You know me and licensed games. Even if most of them are bad, I am always drawn towards them, especially when they are based off something even just remotely related to my childhood. Case and point, the Rugrats. The quintessential source material for crappy licensed games in the late 90s and early 2000s. Somehow, the indie published known as “The MIX” was able to snag the license and work with Wallride in order to come up with a brand new Rugrats game. More than that, it’s actually a 2D platformer inspired by Super Mario Bros 2. I was able to play a small demo and I was shocked to realize that… well… it’s actually shaping up to become kinda good.

From what I was able to figure out in this 15 minute long, two-level demo, Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is basically a fictional NES game, also accompanied by its HD remaster. Think of it as that Wonder Boy remaster from seven years ago, where you could freely change between 8-bit and modernized graphics, but in essence, you were still playing the same game. That’s Adventures in Gameland, with the difference that Wallride developed both the 8-bit “original” and the remaster at the same time.

The results? Quite impressive, even though it’s clearly a copy of a much more famous game. It’s a standard (and easy, because it had to be) 2D platformer where you control one of four babies, exploring semi-linear levels in order to each the endgoal and defeat a boss, all while collecting Reptar coins along the way. The controls are nearly identical to Super Mario Bros 2, with the sole exception that you can defeat enemies by jumping onto them. You can still pick them up afterwards, and throw their decimated bodies onto other enemies. You can dig on specific piles of sand in order to reach new areas, and so on. Doki Doki Panic, with babies.

Gameplay-wise, I don’t think there was anything else that impressed me. Not that it was bad, I just had so little content to assess. Just two levels, with one boss battle. What really impressed me was the presentation. The 8-bit mode does look exactly like a NES game, with the game color pallette, animations, and 4:3 presentation. Meanwhile, the HD mode, whilst not as adorable as seeing Tommy Pickles as a little 8-bit model, was still quite impressive, especially when it comes to the quality of its animations. Quite ironic, considering that Rugrats‘ animation was actually kinda crappy, as far as I can remember.

This small demo for Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland did not blow me away, but I was still plesantly surprised with what I was able to experience. It’s more than just a run-of-the-mill platformer with a licensed attached to it in order to sell more copies. It is, indeed, shaping up to become a neat little love letter to Super Mario Bros 2 / Doki Doki Panic, with an adorable and nostalgic coat of 90’s paint to boot. I would have liked to see more levels, as well as some more gameplay variety from this short demo, but I can say this was enough to, at the very least, make me look forward to playing the final build, whenever it comes out.

 

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland doesn’t have a specific release date, but will be released on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch.