Playing new 3D platformers often made me think I’ve seen it all. Even my favorites from recent years led me to believe that iterating on the known is currently the most desirable and exciting trait. Nothing against that, a lot of my favorites follow this principle, but for the first time in a while, Corn Kidz 64—a short, cheap little gem—has reinvigorated a long-forgotten sense of curiosity and discovery I thought the genre was moving away from.
Its contemporaries usually choose to focus on either a consistent stream of new abilities, developing level design around this kind of progression, or making the player hone the movement options available from the start through sets of incrementally more difficult challenge stages. Corn Kidz 64 seamlessly weaves both of these philosophies through its one big world, while also understanding that the best climax it could have is taking its movement options to a logical extreme in a smaller stage.
After being notified that a controller is required to play, the game begins with an ominous, though slick menu tune and an aspect ratio lower than typical. The commitment to replicating the aesthetics of the Nintendo 64 does not stop at the graphics and goes further by replicating the feel of an old TV screen. There are multiple filters in the menu, so if you remember colors looking a bit different, make sure to give some of them a go.
Split between its tutorial world, a huge open stage, and the final platforming gauntlet, each area is crafted expertly and piques an attentive player’s curiosity at all times. After arriving in the dream world, the goat protagonist is immediately cast into a relatively open section, being able to learn mechanics at their own pace. Even this early on, there are many secrets and collectibles to be found, each awarding EXP cubes in different amounts.
The rowdy, school-hating attitude of the main character and the slightly childish, excited aura of their friend, combined with the somewhat menacing world and the groovy soundtrack take this retro platformer in a slightly different direction than its inspirations. It reminds me a lot of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy or Courage the Cowardly Dog, tying together the lighthearted kid’s stuff with the gloomy, imaginative, and unique touches that Corn Kidz 64 brings to the table.
Be that the cemetery, bizarre monstrosities, green goo that represents your health, or the cartoonishly smooth and exaggerated animations, this mixture of the inherent N64 creepiness and the peak horror-core era of cartoons makes for an excellent introduction given what follows the tutorial section: an expansive, open city taken over by a giant owl after it magically turned the pig mayor into a sausage.
From east to west, north to south, and top to bottom, I got to explore every nook and cranny of this location. Though there is no way to move any faster than the regular running speed, no space feels empty or wasted, it is all jam-packed with content. All of it is traversed through unconventional, crispy, and buttery-smooth movement.
The main mechanic used for traversal is (don’t laugh) butting, as the game calls it, which in reality is headbutting. The player character’s head is extremely durable, but also posses a spike. It is used in many ways: a gap closer while trying to reach a platform mid-air, a ground-pound for all sorts of switches, and a jumping launch upwards to flip something on the ceiling. It can also be used to unscrew different mechanisms. Crunchy sound effects accentuate the moment the goat’s head makes contact with a solid object, defining the importance of walls in traversal.
Touching a wall allows for a double jump, meaning that a lot of the coolest sequences are pulled off thanks to the creative ways of reaching one and bouncing off further or higher. Planning the route to any given spot always begins with analyzing what moves are needed to reach the closest wall, unless, of course, a pole or enemy you can jump off of is nearby. Many mechanics exist to reset a jump, and they are all immensely enjoyable to use.
Developing this sixth sense for traversal through a wide range of mechanics is something I missed dearly. The game never stops ramping up the complexity of its traversal and platforming puzzles. Reaching the final challenge requires finding a lot of secrets, and the last few I needed were incredibly satisfying to figure out. Sometimes I had to return later, be that with something the game has taught or given me, or simply with a fresh perspective.
Even in its finale, the game continues to surprise and innovate. The ascent in search of infinite nachos (goats famously dream of nachos of course) kept the theming and mechanics fresh up until the very end. I was not satisfied with just that however, and after returning I reached the true finale, where my skills were put to the ultimate test for an hour and a half of attempts.
Some cracks started to show, I found a few admittedly unnecessary invisible walls that would stifle my creativity, some slight collision issues that cost me a bit of time, and noticed the camera having trouble keeping up with the pace of this bit. Nevertheless, even as my frustrations began to grow, each new checkpoint filled me with unimaginable satisfaction, until I reached the very end.
Then, with a reluctant sight, I put the game down. For now, at least. Having finished at 85% completion, clocking in at around seven hours, I am still infatuated with Corn Kidz 64. Taking in everything it has to offer, discovering new ways of traversal, and connecting them all while looking at the challenge ahead is an important part of the experience that is undoubtedly worth experiencing intimately. The game is too tight and rewarding for me to just describe things that are best felt.
Mystery is something the developer BogoSoft mentions as an important part of their design philosophy. A “sensation of a game that has remaining mysteries I wasn’t able to solve so I’m better able to appreciate the ones I did” is how they describe it. When I was younger, I would make up these sorts of secrets myself, ones that unfortunately did not exist no matter how much I wanted to will them into existence. Corn Kidz 64 is so chock-full of creative content, however, that I finally got to re-experience that feeling naturally as an adult. I cannot sing its praises enough for that.
Mateusz played Corn Kidz 64 on PC with his own bought copy.
