VBlank on keeping retro interesting with WiiWare’s Retro City Rampage

Yesterday, we talked with VBlank’s Brian Provinciano about Retro City Rampage – the 8-bit-style WiiWare tribute to Grand Theft Auto III and 80s/90s NES games – about how the game has evolved from a homebrew project into an

The game pays homage to dozens of ‘80s games, films, and other pop culture items. Do you ever worry that you might go too far with many of the references, that some bits you’ve thought of putting in might come off as tacky or distract from the game world you’ve created?

The world itself is a “toon town” of sorts, the references and world being one in the same. The game’s composed of many layers though and you can focus on any or all of them if you choose. While many of the references are intertwined into the missions, many more are just there to make exploration more fun.

In Grand Theft Auto III, when open-world titles like it were new, I spent hours exploring every corner of the map. In years though, there came a point where I lost interest. The cities became increasingly more detailed, yet less compelling. They needed more character to make them interesting. This was one of the things that drew me to densely filling Retro City Rampage’s city humor and references. There are numerous interactive gags around town making exploration a game in itself.

Many are so densely packed in that you’re guaranteed to miss some the first time through. Though, that also means you’ll always be guaranteed to catch at least some, and replaying it will be even more enjoyable!

The past couple of years have seen many retro-style titles playing off gamer nostalgia and the 8-bit aesthetic. How do you think Retro City Rampage will stand out from those other titles and attract gamers who are maybe tired of the trend by now?

I’m confident that Retro City Rampage will still appeal to anyone who might feel tired or retro-style titles. It’s unique and fresh enough to spark new interest and its scope is immense. Not to mention, the retro elements are after all, only part of the package.

What sort of ideas and mechanics did you really love in older NES games that you just don’t see in modern titles? How have you brought them into Retro City Rampage?

I’ll be rolling out more details on the power-ups and weapons in the future, but jumping on enemy/pedestrian heads is where it all starts. If you want to take it to the next level, much like Crash Bandicoot and the New Super Mario Bros., you can hit the attack button mid-air to do super stomps! It gets even better! With one of the power-ups, you can do an ultra-stomp… and that’s just a bonus move, not the actual power-up!

Have you played Grand Theft Auto’s recent return to the top-down formula, Chinatown Wars? What did you think of it? Were you able to take any lessons from it for your own project?

I finally finished Chinatown Wars earlier this year. It’s got some amusing similarities. I’d added chain multipliers and flashy score centered rampages to Retro City Rampage years ago, for example, things which also appeared in Chinatown Wars. Neither of us however knew what each other was doing, so it was purely a coincidence. A natural evolution of the genre.

Chinatown Wars is a great game, but there are many things I feel Retro City Rampage does better. Retro City Rampage puts a lot of effort into on-foot combat, taking a page from Double Dragon and other beat-em ups. In Chinatown Wars, you can still just walk right through other pedestrians without even bumping them in the shoulder.

While Chinatown Wars is humorous, it’s still gritty and gloomy. Retro City Rampage is over-the-top comical. It’s playful and emits the feel of fun. The crisp colorful graphics make it a lot easier to see enemies, and the camera doesn’t interfere with targeting.

I’ve grown tired of is excessively driving from [point] A to B repeatedly, something which artificially makes games “40-plus hours!” and the open-world more “realistic”. Retro City Rampage does its best to avoid tedium. Missions have checkpoints throughout them, for example.

Something I really loved about Chinatown Wars was how different the various vehicle types felt as you drove them around. Will you have anything similar in Retro City Rampage?

The vehicles in Retro City Rampage do have various handling and top speeds. They also handle differently on different terrain which add to the experience.

Interestingly through the feedback of playtesting sessions, I ended up removing the really slow clunkers, resulting in all vehicles being satisfying to drive. No need to punish players because there aren’t any sports cars around!

Anything else about Retro City Rampage you’d like people to know about?

Heads up! Incoming shameless cliché plug… tell all your friends, follow it on Twitter, join the Facebook page, and subscribe to the newsletter, whoosh!!

Other than that, Retro City Rampage has exceeded even my original vision and I’m confident it won’t disappoint! I greatly appreciate all of the fans and can’t wait for everyone to play it!

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