Let us go back in time to the magical place that was the 80s. Go back to a time where a Trapper Keeper was a prime piece of technology that had mystical powers to help vanquish evil. A time when power glove-equipped wizards roamed the lands handing out said powers to unprepared passers-by who had the loves of their life stolen. Is it not time you went back and saved your damsel in distress? In Saturday Morning RPG, you can fulfill those dreams and have the adventure of a decade!
Saturday Morning RPG is simply dripping with 80s nostalgia, with quotes and references leaking from every crevice, reeling off one another constantly. Not all of them hit, however, and having never lived through the decade myself some of the references fell flat, but the ones that did hit—and there were a lot that did—brought out laughter and an “I see what you did there” moment that we all love so much. Even when I didn’t understand all the references, it was still fun to play through levels for the combat. Not to mention it being refreshing to play a game that knows what fun is, bringing back a time of cartoons and classics to enjoy playing through.
The port over to the Xbox One brings along brand new shiny textures that distinguish it from its mobile past. While the shinier textures are nicer to look at, they create more of a clash between visuals. While the backgrounds leave their cartoony past, the characters are all kept in their simplistic pixel art style having the two clash together. By the end of the game, however, this clash had grown on me, its charm had started to grow on me and I appreciated that I could see where I was going on the clear backgrounds. While some of the episodes’ textures looked out of place and grimier from the update, overall they worked well together and created a much more charming experience to behold.
There is a surprising amount of depth in Saturday Morning RPG. While each main episode’s story is short, sweet and to the point, there are a series of side quests available in each one to extend your time in the magical land of the 80s. If you are still craving more by the time the series is over and each episode has been completed, then you can move onto the arcade mode to feed your appetite. If even that is not enough, then Endless Mode should hopefully provide enough 80s nostalgia for you with it being literally endless. Hence the name.
In Saturday Morning RPG, your character is yours to customize. The game lets you adapt your playstyle to how you want to play and what attacks you want to use. You can change the cover of your Trapper Keeper to give you a variety of boosts over your standard equipment and change the stickers that you use in combat. Each sticker you use has its own benefits and negatives to your stats so you have to decide which ones you want to use. Do you go for a series of small boosts that take no time to scratch off or do you go for the more powerful choice, hoping that you will be able to scratch it off before the time concludes? Can you twiddle your sticks fast enough to give you the all-important boost that could be the difference between life and death?
Once you are thrust into an encounter you have the three options standing in front of you: powering up, using magic or punching whatever it is that stands before you. It’s usually wise to start with charging up to power up your attacks before unleashing whatever works best against your opponents. Different magics all have different effects on the enemies. In the third episode, the stage is populated by robots who have huge resistances against magic and are even able to reduce damage further through transforming into a car, forcing you to pick your attacks wisely. In each bout, you have a choice of four spells that you can change through your Trapper Keeper, most spells having different attack actions ranging from frantically mashing the ‘A’ button to build-charge or a series of quick time events to hit each rapid attack. It’s worth using each spell at least once even if it’s not effective solely to see the animations that come with each. Each one being ridiculous and utterly charming, especially if you get a killing blow that comes with its own little specific animation.
While each new move is exciting and interesting to use, their use wears thin as you draw into the game’s episodes. While it is fun at first to frantically twiddle sticks and button mash to power yourself up, the draw quickly drags on and becomes tiring, revealing their true nature as simple quick time events that start to grate down on you as you are playing. By the end of the game I had moved over to using the timed mechanics to attack, not because the explosion as you punched someone was totally radical, but instead because it took the least effort to perform. And that punch was totally radical.
Summary
Despite all its faults, Saturday Morning RPG is a joy to play and while it’s not the longest experience, it should keep you entertained for each moment that you play. You’ll love it for the references, then for the strategy. If not that, then for the ace combat. If you are looking for a game that drips 80s charm, then this is it.
Alex was a community contributor to ICXM, writing 3 articles in 2016 covering game reviews. ICXM operated as an independent Xbox and Windows gaming outlet through the run-up to Xbox One S and Project Scorpio, plus the broader Windows 10 gaming push, drawing from a rotating bench of editorial volunteers. They post on X as @CrtlAltDlt.