Regular Show finally has a video game on the Nintendo 3DS – Regular Show: Mordecai & Rigby in 8-Bit Land is based on the popular animated series. It follows Mordecai & Rigby when they avoid their park chores to play an old game system. They get zapped into the game and must go through the various levels to get out. I could totally see this game storyline being an actual episode of the cartoon.
You play as both Mordecai & Rigby, which you have to switch between to get through different level challenges. Mordecai is taller and can jump higher, while Rigby is shorter and can crawl through small spaces. Collecting floating cash or eliminating enemies gives you cash to play the bonus game at the end of the level. There are power ups (mullet), 1-ups and unlockable bonus content by collecting the hidden videocassettes.
I attended the video game launch party for this at the GameStop in West Hollywood, hosted by D3Publisher and WayForward. Playable demos and anyone that purchased a copy at the event received a Regular Show Season 1 & 2 DVD or BluRay. WayForward’s music composer Jake Kaufman played some live music from the game. In addition to the free buttons, postcards and comics, attendees could enter a free raffle with GameStop gift cards, Regular Show DVDs and the grand prize… a signed original sketch by creator J.G. Quintel.
WayForward’s Jeff Luke and Chris Schroeder were on hand to sign postcards and answer questions about the game. Both are fans of retro video games that inspired the different levels of the game. They describe it as part platformer (Super Mario Bros.), part side-scrolling shooter (Gradius), part top-view shooter (Smash TV) and mash-up of all 3 genres. Jeff mentioned to me that J.G. is a huge fan of the old Sega Master System console games, which were at times challenging and had no save points to continue. This inspired them to create the game along those lines.
When I played the game it was on level 1 of stage 2, side-scrolling shooter level. Here Mordecai can transform into a tiny spaceship to take on enemy spaceships. This level was a little challenging when not knowing what the controls are. I played through this for a couple of lives and decided to try the game from the beginning, level 1 of stage 1. Later found out that this level is more like a tutorial level to introduce you to the controls. In the background of certain areas are billboards showing the game control abilities. Jeff said they made the learning curve on the game pretty standard and straight-forward.
The 8-bit look of the game is more like a modern 8-bit and not as blocky. I noticed the look in the stage 1 boss battle, which didn’t bother me too much.
Had a fun time at the launch party playing the game, talking to the producers and listening to some awesome game music. I may not have won the sketch in the raffle, but I did win a BluRay version of the Regular Show. The sketch was won by a good friend of mine from AngryBananas.com, Carlos Lopez.
Regular Show: Mordecai & Rigby in 8-Bit Land is rated E for Everyone and available now for the Nintendo 3DS.
– Deanobot
* Dean attended the Regular Show launch party to facilitate this review.
