To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Game Boy, 23-year-old French developer Christophe Galati began development on a game. On 29th September 2014, the first prototype of what would later become Save Me Mr. Tako: Tasukete Tako-San was released. Four years later, the game found a distributor in indie mega-publisher Nicalis and is now launching on Nintendo Switch. After having played through this indie effort, it's clear that it's a loving homage to Nintendo's venerable portable in ways too numerous to list without taking a deep dive. It's a good thing you're here, dear reader, as that's exactly what we plan to do.
The terms 'love letter' has been thrown around a bit too much for this reviewer's taste in recent years, but Save Me Mr. Tako is exactly that. The attention to detail is amazing. The first and most obvious thing players will notice is the fact that the game is presented in four colours, just like it would be were it launching on the original Game Boy. If you'd like to add a pop of colour, tapping either shoulder button will shift the palette, much like one could on the Game Boy Color. If you were more of a Super Game Boy player, you can also add borders to your screen to mimic that functionality as well. No matter how you played Game Boy games back in the day, you can recreate your experience here.
That attention to detail doesn't just extend to colours and screen borders though; most sprites in the game are created to match the Game Boy's 16x16 pixel limitation, and the songs have been composed using just four audio channels, again to match the limitations of the original hardware. The developer stated on their blog there is a fifth audio channel present in the game, however, eliminating the need to disable one to play sound effects. It isn't accurate to the original hardware, but it's a welcome addition as the music is an absolute joy to listen to. The soundtrack was composed Marc-Antoine Archier who had previously never done any work of this type. In this case, the first time is the charm. Each of Mr. Tako's 110 songs is memorable and the best of them stand toe-to-toe with some of the greatest tracks we've heard produced on the handheld - that's no exaggeration.
Save Me Mr. Tako is much more than a game that leans on nostalgia, however; it's an enthralling action-platformer that borrows elements from some of the Game Boy's most beloved franchises. The overworld is reminiscent of the original Game Boy Kirby titles, the platforming and powerups remind us of Mario, and the dungeon designs follow the classic Zelda formula. Imagine the best bits of those three series blended together, and you're not far off.
The game tells the story of the titular hero, Tako, and his brother Bako. The world is torn asunder by war between the humans and octopus armies, and Tako must journey from the depths of the sea to the surface through sandy beaches and across snowy mountaintops to fight alongside the humans. The tools? His ink and any one of fifty different hats, which grant him powers such as the ability to throw bombs, use a sword or take additional hits. Finding those hats is part of what makes this game so great; each level contains secret paths which will put your old-school platforming skills to the test. You'll need to run and jump your way to every hidden corner of each stage to find these power-ups, too - exploration is a must here.
Speaking of platforming, Tako controls fairly well, but falters in some areas. He can jump incredibly high and feels a bit floaty in the air. His default attack is to shoot ink at enemies, which fires out at a rapid-fire pace. Your ink supply is regulated by a meter, and when you hit an enemy with it they'll be frozen in place, even in mid-air. This mechanic is important as jumping on inked enemies is key to reaching most of the game's many collectables. Also scattered throughout the levels are gems, which are treated the same way coins are in many retro games: collect 100 of them and you'll next an extra life.
Despite how fun it is, Save Me Mr. Tako isn't without flaws. In a few instances, we found our adorable eight-tentacled hero inexplicably dying when approaching but not actually making contact with spikes. Hitboxes seem to be problematic in other areas, as well. During various parts of the game, you'll take on the role of a human character roughly twice the size of Tako, but it seems you can only collect gems if you jump into them, even if your character's body appears to be physically touching them. The sense we get from this is that the human characters' hitboxes may be the same ones used for Tako, but for obvious reasons we're unable to verify that. Elsewhere, dying before a boss forces you to sit through any cutscenes that precede it without any way to skip them; if you have trouble with any of the bosses this will quickly become annoying, especially when you consider that Tako dies in a single hit unless you've got a hat equipped that allows you to survive a bit more punishment.
Between the main and side quests, it's easy to sink at least 20 hours into Save Me Mr. Tako. Despite paying homage to the Game Boy, this game feels much longer than most games on the platform. Side quests can be a bit annoying, however, as there's no mechanism in the game to track these quests, meaning you'll need to write them down or find a guide. This is accurate to how most Game Boy games operated decades ago, but not all elements of '90s game design have aged well, and this is a prime example of that.
These complaints might seem game-breaking, but that really isn't the case. The level design is mostly excellent and stages are engaging and challenging as a result. Enemy placement is great, especially in the latter half where precise timing is required. Towards the end of the game, this makes for exciting instances in which you'll not only need to dodge enemies, but time when you shoot them with ink to turn them into platforms that you'll need to get through the level. There were more than a few times where we'd inch Tako along one pixel at a time to lure an enemy into attacking.
Conclusion
Save Me Mr. Tako is a lovingly crafted throwback to the days of the Game Boy. While we found some rough spots with the lack of side quest tracking and ropey collision detection, they weren't enough to take away from our overall enjoyment of the game. Tako is a lovable character in a quality platformer that would have been right at home on the system it pays homage to. If you love the Game Boy - flaws and all - then you'll absolutely adore this game.
Comments (30)
This really looks like it belongs in the original Game Boy software catalog. May pick this one up!
Chris (the developer) told me there is a way to skip/ fast forward a cutscene, if you hold x or -.
Is this a Switch exclusive?
This makes me really happy!
Nice throwback to a classic era!
Tempted.
Also, I hate that I can’t leave a one word comment.
Fantastic review tempted to get this game
Thank God it got reveiwed well as I preordered and I've been burned in the past preording games i thought would be good but turned out to be disappointing. Can't wait for Tako Tuesday tonight
I'm really excited for this. I'm kind of irked by the fact that I had this pre-downloaded and it wouldn't unlock this morning since the unlock is timed with the eShop update at noon. I was really hoping to play this on my lunch break at work, but alas, I'll have to wait until later.
@NewAdvent
I agree, I'm playing through Night in the Woods and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite games of 2018. I'm honestly completely fine with my Switch being my Nintendo/indie system, I've been playing it a lot more than my PC since I bought it last year.
@NewAdvent haha i think he's an octorok but like you said who knows! Lol. And i couldn't agree more regarding content being on the eshop . There's so much to play I actually have to skip games im interested in because theres not enough time. Really I can't understand the argument that there's nothing to play on switch.
I've been periodically checking on this game since I first heard about it on this site a while back. Even though I have no special nostalgia for the Gameboy-accurate presentation, I found the look of the game charming enough to keep an eye on it. I must admit to recently playing a bit of Gargoyle's Quest to get into the Gameboy mood, though. I still want to check more reviews, but I'm liking the sound of this so far. I do like that they didn't adhere to all the technical limitations. Doing four channels for music with an additional, dedicated effects channel is a good idea. Having to dump a music channel every time a sound effect played is one of those limitations best left behind.
Pre-ordered this, looks awesome. I'll be giving it a go tonight!
Whew! 😅 Pre-loaded this based off some past talk that made the game sound intriguing. Glad it’s solid, and shocked that it’s 20+ hours! (Though I do hope the hitbox issue gets squared away.)
My one critique of the 8-bit era is mapping in adventure games. Getting lost and having no idea what to do next is NOT a feature of old titles I want to revisit. And there is a 0% chance I am taking out pen and paper to make a map in 2018. For anyone in the know, does this game avoid that? If so, it's an instant purchase for me.
Looks cute, but $14.99 seems a bit steep, and this hitbox issue sounds troublesome. I'll wait for now.
Had never heard of this before, but it looks great - love that old Game Boy aesthetic!
I pre-ordered last night for the 33% off deal, glad to hear/read that I made a wise decision!
Fantastic game! Deserves 10/10. So far.
English: octopus (ˈäktəpəs)
-to-
Japanese: たこ (Tako)
@nintendobynature
What did you get disapointed with ?
I have a long flight coming up this weekend so this might be perfect for it. I downloaded Severed yesterday for $7 on sale as well! Looking forward to my flights
@Tibob honestly fox n forests. Wasn't worth the 20$ i spent on it. I was so hyped for it and it felt like a let down to me. So I usually try to not preorder games anymore unless i get some reveiws first
I pre-ordered this one and really like it. It made me think of slime-san at first, but it's definitely different from that game. I love the 60 fps graphics, great music, perfect jumping and movement physics, the NPCs you meet, the adorableness of everything in it, and the choosable color palettes (like GBC, but I think more choices in this new game). While playing this I thought of Devious Dungeons, I think it is, that has slightly better (more colors) graphics, but runs at 30 fps. Could've been a decent game I would've enjoyed, but they inexplicably couldn't get it to run smoothly?
Fantastic game, i love it so much i made an O.G Gameboy box for it.
The one big issue I have with this game is that there is no way to look up. There have been many instances where I had to blindly jump up to a platform, while avoiding an enemy's projectiles.
Such a gem. I really love this game.
Directly Flotzo from Kirby's Dream Land Extra mode but without eyebrows.
While it's an usual illustration of an octopus in JP, it takes much concept and inspiration from the beloved Kirby franchise.
@NintendoByNature clever
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