Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel Reviews
Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel is a bit of a rough outing for those who didn't play it back on the Super NES and Genesis, but the port makes it a lot more accessible. The extra features menu looks a bit plain and could have been done better (especially the instruction manual), and if you plan to play without utilizing save states or the rewind feature you'll be in for a rough time. If you're looking for a good challenge and don't want to shell out a bunch of money for a physical copy of the originals, six dollars makes it more than worth it to pick this one up.
I can see why Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel was well-received back in the 1990s. The game was surprisingly deep in terms of exploration and gameplay mechanics, but by today’s standards (and multi-buttoned controllers), it feels archaic and held back by the limitations of the time. You’ll waste a lot of time trying to grasp the double jump and flying/gliding mechanics, which is the complete opposite of fun. If the developer (porting studio?) had the opportunity to re-work the initial code to adapt it to today’s standards, this game would’ve scored much higher. As it stands, unless you want to (re)live some of the frustrations us gamers who grew up in the 1990s, this is an easy pass.
Taking out the dull, tedious chores from the first game, some of the slow paced movement from the second game, and adding in a bunch of way more engaging combat mechanics and several techniques rewarding skilled play, and you have yourselves a really darn fun action platformer.
I had high hopes for Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel and I was not disappointed whatsoever. The game has style, runs well, and stands out as unique compared to other games I have played. Sure, the game is short, coming in at under two hours, but the price point is right for the game.
Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel is yet another of the thousands of 90's games that were great but ended up overshadowed by Mario and Sonic. The opportunity to revisit this title is very welcome, as it manages to be better and more charismatic than the "actual" franchise. It's just a shame that once again the poor presentation and being sold separately from the others hinder the experience of enjoying the whole series.
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