"There's no defense against a well thought out business plan!"
By Von R Coleman
If you were born in the mid to late seventies you no doubt grew up watching some of the best cartoons ever created. Classic cartoons like Pole Position, Jem and the Holograms, Mighty Orbots and Visionaries just to name a few held us all hostage on Saturday mornings for hours on end and that was before you broke out your XT-7 jet for some interactive shiny paneled Bio Dread blasting episodes of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future “POWER ON!!!” Remember that??? Are there even cartoons airing on regular television on Saturday mornings anymore? The greatness of eighties cartoons simply cannot be denied. YouTube has several dozen videos paying homage to eighties cartoon intros alone! These intros weren’t just intros but bad ass musical intros with stylized animations that got us hyped, jumping off of furniture and burning holes in the carpet with our footie pajamas anxious for the weekly adventures of our favorite characters.
Eighties cartoons hold a special place in my heart and sorry Millennials but the majority of the cartoons you were forced fed growing up sucked and can’t hold a candle to the likes of Voltron, Thundercats, Galaxy Rangers and Turbo Teen. While this is just my opinion I truly believe that Josh Fairhurst, Nic Allen and the team at Mighty Rabbit Studios has created a game that everyone can enjoy but fans of eighties cartoons will simply revel in, and that game my friends is Saturday Morning RPG.
Saturday Morning RPG is an episodic downloadable role-playing game set in a world heavily inspired by eighties Saturday morning cartoons. From episode to episode the main character will roam worlds that pay homage to the most popular cartoons of the decade. Yes you read that right, yes you have permission to smile now. Mighty Rabbit Studios is ready to smash your geek funny bone, numbing it up with yummy eighties goodness.
You assume the role of Martin “Marty” Hall, mild mannered Shadow Valley High school student who, during an unavoidable brawl with a bully, learns that he possesses the ability to channel magic through everyday items and uses them during his scuffle. Upon defeating the bully, Marty unknowingly thwarts the convoluted plans of the maniacal Commander Hood. Commander Hood has purchased Shadow Valley high school, no doubt through fiendish means, to use it as a missile firing space station to take down his nemeses, the heroic team of G.I. Johnson. Classic Saturday morning trappings if I do say so myself! With plans foiled and furious over what has transpired, Commander Hood swears vengeance and wages war on our young protagonist. Young Marty now finds himself imprisoned on school grounds along with Commander Hood’s right hand men Benjamin and Nimajneb. To defeat Commander Hood and save his beloved high school, Marty must navigate the school grounds and defeat the Commander’s legion of diabolical Periwinkle Guard minions. If these names sound familiar just know that you get a heavy dose of classic G.I. Joe influence, Periwinkle Guard is simply hilarious!
Currently Mighty Rabbit Studios has twenty episodes planned for Saturday Morning RPG. Each episode will take place in a unique setting inspired by at least one Saturday morning cartoon which has me salivating to see just what cartoons the team will choose, hopefully a dose of Battle Beasts, Inhumanoids and Sky Commanders will make the cut. Mighty Rabbit Studios has already penned episodes that pay homage to Inspector Gadget, Jem and the Holograms, He-Man and The Masters of The Universe, Thundercats, and G1 Transformers.
During GDC 2011 I was able to preview the battle system for Saturday Morning RPG and I was left thoroughly impressed and wanting more. Marty’s ability to channel magic through items he finds opens the door to even more old school references that are cleverly done and will act as a time machine for many garnering comments like, “Oh wow I remember those!” and “I totally forgot about that, how cool!” These references trigger memories of when I was a child and in many ways serve as a time machine causing me to remember days of playing with action figures from my favorite cartoons in the front yard, sharing in adventures with all my neighborhood friends. The Mighty Rabbit team showed how a pack of fruity flavored gum summons a wild pack of rainbow colored zebras to trample foes and the toy of a certain Autobot Leader causes Marty to get all Convoyish on those poor Periwinkle Guard fools! There is even a scratch and sniff element involved so standby eighties cartoon junkies this game is gonna be something everyone will want to pick up. I’m onboard and ready for Saturday Morning RPG.This game is written in all caps on my games to get list and you too will want to own this game when it arrives this year. Don't be late for class!!!
