That Rugrats has somehow managed to remain in the public consciousness for so long is impressive in its own right. This is in part down to Nickelodeon continuing to screen it for younger generations, and that the show ran for 13 years across 172 episodes and spawned two feature films. The most important reason for its extended shelf life, though, is its unexpectedly broad appeal. Formulated by Hungarian-born Gábor Csupó and his wife, Arlene Klasky, Rugrats appeared to be a show about babies for babies, but it was actually a show about babies for children and adults. Thanks to clever writing and a deeper maturity — commonplace during the Simpsons-inspired '90s — those who loved it 30 years ago will still enjoy it today.
Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland’s most essential victory, then, isn’t necessarily its stage design or graphical style, but tapping into the show's intelligence. It's a shame the original voice cast is unavailable, with exchanges instead represented in text, but you can still recall Tommy’s raspy tones in your head.
Much as it did in almost every episode of the show, the game’s plot revolves around the imagination of the Rugrats gang spiralling wildly out of control. After seeing a TV spot for a new Reptar video game (Reptar being a fictitious dinosaur riff on Godzilla), the babies then turn their limited world into a video game of their own. Stages are set in areas around the household: attic, backyard, kitchen, sandbox, bedroom, and living room. Of course, the mundane morphs into something magical through an infant lens, the sandbox becoming a vast, pitfall-laden desert, the kitchen fridge a mechanical maze of cabling and electricity spikes, and the attic a fully-fledged house of horror. It’s all thoughtfully designed, conceptually speaking, to capture the spirit of the show.
You have four playable Rugrats to choose from: Tommy Pickles, siblings Phil and Lil, and nerdy, flame-haired Chuckie. The parents make appearances about the house, maniacal Angelica is prominent during cutscenes, and those who know the show well will recognise the game’s bosses.
The aim is to recover special Reptar coins scattered throughout each stage to unlock a door behind the living room TV, leading to the game’s final area. You can take on the initial six stages in any order you like, and, during gameplay, can switch between any of the four Rugrats on the fly. All characters have a ground pound and enemies are typically dispatched by head jumps. The babies can also lift certain objects, like blocks, and use them to build climbable structures. Some enemies will take a daze from a normal head bop, and can then be picked up and thrown - a technique that comes to the fore during certain boss battles.
Stage layouts are built around exploration. Recovering Reptar coins is the main objective, but you will also need to find a screwdriver to unlock the boss door. Thankfully, it's well thought out and enjoyable to disassemble thanks to the Rugrats’ different gameplay properties. Lil is able to briefly float in a Princess Peach manner, Chuckie has a Luigi long jump arc, Phil has a higher hop, and Tommy, our hero, responds more in the classic Mario vein. By getting to grips with the pros and cons of your infant team, you can switch them out by pausing the game, and this functions the same in both single-player and two-player co-op modes. Ideally, we would have liked a more fluid in-game character switch option rather than going to a pause screen, which feels cumbersome, but it’s no dealbreaker.
While using different Rugrats for different degrees of air travel is fun, it doesn’t get as deep as other games that use this same structuring. Those who enjoy platforming exploration with a decent level of challenge will have fun with this, though, and keeping your baby team in play by rationing health items definitely requires strategising.
As Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is based on a well-known cartoon, the aesthetic here actually matters quite a bit. Thankfully, the styling is totally precise, not missing a beat where the characters, colours, and even line work is concerned. We do tend to find Flash-style rendering — that ultra-clean, shadow puppet movement — unappealing, but it admittedly represents the show here very well. That said, a CRT filter wouldn’t have gone amiss, just to capture some of that '90s Saturday morning TV fuzz.
What is genuinely impressive, however, is the ability to switch the game into 8-bit mode on the fly. Now, we aren’t even sure why this was necessary, since the effort involved in depicting the game twice seems overkill - but boy, are we thankful they did. Switching the graphical mode reverts everything into an incredibly authentic NES game, complete with sprite limit flicker. It’s so faithful, in fact, that Limited Run Games is releasing the 8-bit rendering on a physical NES cartridge for $60.
It’s down to the player which graphical mode to stick with: a game that resembles the cartoon almost identically, and in widescreen, or that which conjures incredible nostalgia and works brilliantly as an 8-bit title. Personally, we think the 8-bit variant feels right, not just because it's a callback to the era in which Rugrats first aired, but because the assembly of the game seems to make more sense. The music, too, is excellent and available in both modern and chiptune variants, and you can mix and match the soundtracks over both visual options.
Conclusion
Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a well-made platformer that captures the heart of what made the TV show tick, and that’s perhaps its greatest achievement. The character swapping system isn’t unique, but it works well owing to some clever and occasionally quite challenging stage design; and, while it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, there’s a fun action game here with a good level of exploration. Whether you’re drawn to the HD or retro aesthetic variants is down to which of your nostalgic sentiments is strongest. Either way, the 8-bit representation is so accurate to hardware of that era we can’t believe it wasn’t actually released three decades ago.
Comments 31
This is one of the few LRG games getting a normal retail release but not till December
Sounds great. There are a few others rewiews out there with scores around 7-8 so now i feel secure. Just pre order the physical version on Amazon. 63 dollars in total, a bit much but I like to support phydical realeses.
I may get the physical version but the digital one I will probably wait for a sale.
I remember the article on this site, in which the developers said they wanted to create a game, that feels right out of the past, or something like that. I am glad they achieved their goal.
@Tryffel
IF you have PC. Epic store giving away it for free from teh 12th september
https://www.resetera.com/threads/rugrats-adventures-in-gameland-will-be-free-on-epic-games-store-next-week-2-days-after-release.973020/
Do people still watch this show?
Just gotta know: is Angelica the Bowser of this game?
I'll be grabbing this in a sale for sure.
@anothergamer100 Beat me to it. Thanks for giving the PSA!
Glad to know it's good! I'm interested in the 8-bit version, and have been from the start. I still don't really understand why they bothered with the HD graphics at all. Like, Rugrats ended in 2004. Surely the folks who were of the age to fondly remember it enough to buy a game of it would want the 8-bit graphics?
@Uncle_Franklin Well, it had more charm than the spinoff show All Grown Up, they're 10 years older.
@Uncle_Franklin Well I think there's like a new version that's currently on? But this is clearly marketed towards people who grow'd up (sorry) in the 90's. Despite watching it a lot and seeing both films and theaters, I always found Rugrats actually fairly tedious, and as I've gotten older, I've come to view it as one of the worst animated shows of all time, largely because of it's terrible voice cast which pervaded all of television. In recent years though people have edited just the adult stories together, and I think a lot of people enjoy those more, and I can see the appeal in a lot of ways.
@World I've admittedly not seen much of the 8-bit graphics, but the fact the HD graphics bear a strong resemblance to the visuals in the cartoon is quite a draw for me.
I want to buy it, but that price is steep. Maybe once it goes on sale…
Maybe I’ll play the NES version on fpga.
I watched a lot of rugrats in its time, but absolutely no feelings of fondness for it today.
Glad to hear it’s good! This game brings me back to a time where it didn’t matter what the IP was, finding out they had a platformer on the GB or GBC was hype.
@Uncle_Franklin only babies and those who used to be babies. JK 😂 😜
Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy Franklin..... Why don't you come give me some brown sugar? 🤣
@gcunit Okay yeah, that makes sense. And the cutscenes definitely look perfect!
@Deviant-Dork
I don't want no part of your tight ass country club you freak b****!
A decent game created from a terrible creepy show. I guess it happens.
Looks promising, but I'll wait for a sale as I do not wish to throw my support behind Nickelodeon.
I might even be content with the free download via the Epic Store.
Really enjoyed Rugrats back in the early 90's, and even that universally semi panned PS1 game, Search for Reptar , which i'm sure has aged harder than a can of 1992 Crystal Pepsi. I remember getting it on Christmas Eve of 1998, along with Parrapa the Rapper & Cool Boarders 2.
I'll be scooping this one up, but only plan on playing it in 8-Bit mode. Even if it looks to be a somewhat diluted uninspired more clunkier take on Super Mario Bros. 2. Ya, I'm sure Gimmick 2! will fare much better.
Thanks for the review, so glad this game ended up being overall good and especially that it "accurately captures all the humour and intelligence of the original show", will eventually get it for sure!
How does the gameplay get adjusted when you switch aesthetics? I’d assume not at all but the widescreen to 4:3 must do something. Is it just cutting the sides off and you don’t see as far to the left and right?
@AG_Awesome 4:3 adds bezels with artwork to the screen edges. The aesthetic isn't affected because the game is entirely redrawn from the ground up in an 8-bit style, but of course the landscape reduces (rather than squashes) to fit the new ratio.
4:3 introduces bezels on either side of the screen to fill the unused space. They're muted and don't overpower the central action. In a nice touch, when you ground pound in 4:3 format those bezels do a little shake.
This game is going to be Free on Pc on the epic store next week…
Can you tell us anything about the local multiplayer?
I would argue that Rugrats spawned three feature films with Rugrats First Movie, Rugrats in Paris, and Rugrats Go Wild that crossed over The Wild Thornberries.
I'm glad "it wasn’t actually released three decades ago" since it probably would have been made by LJN.
@Tom-Massey
I wish they would of added an option for a 'smaller' 4:3 screen aspect ratio for 8-bit mode, for those who game on larger 65" TV's. Because lets face it, 8-bit graphics look awful blown up to 4:3 on such a large screen. Plus, the CRT filter effect dims the image too much. Why can't they just apply scan lines & that CRT softness without reducing brightness?
in 4:3, it would fair much better on a 42" OLED, or even the Switch OLED's own 7" display.
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