00:01Peggy 3
00:05Disney's Baloo the Bear is about to celebrate his 50th birthday, so we're taking a look at one of the
00:09most unique games contained in the Disney Afternoon collection, Tailspin.
00:14Of all the characters contained within Disney and Capcom's Disney Afternoon series, Baloo the Bear might be the oldest.
00:21Yes, even older than you, Scrooge McDuck.
00:23Baloo originated in the pages of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book all the way back in 1894.
00:28Then, perhaps most famously, Disney adapted Kipling's Jungle Book into a major motion picture in 1967.
00:34Where Baloo, one of several beloved Disney characters voiced by the legendary Phil Harris, quickly became the breakout star.
00:39Baloo's been a Disney mainstay ever since, most recently brought to life by none other than Bill Murray in the
00:442016 live action Jungle Book movie.
00:46But, for kids of the 90s, Baloo won a place in our hearts via the 1990 television series, Tailspin.
00:52In case you don't remember, the classic cartoon recasts the Jungle Book characters as adventurous, skybound cargo carriers who travel
00:59to exotic locales and fend off air pirates.
01:02And most interesting for us, Capcom decided to use the premise to make something totally unique from its games like
01:07DuckTales, Chippendale's Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck.
01:10Unlike the rest of the games in the Capcom Disney Afternoon series, Tailspin entirely ditches the traditional side-scroller, and
01:16instead went the less traditional, yet highly appropriate route of making a full-on flight shooter.
01:21For you folks aware of Capcom's pedigree, this was a fairly serendipitous move.
01:25As far back as 1984, Capcom had helped pioneer the flight genre with 1942 and arcades, and better still, Capcom
01:32knew how to convert this occasionally difficult genre into something more approachable in home consoles, and in Tailspin's case, a
01:38little more family friendly.
01:39But perhaps the most wildly innovative approaches to the genre was the ability for Baloo to steer the iconic Sea
01:45Duck upside down and backwards.
01:46By piloting in all directions, not only did this make avoiding objects more fun, Baloo could fend off Don Carnage
01:52and his fleet of air pirates both in front of and behind him.
01:55Even better, allowing players to dictate the pace of the level allowed them to go back and grab more cargo
02:00loads in order to accumulate extra cash.
02:02Because after all, even in the game, Baloo is still working for Rebecca Cunningham and the hire-for-hire shipping
02:07business.
02:08Baloo could return to Cape Suzette between stages and purchase permanent upgrades to his plane from Wildcat the Mechanic.
02:14Similar to any other flight shooter, deft maneuvering and precision timing are the keys to success.
02:18However, this gets a whole lot easier to do once your mini Sea Duck is speedier, stronger, and has triple
02:24enhanced firepower under the hood.
02:26Making the game even more distinct are the bonus levels hidden in each stage, where Baloo's sidekick, Kit Cloudkicker, can
02:32surf the skies on his trusty airfoil,
02:34as well as the towering bosses that conclude each of Tailspin's unique stages, all leading up to the final encounter
02:39with Don Carnage's colossal airship, the Iron Vulture.
02:42Tailspin remains charming to this day, and is just one of six Disney Capcom collaborations contained within the Disney Afternoon
02:49Collection,
02:49where 90s kids to kids of today can enjoy all new features such as boss attack, a rewind function, and
02:54a treasure trove of unearthed art and design sheets
02:56of not only Tailspin, but also DuckTales, Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck.
03:01It's probably less than one of my favorite games for now, again.
03:02Well, welcome back.
03:02Bye!
03:02Bye!
03:03Bye!
03:03Bye!
03:04Bye!
03:04Bye!
03:05Bye!
03:05Grazie a tutti.
