M.C Kids (c) 1991 McDonald's Corp./Virgin FAQ by |tsr (k. gifford) on 1997/10/16 Special thanx to Gregg Tavares for original maps and help (and for coding the game, for that matter!) "With the apparent termination of the Super Mario Brothers(tm) series on the NES, MC Kids is destined to fill that spot" - Virgin advertisement/strategy guide "I'd always been disappointed at how poorly MC Kids did in the market... it just goes to show that making a good game is not sufficient to having a hit game" - Gregg Tavares MC Kids (aka "McDonald Land" in Europe) was released by Virgin in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Although it's a semi-hard game to find these days, the original idea was that McDonald's would sell MC Kids-themed Happy Meals as a tie-in, undoubtedly ensuring success for the game (about a million Happy Meals are sold every day, and each Happy Meal "theme" usually runs for about a month). However, McDonald's decided to back out of the Happy Meal deal after being shown the game. It's a bit of a shame, because this is probably one of the best platform games for the NES; a lot of features are packed into the thirty-odd levels and secrets and bonus levels abound. There's even a secret world with three super-difficult levels. The MC Kids team consisted of: Darren Bartlett (code), Gregg Tavares (code), Dan Chang (art) and Charles Deenen (music). All of these people are still working in the game biz. Bartlett is the head of Illusion Gaming, a free- lance software production firm whose most recent project is "Duckman" for Playmates. After MC Kids, Tavares worked on the unreleased NES version of "Robocop vs. Terminator" for Interplay, moved to Crystal Dynamics, was the lead coder for "Gex", and is currently running Big Grub, his own gaming company. Anyway: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Game ~~~~~~~~ The MC Kids (Mick the white guy and Mack the black guy) were sitting in a backyard tent one night, reading a book. The book tells the ancient story of a far off land shrouded in mystery known in some circles as "McDonaldLand". In this "McDonaldLand", a famous chief or some other kind of esteemed individual known as Ronald McDonald was showing off his "Magic Bag" to his friends at a picnic. However, a dastardly person known as Hamburglar made off with the bag, and (as you find out later) he's lost control of it and it's beginning to wreak havoc all over McDonaldLand. Now, it is up to the ethnically balanced Mick and Mack to retrieve the Magic Bag. They go through six areas: Ronald's Playplace, Birdie's Treehouse, Grimace's Highlands, The Professor's Workshop, CosMc's Retreat, and Hamburglar's Hideout. Each section has anywhere from four to six levels. In each section, you have to find a certain amount of Puzzle Cards (the character for that section tells you how many you need to find. Each character has six cards, and there are also six Secret Cards which I'll talk about later. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1 - Ronald's Playplace - 6 levels Being the first part of the game, it's pretty simple. The third level has a total of nine 1ups, and you can re-enter the level as much as you want, so you shouldn't have to worry too much about lives in this game. If you find all of Ronald's cards, he will open the pathway to his PuzzleWorld. Section 2 - Birdie's Treehouse - 6 levels This dudette lives among the clouds, so most all of the levels are filled with clouds you have to walk on. If you find all of Birdie's cards, she'll give you an extra guy. Section 3 - Grimace's Highlands - 5 levels Grimace is a wierd dude with a weird house, and his section is in a mostly wooded area with waterfalls dotted here and there. Only three levels are accessible at first; you need to find 3 of Grimace's cards before he'll let you enter the last two levels. If you find all of his cards, he will give you a hint about the final batter against the Magic Bag. Section 4 - Professor's Workshop - 5 levels You don't see this character too much anymore when you go to McDonald's, unless you're lucky and get a placemat with him on it. He's been working on a rocket to the Moon that he'll let you take a ride on if you can find some of his cards. His section is quite varied, featuring fossil-filled desert, a pirate ship, even a set of docks continually bombarded by meteors! If you find all of the Professor's cards, he will build you a shortcut between his and Ronald's section (it's not necessary, but it does save you some time in traversing the land). Section 5 - CosMc's Retreat - 4 levels Hands up everyone who remembers CosMc! The McDonaldLand characters took a brief trip into outer space in a series of commercials in the early 90s, where they met CosMc, a strange combination of alien and UFO all rolled into one. Since there is very little gravity on the Moon, you can make huge, extended jumps, making this a very fun section. If you find all of CosMc's cards, he will congratulate you but not give you anything (tightwad). Section 6 - Hamburglar's Hideout - 4 levels The Hamburglar, I always thought, was simply misunderstood - he has a speech impediment (actually he just goes "robble robble" a lot) that reduces his communication ability, and he has a craving for Ronald McDonald's hamburgers that can only be satiated by stealing lots of them. Unfortunately, he went a little too far by stealing the Magic Bag, and now he's in all sorts of trouble. His section is filled with volcanoes, lava, burning bridges, and general chaos. You need to find all of his cards to make it to the fourth and final level, where the ultimate confrontation with the evil powers of the Magic Bag takes place. Section 7 - Ronald's PuzzleWorld - 3 levels You are definitely not clowning around! If you are able to find all six Special cards, then Ronald will let you enter this special land where only the best of all MC Kids players can survive. If you can complete all three levels, you'll get ten extra guys from Ronald. If you can complete all three levels, AND get every single arch on all three levels, then Ronald will bestow infinite lives to you! (Actually, he'll at first only set your lives to 99. When they count down to 90, Ronald will come back, apologize, and set your life counter to infinity.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The maps ~~~~~~~~ The maps in the enclosed .zip files are your complete guide to the world of McDonaldLand. Each .gif file has a complete map of the level, interspersed with tips on navigation, getting to the cards, and finishing the level. You finish levels by tagging the finish line (although a couple of levels have fake finish lines). If you hit the line and the arch moving back and forth on the line, you will get bonus arches and a Magic Block. You use these Magic Blocks in the final battle at the end of the game. As you'll see, it's best to try to get to the right of the finish line, so you can get as many arches as possible (100 of them gets you into the Bonus Game, with the chance of getting a few extra guys). Here are the maps: Birdie_*.gif - Birdie's Treehouse levels Bonus_*.gif - the various Secret sections. You access these by finding secret zippers in the regular levels. Cosmc_*.gif - CosMc's Retreat levels Grimace_*.gif - Grimace's Highlands levels Hamburglar_*.gif - Hamburglar's Hideout levels Professor_*.gif - Professor's Workshop levels Ronald_*.gif - Ronald's Playplace levels Special_*.gif - Ronald's Puzzleworld levels. Have fun, and enjoy MC Kids! -tsr [http://vgstrategies.miningco.com] HTML © 1998 Just The FAQs. All images and content © by the respective owner(s). All rights reserved.