Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland (Review)
Not that I have an actual 2024 bingo card, but if I did, you probably wouldn’t find “Rugrats platformer” on it. But it is 2024, and there is a new Rugrats platformer released last week, and thus here we are. As a Nickelodeon-watching child of the 90s who grew up playing classic platforming games, I knew this was a title I wanted to check out, and (spoilers for the rest of the review): I’m very glad I did!
Brought to us by Wallride and The MIX Games, Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is at least the 19th Rugrats game ever made, but it’s been awhile since we’ve seen an entry - especially one that very much feels targeted at those of us who grew up with the show and might want to revisit our childhoods.
I’ll just go ahead and say it (and I’m sure I’m not the first or only person to do so): Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland (from here on reference to simple as Rugrats) is basically an NES platformer released in 2024, and I say that as a pretty high compliment. Rugrats does have a little bit of a story to it, but it’s nothing wild or that you’ll need to pay careful attention to. In typical classic platformer fashion, we have a reason for the game happening: there’s a new Reptar game being released, and the babies are excited. But of course, being babies, there’s not a lot of money available between them. As most of us heard while growing up - “We have video games at home!” The babies decide to take this quite literally, imagining up a house full of puzzles, enemies, and bosses to face down.
You’ll be presented with a handful of different levels to explore. In each of these, your goal is to find coins for the Reptar door, and a screwdriver to make your way through the level. At the end of each, you’ll have a new boss to face, ranging from bullies to the rudest teapot you’ve ever met.
Players can change their experience around as needed. They’ll be able to choose between four characters - Tommy, Chucky, Phil, and Lil - with different strength levels between the key gameplay mechs of jumping and moving. There are also 3 difficulty levels: you can have babies respawn as needed if you lose all your health, you can swap between babies to retain health and lose one once all health is lost, or you can commit to playing with one character. This does let players adjust their difficulty a bit, but even on the lowest difficulty, some players might find themselves having to restart puzzles or stages several times as they figure out the tricks and timings.
When I say Rugrats is an NES platformer, I mean it. Platforming these days has evolved into its own little genre, encompassing everything from difficult “try until you get it” games like Celeste or metroidvanias, to more cozy experiences like Spiritfarer or Magical Delicacy. “Platformer” could mean a lot of things, but once upon a time the platforming experience was a little more standard. Rugrats feels like the modern version of loading up an NES game, and having the stripped down, classic platforming experience. It also has pretty limited mechanics - babies can jump, throw, and do a ground pound, but there aren’t a lot of fancy moves to manage. When fighting bosses, you also sometimes have to figure out how to win without really fighting at all - remember classics like fighting Bowser actually meaning running back and forth until he found himself in the lava?
But of course, one of the benefits is Rugrats also has brought some of the 2024 quality of life experiences with it. You won’t find instant deaths here or the pain of having to rerun every part of a level if you fall into a pit once - things that a lot of oldschool games doled out in abundance.
I probably would have enjoyed playing this anyway even if it weren’t related to a cartoon I grew up watching, but the combination of a classic kids show and the classic NES game made the experience so nostalgic and fun that I really enjoyed sitting down with it every evening. To add another little layer of nostalgia, you can switch between the more cartoon-like graphics and audio, or take it back another step to 8-bit.
The game is a bit short, coming in at maybe an hour to an hour and a half for a single playthrough. As a frequent player of indie games totaling an hour or two I wasn’t really bothered by that - it was a super-fun diversion. But for the $25 cost some players may feel hesitant to throw themselves in to something that will give them limited playtime. If you’re interested, but hesitant due to length versus cost, I’d say it’s definitely worth grabbing at least on-sale.
Overall, I was really happy with the Rugrats experience. It’s a solid choice for anyone who still likes the stripped-down retro platformer, and a great step back into the past for anyone who remembers the days of turning on Nick to watch the newest episode (or even better, movie!). Rugrats feels just like loading up the NES and putting in any number of classic games. I played on the switch and would recommend controller, but you can find the game on a number of platforms.
Overall Rating: 8/10
At the time of this writing, Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland can be picked up for $24.99 on Nintendo Switch, Playstation, XBox, or Steam. It’s currently being offered for free on Epic Game Store.