Duck Tales Walkthrought
With DuckTales—aka the good old NES run with Scrooge McDuck—your playthrough tells the story better than any intro. Pick Scrooge, lean on his signature cane pogo, and thread the stages with care, knowing where to peel off. Below is pure, room-by-room routing: forks, secrets, bosses, no fluff. We already broke down cane handling in /gameplay/, so this is a clean, no-nonsense path for the initiated.
The Amazon
Start here. In the jungle, climb straight up the vines early: above the visible path sit hidden chests, and one upper ledge often hides a 1UP shaped like a tiny Scrooge. On the left you’ll meet a fake wall—brace it with the cane, pop it open, and you’ll find a niche with big cash and sometimes an extra heart. That’s where those “DuckTales NES secrets” pay off without extra fuss.
Mid-stage, the jungle guards demand $300,000 to pass. Don’t pay. Head right and higher: above the beehives there’s a quiet ledge. Grab the edge, break the hidden block with a cane strike, and use the new vine to bypass the toll. It’s a classic “DuckTales walkthrough” detour for players who hate burning money.
Before the boss, check the side rooms: in one, a chest sits on a ceiling-high platform—you reach it with a pogo off an enemy or a springy chest. The temple idol boss is simple: it hops and gives you a window to land a cane bounce on its head. Don’t rush, keep space, and three to four clean hits make the Amazon treasure yours.
Transylvania: grab the key first
You can jump into Transylvania right from the menu—handy when you need the African Mines key. The castle is all mirrors and shuffled rooms. From the entrance, go left and up to the hall with two mirrors. The right mirror drops you into a ghost room with a chest; the left leads to a corridor with a safe nook—inside is the key you’re after. Important: you don’t have to fight the lady of the manor yet. Snag the key, return to the mirrors, hop into the one that sends you back to the start, and ride out via Launchpad to the map. Feel free to sprinkle alternate titles—this “Scrooge game” loves that vibe.
If you want to clear the castle on the first visit, watch for twin-looking rooms: in one “copy,” the ceiling breaks with a cane poke, revealing an upper chamber with a chest and a cake to heal. These rooms make a no-loss DuckTales run much easier.
African Mines
With the key, they’ll let you in. In the early tunnels, favor the lower routes: to the left there’s often a secret chamber with a big chest. Next up is the minecart stretch. Hop in, keep a steady jump rhythm, and don’t blind-charge: one spring lets you cut to an upper tunnel with an extra chest. In the side room before the down-right fork, check the ceiling—there’s a hidden shelf with a health pickup, and it’s an easy drop back without risking the spikes.
The boss is the Mole King (he rolls along floor and ceiling), changing height and speed. Time your pogo as he slides out from the wall: land dead-center on the sprite so you don’t clip the sides. Between passes, park near the wall to catch the tempo. It’s the classic “how to beat the Mines” on NES.
The Himalayas
Snow cancels the cane pogo here. Stick to solid ground: ice, stone slabs, cave roofs. In the first big cave on the right, there’s a narrow passage of ice blocks—smash them with a cane strike to reveal a room with a chest and sometimes a heart. Penguins and goats are your ladders: pogoing off their heads boosts you into hidden upper halls. One nephew is stuck in an icy “cell” left of the central corridor; free him for a hint about the exit.
Before the boss, note the room with hanging ice chunks. The ceiling hides a cache. From there it’s a short hop to the Yeti arena. He jumps, bonks into a wall, and that’s your cue to drop the cane. No panic: two or three clean cycles, and those DuckTales secrets go back to work.
The Moon
Yes, that Moon theme will live in your head forever—but route first, hum later. From the start, go left and up into the space corridor with the security robot. A little farther, a force field blocks you—an elite duck guard wants a remote. The remote is in the UFO wing. From the start, head right, down the zero-G shaft, then through the alien rooms with ceiling platforms. In the far-right section sits the chest with the item you need. Return to the barrier, hand over the remote, and the field drops.
Don’t miss the upper maintenance tunnel right before the boss door: there’s a room with a big treasure and a cake. The boss is a giant rat. It leaps in long arcs. Wait for the landing, then stick the pogo in the center. After each hit, back off—don’t hover above it or you’ll eat a counter. “How to clear the Moon” boils down to timing and calm inputs.
Back to Transylvania: the finale
With all five treasures collected, the map sends you back to the castle. The mirror routing is familiar, but the rooms are rearranged with more vertical climbs. Early on, check the upper-right corridor—there’s often a cake before the final boss. The duel still plays out “jump—window—pogo,” only with more projectiles. After the win, get ready for a vertical rope chase to the last chest. The key is rhythm—avoid the outer ropes where bats swoop. Stick to the center or adjacent lines, and swap diagonally with the cane if something blocks your lane. This stretch is a pure confidence check on the pogo you practiced in /gameplay/.
To lock in the “best” ending in classic DuckTales, don’t bleed away big finds, and don’t get greedy where the route screams risk. On the way through the story you’ve already stuffed Scrooge’s wallet—there’ll be memories to share in /history/. For the finish, score matters, but consistency matters more.
A couple more strokes for 100% runs of DuckTales on NES. Revisit cleared zones via Launchpad if you feel you skipped a secret room. In Transylvania, mirrors often lead to lookalike halls, but in one “twin” the ceiling always gives to the cane. In the Amazon, don’t pay extra; on the Moon, don’t rush past the UFO wing; in the Mines, listen to the rails and the cart rhythm; and in the Himalayas, remember pogo doesn’t work in snow—find solid stone underfoot. That’s how this “Scrooge game” opens up fully—the very reason we called it “those very DuckTales on NES” back in the day and still remember every fork.