As someone who never played the original Disney Afternoon games on the NES, jumping into the Disney Afternoon Collection on Switch 2 felt a bit like opening a gaming time capsule. These are titles many players grew up with, but for me this was my first experience with them. The real question wasn’t whether they were nostalgic classics — it was whether they still hold up as games today.
Published by Atari and Digital Eclipse, the Disney Afternoon Collection features eight NES and SNES titles: Ducktales, Ducktales 2, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers 2, Talespin, and Darkwing Duck. Upon booting up the curation of classics, I felt as if I had stepped foot in an arcade.
The selection menu treats you to some groovy 8-bit tunes while you decide which classic to get into. The games are chronologically ordered, ranging from ‘DuckTales’, 1989, to ‘Bonkers’ from 1994. And as someone who has never experienced any of this revered collection, I was unsure which game to boot up first, but naturally I started first and went back to 1989 for a little while, with Scrooge McDuck in “DuckTales”.
Ducktales is a classic 2D platformer, avoiding and jumping over passing enemies. Despite being a simple concept, the platformer bested me a couple of times. The goal being to explore the level, collect treasure and reach the end while avoiding a slew of 8-bit foes.
Chip ‘N Dale sees the player taking control of either Chip, or Dale, with two players also available for couch co-op. Chip ‘N Dale is a side scrolling platformer with focuses on puzzles and teamwork. What sets this classic aside from the usual jump on enemies formula, is the focus on throwing items. Throwing a barrel at an oncoming foe will never not be fun.
To a modern audience discovering these games for the first time, these titles make a change from the modern gaming landscape. These games offer short and straightforward levels, with clear and unique mechanisms are a good time for any player.
The Disney Afternoon Collection offers many customisation modes in game to tailor the experience to the player, whether you are reminiscing and walking down memory lane, to newcomers who have never experienced these classics before.
While playing any of the titles, pressing R on the joy-con will pause the game, a much-appreciated feature for those harder levels, but also allows the player to customise their experience. Whereas, pressing and holding L will allow the player to instantly rewind time, handy If you get stuck on a level.
Three filter options are available: Off, TV and Monitor. TV and Monitor filters apply a retro feel to your display. When I changed to the monitor filter, it felt like I was in an arcade. These options allow for users to recreate that childhood nostalgia and play these games as if for the first time again.
These customisation features, and the ability to rewind, allow for these NES classics to feel modern and be enjoyed by newcomers, and returning players alike.
These features are some of the reasons why the Disney Afternoon Collection on the Switch 2 make for some old-school, quick-paced arcade feeling gaming.
Overall, The Disney Afternoon Collection is a short walk through some of Nintendo’s classics, and while some games show their age, these titles managed to feel engaging even in the modern gaming landscape. For those who grew up with these games, this collection will be a surefire way of reliving those memories with a modern spin. With modern features that make older designs easier to handle, this collection is a solid way for both longtime fans and curious newcomers to revisit these classic Disney adventures.
