Rugrats used to be up there as one of Nickelodeon’s flagship franchises. Compared to the 90s, it’s still a known but seldom spoken IP. While I did fervently watch Rugrats content growing up, I managed to avoid the many video game tie-ins that came out alongside the show. This is actually my first Rugrats game, and this one is rather interesting—which is why I wanted to cover it.

Rugrats: Adventures In Gameland is a modern title designed from the ground up as an NES game. Yes, this means that this very game is available and playable on that old Nintendo console. Taking inspiration mainly from Super Mario Bros 2 (SMB2) and Mega Man, Adventures in Gameland plays similar to the SMB2 title while having the level structure and non-linear level selection of Mega Man. Each baby: Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil all have varying stats. For those who played and are familiar with SMB2, Tommy is effectively Mario, Chuckie is Luigi, Phil is Toad, and Lil is Peach.

To go into further detail, all the babies have various stats that affect their jumping ability, as well as their lifting ability. Chuckie has the highest jump and he flutters a bit, giving a person a lot of leeway with precise platforming. Lil has the ability to float in the air shortly after jumping. Phil has the shortest and strictest jump, but makes up for it with the largest stat in strength. He can lift enemies the easiest and can ground pound through sand all at once instead of one at a time like the other babies. Lifting enemies functions similar to SMB2 with the player character hopping on an enemy sometimes either knocking them out or away. Once the enemy is incapacitated, they can be picked up and thrown. And last with Tommy, he’s Mr. Average, just like Mario. Doesn’t excel at anything, but isn’t bad at anything either.

With the experience taking inspiration from classic retro titles, it manages to be both good and bad. For the good, the controls are solid and responsive. Picking up enemies can require pixel accuracy at times, but is only a problem every once in a while. On the bad side of inspiration, it also manages to adopt many of the annoying and obnoxious enemy patterns that lead to near-unavoidable moments of taking damage. As you can take damage from both enemies and falling into pits, there were lots of times when I would sustain two points of damage instead of one because of an enemy knocking me into a pit. There are three difficulty levels with "newborn' granting you unlimited lives for a level, 'baby' having one life per baby per level, and 'big kid' where you choose only one baby for the level and it’s game over to the menu if you lose. Even on the easiest difficulty, the enemy placement and patterns may put off younger and more casual players.

The main goal is to collect 21 out of the 24 Reptar Coins scattered throughout the levels. As long as you collect all four coins in at least three of the six levels, you should be able to access the final level. In fact, this is really the only reason to replay levels as bosses don't even reappear after defeating them once.

Being available on a retro console and modern platforms, Adventures in Gameland boasts 8-bit graphics and 2D HD graphics. The modern console ports can swap between the two graphics at any point in a pause menu, and there’s a CRT filter to emulate the classic look. I very much like the 8-bit look, and while the 2D HD look faithfully adapts the art style of the Klasky Csupo company, I eventually stuck with the 8-bit graphics. I did have trouble discerning what was part of the background and what was a platform or object. Navigating the menu does feel unnatural like there is a small delay with every action. The music is better than I would assume as it has both 8-bit chiptune and more modern sounds. And just like with the graphics, you can swap between the two at any time. You can even listen to the 8-bit soundtrack while viewing the modern look. There are a few remixes of the main Rugrats theme used throughout, including a metal-inspired remix used for the boss fights. I didn’t even know I needed or wanted something like that.

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is better than it has any right to be. I wouldn’t call the experience unique in the slightest as I can pinpoint every little reference and inspiration this title took from retro games. For all the good and bad, it is an NES title. It functions fine and plays like the more positively-received titles of that era. It also designs itself with the philosophy of that era too, being unnecessarily punishing at times, and the experience being short for the price of admission. It shouldn’t take anyone more than 2 hours to beat the game and the only replay value is trying out levels in a different order, but without a weapon system like Mega Man, there’s very little reason to do that either. Even so, Adventures in Gameland is a title that is very kid and family-friendly with the bare minimum of violence portrayed, but I won’t see many kids or young adults appreciating this title unless they are playing co-op with another. This is more of "a kid's game for adults". For the people like me who grew up during the era when Rugrats was still culturally relevant.