I've been playing this game that only came out about 3 months ago called Corn Kidz 64. It's a retro styled platformer game inspired by Super Mario 64 and other titles from that era. It's extremely impressive at capturing the aesthetic of that time and the way the game feels mimics the era as well.

Graphical and display settings are low res with a 4:3 aspect ratio by default. The game is locked at 30 FPS so naturally I assume a lot of the game was designed with this in mind. The movement has weight meaning you can't turn on a dime. You'll need to be deliberate or at least used to playing these kinds of weighty games with 30 FPS.

As for the platforming it's actually quite forgiving since the game will magnetize you on to pipes, bubbles, bird-bombs, enemies, and other things. Combat is pretty simple for the most part with only one enemy requiring the player to do a bit more than just spamming the action button. Yes the game can feel a little "janky" at times but I believe it's completely on purpose. The camera also works similarly to Super Mario 64.

But I just gotta say this, the game's Steam page has an indicator I've probably never seen on a new game before. A controller is REQUIRED to play the game! Keyboard and mouse is not supported! Holly molly, that's a bold choice for a PC game! It's a good thing you can play it with a wide range of controllers, including the original N64 controller.

As far as I know the game is only on PC. As of right now, it's sort of a pseudo handheld gaming PC exclusive. Perhaps maybe it's more accurate to call it a Steam exclusive? Thinking about former is a little bonkers to me. Of course I want people who only own consoles to play this too, but as of right now I would point to this title as a must play "exclusive." A title that you should absolutely buy a handheld gaming PC to play.

Now I'm surprised I hadn't encountered the game earlier. Then again, it wouldn't have been possible. I was on a trip to California around the release time so it's not like I was looking for new games to play. Well, my attention has been set on playing a lot of retro games I already own. So there's that for ya... But in any case, I really feel like this game is going to be indie game of 2023 or maybe even indie game of 2024. This reminds me a lot of Pizza Tower. Pizza Tower has that retro 90's MS Paint vibe and if I recall correctly, some of its design was taken from some old Wario games. Regardless, I can see Corn Kidz 64 taking off on YouTube and becoming more mainstream within this year if not a few months.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bPYnNuUMz8
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2575900/Corn_Kidz_64/