GamerEscape

Time is a funny thing, especially when you’re in the position of seeing those younger than you get the chance to be exposed to things that you enjoyed as a child. Sure, experiencing those games in the modern day is one thing. But being there to experience things like the absolute glut of mascot platformers that flooded the market in the wake of games like Super Mario World and early Sonic the Hedgehog is another matter entirely. Suddenly, every developer under the sun wanted to cash in on the ’90s ‘tude of Sonic and the platforming chops of Nintendo’s leading plumber. It got to the point where it wasn’t hard to pick up a game that some people could easily call “we have Sonic/Mario at home.” Oftentimes it ends up being something along the lines of Bubsy Bobcat at worst and something mildly better at best.

I’ll admit, my eyes were primarily trained on Sonic and Mario games at the time. But sometimes I’d find it somewhat fascinating to see some random animal trying to take a stab at capturing some of their bigger brother’s glory. Aero the Acro-Bat was Iguana Entertainment’s (later Acclaim Studios Austin) stab at the mascot platformer, dropping shortly before Sonic CD. Originally released on the Genesis/Mega Drive and Super Nintendo/Super Famicom, it definitely ended up being a drop in a large pool of platformers available at the time.

Despite that, this game has seen several ports and as well as a remake over the years. Insofar as this port of the original is concerned, it’s certainly treating itself like it was released on the Wii’s Virtual Console in terms of price ($5.99). While it’s not quite a ROM dump, it’s not without a few modern conveniences thrown in to entice curious new gamers. Developed by Shinyuden and published by Ratalaika Games, Aero the Acro-Bat released on August 8, 2024, and is available on PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series S | X/Switch. The Switch version was played for this review.

Batty Under the Big Top

True to the era it released in, there’s not much in the way of story outside a setup that often found itself nestled in the pages of an instruction booklet. The basic gist is that our antagonist, Edgar Ektor, found himself on the outside looking in after a childhood prank causes him to be banned from the circus. Years later, he’s basically become a man-child version of Tony Stark and decides to wreak havoc on the World of Amusement Circus and Funpark and its performers as revenge for being exiled when he was young. He employs the help of Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel (who gets a spinoff game) and his gang to help achieve his goals. In turn, the onus falls onto star performer Aero to foil Ektor and Zero’s plans. There’s not much in the way of cutscenes, so the focus on gameplay is to be expected from games of this era.

One thing that Aero did to set itself apart from other games was to include objectives in many of the stages. While they don’t go any deeper than “jump on a number of platforms,” “ride the stage’s vehicle,” “jump through hoops,” or “find keys to unlock doors,” the stage design unsurprisingly built around this. For the era it was released in, this was admittedly a unique gameplay mechanic, given that most gamers were used to the mechanic of “go right to complete the stage” from its more recognizable counterparts.

Though, the stage design is…frustrating at times to say the least. In early stages, it starts out easy enough. Not much of a surprise here, though some stages require you to do some level of backtracking if you end up missing one of the objectives somehow. The era-appropriate difficultly starts to rear its ugly head in a way that often feels cheap. Most of these hair-pulling moments stem from the piles and piles of instant death spikes strewn across the entire game. They’re absolutely everywhere, and they really deter you from trying to do anything other than quick and precise platforming when the situation calls for it. Platforming in the game is often managable, albeit frustratingly slippery at inopportune times. It’s a sign of the times, for sure. But I think that can be a deterrent for some prospective players.

The difficulty of that era is on full display, and modern conveniences come as a no-brainer here. Certain compilations like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection typically include modern features like save states and rewinds, and Aero adopts that practice here as well. This game is not easy at all, so for those who would rather just roll back (or even fast-forward through) certain sections, these new tools are useful for those who would prefer to keep the frustration down. If you want to breeze through the game even further, cheats are but a few clicks away in the pause menu.

I elected to try to keep my playthrough as close to pure as I could within the limits of my own patience. Mind you, I’m not averse to difficult 2D games from the 1980s and 1990s. The stage design of games like Mega Man X and the difficulty that came with it was a lot more palatable there than it is here. It’s competent in Aero for the most part, but it’s hard to go back to games like this when you’re coming from near perfection like Mega Man X. When you hit spikes in the former, it’s often because you had little to no time to react and adjust accordingly. Dying in the latter was often your fault. Though it’s designed in a way that was challenging, but not cheap.

Really, the gameplay of Aero ends up falling into the same hole that games like Mega Man (1987) did, where it feels like a first draft of sorts. But the major difference between these two games might just come down to execution in design. The former is still considered to be one of the toughest games in that franchise, but even then the design has to be less cheap and unforgiving in stage design than Aero often is. I’m sure if you put in enough time and put the work in to get to the level of those who can plow through difficult shmups with ease, you could squeeze more enjoyment out of it. But those who fall on the more casual side of things may find themselves frustrated more than anything. Again, your mileage my vary.

Two-Ring Console Circus

Back when this game released, the presentation (and even gameplay) can and did differ based on the console you bought the game for. Hell, there were times platform choice would differ on developer. Especially in the case of games like Aladdin, where Capcom developed the SNES version and Virgin Interactive worked on the Genesis version.

Thankfully, it’s not that complicated with Aero here. Shinyuden chose to go with the Super Nintendo version here, and I think that was the right call to make. I love the Genesis, but not everyone knew how to make music well for the sound hardware it utilized. The SNES sound hardware is the objectively better choice here, and this port is all the better for it.

Insofar as that sound is concerned, it easily adopts that circus motif and spreads it around as much as it can. While there are environments outside the circus and funpark, most tracks are usually pretty upbeat and not especially prominent in terms of execution. It’s the kind of thing that blends into the background. Sound effects aren’t especially grating, which is a welcome thing. My one real nitpick here is that I wish we could have had an option to choose between the SNES and Genesis soundfonts in the options menu. You have the option to choose the English and Japanese versions, but options to play with the audio from the original platforms is a missed opportunity.

That missed opportunity also bleeds into the graphical presentation. The SNES version is objectively good, don’t get me wrong. The colors are often vibrant and looks like a game that was released on the platform. But it sure would have been nice to have the option to either mix and match things from both versions, or at least be able to choose one or the other. But environments in general fit the theme of the game, but they don’t quite do anything especially interesting outside of that. Again, it’s not bad. It’s just not anything special, either. Despite that, you do get some of the bog-standard screen size and filter options that often accompany re-releases like these. They’re definitely welcome additions, and they get the job done, but I think I might be expecting a touch too much from a port job released at a budget price.

Regardless, you could do a lot worse than this when it comes to ports of classic games. Some of it reeks of bare minimum effort, but at least some effort was put into satisfying those who might want to use those settings to throw themselves back into 1993. Hell, its own remake (coming later this year) on the Game Boy Advance seemingly kicks the crap out of the botched port known as Sonic the Hedgehog: Genesis on the same platform (save for the screen crunch)! That’s gotta count for something, I think.

Just the Opening Act

I’m never going to complain when classic games, oftentimes regardless of quality, get the chance to be experienced by new sets of eyes. While Aero the Acro-Bat acts as the first of several ports of games to modern platforms (Aero 2, Rascal Rivals Revenge, and Zero are all slated to be released throughout the rest of the year), I think that Shinyuden’s approach of bringing modern conveniences to classic games is a reliably tried and true one. The port in and of itself accomplishes the job of bringing the original game to modern audiences, and much of my ire comes down to some of the design choices implemented by Iguana. It bears the mark of the era it comes from, and that’s not always a compliment.

Classic gaming enthusiasts will definitely applaud this game seeing the light of day again, but it doesn’t come out of the era unscathed. Shinyuden’s work done to do just that is worth complimenting to some extent, but it doesn’t erase how rough this game can be for some. Aero the Acro-Bat shows flashes of a good platformer, but the foundation laid by its original developers might be too big of an obstacle for some modern gamers. The door price may be low, the rest of the franchise is on the way, but this game isn’t going to please everyone. If you can stomach the rough edges it comes with, there is enjoyment to be had. Just don’t go in expecting it to meet the level of the more legendary platformers of the era.

~ Final Score: 6/10 ~

Review code provided by Ratalaika Games for Switch. Screenshots taken by reviewer. Featured image courtesy of Ratalaika Games