QUByte Interactive and PIKO Interactive are back with another retro game collection for modern consoles! This time it's a Radical Rex collection which features two games. Unlike some of the previous retro collections from QUByte, I had actually heard of and had previously played Radical Rex when it was released onto the Evercade. For those who haven't heard about it, Radical Rex is an action platformer that was released back in 1994 on SNES, Sega Megadrive (Genesis) and Sega CD. It was a remake of a 1993 Game Boy game called Baby T-rex and was developed by Beam Software. The game features Radical Rex - a skateboarding, fire-breathing T-rex who has to save the dinosaur race and his girlfriend Rexanne from the evil magician Sethron/Skriitch depending which version you play.
This collection features 2 versions of the game. There is the 16-bit Sega Megadrive version, which to me is the best of the two on offer - featuring 10 levels for you to play through. The collection also includes the original Game Boy version as well however it's no longer called Baby T-Rex. I found the name change odd (as it skips the title on launch) but maybe it's a legal issue that only the Radical Rex name could be used by PIKO Interactive. The games feature some nice bright graphics and a variety of different levels/environments to play through including jammin' jungles, freaked-out forests, haunted dino-graveyards, piranha-infested underwater caverns - and even inside a giant dinosaur! Radical Rex has a variety of abilities including fire breath which you can use to stun enemies, a roar that does damage to all the enemies on the screen and also a bubble spray, which is used when underwater instead of your fire breath.
Unfortunately for a retro collection it is rather lacking. You do get some quality of life improvements such as 5 save states per game and a selection of filters/screen types - however it all feels pretty bare compared to other classic collections out at the moment. There are no extra features or exciting Easter eggs to be found. It's just the two games, which is another complaint. Radical Rex was also released onto the SNES and Sega CD - these versions (as well as a Windows port of the SNES version which was released later) while very similar do have unique things about them which I feel would be great to showcase in a collection like this. The SNES version had much brighter graphics and a different main villain and the Sega CD version had new levels and enemies and I feel it would have been fun to play through these variations as part of a collection. While the amount of games on offer in this collection may be lacking, the games here are actually fun to play and enjoyable. They aren't ever going to be considered retro classics - but that doesn't mean you won't enjoy your time with them. For the low price this collection is being sold at it's a great way for retro fans to add to their collections and be able to preserve and experience games on modern systems. The emulation is a little shakey at times, but that could be how the original games were made but I'm not clued up in that aspect of things to give an accurate opinion. I liked having the chance to play through the Megadrive version again, and whilst I probably won't revisit the Game Boy port in a hurry it was a cool bit of history to experience. I'm looking forward to more of these team ups from QUByte and PIKO in future, but I feel a little bit more tlc on them could really elevate them.
TOTAL SCORE: 6.5/10
Radical Rex (QUByte Classics) was released onto the Xbox Store on the 8th September 2022. It's playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S and is priced at £6.69. You can buy the game HERE. The game is also available on other platforms.
A copy of the game was provided for this review. A big thanks for that!
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