Radical Rex (QUByte Classics)

Genre: Compilation / Platformer

Players: 1-2 Alternating (Local)

.

Review:

Radical Rex is a game that began its life on the Game Boy in 1993 as Baby T-Rex, with the US version being slightly altered and repackaged as a tie-in game for the animated movie We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story. In 1994, this game received something between a sequel and a re-imagining in the form of Radical Rex on Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Sega CD, with a port of this game coming to PCs much later, in 2019. Then in 2022, we would see this package released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. This Compilation includes the original Game Boy game as well as its Super Nintendo successor.

While other releases in QUBytes’ Classics line include a pair of games that are more or less based on the same levels and gameplay albeit with variations, the “Portable” and “16-Bit” games included in this package are almost completely different.

Both of these games suffer due to the size of their original screens being far too small to see where you are in relation to platforms and enemies around you, but the Handheld version is especially bad in this regard, with the viewing area around you being pretty tiny. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the gameplay has you sliding around on hillsides at pretty high speeds, making it far too easy to rush up on a gap or an enemy before you have time to react – I definitely get the feeling these games were trying to latch on to the Sonic the Hedgehog formula and failing miserably.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, in both games you are highly limited in your attacks. The Handheld game has you collecting and throwing rocks, which are frustratingly scarce and difficult to aim properly. Meanwhile, the 16-Bit game gives you a melee attack of sorts, but the hit detection is poor, and enemies can’t be downed permanently, making this feel pretty ineffectual as an attack.

Both games make use of 2D pixel art visuals, with the Handheld version naturally being in the Game Boy’s 4-color palette (which you can swap out with different variations). And naturally, both games use chiptune sounds and music, none of which are all that memorable here. I suppose at the very least the 16-Bit game has some decent-looking environments with a lot going on, but nothing in either game will come across as especially memorable.

Both games include save states, display options, and button reassignment features. Nothing extraordinary but I suppose it’s sufficient.

Okay, so I’ll just cut to the chase – these two games are not good. Between the two, the 16-Bit version of Radical Rex is better, but it’s still pretty awful, while the Game Boy version is nearly unplayable. If you’re looking for “classic” Platformers on Nintendo Switch, this is one of the last places you should look.

tl;dr – Radical Rex is a Compilation containing the SNES version of the Platformer Radical Rex as well as the Game Boy Platformer, Baby T-Rex (released as We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story in the US). Neither game is good, with the Game Boy game being especially awful. Skip these “classics”.

Grade: D

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Ben, Ilya Zverev, Andy Miller, Exlene, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Jared Wark, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}