Retro City Rampage DX (NS) Review

SuperPhillip Central has many reviews to share this week. We begin this onslaught of opinions on games with my take and review on the Nintendo Switch port of Retro City Rampage DX. Here goes!

We built this city on bits and blocks.

Until now, I've never played any version of Retro City Rampage! GAH! There. I said it. After seven years or so on the market in various forms, this was my first time playing Retro City Rampage. It finally seemed like a solid starting point with the newly released and relevant Nintendo Switch version, so here I am. The console itself has been my go-to for indie games, as I love being able to play them on-the-go or at home while having the TV on the background as I play in undocked mode. I can definitely, 100% agree that the high amount of love and praise for Retro City Rampage and its deluxe incarnation (the latter being the review subject) is very much deserved. Still is, as you'll see with my own love and praise for the game.

Retro City Rampage DX relishes in its ridiculousness and urges players to savor in its stupidity. The game really is just an excuse to drive around, plow into vehicles, shoot anyone without discrimination, and enjoy the game's fantastic missions and odes to games and pop culture of times past. The story is as simple as the rude dude with an attitude, named Player, being transported into the future, and now he must gather all seven pieces of the broken down DeLorean-esque time machine to return back home. Retro City Rampage never lingers on one particular thing. It's constantly shifting from mission to mission, story point to story point, all while never letting the player rest for a moment.

The game doesn't try to be anything further than be a hilarious parody of video games and pop culture, particularly around the '80s and early '90s. Your mileage will vary depending on how many references you gel with. For me, I was busting a gut and giggling with glee from the opening ten minutes. Whether it was the first major mission being a take on Metal Gear, a jump into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-like sewer with the same exact look of the super hard NES game, or notes given to Player on the same stationery that Princess Toadstool mailed to Mario at the end of each world in Super Mario Bros. 3, the references are certainly fun to find and point out. It's like its own game--seeing which references you can pick from the game. A game within a game! How meta! Not only that, but the devs have made Retro City Rampage DX a bit of a critique on multiple topics in gaming, such as indie developers and how big publishers take advantage of them, as well as the types of snobby gamers who look back on the classic gaming era with too much of a rose shade in their tinted glasses while trashing on anything modern.

Player's Sunday stroll could have ended a bit more peacefully, but where's the fun in that?

The story elements and missions involved borrow heavily from classic games and pop culture from the retro era. I mean, who wouldn't want to teach Duke and M.C. from Bayview High a lesson courtesy of school principal Mr. Balding? The basics of Retro City Rampage DX's gameplay also borrow heavily from another source, the Grand Theft Auto series--particularly the top-down 2D games. There is the thefts of automobiles, story-based missions to advance through the game, and side missions in the form of discovered waypoints have you try to get high scores by slaughtering as many people as possible in various ways under a specific amount of time.

This slaughter mission requires you to beat a high score while piloting a colossal tank.

The story missions themselves have you going from insane, ridiculous situation to another. ...And again, filled with references to retro gaming and '80s/'90s pop culture during them. There are missions where you take out pole dancers in a less-than-responsible gentlemen's club (if you know what I mean), go into the sunken deep in a familiar-looking dam where you must turn on five underwater bombs, and even escape from prison with only a cardboard box to help you.

Some are a bit difficult, but where Grand Theft Auto failed in its early outings compared this retro delight is that Retro City Rampage DX hands out a gracious amount of checkpoints per mission. Thus, you're never really losing much time or progress when you ultimately get shot to death, blown up, drown, get beaten to a pulp, run over by a cop car, etc. If Retro City Rampage DX played by different rules in this regard and had no surplus of checkpoints, I probably would have bailed on the game. While this game does take a lot of retro classics, we're not renting these games from Blockbuster Video anymore, so NES-hard games aren't needed nowadays to keep our attention and keep us playing, death after death.

Give me a break, cops. I'm just doing my daily routine here--
browsing Skate 'n Buy and shooting at random people.

While the story missions aren't too terribly long, nor will it take a lengthy duration of time to beat them, Retro City Rampage DX has plenty to see and do in Theftropolis. From those previously described "Rampage"-like side missions to finding loot boxes and payphones as collectibles, as well as unlocking all of the different playable skins in the game--Retro City Rampage DX has you covered long after the ending credits have been viewed. Bonuses like retro tints to the screen and a nigh unplayable but utterly hilarious "Turbo Mode" add even more to the good times of the game.

Controlling Player is satisfying and feels good. Between aiming and shooting either by holding the shooting button or using the right stick to fire in one of eight different directions, you can adjust in the moment depending on what kind of crowd you're up against. The left shoulder button opens up your current arsenal of weapons--everything from pistols and machine guns, to rocket launchers and flamethrowers. The only drawback--but not with the controls--is that when you die exploring the free-roam city of Theftropolis, you lose all of your weapons, so be sure to use everything you can to attack, such as punching, shooting, and yes, Goomba stomping.

Your skin might be protected by suntan lotion, but that stuff won't protect from bullets!

Retro City Rampage DX has all the trappings of an 8-bit game, though not all the problems. For one, the frame-rate is solid while the amount of characters on screen at the same time is much more sizable than possible on actual 8-bit hardware and games. There are other aspects that appear in Retro City Rampage DX in a graphic sense that couldn't be done on the NES. From performance to the sound, Rampage comes with a host of chiptune tracks, all working well to bring an experience as close to the late '80s and early '90s as possible.

Overall, if you've not played Retro City Rampage DX despite all of its re-releases since its original launch, the game should definitely be on your radar. If you already have, however, perhaps the appeal of a version that you can play on a TV as well as take the game with you to the park, in the car, or even if it's just a different room in your house, will make sense enough to make this Nintendo Switch port worthy of a purchase. For me, I'm glad I finally got around to playing Retro City Rampage DX in one of its forms, and now also happy that I can wholeheartedly recommend it to others.

[SPC Says: A-]

Review code provided by Vblank Entertainment Inc.

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - "Total Eclipse of the VGM" Edition

In North America and parts of South America, a special eclipse will be able to be viewed today, with a line going directly through Central City. It's a miracle that we're around to see it, but actually, it won't be the only eclipse of this kind in our lifetime (unless the world falls apart and the apocalypse really comes--with the current world climate and certain leaders of countries, that may just happen). Regardless, another eclipse like the one today can be viewed in North America in about seven or so years. Scientists call it a "celestial jackpot."

But, there are rarer things, especially in the game industry. For instance, Nintendo finally figuring out how to do online play in any intelligent way, Microsoft finally having an in-depth lineup of games from its own first-party studios, and Sony finally allowing us to change our damned PSN IDs! The list goes on, but let's not loiter around low-hanging fruit.

What isn't rare, at least on SuperPhillip Central, is this weekly segment usually appearing on Mondays, SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs. This week, we have a nice mix of games starting off with Street Fighter V. We then get legendary with The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes and The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II. Next, is a trip to the land of Ys with Ys III: Wanderers of Ys for PC Engine. Wrapping up things is Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour.

Click on each VGM link to hear the song represented, and as always, check out the VGM Database for all past songs and games featured on this weekly segment of articles. Now, let's get on to the music!

v1451. Street Fighter V (PS4, PC) - Metro City Round 1 & 2

With another approaching Capcom fighter on its way with next month's Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, let's listen to Capcom's first attempt this generation with Street Fighter V! A rocky start would be generous to say about Street Fighter V's launch, but things have improved somewhat. Still, hopefully Capcom learned some lessons and Infinite won't have a challenged launch. That said, one component that didn't miss a beat was the sensational soundtrack. This theme from Abigail's stage is pure shreddin' guitar intensity with some solid drum playing.

v1452. The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (3DS) - Volcano

This is one of my favorite themes in the most recent cooperative take on the Zelda formula, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes for the Nintendo 3DS. The third area of the adventure is simply known as "Volcano", and it brings with it an incredibly catchy theme made especially brilliant by the awesome violin. This instrument brings the totality of the Volcano theme to elevated heights, don't you agree?

v1453. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (PS3, Vita, PC) - Awakening

We go from one legend to another. This time we're looking at (but most importantly listening to) The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II. The Legend of Heroes series saw commendable success on the PlayStation Portable, and then it found further success when it released on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita (the PSP's successor), and the PC. The game would be remade in the form of Ys: Oath in Felghana, and you can hear the astounding remix of The Boy's Got Wings here.

v1454. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (PCE) - The Boy's Got Wings

We already had a smooth segue on this edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs, but why not get greedy and do another? VGM volume 1453 was part of a game developed by Falcom. This stands true for Ys III: Wanderers from Ys. We're going exclusively with the PC Engine version of the game rather than Super Nintendo port or anything else. The Boy's Got Wings is a motivating action track that pushes the player to continue saving Ys as Adol Christin.

v1455. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GCN) - Sudden Death

Let's go from wild, epic adventures to... golf? You might scoff at that idea, but we're not talking any old golf, we're talking Mario Golf! In this specific case, how about the Nintendo GameCube's Toadstool Tour, a splendid outing for the series, though not my very favorite. Regardless, Motoi Sakuraba delivers a delightful and playful sound to the game, sometimes laid back, others more action-packed, such as the Sudden Death theme. It's a Match Play. You're tied 4 holes apiece. Who will make the first mistake and who will be the one to jump on it, defeating their pesky opponent? That's the onus behind this theme and Sudden Death in golf terms in general.

Pokkén Tournament DX (NS) 30 Second Trailer

Ahead of its release next month, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have unveiled what seems to be a commercial for Pokken Tournament DX, an expanded port of the Wii U hit. This time, new Pokemon fighters are included to beef up the roster. Additionally, the Pokemon channel on Twitter revealed that a demo for the game is coming soon to Nintendo Switch, so while we look forward to that, let's check out this video to get hyped!

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (PS4, PC) Gamescom Trailer

Namco Bandai released a new trailer for Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom just ahead of next week's Gamescom expo. Showcasing battle footage mixed with story elements, next January is going to be very special with this game's release!

The Unpopular Opinion 6: Games SPC Liked That Many Did Not

Have you ever been on the unpopular side of the equation? Sure, you have. We're all gamers, right? Cheap joke aside, I'm actually referring about having an opinion towards a game that is more positive of an outlook than most. That's where the start of SuperPhillip Central's Unpopular Opinion series of articles took root, setting the stage to allow me to talk about games that I liked that either are extremely polarizing or just considered poor games overall in general. Do you have your own games that you're on the minority in opinion of?

Past installments of The Unpopular Opinion can be viewed with these links:

The Unpopular Opinion
The Unpopular Opinion 2
The Unpopular Opinion 3
The Unpopular Opinion 4
The Unpopular Opinion 5

Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U)

Ever since Paper Mario: Sticker Star on the Nintendo 3DS, the Paper Mario series has strayed from its partner-centric turn-based battles, heavy story focus, and traditional RPG design. Sticker Star was no doubt the change of the Paper Mario series that strayed the most from the winning formula. While Sticker Star was still enjoyable for me, I find the Wii U's Paper Mario: Color Splash to be a stellar entry in the series. While original characters weren't represented--instead it was a myriad of Toads of various outfit colors as typical Super Mario Bros. series characters--there was a larger focus on story and absolutely hilarious dialogue and story segments. Sure, the card battle system still centered around using the right item card or Thing card at the correct time against bosses, and most battles were merely a means to get through the game to the next humorous part of the game, the puzzles involved, the exploration featured, and the memorable world, setting, and characters made Paper Mario: Color Splash a colorful delight to SuperPhillip Central.

Super Bomberman R (NS)

There wasn't too much to choose from retail-wise when it came to the Nintendo Switch launch back in early March. Sure, you had the immense blockbuster of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but if you wanted a multiplayer release, you didn't have much in the way of options at the time--at least on store shelves. Super Bomberman R from Konami not only filled that niche well and saw the return of Bomberman to gaming, but it managed to sell quite well. Critically, the game was filled with issues, such as weird camera angles, limited multiplayer options, hard AI, and the like, but SuperPhillip Central enjoyed the game regardless. Fortunately, most of the issues I found with Super Bomberman R have been fixed via patch. The ability to move the camera away from being diagonal with the action, more multiplayer choices, AI that you can set on multiple difficulties that don't read your controller inputs, and new, free DLC in special maps and characters were all included. Now's the time to return to Bomberman's own return to gaming!

Yoshi's Story (N64)

While it's true that on SuperPhillip Central's Top Five Yoshi Platformers list the Nintendo 64's Yoshi's Story is only ranked higher than the critical and commercial flop, Yoshi's Topsy Turvy on the Game Boy Advance, Yoshi's N64 expedition is an actually good game all the same. No doubt a lot of the criticism around Story's initial release was that it was coming directly off of the entry beloved by fans, Yoshi's Island, but removing that comparison out of the equation, Yoshi's Story presents charming visuals, the ability to choose the game's difficulty by either finding and eating all 20 melons per stage or just consuming all fruit you find, multiple play-throughs as you can only choose one of four stages in each world each time you play, and other enjoyable aspects. Of course, the things that distract from fully loving the game include opportunities to miss melons in levels (resulting in no possibility to complete that level perfectly), a rather low difficulty challenge-wise--especially with bosses, and a huge step down in musical variety from Yoshi's Island (sorry, had to bring Yoshi's Island back into the equation again somewhere here!). Otherwise, Yoshi's Story may not have been the sequel gamers and critics wanted out of Nintendo after Yoshi's starring role on the Super Nintendo, but it was an appealing game all the same.

Disney Epic Mickey (Wii)

Disney Epic Mickey had a lot going for it at first: a project from the mind of Warren Spector, one of the forces behind Deus Ex; a dark, steampunk art direction as seen in the concept art; and for diehard Disney lovers, the return of Oswald the Rabbit. Then, sadly, reality stepped in to crush many gamer hearts. For one, the game was releasing on the less powerful Wii, a system that could only hope to bring 1/8th of the awesome concept art to life in game form; and two: it just wasn't a polished game. So, I know what you're thinking, "Phil! What could you honestly like about Disney Epic Mickey after all this soul-crushing disappointment?" My answer would be that Epic Mickey had plenty of good ideas, and it's just that they weren't executed to their fullest potential. I'm referring to things like the paint and thinner mechanic, the choices in the game at certain parts of the story that overall didn't really do anything, and the quests, which were oftentimes locked off as you progressed through the game. Also, the platforming in general was tight, the worlds that are fun to explore, and the personality put into the game. No, Disney Epic Mickey has more than its share of compromising problems, but the positives outweighed the negatives in this particular case.

Crash Nitro Kart (PS2, GCN, XBX)

Crash Bandicoot is in the minds of both mainstream and veteran gamers thanks to the excellent remasterings of Crash Bandicoot 1-3 on the PlayStation 4, attesting to the fact that Crash still has it in terms of nostalgia, popularity, and hype, evidenced by its sales figures. It's important to note that even though Crash 1-3 and, of course the marvelous Crash Team Racing, are tremendous games, later ones that didn't involve Sony or Naughty Dog weren't all awful. For example, how about Crash Nitro Kart--a game that definitely had influence from Crash Team Racing, including the formula, the structure of the story mode, the modes, and similar kart handling! Crash Nitro Kart had excellently designed levels with creative opportunities to take daring shortcuts, pass by opponents, and make any racer regret getting on the same racetrack as you! Though not featuring as many courses as CTR, Crash Nitro Kart did have some new tricks up its collective sleeve. Perhaps the game was unfairly compared to Crash Team Racing, which to be fair is only one of the best mascot racing games of all time, but don't sleep on the opportunity to give Crash Nitro Kart a chance.

Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier (PS2, PSP)

After a small absence, Jak and Daxter returned, but this time to the small screen. Well, the small screen in the sense that it first released on the PlayStation Portable before shortly after getting ported to the PlayStation 2 where players hopefully had a bigger TV than their PSPs. Regardless, original developer for the series, Naughty Dog, had since moved far away from Jak, Daxter, and the world they created (and also the edgy crap from Jak II and on that they felt was needed). Thus, a different developer took the role of creating the fourth chapter in the series, The Lost Frontier. Many find this a lesser entry in the Jak and Daxter franchise for various reasons. Some thought it didn't have the same stakes as the original games, some didn't like the lower budget compared to the PS2 trilogy, while others were stupid in thinking that if Naughty Dog didn't grace the game with their amazing, ungodly talent (don't get me wrong--they make great games, but they are far from perfect), then it wasn't a good game. On the other hand, I enjoyed this bite-sized outing with Jak and his wisecracking ottsel companion, running and gunning, blasting away at baddies, and even flight mission segments that were fantastic and broke up the action.

Castlevania Judgment (Wii)

With the recent release of its own limited Netflix series, Castlevania is once again on the minds of many, after being in MIA status for several years. There is no better time to talk about one of the more frowned upon Castlevania games in the series than now! Let's get all of the stuff from Castlevania Judgment that I agree was bad out of the way first: the character redesigns were oftentimes laughable, the implementation of motion controls was terrible (though one could use the Classic Controller for much better precision), and the camera could certainly be more of an enemy than the character you were fighting. However, there were still aspects about Castlevania Judgment that I really enjoyed, such as the character roster and variety, the story mode, the visual for the time (and for the Wii, of course), the rockin' remixes of past Castlevania themes included in the game, the fighting in general (albeit basic), and smaller things that added up to a 3D arena fighter than I overall liked--liked, not loved.

Killer7 (PS2, GCN)

Do you remember the Capcom Five? It was initially a group of five exclusives from Capcom set to release solely on the Nintendo GameCube. Whether a failure of communication or poor planning, only one of these titles actually became exclusive to the GameCube and it was a commercial and critical bomb (P.N. 03), one was cancelled outright (Dead Phoenix) and the others were either given late ports with added content (Resident Evil 4 and Viewtiful Joe), or released at the same time as is the case with Killer7. Killer7 was a psychological thriller with quite polarizing opinions about it. A blend of first-person aiming and shooting with third-person exploration, Killer7's uniqueness laid in its insane story and limited movement capabilities. Instead of being able to roam around, players were forced to move along predetermined paths through levels. Regardless of criticisms to the game, Killer7 has since received a bit of a cult following, as well as it bringing director Suda 51 to a grander audience with clout than ever before in his career.