Trip World DX

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Trip World is a Platformer released on the original Game Boy in 1992 in Japan and 1993 in Europe, but which never saw release in the US until this remastered release in 2023 on Nintendo Switch and 2024 on PlayStation 4. This game has players taking the role of the cute rabbit-like Yakopoo, who must fight their way through a horde of other cute critters to save its kingdom.

I have seen Trip World compared to Kirby, and while there are some similarities, such as the cute transforming protagonist and floaty platforming, I think Trip World is tougher and is a bit more confusing to play than Kirby games tend to be. As you’d expect from a Game Boy game, there are only two button inputs, with one here acting as a jump and the other, ordinarily, as a kick, your primary attack. However, holding down and the attack button transforms you into a ball, and holding up and the attack button allows you to use your flappy ears to fly to higher places than you can jump. plus, there are multiple temporary transformations you can get that will allow you to change into other useful forms.

There are multiple problems with all of this, though. Transforming into a ball doesn’t seem at all helpful, as you’ll just collapse on the ground until you transform back. The controls for the flying form are inconsistent and unreliable. The hit detection for your kick is similarly unreliable, and even when you do hit, enemies have some pretty long invincible recovery periods before you can attack again. And often when dealing with enemies, it’s not clear what actions they take will harm you and which won’t. The result of all of this is that it always seems like a guessing game when you’re fighting enemies, and whether you win or lose that fight, it doesn’t seem like it was due to anything particularly skillful or clever you did.

It’s a shame that the gameplay here is this frustrating and unreliable, because the presentation is an absolute delight. Players can opt to play the original monochrome Game Boy version of the game, or a new version with color visuals that seem closer in quality to what you’d expect to see on Super Nintendo. Both versions have a good amount of detail, and the color in the DX version is lovely, and fits the game’s art style perfectly. And both versions of the game make use of a really catchy chiptune soundtrack.

This release has a bunch of extra features and content too, including behind-the-scenes interviews and production art, a music player, multiple display settings, save states, and a limited rewind feature. Oddly enough, this somewhat obscure Game Boy game from over 30 years ago has gotten quite a loving treatment in this release.

In the end though, I still think this is a mediocre game with multiple gameplay issues that make it far more enjoyable to look at and listen to than to actually play. Those who managed to play the original game will find this release to be an absolutely wonderful remaster of that game with a surprising selection of extra features, but everyone else is better sticking to other Platformers.

tl;dr – Trip World DX is a remaster of an obscure Game Boy Platformer where players control a bunny-like creature. This release looks and sounds delightful, and has a good amount of extra content. However, the game itself has multiple gameplay issues that make for an experience that’s not nearly as fun as it looks. Unless you somehow have nostalgia for the original release, skip this game.

Grade: C-

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