Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland

“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.”

“However, as far as NES games go, Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is as solid as they come. I said this earlier, but if this came out during the NES’ lifespan, it probably would be well-remembered. Maybe not as well as one of the system’s absolute classics, but at least in the same niche as Little Nemo: Dream Master. Released today, it’s another very curious case of a new licensed game getting released on an old console. That’s already very exciting for me, so the fact that it’s also a well-tuned game is just gravy.”

“Cumulatively, you end up with a title brimming with nostalgia and good ideas, but controls that hold the affair back.”