“Nick Nick Nick Nick na Nick Nick Nick Nickelodeooooon”. Hearing that chant coming from my TV speakers for the first time in a few years, I knew I was in for a nostalgic time with the new Rugrats Retro Rewind Collection. I’ll be the first to admit I absolutely adore the Rugrats games, so hearing about the new collection from Limited Run Games, I jumped at the chance to review it.
Sometimes a baby’s gotta do what a baby’s gotta do
The Rugrats Retro Rewind Collection is LRG’s newest retro game collection, following up on some other recent amazing collections like Gex and Rayman. The collection itself consists of 7 games: The Rugrats Movie Game and Time Travellers on the Game Boy, Rugrats In Paris on the Game Boy Colour and PS1, Castle Capers on the Game Boy Advance and fan favourites Search For Reptar and Studio Tour on the PS1.
With such a great selection of games, it was hard to choose where to begin. Do I begin with the favourites, or do I leave them to last and play through the GB/GBA games first? I ended up choosing the latter and working my way through the games. Starting with The Rugrats Movie game and ending with the perfection that is Search For Reptar.
The games aren’t the only part of this collection, though. Included are scans of each of the game boxes/cases, manuals and a music player containing all of the game tracks. The bonuses add another level of nostalgia to a collection that was already overloaded with nostalgia.
Hang on to your diapies babies, we’re going in!
I’m going to be honest and say my excitement for this collection stemmed primarily from the idea of being able to play Search For Reptar and Studio Tour on modern hardware; everything else was just a bonus. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the other games in the collection. Originally, I was a bit disappointed in some of the choices of games that were included. Specifically, the Game Boy ones, as before this collection, I never played them.
After spending my time going through each game individually, though, I came to understand why they were included. The music player was an amazing addition, regardless, though. I spent a solid ten minutes before starting the games doing the John Cena dancing meme, smiling like an idiot, listening to some of the level tracks.
That’s not to say I felt the same about them all, though. Castle Capers ended up being the main sticking point due to its “looser” physics. This caused me to “die” more often than I had in the rest of the games in the collection. Thank god for the rewind feature! Personally, I would have loved to have seen the likes of Scavenger Hunt or Royal Ransom included. Maybe we’ll see another collection in the future, including them along with some of the PC games like Rugrats Adventure Game or Munchin Land?
As Bob is my witless.
While overall my experience with the collection was a positive one, it’s not to say it wasn’t without issues. I have to give LRG kudos for the means of emulation they’ve come up with for modern consoles. For the most part, it ran buttery smooth on the PlayStation 5. There was some stutter, though, mainly in Rugrats In Paris on the GBC and the intro to Search For Reptar. It’s been so long since I last played the games, though I couldn’t tell if they were emulation issues or down to the games themselves, so your mileage may vary.
My main issue with the emulation and by extension the collection as a whole, though were the filters. I was excited to see the Dot Matrix and CRT TV filters for the games, but I honestly couldn’t use either of them for very long. The dot matrix filter trying to emulate GB/GBA games felt messy on my own TV, but on a smaller TV or even the Switch in handheld mode, I can see it looking fantastic. The CRT filter, on the other hand, had a strange artifacting/ghosting issue that made it distracting.
If, like me, you’re also a trophy hunter, the game’s trophy list is sadly disappointing. The platinum trophy only requires you to finish all of the games. The only outlier is Search For Reptar, which basically asks for full level completion for a trophy. Personally, I would have loved to have seen a bit more variety with the trophy list. With the multitude of mini-games throughout the majority of the games, it was sorely lacking in variety. I just wish they’d taken more inspiration from the likes of Retro Achievements when making the list.
I’m heading home to have myself a juice, snuggle my blankie, and go nap nap.
Honestly, at the end of the day, this collection is fantastic. Absolutely perfect for going on a nostalgia trip, sharing childhood games with your own kids in a more modern fashion or if you’re like me and you’re just a massive kid in general. If you’re a fan of the old Rugrats games, I couldn’t recommend this collection more.
Even with its smaller issues, Rugrats Retro Rewind is easily the best way to play these games in modern times and has me excited to see what collection Limited Run are going to drop next. Personally, I’m hoping for Looney Tunes or Muppets, but only time will tell, I suppose. Massive thanks again to Limited Run Games for the code and for allowing me to check out the collection a few days early. Now, where’s my screwdriver…
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