Venture Kid | Switch Review
FDG Entertainment is slowly becoming one of my favorite developers/publishers of quality, retro-style games. From the brilliant Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King to the gorgeous Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, this team knows how to scratch the nostalgia itch while simultaneously offering a fresh experience. In 2018, they released Venture Kid on iOS and PC. I admittedly never played the game on either of those platforms, but now that it’s coming to Nintendo Switch, I’m absolutely glad I experienced it.
On the surface, Venture Kid looks and plays like a poor man’s Mega Man. That may sound like a negative, but it’s anything but. One of the aspects of the Blue Bomber’s games are the intense difficulty. This game feels like a great entry point for those interested in the series but didn’t grow up mastering the platforming. In some respects, Venture Kid does a better job of being accessible. The first couple of levels aren’t overly difficult, and the challenge ramps up as you make your way through each one.
A Love Letter to Mega Man
The formula will seem very familiar, but is different enough to feel like its own game. You play as Andy, a young man out to thwart Dr. Teklov’s plans to build a weapon disguised as a space fortress. You battle your way through eight stages, which you can tackle in any order, and fight a boss at the end. Rather than acquiring said boss’s weapon, a mysterious man with an eye patch rewards your victory with new armaments at the end of each stage.
The parallels to Mega Man are very much apparent in Venture Kid. Certain enemies feel directly lifted off ideas from the classic series. Even Teklov himself sports a lab coat and fights you in a floating space ship, complete with a glass bubble protecting him. It never feels like a ripoff, however. The developers are clearly fans of that series, but there’s enough fresh ideas here to make this title stand out on its own.
One aspect that stood out in particular are the special items hidden in each level. While that’s not a new concept by any stretch of the imagination, FDG takes it in an interesting direction. You find out in the final 9th stage that acquiring all of these items are required in order to obtain the “good” ending. This gives a tiny bit of extra replayability to an otherwise short experience.
This Was a Mobile Game?
One of the pleasant surprises in Venture Boy was how well it controlled. The platforming is incredibly tight, and I never felt like my deaths were cheap. This is a game that requires a moderate amount of skill, and it works beautifully. I can’t imagine playing this game well on a mobile device with touch controls. I’m very thankful that I was able to play with Joy Cons.
While the game offers a lengthy experience for a mobile title, it is relatively short for a console experience. That’s really the only negative thing I can say about this game. It left me wanting more.
Venture Kid FInal Verdict
This is an easy recommend for fans of classic platformers, especially Mega Man. While it never quite reaches the difficulty or length of those titles, it’s charming and offers a fun experience. It doesn’t break the mold for the genre by any standards, but it’s hard to beat at its price.
This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Venture Kid provided by FDG Entertainment for coverage purposes, and it is also available on PC (Steam) and iOS.
Venture Kid
$10.00
Pros
- Tight Gameplay
- Perfect Difficulty
- Great Nostalgia/Originality Combo
Cons
- Short Experience
