Did you Know NES Duck Tales Had 3 Endings?

Posted by Steven Collier on Feb. 16th, 2016

Disney's Duck Tales for the Nintendo NES created a timeless game that was filled with countless secrets, but none so well hidden as its three different endings for poor Scrooge McDuck!

Duck Tales Had Two Secret Endings

Yes, you read that correctly. Three endings. DuckTales was one of those games that assigned you an ending cutscene that reflected your final score. And since your score was directly linked to how much money Scrooge McDuck earned over the course of the game, it made sense that your success would be represented with gold.

Secret Good Ending

Beating the game under normal conditions, would let you see Scrooge happily bounding around a hefty treasure chest, loaded with all the treasures you'd collected during your adventures. However, if you managed to collect a whopping $10,000,000 or more, you'll be treated to a considerably larger pile of of loot. It's a sight that only the most dedicated gamers were able to discover. However, even that's nothing compared to the third ending of DuckTales: the "bad" ending.

Super-Secret Bad Ending

Honestly, it's doubtful that you or any of your friends even knew about this one. The bad ending to DuckTales is all but impossible to reach. You see, it can only be viewed if Scrooge loses all his money. You can only see it if you beat the game with zero dollars. But, considering that you have to collect a lot of money to get to the game's ending, you're probably wondering how this is even possible.

The key to uncovering this bittersweet secret, is to carefully score exactly $6,000,000 before DuckTales' final level. You see, in addition to all of Scrooge's pogo-stick bouncing, cane-smacking powers, he has another. And, it's not in the instruction manual. By pressing the select button, Scrooge can refill his life bar at the cost of $3,000,000. He's like  Wolverine, if Wolverine healed himself with money. So, get to the end with $6,000,000, take damage a few times, and two clicks of the select button later, you should be good to go.

Lose Everything!

This is by far the most difficult ending to earn, which is weird considering it's such a downer. But, if you want to go for broke, a quick google search will  revel dozens of carefully planned routes to most efficiently lose everything. However, the end result will always be the same: Scrooge collapsed on the empty floor of his money bin, swearing to regain his lost fortune. One can only speculate as to why it's even in the game. After all, even if Scrooge has even one measly dollar, you'll still get the happy treasure chest ending. Maybe it was part of a larger game mechanic that got axed late in development, but Capcom employees decided to hide it in the game anyways. Or maybe it's just meant to be the biggest secret hidden within this Capcom classic.

Buy Duck Tales - For the NES

How many of you were able to uncover these secret endings? Did you even know there was a bad ending for DuckTales? Or that Scrooge could buy back life? We'd love to know in the comments.

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