Developer: Imagineering
Publisher: THQ
Release Date: November 1993
I saved The Ren and Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$ for last for a few reasons. For one thing I didn’t want to type out that clunky title over and over again. It’s just going to be Ren and Stimpy from now on. Also, it’s always a little awkward talking about beloved childhood franchises with problematic creators. And it doesn’t get much more problematic that John Kricfalusi, the creator of Ren and Stimpy. He was gone and then some by the end of 1993, but it’s hard to write about his show without thinking of all the baggage that comes along with it. That’s one of the many difficult things about being an older millennial. You have to spend a lot of time distancing yourself from your childhood heroes. The final reason I saved it for last on my THQ journey is because it is an incredibly late release. I can’t get the exact dates, but it came out the same month as Wayne’s World, which would put them both among the last NES games ever released. November of 1993 would be the last month there would be more than three NES games released. After those six games, NES output would slow down to a trickle. 1994 would see eleven games released in all at ending with Wario’s Woods in December. It would be one last Christmas present from Nintendo for NES fans. I’m oddly fascinated with later releases on consoles, so I was saving Ren and Stimpy for last because I was hoping it would be interesting to talk about. Luckily, I was correct, and this is an interesting game. When I first played it years ago it didn’t impress me much, but maybe I was in a better mood this time around because this may be the best THQ game on the NES.
If you are a Ren and Stimpy fan than you probably expect certain things in a video game adaptation. Most obviously it needs to look good and be weird. There had never been a children’s cartoon quite as strange as Ren and Stimpy. It was also famous for its great animation. For once Imagineering actually delivers, at least as much as they can on the 8-bit NES. Of course we’re not going to get any grotesque freeze frames, but it is colorful and well-defined. It is refreshing after playing so many ugly THQ games to finally get one that is visually interesting. It is also fairly strange. It’s the rare game where I’m not upset to see killer hats and deadly chickens. It’s supposed to be weird, so it makes sense that the enemies would be weird too. Now I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly funny game, but humor was hard on the NES, and it’s probably for the best they didn’t lean into the humor aspect too much. Now I’m trying to think of what the funniest NES game is. Oh, maybe Star Tropics. Yeah, Ren and Stimpy doesn’t make me laugh, but it still manages to feel like the source material.
This is, however, a jarring game to play. The levels themselves are fun, but they can sometimes feel like they belong to completely different games. The sudden changes in setting fits with the anarchic spirit of the show, and they are all based on actual episodes, but it can be strange to go from space shooter to wild west side scrolling so suddenly. Thankfully, the levels are designed well enough that it mostly works. The two characters will alternate levels with Stimpy having a projectile weapon but Ren moving faster. Some levels have posters that allow you to switch characters, and I like this system because switching restores your health. This is a strategic move which keeps you from playing as one character for the whole level. Still, it’s much better to end up at boss sections with Stimpy rather than Ren. There are weapons and other powerups to collect along the way, and while they are limited, they tend to be everywhere. I don’t remember many times where I followed a different path and didn’t find an item.
Ren and Stimpy also highlights why it pays to throw in a few continues. This is not an easy game, and I still haven’t been able to finish it. However, it has some continues and fairly easy to collect extra lives. Because of this I was able to experience most of the game without spending a ridiculous amount of time becoming an expert. The levels are fun enough that I want to go back and get better, and it’s forgiving enough that even with eventual permadeath, I didn’t feel that all was hopeless if I made a few mistakes along the way. This is why I can’t stand a game like Swamp Thing being so stingy with its lives. I feel completely hopeless playing such a stingy game, and it makes me not even want to try. It’s not hard to see why this type of challenge was already dying out. It’s no fun only being able to play the first five minutes of a game. I think I’m going to try again with Ren and Stimpy, and I am hopeful that I will eventually finish it.
Of course, seeing so much of the game does highlight its flaws as well. I sound like I’m gushing a bit, but after so many bad THQ games it’s nice to play a decent one. Still, it is merely a good game and not a great one. Ren having no projectile attack is more annoying than I led on before, and he has more solo action levels than Stimpy does. This means I spent more time with Ren’s short-range slap attack than Stimpy’s superior spitball. They should have reversed the setup and had the better attacker do most of the attacking. There are also objects that can take damage but can’t be defeated and this can be annoying. I don’t always know what I can get rid of and what I have to avoid. The thing that leads to the cheapest deaths, however, is the camera’s inability to keep up with a falling character. Ren and Stimpy has many sections that take place in the sky without any clear way down. Sometimes I just have to jump for it, and sometimes my character will fall below the screen and I will die. This can happen even when I know there is solid ground below me. It might be acceptable if this was a design choice, but it’s obviously a bug. There is no fall damage in Ren and Stimpy, so the fall deaths are a case bad programming. Cheap deaths are no fun even with extra continues.
I might sound like I’m overrating this game just a bit, but I’m excited to find an NES game that I actually enjoyed again after so many stinkers. It’s not going to rank too high in the good column, but it’s Super Mario Bros. 3 compared to some of the other THQ games. I’m ranking it at #75 overall which puts it near the bottom of the good section, but it sure is nice to see green again regardless. Hey, I thought it was better than Bible Buffet, so it’s not the lowest ranked good NES game either. It was a pleasant surprise and a nice way to finish my THQ journey. They managed to publish one halfway decent game at the very end of the console’s life. That’s not a very good track record, and I have no idea how they were able to turn this into a long, successful career in the game industry. Perhaps their games get better on the 16-bit systems, but that’s a story for another day. I think it’s time to go down some different paths for a while.
NES Quality Percentage: 22/46 or 47.82%
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