You can’t move for retro-inspired games these days, to the extent that a developer saying “Hey, this looks like an old game!” has started to feel less like a selling point and more like a hop onto a crowded, pixelated bandwagon. If you’re after something that looks a bit like a modern NES or SNES game (despite usually being the sort of thing those systems wouldn’t actually be able to handle due to their limitations), you could throw a rock at the Switch eShop and knock over about 12 of them with your first attempt.

We doff our backwards baseball caps, then, to Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore, which manages to take the overused ‘modern retro game’ concept and do something new with it. Slightly crazy, mind you, but new nonetheless.

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Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)

Arzette, you see, is designed to look like a modern version of a game released for the Philips CD-i. You know, that system Bill Gates once said was “caught in the middle. It was a terrible game machine, and it was a terrible PC.” The system that, bewilderingly, ended up with a series of CD-i games starring Nintendo characters after Nintendo's decision to ditch Sony and team up with Philips.

Almost all of these games were awful (listen, Hotel Mario isn't that bad), but they were nevertheless the inspiration for Arzette, which quite clearly borrows heavily from them, especially the two side-scrolling CD-i Zelda games Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.

The story follows our protagonist Arzette as she travels through the land of Faramore in search of the five shards of a magic jewel which can give her the power she needs to defeat the evil demon king Daimur. Along the way she meets a cast of colourful characters, the majority of whom are brought to life via the first of the game’s CD-i nods, the cutscenes.

These are animated in a way that is astonishingly faithful to the CD-i era, featuring deliberately crude drawings of the cast animated to over-the-top voice performances. If you’ve ever seen any of the countless compilations of Link: The Faces of Evil cutscenes online then you’ll get an idea of what to expect here. Get over the low-res nature of the characters, however, and you’ll discover that these interactions are actually really well animated, meaning they manage to be both deliberately cheesy yet oddly accomplished at the same time.

This same surprise extends to the gameplay itself. At first glance, it’s an accurate recreation of CD-i era visuals (albeit far higher resolution this time): in Wand of Gamelon and Faces of Evil the typical backgrounds of the 16-bit era were replaced with what appeared to be rough paintings of levels that had been slapped onto the screen, with developers later adding the detection for which parts counted as platforms. It was confusing and awkward.

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Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

Here the backgrounds look similar, though the effect isn't quite as jarring because a lot of modern 2D indie platformers these days have elaborate worlds. More importantly, the platforming is a lot sturdier than it was in the CD-i days, and although many elements are still similar to those in the two Zelda CD-i platformers – right down to the way enemies leave the same red gems when defeated – it feels a lot better to play than those games did.

It can’t be ignored, however, that one of the reasons developers often go down the pseudo-8-bit and 16-bit route is because it’s a nostalgic reference point that so many players can relate to. Given that the CD-i was a flop (around a million were sold worldwide, with the Virtual Boy selling more in North America), those Zelda games are hardly the childhood experiences of millions of players like Nintendo’s consoles were, so a number of the references here may fall flat.

We’re talking less about the cutscenes – the viral nature of YouTube combined with people’s love for anything terrible means that the Zelda CD-i games have been memed to death already, as has Hotel Mario (which is incidentally acknowledged well in a bonus stage here). It’s more the other little nods to the CD-i era, from the brilliantly accurate start-up animation to the fact that Limited Run Games is selling physical CD-i controllers for players who want an authentically uncomfortable experience, that are less likely to land with those not in the know.

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Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

This goes for the soundtrack, too, which on one hand is a brilliantly authentic recreation of early ‘90s CD-ROM music, with the same dodgy electronic pan pipes you heard in a bunch of multimedia discs and low-quality CD games of the era. Again, for those who get the reference, it’s absolutely spot on, but it may fall flat for anyone buying it without previous experience with the CD-i.

It’s perhaps unfair to level criticism at the game for nailing niche references, however: for the audience that gets them, they absolutely hit the target. What’s more important is that for the players who will see those nods and winks fly directly over their heads, what’s left is a solid enough platformer, if a safe one. Combat is fine, the platforming is satisfying enough, and there’s nothing majorly wrong with it.

It’s not without its issues, however. There are plenty of moments, where you’ll drop into what appears to be a safe area only to find it was a pit, killing you instantly. Infinite lives and generous checkpointing lessen the blow, but it’s never not annoying when it happens.

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Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)

The game’s non-linear progression can also be a problem at times, because there are occasions when it’s not actually clear what you have to do next. Over time you gain abilities which let you bypass barriers but before that point it can be common to find yourself wandering aimlessly around, switching between the stages available to you in search of the section you’re able to access next. Talking to NPCs will sometimes give you side quests which spell out more clearly where you have to go next, but it’s not always this clear.

Ultimately, Arzette is a game that is reasonable enough on its own merits, but has its fair share of issues that are easier to forgive if you’re the sort of person who clicks with its attempt to offer a modern take on a CD-i platformer. If the references fall flat, there are countless better alternatives out there.

Conclusion

Arzette does a great job of aping the look and feel of the CD-i Zelda games, but it relies on the player being familiar with them. Without that knowledge, what remains is a perfectly serviceable platformer but one that isn't revolutionary in any way. If you’re in on the joke, though, it’s just about worth sticking around.