Maui Mallard Interview with John Fiorito
John Fiorito has been working in the game industry since 1992. During this time, he has been an art director and project manager in a number of well-known games. John is currently Head of Production at Insomniac Games. In 1995 he was the lead artist for the Maui Mallard game, the first and most daring project of Disney Interactive.
The project, in which a lot of labor and love of its creators was invested, at one time received incomparably less fame than it deserved, and in our time it has been practically forgotten by the masses. Even 25 years after the release of the game, very little is known about this title. But today the darkness will be dispelled.
Max Nasikan, the creator of the only full-fledged Maui Mallard community on the entire Internet with an almost 10-year history, in September 2020 tried to understand in detail this whole confusing story. And even if this did not have to go down into the mouth of a volcano or the Realm of the dead, but together we tried to walk as close as possible in the footsteps of the Donald Ninja in order to shed light on his dark past. Lead us, John!
Русский перевод (Russian translation) интервью доступен здесь
СONTENTS
Origin
Influences
Concepts
Game graphics
Sega version
• European
• Brazilian
Super Nintendo version
PC version
Canceled sequel
The Team
Other questions
Origin
Nice to meet you, John. So what was the inspiration for the game? Where did the ideas come from?
Hi Max! The origin of Maui Mallard was based on a number of factors. First, when we began working on the game in 1992/3, we were at the peak of the 16-bit era, and Sega was our lead hardware platform. Disney had licensed a number of games that were developed by Sega Japan such as Mickey’s Castle of Illusion and of course Quackshot. We began MM as a successor to Quackshot.
Second, the videogame adaptation of Aladdin was a huge hit. It was so successful that Disney decided to bring development of titles in house instead of licensing titles to third-party developers. Because of this, I was responsible for hiring our first team of artists to create our first internally developed game, which was going to be Maui Mallard.
How did the idea to combine Donald, noir, Hawaii and ninja come about?
I’m not sure how much you remember American popular culture in the 1990s? One of the most popular television shows was Magnum P.I. about a detective in Hawaii.
Also, martial arts movies about ninjas were very popular at this time. And finally, a popular marketing concept was to be «edgy», a combination of humor, attitude and a little danger. I think you can see how a lot of Maui Mallard inspiration was an amalgamation of Americana in the 1990s.
Why didn't you come up with a new character, but took Donald? And why Donald?
We did not try to invent a new character because the entire Disney business model at the time was to leverage existing characters from their library and use them to build the Disney brand. This meant that anything we developed would need to derive from animated cartoons and films, or from the theme parks Disneyland/Disneyworld.
We felt that Donald Duck was the character who was closest to an edgy ideal.
It was difficult to get the company to support MM 100% because there was very little crossover to movies, television or other Disney properties. However, because of the strength of our ideas and early progress making the game, the development of Maui Mallard was given a green light.
Is Maui Mallard the first and last name of the character Donald plays?
We called the character Maui Mallard during development, but when the game released, Disney decided that the logic was to have Donald Duck acting in the role of Maui Mallard so that there would be a clear brand identity for the character.
Why did you abandon the other canon characters in the Donald universe? After all, it was easy to portray the muddrakes as nephews, Hernae as Daisy, etc.
We did not use other Disney characters in the game because we wanted to create a unique universe for MM and we also wanted to let the rest of the cast have freedom to behave in a way that differed from Disney characters. You see, we could be more edgy.
Our team abandoned the project for 6 months to help make Lion King. If we did not have to work on Lion King, we could have released Maui Mallard a year earlier.John Fiorito
The game turned out to be quite risky by today's Disney standards: a tribe of toothy muddrakes with circular saws, a hellish boss from a volcano, the dead and decaying zombies… Did you ever think that the game was going too far into «adulthood»? Was there any concern about this kind of thing?
As I mentioned in an earlier answer, there was a desire to make the game «edgy» and the team embraced the idea of Donald Duck being trapped on a haunted island. At the same time, we were trying to make a product that appealed to 16-bit gamers and they were a different audience than the Disney demographic. But you are right, it was a risky creative decision!
How do you feel about Donald disappearing from North American releases? Do you understand this choice of Disney Interactive marketers?
At the time we made the game it was disappointing, especially after the team worked so hard to make the game. I understand better now why the decision was made and that it was made for financial versus creative reasons.
Influences
In the classic Disney cartoon «The Three Caballeros», in the pinata scene, Donald is shown armed with a stick and a red blindfold over his eyes. Was this inspiration used for the Maui Mallard look, or was it just a coincidence? Why is Donald's blindfold in the guise of a ninja in the game lowered over his very eyes?
Haha, good guess but any relation to «The Three Caballeros» is a coincidence. The Ninja wears a blindfold over his eyes because of his amazing ninja power: he does not need his eyes to see.
For a long time, the question haunted me: what exactly does Donald shoot by default? As a child, I thought that corn cobs were flying out of his barrel. Then, looking closer, I began to incline to the fact that there were someone's eyes. Is it a bug? Why, in general, all his weapons are connected with beetles? Shooting beetles is a bit weird.
He shoots bugs. We called his default weapon his bug gun. This is because Disney characters could not shoot bullets. If you remember Quackshot, Donald’s gun shot rubber toilet plungers. Same reasoning. As I said before, we were inspired by Quackshot.
Homing lightnings is my all-time favorite weapon of all 16-bit games. How did you get the idea to combine different types of weapons?
Our game mechanics, especially the weapons system, was influenced by the game Gunstar Heroes. If you are not familiar with the title, check it out and you will see their brilliant weapon combo scheme. By the way, Gunstar Heroes is one of my all-time favorite games, even today.
Since we mentioned influences… Was the team inspired by the Earthworm Jim, in which Donald obviously spied a couple of game mechanics? Have you talked to or know any of the creators of Earthworm Jim?
Yes, absolutely! Earthworm Jim was considered the most advanced game of its time especially for animation, game mechanics, music and background art. The same team that made Earthworm Jim also made Aladdin and Jungle Book for Disney, and I was able to meet many of them. Besides Gunstar Heroes and Earthworm Jim, there was another game called Vectorman that was also an inspiration but more indirectly.
What influenced the so-called «dark side» of the game?
Here is an image of a bookcover that you may recognize as inspiration for one of the levels in MM. Enjoy!
Wow! Was it your idea to use that horror art as a reference for level design of The Realm of the Dead? If so, it would be curious to know how you came to know this 1981 work by Michael Whelan.
No, it was purely by circumstance that our Producer saw the book cover and thought that it would make a good reference for the level. There is no relationship with Lovecraft or Michael Whelan in Maui Mallard.
Concepts
Did all the ideas go into the game or was there something that was not implemented? If so, what and why didn’t fit into the game?
Our biggest constraint was memory. There was only so much data you could fit onto a cartridge. If your game was large, you could use a cartridge with larger capacity but that would make the game more expensive. We wanted to have short animated cartoon sequences to open and close the game and to introduce each new level. However, we ended up using screens with text and game sprites to maintain our memory budget.
I also remember a haunted cavern level that was part of the original design but did not make it into the game.
Are there any early materials, sketches or other arts that were not included? Or will you have any graphics from the project that you could share with the fans of the game?
Good news for you: I went to my attic and found the original concept presentation for Maui Mallard and many more drawings for Maui 2. I have about three dozen images to send you.
Are there any interesting stories about the creation of other levels of the game? References, parodies, sources of inspiration...
Yes! And you will see them in the original concept presentation. This is the original game idea that we pitched before starting production. Probably in 1993 or maybe 1994 at the latest.
I was surprised by the third point of the original presentation for the game, where the Maltese Falcon and the shadow of the gangster appear. Is this your idea or could someone of the game's concept artists have seen that George Chastain's «Maltese Mallard» parody poster (1976)?
I never saw the «Maltese Mallard» poster until you sent it to me. It’s really cool but did not have influence on the game development.
This slide is to show that the inspiration for the “Detective” side of the character stems from American crime novels from the 1930s and 40s. The concept of a hard-boiled detective, the film noir genre and authors like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett all come from this era. Also, it is the same time when the classic Disney shorts were produced.
Were all the concepts for the presentation drawn in your hand?
The storyboards were created by a group of us. I think you can tell that there are a few different drawing styles in the presentation. I remember the artists who worked on the storyboards: Thom Ang, Kurt Dumas, Paul Lee, Shannon McNeill, Alex Schaefer, Christina Vann and myself. I no longer remember which artist created the individual boards. I apologize for letting the years get in the way of my memory.
Only on the manual pages for the SNES version there is an image of a pirate, which did not appear anywhere else – neither in the game nor in other manuals. Who is it? Could this be a lifetime appearance of the captain, whose huge green head became the boss in the Flying Duckman level?
I’m not sure but he certainly looks like the Flying Duckman boss. We called him Malucelli Mallard when making the game. “Malucelli” means bad bird in Italian.
Are you familiar with this comic (or storyboards) for the game? I found it in a Maui Mallard review of the German magazine "Gamers" for December 1995.
No, unfortunately I am not. Since 1995 was still very much dominated by print magazines instead of websites, we were not always aware of foreign publications mentioning the game.
Who is the creature whose green hand drags Donald underground in case of death? Did he exist as a whole character at least on concepts?
I don’t think there is any additional fiction to the hand character. It’s mostly a way to make the mechanic of dying and respawning fit into the theme and art direction for the game.
Game graphics
How was the graphics for the game created?
Here some frames of animation for characters, enemies and bosses in Maui Mallard. We called each frame of animation a sprite.
If you look closely, you can see how we cleaned up and colored each character. We were trying to emulate the way classic Donald Duck cartoons from the 1930s and 40s looked. We’d start by getting hand-drawn animation on paper, scanning it and then color-filling the scans at high resolution. Then we’d “shrink” each frame and clean it up pixel by pixel. If you look at the blocky frames and then squint, you can see what we were trying to achieve knowing that NTSC TV monitors tended to blur the pixels together.
Do you have any high-resolution scans of those animations?
Do you mean the original frames of animation before we processed them and turned them into sprites? Unfortunately, I do not have any, but I remember that the drawings were done in pencil on white paper, then we scanned them and color filled them at full size, 1280x960 pixels. Then we would process them in our game engine and shrink them to actual size, approximately 64x64 pixels or even smaller. Artists would then clean up and add shading to the sprites before putting them into the game. The files I sent you are individual frames of animation actual game size.
How was the graphics for the levels created?
I’m not sure how much you know about 16-bit tilesets, but the idea was that you create a series of tiles, in our case 8x8 and 16x16 pixels, and then copy and paste them to assemble a finished map. The fewer tiles you use, the more memory you save and the art of level layout was to squeeze as much as possible from a limited set of tiles. If you check out the tiles and then the final maps, you will see what I mean.
After the 16-bit era ended, I continued to make levels but in 3D for the Playstation. I left Disney and joined Insomniac Games where I continue to work today.
Do you know who exactly drew the official art for the covers of various releases of the game?
I do not know the name of any of the marketing artists. At the time, Disney had an entire department called “Creative Services” that was in charge of making packaging, advertisement and other materials to support their IP.
Do you have any official arts that were used to design the covers of the releases and their booklets? Or those that did not fall into them (they are especially valuable). On the Internet, very little is presented in quality for this game.
I do not have the artwork in question. I do have something that may be of interest to you. It is a map of MM’s island that was used by Disney Interactive PR to help promote the game. I don’t believe that it was ever released publicly.
Sega version
• EUROPEAN
Paradoxically, the game, originally created for Genesis in the USA, ended up being released on the Sega console only in Europe (and then in Brazil after a year and a half). While Maui Mallard was slated for release on Genesis in North America and was shown in January 1996 at the CES in Las Vegas. Even the promo cartridge from that exhibition and the announcement, which promised the release of the game in the USA in the fall of 1996, has been preserved. Do you know why the US release on Sega was canceled?
Yes, it was purely a business decision based on two factors. One, Disney was most successful using Feature Animation IP to drive sales of other products. The Aladdin and Lion King video games were very popular and the company decided to invest in games based on feature animation titles instead of original creations. At the same time, by 1996 the 16-bit era was over and games like Mario 64 pointed to the future of game development. We missed the window of opportunity to release the game.
Side note: our team abandoned the project for 6 months to help make Lion King. If we did not have to work on Lion King, we could have released Maui Mallard a year earlier. In retrospect, it was probably a wise financial decision to go with Lion King instead of Maui Mallard.
As you mentioned, Maui Mallard came out at the end of the popularity of 16-bit consoles (Sega dropped support for Genesis in 1996). Do you think that if the game came out at least a year earlier, it would become more successful?
Probably, but maybe not as successful as a game associated with a feature movie like Lion King or Toy Story.
One gets the feeling that the marketing department did not care about the release of the game on MegaDrive. I reviewed the scans of hundreds of magazines from dozens of gaming publications of that period, and during all this time I found Maui Mallard ads for SMD only in a couple of German magazines. While the ads and reviews of the same Toy Story were full of incredible numbers.
Add to this the release of the crude beta in Europe and the LOT of bugs in the European MegaDrive manual. Patrick J. Collins also said in a 2011 interview that Disney Interactive marketers didn't even try to sell the game. What do you know about this?
As I already said Disney was committed to selling products based on feature films and other well-established IP. A new title, and one that was risky, did not receive as much marketing dollars and therefore less advertising exposure.
Did you know that in Europe in 1995, instead of the finished build of the game, on the Sega MegaDrive a raw version was released? Compared to the Brazilian version of the game for MegaDrive in the European version there were no training screens after death in the first two levels, several bugs were not fixed, there was no dust under Donald's feet, there were other passwords for the levels, etc. As we managed to find out, it was from the Brazilian version for SMD that the final game was ported to the PC in 1996.
I was not aware of the raw beta. Was it official or maybe pirated? I do know that versions of Jungle Book, Aladdin and Lion King were available for purchase in other countries based on pirated versions of the unfinished games.
IMPORTANT: ordinary European ROMs contain 50 fps, which is why when emulating them on a PC, all character animation will be slowed down. There is one modified European ROM with 60 fps for correct emulation - Donald in Maui Mallard [f1]
• BRAZILIAN
Let's talk about the unique Brazilian Sega version, which, judging by the reviews of the game in the press, was released only in 1997. It has training screens that are shown immediately after the death screens in the first two levels. In the first level, these were hints for Maui. In the second - to control the ninja, including the key combination for the teleport (speed-dash move).
However, these training screens first appeared only in the PC version (September 1996) and later in the Brazilian version for Sega (April 1997). Were they originally created for the Sega game and for some reason were not included in the European MegaDrive version? Or were they created later in the preparation of the PC version?
This is just a guess, but maybe we needed to add the screens to compensate for the loading times between levels? PC specs vary and for some players it may have taken a long time to load the next level. Therefore hint screens would be a good way to fill the time. Or, maybe we wanted to give hints because there were parts of the original game that were difficult to many players?
In addition to fixing a number of bugs in the European version, an illogical move was made in the Brazilian version of MegaDrive: homing lightning at a one-time consumption of two shells, began to inflict damage on only one shell. In other words, you spend four projectiles on Muddrake, which is killed by only two projectiles. Do you know why the power of this type of weapon was halved in the Brazilian and PC versions?
Hmm, good question. I am sorry but I do not know why the Brazillian version was different. I do know that 16 bit games continued to sell in South America even after they stopped selling in Europe and the US. So maybe somebody tried to update the game for some reason?
Do you know the exact or approximate release dates for the European and especially the Brazilian versions for Sega? Data on the Internet varies.
No, sorry about that. I remember seeing sales data from Europe and it was interesting because the game released different days depending on the country. So maybe there were multiple release dates?
I'm still haunted by the Brazilian version of Sega. It is absolutely identical to the PC version (except for improved graphics and music, of course) and contains too many not very noticeable differences from the European version of Sega. Obviously, the Brazilian version of Sega and the PC version were made by the same people from the same source. But this source is not the version that was released on Megadrive in Europe.
I am not familiar with development or business strategy for the Brazilian release. Sorry!
Then I have a couple of guesses of why the European and Brazilian Sega versions are different.
As I said before, for the European Megadrive, an unfinished raw version of the game could be mistakenly released into circulation. I admit this, seeing in front of me a huge number of errors in the manual for the game for Megadrive (and only in it): all screenshots are not correct, the manual contains several false information, spelling errors were made in the text and the layout itself leaves much to be desired. The manuals for SNES and PC were made much better and did not allow the listed errors.
Second variant of events: the version released on Megadrive in Brazil (about 1997) was finalized by your team after the release of the European version of Sega at the end of 1995. And only then from this modified version there was a porting to a PC. As I understand it, the final build for Sega was ready in September 1995 (the game itself was released in Europe in December). After submitting the final build of the game, has the team ever returned to the Sega version to make edits or fix bugs?
No, the team moved on to future projects involving other Disney IP.
I have another hunch about the mystery of the appearance of the Sega version that was released in Brazil in 1997. It is highly unlikely that Brazilian publisher TecToy has the budget, resources, or even the slightest incentive to move all of the many changes from the PC version to the MegaDrive version for their country. This would require at least the work of programmers and even animators. Obviously, Disney Interactive made the same changes to both versions of different platforms. That is some people from your team. And it is unlikely that this ROM was made specifically for Brazil.
Brazil broadcasts in PAL format. And the ROM that was released in the Brazilian market has an NTSC region (60 fps with emulation). A Genesis version existed and was shown at the CES in Las Vegas in January 1996. Recently, one of the collectors purchased such a cartridge from the CES exhibition and posted it on his Instagram. Whether it is identical in gameplay to the Brazilian ROM will only become known when he dumps it.
Then it turns out that the version for Genesis was canceled in the US in 1996, but ended up on the shelves of Brazil the following year. Is it possible that this special ROM was originally created for the US?
Anything is possible, Max. Unfortunately I do not know anything about the Brazilian version.
Update from October 3, 2020: Collector RetroRaffa confirmed in the comments on his rare cartridge post that the changes to the Genesis version on the first level are exactly the same as in the Brazilian version. This means that it was the Genesis version canceled in the USA that was released in Brazil.
Brazilian MegaDrive ROM (60 fps) for Sega emulator can be downloaded here
Super Nintendo version
Judging by the reviews in the scans of the gaming press at the end of 1995, the versions for MegaDrive/Genesis and SNES were created in parallel in 1995. In particular, in the manual for the European MegaDrive version, absolutely all screenshots are taken from the SNES version. What do you know about the development of the SNES version of the game? And which version of the game should be considered the original?
Since Sega and SNES architecture was so different, a separate studio was contracted to create the SNES version: Eurocom which was located in Derby, UK. I do not think they exist anymore, but they had a long history of porting games and creating SKUs for different platforms. The SNES version was based on the Genesis title, so the Genesis was the original. I visited Eurocom to help plan and develop the SNES game.
Why was the SNES version made so different from the MegaDrive version? There literally everything was different: level decorations, ammunition, combat system, enemies, bosses, music, etc. Who made these decisions?
Yes, by today’s standards, the games are very different. But in 1995 there was often a lot of variety for “multi-platform” games. Again, this is mostly because the architecture of the hardware was so different that separate teams would develop the titles. If you look at Aladdin, the SNES version was created by Capcom in Japan and is very different from the Genesis. Also, game development was still in its early stages and was not organized the way it is in 2020. I don’t think there was as much franchise oversight and brand control as there is now.
The SNES version uses animations (including Donald himself) that were not present in the original MegaDrive game. Conversely, some of the animations of the same characters were thrown out of the SNES version (green monster from a waiter's plate, etc.). Are there any animations left by Creative Capers that you did not use in the Sega version, or was it Eurocom who drew those new animations themselves? I lean towards the second option, since the new animations in the SNES look less smooth and cartoonish.
Eurocom created any content in the SNES version that was not present in the Genesis version.
Why was a completely different tune written for the Flying Duckman level in the SNES version?
There was a different composer (Steve Duckworth) working on the SNES and I am sure that he decided to write his own version.
Something strange was going on with the sequence of tracks here. So, for example, the Boss Theme is completely absent from the SNES game. Maui fights with all the bosses to the usual level music (which became especially ridiculous in the boss fight in the volcano).
But my question is about something else. In the final cut-scene of the original Sega game, after defeating the Witch Doctor, the High Sorceress Hernae starts her monologue, at the end of which she kisses Donald to the opening notes of Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March". This musical insert hints to the player about the emergence of a love relationship between both characters.
There is a rather dumb mistake in the SNES version with this melody. Wedding March starts playing from the very first seconds of the cut-scene, when a stone idol falls on Donald's head. Long before the kiss with Hernae. Did you know about this?
As far as the SNES vs Sega wedding music is concerned, I do not know why they are different. It may be because each team decided to place the music at their respective locations, or maybe it was a bug, or maybe both games were being finished in parallel and nobody bothered to compare them? As I mentioned in my earlier answers, game development in the 1990s was very loose and there was not as much scrutiny or quality control measures in place as there are today.
The speed-dash move (or teleport) of the ninja in the MegaDrive/PC version (hold down the A + push forward twice) has become one of the brightest advantages of the game. Why did they decide to remove it in SNES version and replace it with an absolutely useless technique with the rotation of the staff?
Again, the architecture of the Genesis allowed for very fast movement. Remember Sonic the Hedgehog? The SNES, meanwhile, had greater graphical capabilities but slower processing speed. I do not think it was possible to make the Ninja teleport in the same way as he did on the Genesis version of the game.
How did it happen that in the SNES version, Donald's combo attacks in ninja guise were impossible? Ninja-enemies, contrary to logic, began to interrupt them after the first blow. Which led to the inability to fight hand-to-hand without damage to oneself in any other way except a sitting position.
Haha, I don’t know and I don’t remember!
Why did the SNES version completely redo the bonus level? In MegaDrive/PC, Donald rides a monocycle among Muddrakes and unique characters (Amazon Warriors and Torch Tossers). In the SNES version, Donald just jumps on the stars alone.
Hmm, maybe they ran out of time? Remember, the SNES version was developed based on the Genesis design so there was a delay. If not time, there may not have been enough memory or budget to complete the bonus levels. Or maybe the SNES team preferred the stars only design?
In the screensavers of the European version of the SNES, the year of release is 1995. While in the American and Japanese, 1996 is declared there. What's even more interesting, reviews of the SNES version of the game in the gaming press at the end of 1995 over the years of dense web surfing, I have come across only in German magazines.
While the reviews of the same European version for the SNES in the scans of French and even in the British (the country where the SNES version was created!) magazines only fall on October-December 1996. That is, around the same time the SNES version was released in the US (November 1996). Could it be that the SNES version came out in Germany almost a year earlier than any other country, including European countries?
Good question. I do not know for sure.
I remembered another controversial fact about the SNES version, which spread over the network. The game's release on Genesis, which was slated for the fall of 1996, was canceled, but it was during the same period that the game was released in the US on the SNES as a platform exclusive (on the cartridge box was the inscription "Only for Super Nintendo").
A source as unreliable as Wikipedia claims that "Nintendo had secured a deal with Disney to ensure no Donald Duck games were released on rival systems in North America". How true is this statement? And could it be the reason for the cancellation of the game on Genesis (which was still officially announced in early 1996)?
I never heard any information about a SNES exclusive deal for Donald Duck in North America. I was an artist on the game and did not have any involvement with legal or contractual parts of the project.
In issue 88 of the American magazine "Electronic Gaming Monthly" for November 1996 in an article about the fate of the Nintendo cartridges it is said that “Nintendo has bought or is pursuing the rights to games third parties hesitated to bring out on their own, such as Disney's Maui Mallard”. This is probably an explanation of why MM did not go to the USA for Genesis but was released on the console of a rival company. The game in the States was released not by Disney, but by Nintendo itself!
Then this explains the creation of a useless (very terrible) port of MM for GameBoy in August 1998. It is unlikely that Disney Interactive would have shown even the slightest interest in this port after the cancellation of the Sega version two years earlier. It turns out that the release of Maui Mallard in North America on Nintendo consoles was an initiative of Nintendo itself, and no fictional ban had anything to do with it. What do you think?
Interesting, but unfortunately I do not have any knowledge of the business relationship between Disney and Nintendo. Also, I left the studio in early 1997 so I can’t really comment on the GameBoy title.
PC version
How was the PC version created? According to the information I have, it was released in the States only in September 1996. By that time, Disney Interactive had canceled the US release of the game on 16-bit consoles (Nintendo apparently released it on SNES on its own) but spent additional efforts on improving the graphics. Not to mention the excellent design of the PC edition, advertising in the press and even on television (at least one video has survived). It turns out that outside of the 16-bit format, Disney Interactive still believed in this game.
The PC title, Cold Shadow, was developed by the same team that made MM on Genesis, including me. We did a very accurate and detailed up-res of the game and at the same time we recreated Toy Story for PC.
Who and why suggested changing the name of the game for the PC version and the SNES version for North American market? It's not even about the disappearance of Donald's name. Instead of Maui Mallard, the game was renamed Cold Shadow. How did you feel about such a replacement?
Cold Shadow is actually the third name for the game. We wanted the PC version to be a fresh start and announce a new line of titles from Disney Interactive for PC gaming. So we decided to rename Maui Mallard to Bad Mojo or Mojo Rising, as a reference to voodoo and the haunted island. Somebody at Disney felt that “Mojo” had sexual and pagan meaning and we had to abandon Bad Mojo. Cold Shadow became the title afterwards.
As I already mentioned, all the changes in the PC version are almost identical to the changes in the version of MegaDrive that was released only in Brazil (for example, weakening the power of homing lightning by half). However, there are also some changes that only appeared in the PC version.
So, in the level Realm Of The Dead, the fog that was spreading over the ground in the Sega and SNES versions was removed in the PC version. And, strangest of all, the viscous layer of ectoplasm (or whatever) on top at the beginning of the level, in which Donald moves like water, was made transparent from green. Which made it difficult for the player to understand the boundaries of this dense layer, where you can only move by the recoil of the blaster. Do you know why the layer color and fog underfoot were removed in the PC version?
In order to create the ectoplasm layer for the original Genesis version, we needed to leverage specific Sega hardware features- we created a transparent green background and then moved it into the foreground- that could not be replicated on PC. Same idea for the fog.
We decided to rename Maui Mallard to Bad Mojo or Mojo Rising. Somebody at Disney felt that “Mojo” had sexual and pagan meaning, so Cold Shadow became the title afterwards.John Fiorito
I have a question about the Ninja Training Grounds level set. This is the only level in the original Sega game, the scenery and background of which have been significantly improved in the PC version. In the MegDrive version, the stone ruins were in the same dirty gray color as the clouds in the background. This made it very difficult for the player to perceive the foreground and background. In the PC version, which was a direct port from the Sega version, this was fixed by making the storm clouds black and the temple ruins themselves brighter and more colorful. Why wasn't this done right away in the version for MegaDrive?
Good question! Sega Genesis (USA) and MegaDrive (Europe) had limited colors available to create backgrounds. In the US, television displays were NTSC while in Europe the format was PAL. The thing about NTSC is that the scan lines on screen would blur together so you could make the artwork very pixelated but still look good on TV. PAL television display was more crisp and the pixels showed more clearly. The Ninja level on NTSC looked much smoother and was supposed to have an overcast and stormy feeling.
When we created the PC version of the game, we added more colors to all of the levels, but the Ninja Training Grounds ended up looking the most different from the original. Since we were developing the game in the US, we made NTSC presentation our priority.
The manual of the PC version, like its box, was designed much better than the console editions of Maui Mallard. Whose drawings are used in them?
I can tell from the PC manual that many of the character images came from frames of animation by Creative Capers. Also, the image of Maui transforming into a Ninja on the back of the box was created by Drew Struzan, a famous movie poster artist.
The PC version was officially re-released on Steam and GOG services in May 2019
Canceled sequel
What do you know about the preparation of the sequel to the game? Were there any other plans for the future of the franchise?
I know a little bit. As we were finishing the game we started planning a sequel so that we’d be ready to start production once the original shipped. At the same time, the Disney Corporation was emphasizing “synergy” between teams in the company. That is, if a movie, television show, or even a game shared characters and storylines, we could make a bigger impact publicly and of course be more successful.
Here are some character designs for Maui 2, which never made it into production. If I remember correctly, part of the game has Maui getting possessed by the evil witch doctor, there was a level where he discovered a prehistoric race of cave-ducks and also a level that was haunted by WWII marines. And the pirates returned. Not too many people have ever seen these, so enjoy them!
Is this character the same obsessed Maui Mallard or someone else? And who are these red demons on the left?
Sorry if my memory is not precise: I remember that Maui was going to be possessed by an evil spirit and two of the concepts show his character being possessed. I believe that the burning character was when Maui’s possession was 100% complete. The red demons on the left were ideas for enemies in the game.
When was work on the sequel to Maui Mallard started and suspended? Oliver Wade in a 2011 interview says that animations have already been created for it. By the way, only the PC-version of the game in the final credits does not contain the phrase "Watch for Maui's next adventure", although its manual still teases the player with a sequel.
There was a period of time between finishing production on the original and its release- maybe 3-4 months where the team began planning a sequel. We did a lot of character design and concepts for levels and as Oliver mentions we began to work on animation. We may have started on a story and macro design. I don’t recall us getting into actual game production because the sequel was delayed and then cancelled by then.
On the concepts for the sequel, a lighthouse with a duck head is presented. Was its meaning somehow spelled out in the plot?
If I remember correctly, the beam of light that the lighthouse emits is evil magic and it transforms anything it touches into a dangerous area. I bet you can see how this might translate into gameplay. Also, it may have been the hideout for the villain of the game. Or at least one of his hideouts.
On the level with the dead of WWII, the action was supposed to take place in a certain graveyard of ships or aircraft?
We never got far enough in development to design this level beyond the characters and layout concept.
Did the characters for the sequel you sent me draw by Creative Capers or someone else?
Oliver Wade, one of our animators, designed the MM2 character lineup not Creative Capers. Capers were going to animate them but we canceled the project before they started. And I drew level concepts for the sequel.
The Team
What was it like working at Disney Interactive?
When I started in 1992, we were called Disney Software and we specialized in educational products for the PC, but as gaming became more popular we began to emphasize game development over educational products. At this time there were very few artists in the industry because the graphics were so limited. But when 16-bit games arrived, there was a need for artists.
I was lucky to be part of the first generation of video game artists. It was an exciting time because there were no rules for how to make a game. We needed to figure everything out from scratch. I also was able to hire the entire team of artists for Maui Mallard, and instead of looking for people with strong computer skills, I tried to hire people who were good at painting and drawing and then train them on the computer. It was a big risk but one that paid off.
Is there any funny story (or multiple stories) that happened while the team was working on the game?
No. It was a completely serious project with no fun involved….just kidding…there are many but I hesitate to share them because I don’t want anybody to get in trouble.
Wait a minute. The picture of myself and our Lead Programmer reminds me of a story: during production Cary and I would play a lot of Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, a competitive match-3 style game based on a Japanese arcade game known as Puyo Puyo. Cary was a very good player but over the course of development I improved so much that I eventually destroyed him (on my birthday) and he never would play me again! It is a happy ending because this is the time we became very busy and had to finish the game. But even 25 years later, Cary calls me “Champ.”
Did you know that MM sound designer Patrick Collins was nicknamed “Poppin’ Fresh” while working at Disney Interactive? Now you do.
By the way, the game had great music.
The Genesis music for Maui Mallard was written by Michael Giacchino. This was his first professional soundtrack and he is now an accomplished composer for film. Look him up!
Tell us about working with Creative Capers on this game. How much of the work was entrusted to that company?
We worked with CC on Maui Mallard and many other Disney Interactive titles. However, Maui was the first one. Originally, we were supposed to work with Disney Feature Animation to create our game animation, but they were unable to support game animation because of how busy they were making films. So Creative Capers filled in and did an excellent job. They hand-animated all of the character animation cycles then we would scan them and turn them into digital sprites for the game.
Patrick J. Collins and Jon Williams mentioned a tropical theme party to mark the completion of Maui Mallard. Mr. Williams also said that a fortune was spent on this party and there was a man in a Donald suit.
Can you tell us something else about this party? What other references to the game itself were there? Was it unique, or was Disney Interactive similarly celebrating the release of each of its games?
We had a wrap party after completing the game which included an appearance from Donald Duck. We invited the Eurocom team to join us since the party was to celebrate both the Genesis and SNES games. I do not know how much the party cost. In my experience, a wrap party is a great way to celebrate finishing a game, especially if they take 1-2 years to develop. I have attended many events like this throughout my career and they are always fun.
Can you indicate by name in the photo from the party where each of the team members is? I only know you and Carry by sight.
Ok, starting with Cary Hara and moving clockwise: Cary Hara (Lead Programmer); John Fiorito (Lead Artist); Joe Santos (Level Designer); Christina Vann (Level Artist), Eric Weiss (lying down), Character Designer; Alex Schaefer (Level Artist); Kurt Dumas (Character Artist/Animation); Ruby Lee (Interface Designer); Patrick Gilmore (standing looking sideways), Producer; Shannon McNeill (Level Artist); Ann-Bettina Colace (Animation); Adolph Luzinski (Animation and Special Effects); Tamara Paige (Animation). The person who is cut off on the upper left is our animator Paige Pooler.
Other questions
Another issue that has become the subject of controversy. In the first meeting with the Witch Doctor at the beginning of the second level, he rotates Donald in the air with his magic, drawing souls from him, which fly away like yin-yang icons. Why did he do it? Is this how he created the ninja squad that Donald fights at the very end of the level?
I believe that the Witch Doctor thought he was attacking Maui, but he inadvertently awoke Maui’s Ninja powers. Previously, no one was aware of the Ninja abilities not even Maui.
Have you heard anything about preparing an animated series based on the game?
At the time, it was very rare that a game could influence movies or TV, so it was surprising that a show based on Maui Mallard was being planned. I also think there was an episode of Ducktales or some other show where Maui Mallard made an appearance. This was a way to test the popularity of the character before investing in an entire series.
What level or feature in the game are you most proud of?
Well, I worked on the Mojo Mansion, Volcano and Final Boss so I am very attached to them. But I really love the Muddrake Village, Pirate Ship and Bungee Jump levels because they capture the spirit of the game so well.
The feature I am most proud of was working with our programmer to develop the process and style for creating Sega Genesis animation that looks like classic Disney animation from the 1930s and 40s.
What are your favorite Disney characters or cartoons?
Lucky for me, I liked Donald Duck the most as a character! The first movie I ever saw was Jungle Book and I have always enjoyed it ever since.
What were your favorite Sega MegaDrive games (yours or someone else's)? Which ones do you still remember with warmth?
Trying to answer in order of favorite games: Gunstar Heroes, Quackshot, Cool Spot, Earthworm Jim, Vectorman. Other more obscure titles: Dynamite Heady, Tinhead and Mickey’s Castle of Illusion. And of course, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine!
Would you play Maui Mallard now? How do you feel about the fact that almost 25 years later the game still touches the hearts of gamers?
I am very proud of Maui Mallard and remember it fondly. I enjoy watching playthroughs –even your speed run! – If I could go back and remake the game, I would make it less difficult in the beginning levels.
Would you take to work on its sequel or remake if you were offered this opportunity now?
I don’t think so. After working on Maui Mallard and some other games at Disney, I joined Insomniac games where I was able to create Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, Sunset Overdrive and Spider-Man. I feel very lucky and fulfilled in my career and would prefer to work on new projects instead of revisiting older games. But if somebody else made Maui Mallard 2, I would definitely play it!
Thank you so much for this interview, John! I am sure this will be the best gift for all MM fans for the 25th anniversary of the game.
Thank you for sending such detailed and interesting questions about Maui Mallard. I was happy to answer them. I hope your community enjoys finding out many of the details from Maui Mallard. I will share the finished article with the various MM team memebers I am still in touch with and maybe they will be able to share additional information with you.
Following this September interview with John, in December 2020 I did a GREAT interview with 12 Maui Mallard creators (130,000 direct speech characters, over 200 new images) in two separate articles: Part 1 and Part 2
Special thanks for motivation to Noe Valladolid, who interviewed two members of the MM team – Patrick Collins and Oliver Wade – in early 2011. Probably, without his article, there would not have been this one.
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© Max Nasikan. September 2020.