Rollin’ Rascal, a 3D platformer and love letter to classic 90’s games from Curiomatic and Gabriel Gonzalez, launched a new Kickstarter campaign today.
In Rollin’ Rascal, players must use speed, momentum, and flexible environments to progress through vast platforming worlds. You’ll also need to battle an army of machines to stop Elegance, a cyborg bent on making the universe ‘perfect’. Rollin’ Rascal would also feature online multiplayer.
Naturally, Rollin’ Rascal does not have a release date yet. The Kickstarter campaign is intended to fund the base game. However, the devs did release a new gameplay trailer today, to coincide with the campaign.
Rollin’ Rascal instantly calls Sonic to mind. Today’s trailer is full of familiar imagery and features like swift, winding rails and golden coins to collect. The colorful worlds also have a similar tone. To me, it feels like a blend of Sonic Heroes and Sonic Frontiers, in particular.
But Rollin’ Rascal wears homage on its sleeve. The Kickstarter page proudly mentions that “Super Mario Sunshine and Sonic Adventure 2 were our main sources of inspiration”.
Fans of these franchises may accept the blatant similarities in Rollin’ Rascal, if it turns out to be as exceptional as it looks.
It isn’t surprising that co-developer Gabriel Gonzalez previously worked on Sonic GT. That was a fan-made game that exceeded all expectations.
Sonic GT also featured interesting momentum mechanics, which will make a big return in Rollin’ Rascal. Momentum seems to be one of the few truly distinguishable features. Players can use unique forms to accelerate on different terrain.
I appreciate the effort to create more freedom. The maps offer multiple paths forward, and players can override enemies to use their abilities. Racing online is also a great opportunity, and emphasizes speed.
At this time, Rollin’ Rascal’s campaign funding has crossed half of the base game goal.
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