Retro time travel with a lot of charm: Pixel Ripped 1995 in the test

After "Pixel Ripped 1989" celebrates the sequel to the VR nostalgia trip "Pixel Ripped 1995". his debut. Unlike the 8-bit time travel of the last adventures, the sequel first takes you back to the 16-bit times, but later also to the then proclaimed pseudo-32-bit age, which you get as a "Turbodrive" attachment via an upgrade from the video game shop. You play from the perspective of the nine-year-old boy David and, together with your virtual game heroine "Dot", master various console games to stop the nasty "Cyblin Lord" from stealing the pixel stone. The journey through time is a true nostalgia trip, enriched by numerous iconic stopovers reminiscent of "Castlevania", "Metroid", "Zelda", "Starfox", "Sonic", "Mario Kart" and "Streets of Rage".

A varied journey through time

While you amuse yourself on old tube TVs and arcade machines as in the predecessor, you are stopped in the VR world by your grumpy mother or by other kids. The funny 16-bit interludes are full of allusions to the retro years. For example, there is a boss fight in a castle that might look quite familiar to some Super Nintendo connoisseurs among us. Variety is also provided. In perspective, you will also once beat down a series of large sprite opponents in the style of "Final Fight" or "Streets of Rage". The individual sub-games are very well done. So in each chapter I was always excited to see what was coming next, because of course I grew up in that era.

The constant change from 2D to 3D environments is once again the focus of "Pixel Ripped 1995". Even better: Sometimes you even switch from one game to another in order to progress with items and weapons from the other console version.

The game dialogue from your surroundings is also amusing, when the kids argue about the graphics of two 16-bit consoles, but also report on their experience with a first virtual reality headset in which you see the world in red.

Good Oculus Quest implementation

Unlike its predecessor, the sequel is also available for the stand-alone Oculus Quest headset. We have tested this version for you and could not find any shortcomings in the graphics and general gameplay compared to the previous versions on PlayStation VR and other platforms. What clouds the gameplay with the mobile Facebook glasses a little: You mainly play sitting down, but the tracking can also be a little jerky in bright surroundings from the sofa position.

During a boss fight, for example, the aim is to throw as many bananas as possible from the boot of the family car driving home onto the road in order to fend off an approaching tank boss. Depending on my sitting position, I had to get used to carrying out rather delicate gripping movements, even if the virtual impression conveys a little more distance.

Despite everything, the Oculus Quest conversion is very well done and is in no way inferior to the other ports in terms of colour palette, sharp contours or lighting effects. "Pixel Ripped 1995" is also well suited for mobile VR glasses, as the graphics are not overly demanding.

Game within a game

VR is again deliberately used in "Pixel Ripped 1995" where an obstacle from the 3D environment approaches you, for example when your mother is snoring and is woken up by loud video game noises. Then you really have the feeling that a real person is entering the room, because you are immersed in the 2D retro game within the VR action. In the aforementioned scene, you are playing in front of a loud television whose volume button on the remote control is broken. So in this scene you must not make any too loud enemy-destroying noises or bounce on creaking wooden platforms, because the annoyed mother will immediately switch off your console when you enter. However, you can always turn off the TV in time if the sounds of the game get too loud.

Intuitive control

What we like about "Pixel Ripped 1995" is how simple the controls are. You are also not bombarded by long game dialogues. On the other hand, some parts of the game are tricky, if not more demanding than in the predecessor, so that you need several attempts even in individual boss fights, which always take place in the 3D environment. The good thing about the Oculus Quest version is that you can simply put the headset aside again if you are not currently playing any other games. In this way, you can resume the battle immediately from standby, as long as the headset is always charged, without having to restart a chapter.

"Pixel Ripped 1995" is due for release on 23 April 2020 for Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S HTC Vive, HTC Vive Pro, Windows Mixed Reality and Valve Index on Steam and for Oculus Quest in the Oculus Store. A console version for PlayStation VR will appear simultaneously in the PlayStation Store.