Format: Advance
Genre: 2d platformer
Developer: Helixe
Publisher: THQ

Rocket Power! One of the classic staples of the later nickelodeon lineup(or was it earlier?). This is one of the numerous pump-out for cash games that ninten.... nickelodeon produced during it's prime. Rocket Power(the cartoon) followed around a group of 4 friends that were into skateboarding, surfing, skating, and other various beach going lifestyles that you'd find in the early 90's beach lifestyle. Honestly, I caught a small glimpse of this lifestyle myself when I was pretty young. It was a much more easy and free time, but never got to enjoy it myself. The story is very akin to a Mario 2 plotline... everyone in town is dreaming while the evil Stimpleton is devising a Polka Device. Otto, the hero of this story, dreams that he rescues his friends and goes with them to defeat Stimpleton and destroy his Polka Parade. The action is that of a 2D platformer. You get all 4 members of the crew by saving them and can choose to play as them after they are rescued. Each member has benefits and downfalls. The core gameplay of this game is a little bit confusing in a way because every character has multiple modes of transportation, but some are better at one mode vs others. Like otto for example excels at skating, but isn't good at skateboarding or walking. There's also a pogo stick in this game. The only weapons you get are bouncing on enemies heads AND eventually a hockey stick. Each of your items gets a powerup at some point too. The goal of each level is to make it to the end, but to do that you have to unlock doors. Doors come in 3 flavors. There's the classic "Hit a level or button" door. The ever popular "Get a colored Key Card" door returns as well. Last but not least is the "you need X number of stars" door. Levels provide enough or more stars than you need to get past the star doors so you never truly need to backtrack to pick up more stars. Each level, aside from the final ones, have at least 2 star doors each. That means this plays more like a survival collectathon rather than a jump and dodgeathon. The level designs are fairly good and the music is great as well. The hitboxes and the camera don't hold up unfortunately. The camera tends to jerk around from left to right up and down way too much and is often way out of focus of where you're actually trying to go. More often than not I was in the corner of the screen on a ramp trying to see where I was going and if there were any pits below me. Another problem this game has is that the movement is extremely slippery. Slippery + Platformers = A Big Problem. There's no saves in this game either, but the password system is fairly good.. aside from the 2's and Z's looking the exact same. There's a few health upgrades you can find as well to make the game easier. Not much replay value in this one. One interesting thing to note is that you have to hold B while moving to grind on any rails when using the skateboard or skates. This is a very often used mechanic, so get used to it.

All in All, This white boy summer game scored an 8.0 due to it's music and level design. The camera was a constant issue and is never "gotten used to". The slippery controls are another issue. Hitboxes can be a bit off as well and between the controls and hitboxes, It can be nearly impossible to land on an enemy sometimes.