Saturday morning cartoons truly were something special. They were like the reward for those who endured an entire week of school. The prize for waking up on time, finishing all homework, and going to bed early. Saturday Morning RPG wants to capture that charm back, and then some.
A turn-based game soaked in 1980s pop culture references, Saturday Morning RPG is an episodic RPG that follows the adventures of Marty and his magical notebook. The game starts off with Marty, in his dreams, needing to save his girlfriend from the evil Commander Hood, and from there you get to experience the game in all of its nostalgic glory. It’s full of references from titles that gave the 80s its identity, making you facepalm and feel wistful at the same time.
Don’t think that characters and dialogue are where the references stop. Everything involving Marty and his battles are steeped in pop culture. Sound effects? Check. Battle music and victory fanfare? Check. Battle results screen? Check. But perhaps the most notable are the items that Marty uses to attack, such as a Transformer transforming into a truck to attack multiple enemies. Or how about Michael Jackson’s glove, which sends Marty moonwalking across the “stage” and dazzling the enemies to paralysis? Even the vending machines that sell these items sport the beloved wood-paneling from the 80s.
Battling back in the day
Though not all items are a nod to the yesteryears, some of them are actually cleverly used in battle. The drawing compass, for example, draws a perfect circle underneath the target enemy before turning into a hole. Their effects are fun to observe, even though some can be a bit expensive to acquire. Forget about grinding for cash and experience, either: enemies disappear on the map once you defeat them.
Thankfully, there are no random enemy encounters. As you walk around the area, you’ll immediately see which ones are hostile. You enter a battle with them as soon as you walk in front, or behind, them. There’s a brief period at the beginning where you can scratch your stickers and “sniff” them for helpful effects, but once that’s over it’s time to fight.
The turn-based battles are where you’ll be spending the majority of your playtime, not because of their frequency but because of how the game determines turns. Most battles have two or three enemies to defeat, but each one gets to go twice. Unlike you, who only has one turn, you have to painstakingly wait for your enemies to pummel you before you can even think of sneezing. At least a quarter of your health will already be gone by the time you finally get to go. And when you do finally get to go? You better hope your attack doesn’t miss or it’s back to the end of the line for you.
There’s technically a way to mitigate this very one-sided situation but it still takes a bit to set up. You can spend Marty’s mana points and a turn to charge his multiplier using three different batteries, two of which require a mini-game to determine how much you get. Successfully blocking your enemies’ attacks also give you a 0.1 increase in your multiplier, aside from the usual effect of decreasing the damage you get. Once you’re ready, simply pick an attack and watch your multiplier do all the work. As long as it doesn’t miss, of course.
This heavy reliance on multiplier becomes a test of patience as you continuously forgo turns and soak up damages just for a chance to one-hit kill an enemy. With two turns per opponent, it’s in your best interests to minimize your suffering and eliminate them as soon as possible. Enemies can also heal themselves, which means that you simply can’t punch your way through things. The multiplier no longer becomes an optional strategic tool, but rather a requirement for your survival.
Just looking around
When you’re not trying to push your way through a flood of enemy turns, you’ll be spending your time walking around. Areas are not really big due to each chapter being short, so there’s not a lot of opportunities to get lost. There are smaller areas to explore, and while technically not a requirement, you net an exploration bonus for checking them out. Some of these side areas also net you side quests, if you don’t mind walking back and forth for some experience and items.
Perhaps the most interesting facet here is the way the 2D pixelated sprites are used in a 3D environment. It’s not apparent when you’re controlling Marty and walking him around from a top down view. But when the cutscenes play, you’ll see how Mighty Rabbit had fun with the camera angles. Each asset’s lack of dimension, juxtaposed with three-dimensional backdrop, affords some interesting views and angles without spending resources on 3D animation. Angling cameras to make flat objects look like they have dimension actually works better than it sounds, thanks to your imagination.
And in a way, isn’t that how older movies operated? Without the technology to make eye-popping, realistic computer models, animators of the olden days had to employ other methods to get their vision on screen. We still enjoyed them all the same because it’s the experience that counts. We knew the battles were cheesy but we still believed them anyway.
Saturday Morning RPG embodies that determination to present something adventurous without heeding it’s self-imposed limitations. It wouldn’t be what it is now if it only spouted references while sporting high-fidelity graphics. No, Saturday Morning RPG embraces that graphical quirk and relies on you to supplement what it lacks. It wants you to accept its shortcomings and appreciate it for what it’s trying to do. And that’s why it’s so charming.
Review Copy Provided by Limited Run Games
