Last week we caught up with The Ren & Stimpy: Happy Happy Joy Joy Collection and a lot of people were quick to note that Limited Run Games also released the Nickelodeon Splat Pack earlier this year. In case you missed it, this compilation includes Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day, AAAHH!! Real Monsters and the game show Nickelodeon GUTS. Yeah, those are all games based on Nickelodeon shows from the 1990s, but are any of them actually worth playing? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro, Mean Machines Sega and more classic magazines that reviewed these games back when they first came out. Get ready for for another questionable collection in this episode of Limited Run Games Review Crew.


Parents groups may protest, but the numbers don't lie – kids love the things that go bump in the night. We saw that with the success of Scooby Doo as far back as the 1960s, a trend that continued into the 1980s and 90s with The Real Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice and, of course, the 1994 Nickelodeon hit, AAAHH!!! Real Monsters. This was turned into a late-generation Super NES and Genesis game in 1995 by Realtime Associates, a reliable developer whose work dates back to the Intellivision. With a full cast of colorful monsters and an intriguing premise that anybody can get behind, this Real Monsters adaptation had real potential. Let's see if Viacom was up for the task.

As it turns out, AAAHH!!! Real Monsters was a surprisingly polarizing release when it came out in 1995. We're going to just start with the worst score and work our way up, which means that we're starting with the usually upbeat GamePro. That's right, they kind of hated this game, giving it a 2 out of 5. “Aaahh! If run-of-the-mill, platform-hopping adventures scare you, you'll be afraid of these monsters. Unfortunately, the levels aren't stimulating, and the visuals are barely passable with sometimes jumpy scrolling and lackluster backgrounds. Beginners will appreciate the game's simplicity and the easy-to-find hidden areas, but the stiff controls may frustrate some. If you enjoy the cartoon, these Monsters may pass as a rental.”

For what it's worth, GamePro was the outlier here. Sega Power ended up giving the game a middling 53%, while Mean Machines Sega went up to a 61%. “Aaahh! Why me? Sorry, but this is my only reaction to reviewing a game like this. The potential for a good game is there, but sadly, everything has all fallen into the depths of Real Monster world. The graphics are bland to say the least, and could have been so much more colorful. The characters, although funny at first with their scare ‘em things and link up moves, soon become frustrating when you have to have them all on one tiny platform to perform a link up. And why aren't there any really blood-curdling screams? Aaahh! Take it away”

Moving up the scale, we have Super Play give it a 65%, while Nintendo Power gave it a 3.5 out of 5, basically on par with all of those Ren & Stimpy reviews we talked about last week. Hyper made the jump to 74%, while Game Informer went all the way up to a 7.5 out of 10, which is also the game's highest score. “Use the trio to locate items and scare the pants off of unsuspecting victims and use their ‘triple monster moves' to get past obstacles or locate secrets. The quest is simple at first, but offers increasing challenge and a number of puzzles to solve. A load of non-violent fun.”

While nobody loved the game, I feel like the consensus was a lot more positive than the overall 63% average would suggest. GamePro really yanked that game down with their surprisingly low score, but that's just how it goes. This is an interesting one.

The mid-1980s was a wild time for Nickelodeon. Looking to expand their children's programming without spending too much money, the fledging cable channel gambled on a proven TV genre – game shows. Mixing trivia with slime and an obstacle course, Double Dare proved to be a breakout hit for Nickelodeon, which led to the 1992 debut of Nick Arcade, followed by Legends of the Hidden Temple in 1993. One of the most beloved game shows around that time was GUTS, an athletic face-off featuring over-the-top competitions that could easily be described as the kids' version of American Gladiators. The show actually ran for 160 episodes, second only to Double Dare for longevity. With its creative events and massive popularity, a game based on GUTS was a no-brainer. But just because it's a good idea doesn't mean that it will turn out to be a good game. Let's see what the critics said.

I don't know if it was the theme, the TV license or something else, but the critics did not flock to review GUTS. In fact, I could only find three magazine reviews, and that's including all of the non-English publications. Of the three, the lowest score comes from the Australian mag, Hyper, who ended up giving this game a 55%, despite never actually watching the show.. “About the only reason for playing this game is to appreciate the rotoscope style animation of the contestants. The sprites are big and move like the real thing. You can even run them into walls and bang their heads. It's more fun than actually playing the game. OK, with two-players, the excitement levels creep up the scale a tad. But ultimately, this is a stinker. I hope we never have to watch the TV show.”

For what it's worth, Nintendo Power liked GUTS a bit more than Hyper, giving it a 3 out of 5. However, it was GamePro who would go on to give the game its highest marks. Going with a 3.5 out of 5, they noted that “at first, the controls are difficult because each event has a different challenge for you to master. Younger gamers and those with little patience might have a hard time, but practice eventually makes perfect. It might be best to try out this cart as a rental. If it grabs you, strap on your harness, give a yell, and show the world you have GUTS.”

As it turns out, there is a reason why you never hear GUTS brought up as one of the best Super NES games of all time. The critics weren't impressed, giving it an overall average of 62%. That's not great, but look on the bright side: At least it managed to beat out the 16-bit version of American Gladiators, which earned a very mid 50%. That's something, right?

Spurred on by the success of The Ren & Stimpy Show, Nickelodeon took another big swing with Rocko's Modern Life, a satirical social commentary that had something for both kids and adults. This is one of those cult classics that has a lot more going on than its 52-episode run might suggest. It was also the stomping grounds to some future superstars, including SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg, Jeff Marsh of Phineas and Ferb fame, and Mitch Schauer, who went on to make The Angry Beavers. Rocko's Modern Life was quickly adapted for the Super NES, developed and published by Viacom New Media. It's a wallaby and his dog Spunky, as Rocko spends the entire game trying to protect Spunky through a bunch of harrowing stages pulled straight out of the cartoon. This was the most-reviewed game of any Nick Toon, but does that make it the best? Let's find out.

When it comes to Electronic Gaming Monthly, there was a massive disagreement between the four editors. The crew was split, with half of them giving it fives, while the other half went much higher, going with eights and nines. The end result is an extremely misleading average of 6.75 out of 10. Al explained that he was not a regular viewer of the show, “but that's not why I don't like this game. I'm just not into action games where you must complete tasks to clear a stage. I found the game tedious. Granted, the graphics were very good, with characters directly from the TV show. The challenge and difficulty is good, but they just weren't enough to get me to like it.” Ed, on the other hand, gave the game a 9: “Rocko certainly isn't a kids game. This game is a challenge for even the best of players. Sometimes too much so. The visuals and voice are directly from the show, and capture its spirit. The cinemas are among the best around. Sometimes it's a little hard to get Spunky where you want him to go. If you're looking for a game that you won't beat in one sitting, Rocko's Modern Life will come through for you.”

While EGM's average was low, Nintendo Power went even lower, giving the game a 3.3 out of 5. That's technically the lowest score of any English-language magazines. Game Informer liked the game more than either of those two publications, going with a 7.3 out of 10, and Die Hard Game Fan went with an average of 38 out of 50. I want to highlight the Game Fan reviews not for anything they said, but rather for how little they said. This was the issue where Game Fan tried something different by making the points front-and-center and then giving the editors a sentence to give their thoughts. For example, Sgt. Gamer called it a “cool game with the wallaby down under (a what from where?).” E. Storm, on the other hand, said that “one of my favorite Nicktoons comes to the Super NES. Beauty game, mate.” Yeah, these are barely reviews. I don't know what Game Fan was thinking, and they almost immediately went back to letting the critics write a full review. Stupid.

For what it's worth, Super NES Buyer's Guide liked Rocko about as much as Die Hard Game Fan, giving it a 76%. Australia's own Hyper went up to a 79%, while Game Players liked it enough to give it an 83%. However, if you're looking for the top score, then look for farther than GamePro. Giving it a perfect 5 out of 5, Lawrence of Arcadia asked the question on everybody's mind: “What's the word on Rocko and Spunky? The word is fun, and if you've got a hankering for the type of humor that made Ren & Stimpy famous, then you'll love Rocko's Modern Life. All other puzzle/strategy games will seem like ... well, like dogs, I guess.”

Rocko's Modern Life was not just the best-reviewed Nickelodeon game (including Ren & Stimpy), it's also a surprisingly fun and involving little game that dares to be different from the typical licensed platformer. While some critics weren't into that change of pace, most were, leading to an overall average of 78%. This is pretty much the sole reason to pick up the Nickelodeon Splat Pack Collection.