Retro City Rampage Discussion Thread

[Ecto Jedi]

Listen, there's already a post about this upcoming WiiWare game in the Ninja Turtles video game section, so let this be an outlet for a broader discussion concerning "Retro City Rampage."

I'll admit, the trailer had me a bit skeptical. Sure, it looked frenetic and frenzied, but the main avatar seemed tiny, and the thing looked like a b*tch to control. Hopefully my perception is off.

If there's anyone reading who doesn't go giddy at the sight of the "Wonder Hats" shop, or a "Vanilla Ice Cream" eatery, or a Turtles-inspired underwater dam level, then get out of my thread. I don't want you here.

A closer inspection of the trailer reveals several more street outlets, including "Sneaky Snake's Box and Crate," "Lunch-Out!!," "BAJA Gaiden Ryudenken Grill," and a "Skate 'n Buy."

Awesome.

[Melt]

The sprite style reminds me of Lemmings, or the humans in Rampage.

I love "Fresh Prints"

[Brodie]

Yoshi motorcycle.

Looks...pandering. But not sure who its pandering too.

[Ecto Jedi]

Pandering? Really? I don't get that vibe. I just get into dizzy fanboy mode seeing all those '80s game and pop culture references. It's my one failing.

[Peanut]

It's pandering. Not to the degree of something like Scott Pilgrim vs The World or the new Mega Man sequels, but it's pandering. It's the new fad in not only indie, but downloadable game design as a whole.

Makes tons of old pop culture and game references, mix it together with faux 8-bit graphics and a chip tune soundtrack, then sprinkle it with just enough old school jank to make it nostalgic in that "blowing in carts" kind of way.

This kind of thing has worn out its welcome on me, but I can at least see some love in this game. One f*cking dude made it, so you know it wasn't shat out during some office meeting about how to drag in the nostalgic game crowd who can't seem to move the f*ck on.

[Ecto Jedi]

Ahhh. It's good to be back.

[Dr. Doom]

With Scott Pilgrim it was kinda of the appropriate thing to do though, because it fit the tone of the books. That and it's a wonderful game with an awesome soundtrack. I'm sure the Mega Man games have great soundtracks too.

I guess if you'd say the same thing about the books, then it doesn't really matter, but I think they're incredible, so that's just where I am.

[Peanut]

It's super fitting and the game is insanely fun, but that doesn't negate the fact that that kind of stuff is pandering to a very specific crowd. They put 8-bit graphical glitches in the Subspace Highway. Pandering.

I'm not saying some of that stuff isn't great, I'm just saying that it's a viable tactic that publishers are using to pull in a very specific crowd of people.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Well, I happen to be in that crowd and also be a total whore for this kind of stuff, so the more the merrier.

[Peanut]

I also love that kind of thing, but don't you think it's been getting steadily out of control? It's nice to have those retro throwbacks every so often, but does every other downloadable title need to have some kind of retro twist to it?

It's like retro has become the new dual-stick shooter.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Originally Posted by Peanut

It's like retro has become the new dual-stick shooter.

I'd argue with you, but it would make me a total hypocrite after years of bitching about the endless stream of dual stick shooters on the market. Point taken.

[Melt]

I'm not a fan of 2D platformers either so a lot of that stuff doesn't appeal to me either

[Ecto Jedi]

New trailer:

[Krang]

To include a YouTube video in your post, take the 11-character video code from the URL (the one after the "v=" part) and put it in [youtube] tags, like this:

[youtube]_J-03fMBCfg[/youtube]

[Cure]

Remember how Super Meat boy was supposed to be a WiiWare exclusive, but then it ended up on XBLA first? Well, now this game is doing the same thing.

I think it's a pretty funny trend.