A while ago, I had the chance of reviewing a little indie called Cavern of Dreams. That game’s premise was everything I’d want from a nostalgic blast from the past, as it was a 3D platformer meant to look, play and feel like a Nintendo 64 game, complete with a smaller resolution, a very specific kind of texture mapping, and some other limitations. I did like some things in it, but it had a lot of issues, namely in its underwhelming controls. It felt like a Nintendo 64 game, sure, but one from its mid-to-lower echelon. Today, I’m going to talk about a Nintendo 64 love letter done right. From out of nowhere, this ultra-cheap indie called Corn Kidz 64 won me over like very few indies do.

This is, by and large, a 3D platformer with lots of collectibles in it, but there is a clear element of linearity to it as well, which doesn’t exactly make it less exploration-heavy than its predecessors. The difference is that there is always a specific objective to complete in a level in order to proceed to the next one. In the meantime, sure, explore to your heart’s content and grab new abilities and XP cubes, this game’s main collectibles.

Before you ask, no, Corn Kidz 64 is not an RPG. It has absolutely no RPG elements. The only thing that vaguely resembles an RPG element in it is the fact you need to collect these cubes in order to eventually reach a new level. You don’t exactly acquire new abilities by leveling up, you merely just access new areas inside existing levels. But there’s a smart catch to all of this: the game knows that, in order for you to even be able to amass that many cubes, you will have explored enough of a level and collected enough powerups to make a Level 3 door feel like a beatable challenge. It is literally blocking you from accessing the area until you, the player, are experienced enough with Corn Kidz 64‘s mechanics. Genius!

Most of the abilities you acquire revolve around your main character’s physiology. According to the developer, I am playing as a sentient goat, but I refuse to believe that thing is meant to resemble any living being from our world’s fauna. Said “goat” has a single horn on his head, and he can perform different kinds of headbutts in order to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. You can use it as a weapon, a screwdriver, a drill, and so on. You can even, oddly enough, catch an explosive bird with your headbutt, and use your horn as a means to launch the bird as a rocket. Corn Kidz 64 doesn’t make a lot of sense when you stop and think about it, but that’s what makes it so fun.

Of course, this all works because the level design is just that good. Corn Kidz 64 is not a long game, and it doesn’t have many worlds to explore, but it sure manages to offer as much content as possible from such small foundations. You can beat it in about four hours, but those will be four hours spent on searching for every nook and cranny, for secret platforming gauntlets that reminded me of the hardest Super Mario Sunshine levels. You will fight some ridiculous enemies and befriend some equally weird NPCs. It’s very impressive, considering the minuscule budget.

Being a love letter to the Nintendo 64, BogoSoft had to be very precise with the game’s presentation. The N64 was a unique system which offered a lot of horsepower, for its time, in some aspects, but was severely limited in others. Corn Kidz 64 looks identical to a game from that era. Its texture mapping is perfect, being colorful, but overly stretched, a consequence of the N64 cartridge’s minuscule storage sizes. The resolution is incredibly small (a mere 240p), but you can raise it further on the Options menu. You can also dictate the amount of anti-aliasing, as well as the amount of scanline effects thrown onto the screen. In other words, if you want it to look exactly like a N64 game, with a crappy 4:3 presentation, you can. If you want some QoL improvements, they are also available.

Likewise, I truly believe the soundtrack could have been crammed into a Nintendo 64 cartridge and played via the system’s limited soundchip without an issue. It is comprised of shocking amount of catchy MIDI tunes that sound exactly like what you would expect from Nintendo 64 platformers. They are incredibly well-composed, and stick into your brain like bubblegum made out of industrial glue. Sound effects are a bit tiresome, but thankfully the sound mixing throws them onto the background. I didn’t exactly find the constant goat sounds to be that amusing.

Sadly, Corn Kidz 64 has some issues as well. It’s not all perfect. If you want to be a Nintendo 64 game, you will obviously suffer from some setbacks that used to haunt most of the games available on the platform. The platforming is good, and the controls are responsive, but they are occasionally hampered by the biggest culprits in any N64 game: wonky hit detection and flawed camera controls.

Regarding the latter, you can still control it with the right analog stick (the game is retro, but not frozen in time), but it is quite wonky. There are too many areas in which you are tied to a fixed camera angle, which never felt natural. Thankfully, Corn Kidz 64 is not exactly meant to be a challenge (well, with the exception of the Mario Sunshine-esque gauntlets, but they are optional), so you will not lose a ton of progress if you fall to your death or miscalculate a jump.

Corn Kidz 64 may have its fair share of issues, but it clicked with me. The visuals, the exact kind of instrumentation you’d expect from an 12MB cartridge, the nonsensical emphasis on collecting everything on sight… it’s all there. Add in some charming animations and some shockingly great level design, and what you have here is basically a staple for all future indie developers to look upon when deciding to make a N64-inspired retro platformer. I wish it had been a bit more polished, but I was playing it from start to finish with a bing, dumb smile on my face. There is no better praise than that.

Graphics: 8.0 It perfectly resembles a Nintendo 64 game in all aspects: resolution, polygon count, animations, textures. There are optional quality of life improvements you can turn on if you prefer comfort over nostalgia, but I ended up playing the entire game on 240p with a scanline filter.	Gameplay: 7.0 The platforming is good, albeit occasionally hampered by a wonky camera system and hit detection. All issues which would have been perfectly fine and expected on a Nintendo 64 game. Sadly, this is one area in which I would have preferred not to relive.
Sound: 8.5 A shocking amount of catchy MIDI tunes that sound exactly like what you would expect from Nintendo 64 platformers. Sound effects are a bit tiresome, but thankfully the sound mixing throws them onto the background.	Fun Factor: 9.0 Unbelievably good level design, charming visuals, and a really fun gameplay loop. Corn Kidz 64 is a perfect recreation of that specific era of gaming. I wish it had been a bit more polished, but I was playing it from start to finish with a bing, dumb smile on my face.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Corn Kidz 64 is available now on PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Switch.

A copy of Corn Kidz 64 was provided by the publisher.