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In 1991, while creating Quackshot, Sega realized that simply porting the game to the Master System, even with heavy changes, would not do justice to Donald Duck. And so the similar yet different The Lucky Dime Caper was created.
The game begins as Scrooge McDuck gives a dime to each of his nephews not named Donald. He once again talks about how his Number One Dime triggered his quest for fortune and explains that they too could become rich if they worked hard for it. Then Huey, Dewey and Louie are suddenly kidnapped and Scrooge receives a dive kick from Magica De Spell, who takes his dime away. Donald is sent on a mission to save his nephews and recover the four dimes.
The game has 7 levels and is divided in three parts (nephews, their dimes and the Number One Dime). Much like in it's Sega Genesis counterpart, the player can enter the available levels in any order. Donald is armed with a hammer for close combat, which he'll lose if he gets hurt. The hammer can be recovered or exchanged for a disc by collecting items from defeated enemies.
This game contains examples of:[]
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: While the original cover is that manly illustration above, the japanese cover for the Game Gear version looks more happier, showing a smiling Donald with Magica already in his grasp.
- Anticlimax Boss: The final boss is a glass ball with the Number One Dime inside. Despite the rains of thunder and bombs that Magica summons, the battle can be won in a couple of seconds. The Game Gear version fixes this by making the table tall and unreachable, so now it does feel more like a final battle.
- Big Bad: Magica De Spell.
- Book Ends: The game begins with Scrooge giving dimes to Huey, Dewey and Louie to encourage them to work for their dreams and such. In the end of the game, he does the same to Donald.
- Bragging Rights Reward: Scrooge gives a simple dime as a reward to Donald at the end. One wonders what Donald did with it, or what he learned from this.
- Chest Monster: They appear in the pyramid level. The level has some treasure rooms where lots of chests spawn. They may or may not be monsters.
- Convection, Schmonvection: In the Tropical Islands level, though Donald doesn't look confortable at all near the lava pools.
- Cut Song: There is one. Oddly, while two levels in the game use the same song, the cut one would not fit in any of them.
- Deadly Disc: The other weapon Donald can get. It's weaker than the hammer, but reaches distant enemies.
- Death Throws
- Drop the Hammer: Donald's main weapon is a hammer. It crushes bosses in a few hits.
- Dual Boss: The statues at the Andes Mountains. In the Game Gear version, the left statue was removed.
- Edge Gravity: Donald slows down when near edges. It tends to ruin jumps, as best seen in the last moments before the final boss.
- Everything's Worse with Bears: As seen in the cover above. The bear is the boss of The Northern Woods.
- Everything's Worse with Bees: There are three types of bee enemies in the Northern Woods. The bear boss is also followed by one, but it's just for decoration.
- Face Palm: In the Master System version, Donald does this when he finds out that the reward Scrooge promised him is a dime.
- Game Over Man: Donald.
- Glass Cannon: Bears and lions are no match for Donald Duck, but he has only two HP and loses his weapon if struck (Master System version only).
- Goomba Stomp: Even when Donald is unarmed, he can still attack with this.
- Have a Nice Death: Donald's Death Throws animation show him being burned or frozen if he falls on a lava or cold Bottomless Pit.
- Hit Points: In the Master System version, Donald has two: When damaged, he loses his weapon. If damaged again he dies. The Game Gear version is easier because the stars become Donald's health and he can never lose his weapons.
- Hyperactive Sprite: Donald has a particulary cheerful animation for when he's standing still.
- Idle Animation: If left still for a while, normally Donald will look at us and complain, but in the volcano level he'll start sweating in exaustion and in the ice level he'll shiver. What's strange is that in the Game Gear version, the idle animation seems to appear at random and have a random duration!
- Invincibility Power-Up: The star powerup increases the speed of Donald's attacks. With 5, Donald becomes invincible for a while, but loses his buffs.
- Lethal Lava Land: Most of the Tropical Islands level takes place in a cave full of lava pools and traps.
- Nintendo Hard: Thanks to the health system, you can't ever let your guard down.
- Non Lethal Bottomless Pits: In the Game Gear version, the pits in the first part of the Great American Forest level become this. Donald just goes on an underwater section if he falls on them.
- Number One Dime: The story begins with Scrooge giving three dimes for his nephews before they're all stolen.
- One Up: A block with Donald's face in it.
- Randomly Drops: For every two enemies knocked out, a random item appears. Weapons tend to be rare unless Donald is unarmed. In the Game Gear version, One Ups and Stars also appear by themselves in levels.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: A giant serpent helps the boss of the Pyramid level.
- Scoring Points: The game has a score counter you can see in a level's title card and when a level ends. Sometimes you get jewels from random drops, which is inconvenient if you're looking for anything useful.
- Spikes of Doom: Some rooms in the final level are full of them.