Aaahh!! mediocre games
If you were a kid in the 90s, Nickelodeon was a staple of your life. I remember watching that channel endlessly in my youth, and of course that coincided with a ton of video games for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. Limited Run Games continue their efforts to bring back so many of these experiences from our past, some are worthwhile while others just leave me puzzled. Nickelodeon’s Splat Pack falls somewhere in the middle. There are some neat games here, and some that should have remained forgotten, but here we are with another retro compilation. Let’s see how it stacks up.
Let’s begin with what is included in this collection. There are three games with multiple versions as is tradition. First up we have Aaahh!! Real Monsters, which features Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm as they partake in monster training. This game includes both the Genesis and SNES versions of the game. Next up we have Rocko’s Modern Life: Spunky’s Dangerous Day where players are tasked with navigating Rocko’s dog Spunky through hazards in this puzzle platformer. Finally, we have Nickelodeon G.U.T.S. which was a game show where players are tasked to go through various challenges. Only the SNES versions of each of the last two games are included.
MSRP: $14.99
Platforms: PlayStation (reviewed), Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $14.99
The first game, Aaahh!! Real Monsters is a pretty straightforward side scroller. As mentioned, you cycle between the three characters, with each one having their own unique abilities. You can upgrade your abilities, and the game is extremely punishing. The controls have been modified from the original, which I understand, but like a lot of recent Limited Run Games releases, it lacks the ability to change them. We have gone from these things being standard, to being left out once again, which is very disappointing.
Rocko’s Modern Life is a pseudo escort mission, and I was shocked that this was the one game that I enjoyed the most. The puzzles are interesting and fun, and the controls are the best of the package. I really liked the way this game progresses, and honestly, I don’t remember playing this much back in the day. Likely because licensed games back then had a bad reputation but playing it now I had a lot of fun. This is by far the highlight of this collection.
Finally, we have G.U.T.S. and oh man, I remember why these types of games died. Much like American Gladiators and Double Dare, these game show games do not translate well to video games. The events are here, but their controls are awkward. Seriously, every event in this game has the most frustrating controls, nothing feels intuitive and I failed events over and over, even in the practice range. This game could have easily been forgotten, and no one would care.
As for the updates, Limited Run Games have really started to lack in these areas. Sure, we have rewind and save anywhere, but no button remapping is a sin. The visuals have some minor updates and the audio sounds great. It is by far the highlight of the package, but everything else just feels cheap. There isn’t anything here, it reminds me of collections back in the day that had some rom dumps and a few upgrades. We are regressing in this area, especially with the likes of M2 and Digital Eclipse running circles around LRG when it comes to reviving old games.
This collection is hard to recommend unless you have an extremely strong nostalgia for any of the titles included. Even then revisiting these titles has been a challenge. With the exception of Rocko, there isn’t a ton of fun to be had here. The limited options and upgrades are glaring, and I wish Limited Run would go back to spending more time with these. As of now they just feel like an assembly line of rom dumps, which is hugely disappointing.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
