Written by: Richard on October 9, 2012.

Granted many of the members (including I) grew up in the 90s (some 80s) and have a very soft spot for nostalgic 8-bit games. We can all recall the days, sitting in front of our televisions playing SMB and Duck Hunt while our moms would prepare Nesquik. That was an  odd time in games, when games would be relentlessly hard. But no matter how hard the game would be, we would persist through and beat the crap out of it; well at least we can brag to our friends about how Bowser was so easy to beat.
Any who, let’s fast forward to now and Retro City Rampage just released for PC, PS3, Wii, Steam, and the Vita (**hint hint** get it from the site for pc, so you get a DRM-Free copy AND a Steam code). The game was created by Brian Provinciano of VBlank entertainment inc. and it has quite the history to it. Inspired by the old Grand Theft Auto games (the older top down ones specifically), this game was in the works for quite a while. In the video below, it expresses how the game went through near a decade and a half of changes until it finally released today. As it developed, many changes were made, but it went for an original route with an inspiring parody and throwbacks to our old classic nostalgic games.

After playing 10 minutes: THIS GAME IS FREAKING AMAZING. Yeah, that may sound a bit overly optimistic; but the game has many things that brought today’s current game mechanics and translated them into an old school game format. Within the first ten minutes I’ve played (no spoilers, go play the game yourself), I experienced 2 movie parodies, 1 particular British TV parody, 2 GTA-like rampage missions, and all of it was in amazing 8-bit style. One respect I take with this game is that, it knows how to parody and create gameplay that feels fun and keeps the player glued in to see what jokes this insane story can pull next.

BIONIC ARM!

The game brings an legitimate open world experience with tons of replayability in a single package. It’s a bit staggering how its only 14 bucks online, but watching the trailers and playing the game for a short amount of time only piqued my interest further.

Upon further inspection here’s what I gathered from the site (with my interpretations too):

- Over 60 Story missions
Many missions from a ton of genres like shooting stealth, questing, and even rhythm gaming! All somehow working in the interactive open world with working shops, casinos, and arcades!
-Over 40 Arcade Challenges
Quick pick up and play action!
- Official Crossovers and Bonus Games
Ever wanted to see BIT-TRIP, Super meat boy, Minecraft, and Epic Meal Time in a game? here’s your chance! Let’s not forget the tons of other video game references
- Over 50 vehicles to drive and equip
How about a skateboard with a rocket launcher or a shopping cart with nitro?
-25 weapons and powerups
Bionic arms, light guns, and “ghost busting” proton beams?!?
- Playable characters and Cameos
If you’re a fan of Destructoid, or know your gaming/TV icons you will see them here too!
-2.5 hours of music
Critically acclaimed soundtrack by virt, Freaky DNA and Norrin Radd; Available digitally, on CD and Vinyl.
- Cross buy and Cross save
One purchase gets you the game for the PS3 and PSVita AND you can cloud save…sorta like Transfarring?

Now reference what villain this is

But let’s not get too crazy with the spoilers and gameplay, I’m telling everyone to check out the game at their local GameStop and try it out!

And stay tuned for the full upcoming review and further segments here at Gigaventure!

Two parodies in one!