THIS is MY SHIT man. Removing the competitive element of the Toree games and wading chin deep into the waters of Vibes Only, Siactro has really unlocked something within me here. Visually a direct homage to Rare's Nintendo 64 ouevre, Super Kiwi 64 puts you in the backpack of a cute little guy with a surprisingly robust set of verbs at their disposal.
You've got your sprint and your single jump only (!) along with a very empowering glide and a stabbing attack that ACTUALLY is mostly useful to lodge you into the wall and refresh your jump. With these abilities in concert (which the game elegantly and confidently leaves you to discover with no tutorials) you are essentially fully able to navigate all spaces at all times. Ostensibly you have a few units of health and I guess you COULD die but enemies and environmental hazards are SO unthreatening as to be so much more set dressing for the potent atmosphere on display.
The atmosphere is pitch perfect too; Siactro replicates a genuine facsimile of N64 textures and colors than anyone else I can think of here, from the deep greens and purples of the underground levels to the representation of the inexplicably omnipresent-in-the-era pirate level set, it's all pitch perfect and admirably un-fluffed up for modern tech. You get an infinite draw distance, sure, but I can't think of another game I've played this year that looks this blurry on my shitty tv on purpose!
Super Kiwi 64 is a relatively mild collectathon, with a small list of objectives to spawn your six gems in each of your eight levels (and two lil secret guys if ur paying attention wink wink), but the small levels that aim really just to evoke the Feeling of their influences rather than provide an homage to them coupled with the complete lack of challenge anywhere could be seen as a negative for others but it made a for a really meditative tone for my hour spent with this game before bed.
Honestly it was really nice! I would not trade this experience for one that was more traditionally gamey. I've been shifting this year towards valuing the movies I watch and games I play as overall aesthetic experiences, not even for the emotions they produce as much as the ambient feelings they put into the room, and Super Kiwi 64 is doing that before it's doing ANYTHING else. Another one knocked right the fuck outta the park from Marcus The Siactro Guy and his collaborators.
Alright I'm going to bed ya girl's tired as fuck good night everybody
You've got your sprint and your single jump only (!) along with a very empowering glide and a stabbing attack that ACTUALLY is mostly useful to lodge you into the wall and refresh your jump. With these abilities in concert (which the game elegantly and confidently leaves you to discover with no tutorials) you are essentially fully able to navigate all spaces at all times. Ostensibly you have a few units of health and I guess you COULD die but enemies and environmental hazards are SO unthreatening as to be so much more set dressing for the potent atmosphere on display.
The atmosphere is pitch perfect too; Siactro replicates a genuine facsimile of N64 textures and colors than anyone else I can think of here, from the deep greens and purples of the underground levels to the representation of the inexplicably omnipresent-in-the-era pirate level set, it's all pitch perfect and admirably un-fluffed up for modern tech. You get an infinite draw distance, sure, but I can't think of another game I've played this year that looks this blurry on my shitty tv on purpose!
Super Kiwi 64 is a relatively mild collectathon, with a small list of objectives to spawn your six gems in each of your eight levels (and two lil secret guys if ur paying attention wink wink), but the small levels that aim really just to evoke the Feeling of their influences rather than provide an homage to them coupled with the complete lack of challenge anywhere could be seen as a negative for others but it made a for a really meditative tone for my hour spent with this game before bed.
Honestly it was really nice! I would not trade this experience for one that was more traditionally gamey. I've been shifting this year towards valuing the movies I watch and games I play as overall aesthetic experiences, not even for the emotions they produce as much as the ambient feelings they put into the room, and Super Kiwi 64 is doing that before it's doing ANYTHING else. Another one knocked right the fuck outta the park from Marcus The Siactro Guy and his collaborators.
Alright I'm going to bed ya girl's tired as fuck good night everybody