cause damage to the player.
- A dump of this hack appeared online around 2022-2023. It is unknown who created it.
- The game can still be played with two players, and the "PUSH 2P START" message on the player selection screen remains unchanged. However, since the hack was originally released for the EXEQ FreeStyle handheld console, it is obviously not possible to activate a second player on it. However, since the origin of the ROM is unknown, it is also unknown whether the EXEQ FreeStyle version of the hack is different from the FX-025 cartridge version.
- Oddly enough, this hack was advertised on the original cartoon's social media as a new game.
Squirrel[]
Squirrel is a port of Squirrel King to the SNES. It was likely developed by the same developers behind a string of bootleg SNES platforming games, notably Pocket Monster. This port features the same level layouts as the original 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 the developer's other games, is taken from the SNES game Bonkers and the game most likely runs on the same engine as those platformers.
Music[]
All music in this game is taken from Bonkers and is unaltered from the original game.
| 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] |
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. Along with several other licensed titles, the game was later removed from the 2024 model.
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
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Videos[]
