I hadn’t engaged with any new media of note this week, so I took to rolling the dice to see what to write about. I knew I was in the mood for a Genesis game to hear some of those groovy bass lines. Beyond that, I let the randomizer take the wheel.

And it drove me to McDonald’s.

McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventure is a late 1993 release for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, and initial glances might have most people write this off as shovelware advertising garbage, but this is surprisingly not the case. Probably not surprising for those familiar with the developer however; This is acclaimed developer Treasure at the helm, in either their first or second game depending how you look at it. It was developed side by side with Gunstar Heroes, and the developer would go on to make classics such as Guardian Heroes, Silhouette Mirage, and Mischief Makers. Even their misfires are still curious pieces of design, such as Stretch Panic. That’s enough dressing though, I hear everyone chanting for McDonald’s. Let’s talk about the meat on this hamburger: Treasure Land!

Speaking of hamburgers, there actually aren’t any here. For a game conceived as an advertising vehicle, this game showcases the McDonald’s land characters, but mostly it’s original enemy designs and locations. One would think every power up in this game could easily be menu items, but instead, Ronald scoops up various flowers, balloons, and magical gems on his quest to assemble a magical treasure map. If one were to be raised in an idyllic world free of McDonald’s advertising and be shown this game, they would just see it as a whimsical adventure of a clown and his oddly shaped friends.

Ronald’s journey, is brief and breezy (At least in the American release). While you can see I played on beginner, this is also the default difficulty for the game. Treasure clearly wanted folks to see this game through to the end, and dive back in at a harder difficulty if they wanted to go back into the drive-thru. How did Ronald’s adventures fair against his contemporaries, Sonic and Mario?

The clown takes advantage of all three buttons on the Genesis controller, doing all the things we expect of hamburger salesmen: Mighty leaps, destructive sparkles, and grappling around locales with magic handkerchiefs. The grappling action is the most distinctive here: He can shimmy up and down, and letting go of the button flings him upwards into the air. Treasure has always played with the joys of bursts of momentum, and my most immediate comparison would be the various rings spread about in Treasure’s follow up game, Dynamite Headdy.

It’s a simple moveset that doesn’t have the hidden complexities of Sonic or Mario, but Ronald doesn’t need it: His game is brief, imaginative and gets by with the mechanics on display. A brief puzzle game can occasionally be played at a chance for power-ups, but this is just a diversion from the main course. The adventure takes less than 90 minutes, and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Progression and reset points are generous, with systems of balloons to save you from fatal falls, paired with ample lives and continues.

I can’t say that I’m itching to jump back into the game for another run on a higher difficulty, but the entire experience was definitely a pleasant surprise. More than anything, the game is building a hunger for more Treasure games. It’s tempting to go revisit Mischief Makers, but I need to get the N64 emulator cooperating before I can take a trip down memory lane. I’ll happily take suggestions on what Treasure games to check out next, there are still a lot of them I have never touched.

Treasure Land Adventure shows that you can have a good time in less than an afternoon. It’s a throwback to an era where advertising or big IP games didn’t necessarily have to be bad. Most advertising games nowadays exist as unskippable ads, doomed to linger on your phone screen as you go do something more important. But here, locked away in 1993, Ronald McDonald gets to be free of his advertising duties. He doesn’t catch a whiff of french fries. He can spin atop a ballerina’s head, soar through the air, and be content that he gets to be a piece of art for once, instead of a vehicle for McFlurry sales.

For more reading on this curious intersection of fast food and fast gaming, I highly recommend Shmuplations’ translated article from BEEP! Megadrive, covering the development of some of Treasure’s earliest games. You can find that here!