Donald Land: Raggedy Land with Ann and Andy

The world's favorite Rag Dolly comes to your Nintendo system in an exciting and challenging video game adventure. Join beloved children's characters Raggedy Ann and Andy and their friends for twelve stages of fun. Take on pirates and monsters on the high seas. Explore the frozen ice caves of Looney Land. Travel through the sky to take on the voracious Greedy. Battle King Koo Koo in the haunted forest. Venture into the mysterious and maze-like hidden castle. But watch out! General D, the personification of death and destruction, has clouded everything with darkness. You'll need to rescue your friends, and even fight some of them until they come to their senses. It's a magical adventure you won't soon forget!

Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer and artist Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938). Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair, a triangle nose and a candy heart that says "I Love You." The character was created in 1915 as a doll, and introduced to the public in the 1918 book Raggedy Ann Stories. Her brother, Raggedy Andy, was introduced by 1920. A 1977 animated film directed by Richard Williams and a 1986 Broadway musical featured songs by Joe Raposo.

Raggedy Land with Ann and Andy

For Nintendo Entertainment System (NES / Famicom)
Data East 1987
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The world's favorite Rag Dolly comes to your Nintendo system in an exciting and challenging video game adventure. Join beloved children's characters Raggedy Ann and Andy and their friends for twelve stages of fun. Take on pirates and monsters on the high seas. Explore the frozen ice caves of Looney Land. Travel through the sky to take on the voracious Greedy. Battle King Koo Koo in the haunted forest. Venture into the mysterious and maze-like hidden castle. But watch out! General D, the personification of death and destruction, has clouded everything with darkness. You'll need to rescue your friends, and even fight some of them until they come to their senses. It's a magical adventure you won't soon forget!

(Nearly all character, creature, boss and enemy graphics have been changed from the original game. Coding was also changed to accomodate the new designs, including some minor level redesign and new shapes for characters. The title screen, Shop and large bosses were changed using all available tile and block space.)

Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer and artist Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938). Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair, a triangle nose and a candy heart that says "I Love You." The character was created in 1915 as a doll, and introduced to the public in the 1918 book Raggedy Ann Stories. Her brother, Raggedy Andy, was introduced by 1920. A 1977 animated film directed by Richard Williams and a 1986 Broadway musical featured songs by Joe Raposo.

Selected Filmography:
Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977, Richard Williams / songs by Joe Raposo / starring Didi Conn)
Rag Dolly: The Musical With Heart (1986, William Gibson / songs by Joe Raposo / starring Ivy Austin)
Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper (1978, Chuck Jones)
Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile (1979, Chuck Jones)

Donald Land (ドナルドランド) is a 1988 platform video game produced by Data East for the Nintendo Family Computer (NES/Famicom).

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The Romhackers:

Garrett Gilchrist (Graphics and general ROMhacking) is an artist and filmmaker also known for restoring the films of Richard Williams, including Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977) and The Thief and the Cobbler (1963-1992). His previous NES ROMhacks include The Thief and the Cobbler, Della Ducktales, Inspector Gadget, and Elvira's Monster Party.

Brooklyn Williams (Graphics) is an artist, designer and founding member of the Raggedy Ann Revival Effort fandom, whose goal is to research and revive the 1986 Joe Raposo Raggedy Ann Broadway musical "Rag Dolly," which has not been performed since outside of Russia.

Special thanks to the Raggedy Ann Revival Effort Discord server.

Note: An HDPack is being planned for the Mesen emulator which would use PNG graphics for a broader range of colors.

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Character Roll Call:
Scottish Clem
The Pennies
Babette
Camel (with the Wrinkled Knees)
Raggedy Ann
Beloved Belindy
Grampa
Teddy
Red Fang Wolf
Tweety Bat (Yellow Yum Yum)

Special Guest Villains:
General D (Doom, Destruction, Death)
The Greedy
King Koo Koo
The Gazooks
Captain Contagious
Sir Leonard Looney
Topsy Clown
Willa Witch

Also featuring:
Snoopwiggy
Maxi Fix-it
Suzie Pincushion
Raggedy Arthur
Alexander Graham Wolf
The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile
Mr. Twee Deedle
Cynthia
Shooting Star
Barney Bean-Bag
Socko
Queasy the Parrot
Maizie Moo Cow
Hoppy Toad
Sunny Bunny and Scrawny Bonnie
Spectral Dragon
Mouse Ghosts
Clown Doctors
Angry Oven

(General D appears in human form during the card game, and otherwise in rat form. This is an interpretation by Brooklyn Williams based on the ESIPA performances of the Rag Dolly musical, in which General D had rat elements to his design.)

(Belindy appears as the updated 1974 Hallmark design, with acknowledgement to the fanart of Spalooncooties, which inspired her shop card. She should have a green dress, but we were limited in the number of palettes available. This can be fixed in the Mesen HDPack, which uses PNG graphics.)

(Teddy appears as the updated 2022 fan design, with acknowledgement to the fanart of Gwyn, Brooklyn Williams, Mac, and the Raggedy Ann Revival Effort. In the ending he has lost his green half, due to NES limitations where only one palette is called for this character. This can be fixed in the Mesen HDPack.)

(Sunny Bunny and Scrawny Bonnie are original characters, as are other new enemies.)

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GAMEPLAY

Raggedy Ann must rescue her friends from danger. Jump by pressing the A button. Raggedy Ann is armed with an infinite supply of apple bombs, thrown by pressing B. These will stick to most creatures and destroy them in one hit. Five bombs will defeat bosses.

Ann can also run with the B button for longer jumps. Ann can jump off her own apple bombs if she times her jump properly. Ann is resistant to changes in direction. Use your running momentum when jumping or throwing bombs for a longer arc.

Ann does not have to destroy every creature she comes across, except for bosses. In many cases it is necessary for her to jump on a creature's head and ride it to safety. Ann can ride on top of most enemies. It is often best to study a situation before deciding to destroy an enemy.

Collect candy hearts to restore one bar of health to Ann's health meter, and collect Ann faces to earn more extra lives. You start with three lives.

Ann can only toss one apple bomb at a time. However, if you collect the Bomb tile, Ann will be granted the ability to throw two apple bombs on the screen at one time. Collecting any additional bombs has no effect beyond the first.

Some levels, or portions of levels, star Andy in place of Ann.

The needle and thread powerup is very rare. It will render Ann (or Andy) temporarily invincible for a limited period, during which time Ann (or Andy) can freely run into and destroy enemies without the threat of losing health for the collision. (This notably appears for Andy during Sky World, given by Suzie Pincushion.)

It is not important to collect all the Flower and Bomb tiles. If it is dangerous to do so, you can skip these tiles without concern.

Collect paper flowers to earn money towards purchases at the end of each stage in Maxi Fix-It's shop. You can only collect up to 99 flowers at one time. Spend them at the end of the stage to make room for more in the next stage.

Press Start to pause. Select and Start will navigate through the shop, and exit.

In the shop inbetween levels, Maxi Fix-It and Socko will appear. You can purchase character cards of Belindy, Camel, Babette, Andy and Suzie Pincushion for +$15 or +$20 (with the A button). These give you chances to play the Card Game (with the Start button and A button).

This is a game of chance. Overturn cards to reveal Ann (Rag doll version) or General D (human version). One Ann will give you a Bomb powerup. Two will give you a Candy Heart. Three will give you an Extra Ann Life. Overturning a General D card will end the game.

You can also skip the card game, or go back to the shop afterward, where you can purchase Extra Lives for +$40, Candy Hearts for +$20, or Extra Bombs for +$10.

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CREDITS

Programmers: Seiichi Ishii, Gumon

Computer Graphics Designers: Kazuya Abematsu, R. Ijyuinsu, Takayuki M., T. Nagaoka, M. Hashimoto, A. Kanda, Motoko N.

Sound Creators: S. Kamizono, Takafumi Miura, Shogo Sakai

Director: Hiromichi Nakamoto

Producer: Tokinori Kaneyasu

Special thanks to M. Ozaki

Romhacking and Graphics: Garrett Gilchrist, Brooklyn Williams

Special thanks to RARE, the Raggedy Ann Revival Effort

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CHEATS

At the title screen, before she jumps out of the door, press A, B, Right, Left and then press one of the following combinations along with Up to go to the desired level.

Level 1 - A
Level 2 - B
Level 3 - A + B
Level 4 - Select
Level 5 - A + Select
Level 6 - B + Select
Level 7 - A + B + Select *
Level 8 - Right
Level 9 - Right + A *
Level 10 - Right + B *
Level 11 - Right + A + B
Level 12 - Right + Select

Additionally, using the Game Genie code TEULLSIE allows you to select the ending sequence with the above cheat, using the combination Right + A + Select.
B5B3: 0E

Cheat for infinite energy
062C:06

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THE STAGES

(STRATEGY GUIDE AND WALKTHROUGH)

0. INTRODUCTION

When the title screen appears, wait for a few seconds. Ann will walk over to a stage where many of her friends will appear, along with one very dangerous enemy.

1. HOME TOWN WORLD

Scottish Clem will wish Ann good luck. Collect the Bomb tile. Avoid springing Harlequin Loonies, and self-destructing Pumpkins (who can't smile). Clown Doctors will throw exploding pills at you, or throw your apple bombs back at you. Alexander Graham Wolf is flying around with a rocket belt. You can ride on him.

Boss: Avoid the tree frogs and defeat the Woodpecker with an apple bomb.

2. LAKE SIDE WORLD

Jump off of one of your own apple bombs to collect the Extra Life at the beginning. Scrawny Bonnie will jump out of the water. The Woodpecker and Alexander Graham Wolf also reappear. Jump on top of the tree trunks with faces to reveal collectibles. Watch out for bridges made of logs. You need to run across at full speed as they self destruct.

Captain Contagious' ship will fire cannon balls. These cause splashes. Jump across the splashes to proceed, and ride on fish when necessary.

Sunny Bunny, who can't hurt you or be defeated, will throw balls which will hurt you.

BOSS: Sunny Bunny is joined by Scrawny Bonnie, who has a knife and will lunge at you. Bomb Scrawny Bonnie three times to proceed.

3. FOREST WORLD

There are some tricky jumps here. Use the small bats and spiders as platforms to ride on. Bats won't hurt you but spiders can. The bonfire and smoke will not harm you. The knight will throw javelins at you. The mailman will throw rocks at you. There are also worms.

BOSS: It's not a true boss, but watch out for the mechanical rhino head. It breathes fire. You must stay far away from it, and time your run carefully so that you enter the head when it's not breathing fire. Alternately, with enough momentum you can jump on top of its head (destroying the knight that's hanging out there) and bomb its eyeball, stopping the flames entirely, or just skip to the next screen from there.

Snoopwiggy, who has apparently turned bad with the influence of General D, has Grampa (from the 1977 film) as his captive. When Snoopwiggy sees you he will run away, and you will free Grandpa.

4. SKY WORLD

An Andy level. Andy carries a heart-shaped helium balloon. Press up and the arrow keys (and A) to navigate through the clouds. Fairies (including Mr. Tweedle Dee) will catch you and hold you still. Rapidly press left and right to shake them off. They will not harm you but are annoying. Suzie Pincushion throws balls and may provide a Needle and Thread invincibility tile if defeated. Cynthia will hit you with a slingshot. Two stars will combine to form the Shooting Star, which dances and shoots fireworks.

BOSS: Andy switches back to Ann. The Greedy rises out of a lake of taffy, spitting out Mint Candy enemies. It is possible to jump on the Greedy's hand and head, although not necessary. Bomb the top of the Greedy's head (especially near his eye) several times to win. You will hear a specific bombing noise when you've gotten it right.

5. OASIS WORLD

An Andy level. Teddy bears will throw bombs. An angry oven will spit out large rolling cookies. Birds overhead will drop scorpion enemies.

BOSS: A Spectral Dragon appears. Attach an apple bomb to its head five times to defeat it. King Koo Koo (or a larger statue of him?) appears at right. Jump across him for extra points, or stand on his nose or head while bombing the Dragon.

When you win, Andy switches back to Ann and you will rescue the three Pennies (from the 1977 film).

6. CAVE WORLD

Some difficult jumps here, including across platforms that lower automatically. The spiders can hurt you but are also often necessary to ride on. Spikes are more annoying than dangerous. Skeletons will throw their heads at you. In the slippery ice cave, Penguins will throw ice cubes at you. Raggedy Arthurs will appear as snowboarding dogs.

BOSS:
The Camel (with the wrinkled knees) is imprisoned and asking for help. Sir Leonard Looney, the Looney Knight, appears. He will throw miniature Looney enemies around, but these are more of a distraction. Throw bombs on Sir Leonard Looney's head to defeat him, then get out of the way. With Leonard defeated, you will rescue the Camel.

7. POND WORLD

An Andy stage. Some tricky jumps. You'll need to ride on the backs of alligators. Ghost rats will appear and will freeze you in place. You must tap A and B rapidly and jump out of them. Don't destroy the little sleeping blob creatures. Do jump on them - they give you extra height which is needed to clear these jumps - along with running momentum using B. An angry Barney Beanbag will throw little beanbags, which may land on your head and prevent you from jumping until the effect wears off. A giant alligator will rise out of the water, but this is just a setpiece. You cannot jump across until the alligator is gone.

BOSS: Raggedy Ann is a prisoner of Topsy the clown (from the 1977 film)! General D's influence has apparently turned Topsy evil - or at least affected her hand. The hand will throw projectiles at you, then retract. Bomb the hand enough times to defeat Topsy and advance. (I think you can touch Ann for extra points, but in practice nobody's going to be doing that.)

8. HARBOR WORLD

Sailors will throw bottle bombs at you. Jump on the sleeping blob creatures for extra height. You should mostly avoid the chomping fish, but the birds can be useful to ride on.

BOSS: Captain Contagious (from the 1977 film) will throw dynamite. Bomb his head five times to defeat him.

9. OCEAN WORLD

An underwater stage. Tap A with the arrow keys to swim forward, or hold B to swim continuously. Throw bombs at jellyfish. Watch out for pirate clowns who will bomb you from their boats. It's easy to become stuck on the coral at the bottom (and very annoying). Hold down B to escape from the tangle. Seahorses will hold you captive. Tap A to get them to release you. Drop down to the bottom of the water to advance to the next section.

Watch out for blowfish, and use your bombs. There is a secret invincibility tile here, appearing like a normal heart. Swim up to advance. The shark will not hurt you but will hold you captive. Tap A to escape. Bomb the pirate clown. Pass the seahorse and swim down to advance.

Watch out for jellyfish and sharks. Defeat a seahorse to enter the sunken ship.

Inside the ship, there are skeletons throwing their heads at you, heads which may be useful to ride on. There are also spiders, and Raggedy Arthurs skateboarding.

BOSS: The Gazooks, a sea monster from the 1977 film, has slimed Babette and taken her captive. It also appears that in the meantime, Babette has become a pirate. The Gazooks will spit bubbles from its red air valve, like an inflatable toy. The air valve is also its weakness. You need to bomb the general area of its air valve five times to win. You will hear a specific bombing noise when you've gotten it right.

The Gazooks will disappear and you will rescue Babette, the pirate (from the 1977 film).

10: GHOST TOWN WORLD

Creatures you encounter here will transform into heart balloons when you bomb them, which will allow you to get on top of the roofs of the buildings and collect powerup tiles and flowers. As in the first stage, pumpkins (who can't smile) will appear and self-destruct immediately. There are bouncing Harlequin Loonies, and Clown Doctors throwing pills. Hoppy Toad appears in the background. Red Fang, the Wolf (from the 1986 Broadway musical) appears throughout in a hot air balloon, either floating in place or flying around. You can stand on top of him - he doesn't like this - and steal his hot air balloon as a temporary hat. (You will basically become the balloon for a few seconds.)

BOSS: Two Ghost Rats will appear - and disappear - and throw pills at you. They don't stick around very long, so it will be difficult to time your bombs to hit them. To an extent you just have to get lucky. Also Hoppy Toad is there in the background. When you defeat the ghosts, Red Fang the Wolf will appear and thank you. He's not so bad after all.

11: DARK FOREST WORLD

An Andy level. A haunted stage with a couple of tough jumps. Rats will throw small weights at you which may land on your head and prevent you from jumping until the effect wears off. Bats will drop spiders at you. Strange ghosts will also appear. Maizie Moo Cow will appear in some of the Milk Crates. She can't be destroyed and won't hurt you, but will moo bubbles at you which can hurt you. When you reach the castle, an inflated King Koo Koo (from the 1977 film) will appear, bouncing around. Bomb him five times to proceed.

12: CASTLE WORLD

An equally haunted castle, which is a bit of a maze. You will seem to teleport around it confusingly. Try to be quick here because you'll need the time for the bosses at the end. Ride elevators up and down as needed with the arrow keys. At one point you may see two doors with lanterns above them. Jumping in front of the left door will take you back to the beginning. The right door has a heart in it, which you can grab multiple times to power up. Ride spiders to cross gaps. Avoid knights and head-throwing skeletons. Avoid the conveyor belt room, which is pointless. There's also a Shop Room and I'm not sure it's functional. Some long jumps especially toward the end.

BOSSES: Four boss fights in total. Time is your enemy here because there's a lot to do. Hopefully you got through the first part of the level quickly.

The Ghost Rats from Ghost Town World return. Bomb them or escape if you can, going down.

Willa Witch is there, but is frozen in place and won't hurt you. The floating hands will hurt you, and the arm of bubbles that trail behind them. It behaves similarly to the Spectral Dragon from Oasis World. Stand on Willa Witch as necessary for height, and bomb the floating hand five times to defeat it. Proceed using the down elevator.

The Bat, formerly Tweety or Yellow Yum Yum (from the 1986 Broadway Musical) is the next boss. She will exit from a picture frame and fly around the room. Sometimes she will do a dance kick and throw a small bat. She flies in an unusual pattern but it can be predicted. Bomb the top of her head five times to win.

General D (from the 1986 Broadway musical) will appear in rat form, as he did in the intro. He will fly around the room in a very simple back and forth pattern, and throw his evil red eye in your direction. You may be low on time at this point, but he's predictable, so bomb where he's about to land. Bomb him five times to win.

ENDING:

Your friends reappear to thank you for saving them, even Bat and Wolf. Credits roll. Some characters and animations only appear in these sections. Grampa is animated now. So is Teddy. Teddy is the wrong color. Queasy the Parrot appears.

The game has several alternate endings. I'm not sure what causes this. An ending at day in the town is common, but there's also sunset and night, and endings outside by a lake. Andy will appear in the town endings.

Congratulations!


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NOTES FOR POSSIBLE FUTURE CORRECTIONS:

(Let us know if you're familiar with NES Romhacking and can solve these.)

1) The game occasionally switches from Andy to Ann suddenly. This cannot really be helped with the Pennies appearing after the Spectral Dragon fight, but ideally we'd switch which graphics are loaded for the Greedy fight to be Andy instead of Ann.

2) Teddy in the ending he has lost his green half, since only one palette is called for this character. Ideally the Ballooning Wolf in Level 10 would also use multiple palettes, and one frame of Clem doesn't call multiple palettes also. (This can be fixed in the Mesen HDPack.) Sunny Bunny was also intended to use mirroring.

Enemies and characters who do not use multiple palettes or mirroring are coded as sprites in a simpler way. The palette and mirroring is set at the beginning, and then everything else is done with two bytes (location in a 4x4 grid and tile number) rather than three.

Perhaps the code could be hijacked to allow for a longer-format sprite construction for these characters, in which all three bytes are used? (Possibly unused space at 13210, 17F10?)

Alternately, it would help a little if a different CHR graphics bank would load for Teddy.

Note: the sprite constructions are done on a 4x4 grid and the hex numbers/letters used to set position are in a strange order: FEDCBA9012345678

3) Generally, the same set of palettes is used for two characters who also appear on the same CHR sheet.

Ideally I would really want Belindy to have a complete unique palette set rather than sharing it with Babbette, and for Babette to have a different palette during the Gazooks battle. Maybe during the ending as well, for Queasy the Parrot's sake. (Again, easy to fix in the HDPack.)

4) It is common for Ann (and Andy)'s left foot to simply disappear during the bowing damage frame (or to be replaced by a piece of balloon string in the two balloon levels). This is not always true, but is very common. This was a problem with the original game, where the left foot was usually omitted from the graphics sheets altogether at this point, and a piece of balloon string placed there in the two balloon levels. The foot is present in almost all graphics sheets in our version, but is still often omitted in gameplay.

5) Parts of Ann's hair are missing from her swimming animation, as we designed it with longer hair than the original game's character had, and we probably don't have the tiles. Ann has additional head/hair animation here than the original game had, and some hair tiles could presumably be re-added in the HDPack, with proximity coding.

6) "Friend" characters with walking animations usually have more available sprites in some positions (such as where their legs are far apart) than in others (such as where their legs are together). Some compromises had to be made here. The Camel is missing part of his hump in one of his walk frames. Captain Contagious and Sir Leonard Looney have additional eye color sprites which come and go. Clem's eye whites also come and go, not because of sprite count but because in one of his positions he is only allowed to have one palette. Some of Bat's intended design was removed due to sprite count, mostly some extra sections of her cape. I don't think it shows. Could be added back to the Mesen HDPack with proximity codes.

7) And some possible design was removed because we were running low on tiles on that graphics sheet. For example: Scrawny Bonnie could have a damage frame, which could be added to the Mesen HDPack, rather than just a change of color. This is Sunny Bunny's fault. Sunny Bunny was designed around mirroring, which that character doesn't actually support in the code, so instead we had to fill the graphics bank with extra tiles for Sunny Bunny. There was an unused duck in the original so we had a little more space, but not as much as we could have, once Scrawny and Alexander Graham Wolf were also included.

Another way of putting this is that we often used as much graphics space as possible! The Greedy is a real feat of reusing tiles and of engineering, as is The Gazooks, and the title image of Ann, and the cards in the shop to an extent. Some graphics banks we had more space than we need (the original had an unused boss fight on the page where Wolf, Clem and Socko now appear, and there appear to be unused animations of the character that became the rock-throwing Forest Mailman). For the most part, though, we are using every single tile and background block we have, and then some!

There were plans to replace the cat in the pond levels with Henny or another character, which did not happen in time for this release. Almost all creatures were replaced in this version.

8) One of the background CHR banks is a repeat of one of the others, and another isn't used. Perhaps a new ending screen could be added somewhere somehow which uses the unused CHRs?

9) There are level select codes at the title screen, based on button inputs. The Game Genie code TEULLSIE allows you to select the ending sequence as well. I would like this to be implemented without a Game Genie code ... It's also difficult to input these codes, so I'm curious if some emulator codes could be created which affect which level you start on, more easily. I'm not sure where this is in RAM.

10) The game has several alternate endings. I'm not sure what causes this. An ending at day in the town is common, but there's also sunset and night, and endings outside by a lake. These use different palettes and tile layouts. Most of the game is supported in the level editor CadEditor, but this and the Shop were not. I created a custom config for the endings in CadEditor, adding Andy to the town endings.

11) This is almost certainly too much, but we're interested in replacing the music -- there are probably some server members who could compose something in Famitracker if the music system for the game was replaced or explained.


Database match: Donald Land (Japan)
Database: No-Intro: Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20210216-231042)
File SHA-1: C5BBA353871E438C387FD13891580A2A139694AD
File CRC32: 4B539429
ROM SHA-1: A4542A50B29FF6EEEBD54F1F00E11BA6CDABFE05
ROM CRC32: D17B76DA