This game rocks.
I am a fan of this wave of retro platformers, but there is often a feeling that they are missing an aspect of the experience of the games they aspire to be like. Some tend to hyperfocus on one thing like exploration or platforming challenges, sandbox movesets or just looking cool. This game has it all.
Every area just feels so tightly designed. There's a purpose to every element, but they don't feel empty. The world is just really dense.
The main character is so fun to move around with. The headbutt walljump combo feels as satisfying to me as using cappy in SMOdyssey.
I have to say I'm more of a nearest neighbor kinda guy with low rez textures, but this game largely pulls the N64 style off amazingly and all of the character designs and animations are absolutely fantastic. I love Seve and Alexis.
And this is the hard part: it doesn't just have a great character to move around with and look at, this game has great level design. You use your powers in all kinds of ways and no challenge really feels like just a repeat. There's always evolution and fun creative ideas to keep it fresh. All while largely moving around these big world areas that give you a great sense of exploring every nook and cranny of the area you're in.
Idk man, if you enjoy Collect-a-thon platformers, this game should be on your list.

This is a 3D platformer with a really solid player controller. The challenges are often quite satisfying to overcome, and platforming around feels nice and intuitive. It's also got really funny writing.

The graphics are really on point and genuinely look era appropriate. If this game actually released on the N64 back in the day, we'd be talking about it alongside games like Banjo Kazooie.

Though the game isn't without its issues. I wish the game was longer (though the game only costs £5.89), but also I feel the level design sometimes lets it down. There's a few platforming challenges in this game that are made more difficult than they need to be, primarily because you're fighting with the camera.

I also really wish the soundtrack was better. It's got a fun and quirky tone, but it's far too repetitive and can get a bit grating. This would be alleviated if some of the songs had B sections that were more harmonically diverse.

In spite of these issues, I'd wholeheartedly recommend this game to any 3D platformer fans.

whole lotta fun! one of the better retro 3d platformer indie games i've played. solid feeling movement, great look and aesthetic and some really cool character designs. the later game platforming challenges especially were incredibly satisfying and felt great to do. not real complaints, wish there was maybe 1 or 2 more worlds and my zoomer dopamine needing brain probably would have preferred a more exciting collectable over XP pellets but that's a super personal and minor nitpick. for $7 this is well worth the time!

new bar for retro inspired 3d platformers just dropped. corn kidz 64 feels equal parts familiar and fresh. familiarity stems from the low poly graphics and welcome collectathon design and humor reminiscent of rare's best n64 outings. freshness comes from the game's crisp, squishy, and stretchy animations, and an incredible moveset that uses headbutts, dig slams, and wall slides to great effect.

while i wish the game was like twice as long, the content we have is top tier for the genre. my only other nitpick is there are too many random invisible walls blocking out-of-the-box puzzle solutions.

play corn kidz

Wowie wowie, this was so good.
I don't know where this game came from, but I'm glad I stumbled upon it because it may be one of my new favorite indie 3D platformers.
First off; this game is RIDICULOUSLY fluid to move around in. Your moveset is deliberately limited in super clever ways. You never wish you had more movement options, because there are so many things you can do with the few moves you have. Not a single platforming death felt cheap. It encouraged me to understand the physics and master them. Just masterfully done.
The game's structure is strange, but I really dig it. The game is basically one big Banjo-Kazooie-esq world with a TON to do. You only have a few things to collect, but they all feel like such an accomplishment when you find one. The EXP as a collectable is a cute mix-up. It functions fundamentally the same as Music Notes in Banjo. But them NOT being an object to see that single number go up, delivers a waaay different kind of satisfaction. It's pretty smart. Besides the big open world Owl level, you have a few little platforming challenges throughout, and a decent gauntlet towards the end. I can't stress enough how AMAZING that final gauntlet felt. It's been a while since I've played 3D platforming level-design THIS good.
The only grips I have with the game are one; before the final platforming challenge, there's a pretty lame boss fight. But it isn't very hard, just quite a bit of waiting around.
And the game only having one level, while a cool idea, ends up feeling a little small in scope. This may not be a bad thing to some. But I find myself loving the surprises that come from exploring new worlds in these kinds of games. I would have preferred something like three smaller worlds. Even so, the way this game chooses to pace itself is very unique and provides a very comfortably small experience.
The visuals are also worth mentioning, they are so stupidly well done. It is, at first glace an N64 game. But once you see it in motion, it's obvious they didn't limit themselves 100% with this illusion. The animation is insanely smooth, the worlds are huge and the game runs at a really smooth... 30fps lol. I know this is a point of contention for some, but I didn't mind at all. The game didn't make me WISH it was in 60fps. It was fine. It defenitly helped I played this on my CRT. Highly recommend if you're able to. It felt perfect for it. Thank god it wasn't emulating the slow down a game of this size would have had on that fuckin' system.
Anyways, this game is excellent. Super excellent. It's less than $10 and worth every penny. We need more games like this. Oozing with passion and skill. It's confident and doesn't over-stay it's welcome.

A wonderful little blend of N64/PS1, Invader Zim & Halloween aesthetic wrapped up in a revival collectathon that's brimming with charm. I don't want to judge the gameplay too much since I think I'm just bad at the game; some of the progression collectables seem a little hard to figure out how to get & a lot of the timed ones I sucked ass at (which is why I'm giving it such a high score, I will take on a git gud responsibility and not blame the game). A pretty solid amount of content for such a low price, I will definitely keep the developers in my mind for what they do next/add-ons to this.

In terms of modern retro 3d platformers this is easily the best I have played. The characters are cute, the platforming is tight, and you need to actually think about and lab out how you use your moves and the environment to unlock certain secrets. Most impressive though is how densely littered each of the two worlds are with hidden items. There is a lot here which most players wont ever know about in a short one and done playthrough and I respect a game which hides so much without nudging the player towards it.

Of the many indie 3D platformers with "retro" visuals I've played so far, Corn Kidz gets the closest to nailing the aesthetic down. With cute and appealing character designs, authentically muddy textures, and very low poly side-characters, the visuals could have come straight from the console it takes its subtitle from. The main characters animations are extremely bouncy, with a hefty amount of squash and stretch that reminded me of Jak & Daxter's wonderful use of the technique.
The soundtrack is alright. It has a few decent songs but the one you'll be hearing the longest is grating, repetitive, and loves to abuse the cowbell.

Unfortunately the gameplay doesn't quite live up to the level of the visuals. The developer decided it would be wise to add 4 separate buttons to activate different camera angles. You need to constantly hold the right stick in a certain direction to keep it facing that way, and this goes for the zoomed in "aiming mode". Making hitting moving targets with the timed projectiles a pain, especially since the projectiles are in the way on screen.
Levels are also fairly spacious, and the game has no fast movement option. The headbutt attack has a delay before and after using it which makes long distance movement with it feel awful. The lockon feature with it also feels like it sometimes has a mind of its own, and during the final level I fell into a pit during a certain section several times with no idea why Seve didn't do his wallrun instead.

The game is fairly short, but as with every one of these games, it is also fairly cheap. It's worth the asking price, but don't go in expecting a masterpiece.

Magic is real. If you didn't know that yet, I'm sure it just rocked your world. This previously fictitious concept of a bottle-able, anti-reality force that opposes our predefined sense of nature is actually tangible. Inch toward grappling with this new reality until you can make peace with it, understand how things have changed, and tackle it head on. Magic, to you, was once intuitive. Santa was able to deliver gifts to all the children of the world in just one night. Magicians could bend spoons, vanish rabbits, or walk on water. There was a profit to be made from knocking all your teeth out on purpose and banking with the Tooth Fairy. I understand if you need to sit down for a second. While you're sitting, you might wanna do something to relax. It might help you parse the shattering information you just learned. Everyone has different techniques to relax, so go ahead and choose your favorite. Maybe you indulge in a favorite snack, or just lay your head to rest.

I, personally, play video games- no matter the mood.

Corn Kidz 64 knows magic is real. It transforms the reality of magic into a confident display utilizing a true, relatable, childlike wonder; indulgence with an edge. The emo goat-duo that the game follows speak with a bit-tongue's amount of Lulz. It's just the right amount of a personality anyone playing this game is definitely familiar with: it never gets grating or "cringey." It's obvious the game's solo-dev holds this kind of early internet culture close to his heart, as the game lacks any kind of deathly serious motive or secret agenda. The playable character wants Nachos, and Nachos are a funny food, so we run with it. It's all an excuse for cute interactions between characters, which is as noble of a goal as any. It harkens back to any adult's deviantart childhood in a non-punishing way. This reflective purity is also displayed through the game's obviously 5th generation iterative visual style, something also close to home to the dev, evident through its perfect execution. The vast, supernaturally colored skyboxes, misty textures, and oddly specific architecture offers a unique impression through a familiar lens, it's fantastic and needs no discussion past this.

The game's visuals and writing is a match made in heaven, as it isn't baiting the player along its path. Corn Kidz is more than the memory of a trident controller, as it brings the sharp, cutthroat "edgy"ness of teenaged creation with it, and it's completely welcome. The goats complain about being "developmentally crippled mutants", there's cartoonish gore, and gothic theming all over Wolloh's Hollow. Allusions to religious satire and ethically dubious acts tie the game's presentation in a nice, torn up, black bow. I wanted to say early it's a match made in hell, but that would've sounded like an insult lacking context. The whole package is so relatable to me. It isn't just this "fantastical" sense of childhood or Wonder, it's the unexpected intensity. The slapstick fluid animation that binds it, the seemingly inappropriate theming, I am into this stuff.

But above it all, Corn Kidz is aware of magic's rules.

It's secrets lie within conviction- the power to do things because you know you can. Belief in "corn powers" and the supernatural.
If you don't think you can make a jump and chicken out, you're lacking the faith that fuels the magic. This game has mastered what I call the "skin-of-your-teeth" jump like I haven't seen since Mario 64. Every jump will have you sucking air through your teeth until you exhale. Some jumps seem impossible without the fated "upgrade" or "different ability" you'll never get. It's all a matter of analyzing your seemingly unintuitive surroundings, thinking about your approach, and executing. It's very satisfying. "Unintuitive" is really the name of the game here, especially when it comes to puzzle solving, as every solution has a very cryptic, yet retroactively obvious, solution. It encourages the player to study every option in the toybox they roam and leads them to the discovery that no room, no object, is unneccessary. If something seems menial or strictly humorous, the odds are its an incredibly important piece to a multi-step puzzle. This would usually bother me, but since Seve is so fun to control, it doesn't matter. Just as jumps are tailored, Seve's turn radius, speed, and limited moves leave so much room in their simplicity and effectiveness for wonderful player-interaction with the world. While his wall jumps, sidling, and homing attacks are simple on paper, there are iterations on them that further encourage a unique thought directive in the player. For example, you jump higher on walls when you push against them, so "impossible" distances actually just require some prior proximity. Seve's air-boost homing attack magnetizes to distant objects, but blasting off of them isn't attached to your control stick or inherent to your previously chosen direction. This impressed me; It's actually initiated through an extra button input after colliding with an object, which gives you slack time to continually boost wherever you want again while airborne. I play a lot of Sonic games, and the "answer" to flow-stopping homing attacks has always alluded me, and this serves as a more than functional alternative. It's COOL. There's room for experimentation within Seve's base movement too, there are faster ways of travel other than walking if you're willing to take the time to try; but frankly, the game doesn't need it. Everything is so close together and you unlock so many shortcuts around the areas that travel is never obnoxious. The hands off camera functionality works wonders for the game's flow, and additives to it like a "look directly down" button and distant option make it even better. Old 3d platformers have gotten a lot of flack for their cameras, but I've always been a proponent of the camera being a mechanic just as much as a moveset or obstacle is. It's something you need to tackle and understand, and often times, trust for the best experience. Corn Kidz 64 is no different if you're willing to sit down and shut up.

Magic lies in confidence and confidence is as real as you're willing to display. If you didn't know that yet, I'm sure it just rocked your world.

Corn Kidz is an very accurate take N64 platformers (limited experience so laugh at me if wrong), down to the incredibly anger inducing frustration I feel trying to do platforming. It also has plenty of other shit (accurate) that usually makes me groan like timers and aiming timed bombs with no reticule.

On my second session I just got like immediately tired and wanted to get to the end and was met with a boss that I fucked up and died, so I'm sent to the checkpoint which is before some platforming I would really not like to do again to get back to the boss. I just quit right there, I'm an adult and I can stop doing stuff I do like anymore.

Besides my frustrations, I really do enjoy the art style, the main character has such fluid animations it looks so cool. It also has a 2000's Hot Topic Invader Zim vibe that of course I'm rocking with. The girl goat goes hard.

Definitely the best-looking N64-inspired platformer I’ve played this year. Fun character designs and super expressive, squishy animations for NPCs and enemies alike. Gameplay is a fun mix of regular platforming and Uncharted-style ledge-grabbing, and it works surprisingly well.

The tutorial level is a bit too long for its own good. I’d say it took me like 30-40 minutes, and there’s A LOT of expository nitty-gritty mechanical stuff that absolutely should not have been there in the first place.

The second level is the Hollow and it’s basically the rest of the game.

Okay yeah the game is short (I finished around 4 hours) but even that feels too long to spend in this one place. It gets repetitive.

I also wish there was fast travel or a better shortcut system. You can warp to certain checkpoints if you fall from a great height, which is good; but you have to be falling from a great height, and you always take damage anyways, which is bad.

Also fall damage, blah.

Then, there’s the collectibles, which is XP. This never felt exciting to collect for some reason? There’s a lot of it to find at first, but it’s always such a miniscule amount. It’s hard to get excited when you have to complete a ridiculous platforming challenge for one measly XP. Also, the only thing XP unlocks are doors. What the heck, dude! At least give me some unlockable abilities or something.

Eventually, the platforming and weird puzzles congeal in the third level, but by then, the game’s already over.

Not feeling it. Glad I gave it a shot, and I’m sure it’ll definitely find its audience, but I wanted something a bit more.