Super Kiwi 64: Drive-by Nostalgia Without the Sting

Owning more games than you can finish in a lifetime (not to mention a constantly refilling backlog thanks to Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, and Nintendo Online) means almost always having ulterior motives when going on an impulse shopping spree. While I don’t necessarily feel guilty about these purchases (more people should invest in the things they love shamelessly), I also have no issue admitting I’m a bit ridiculous. My expertly crafted excuse for checking out Super Kiwi 64 on a whim was that I’m in the early stages of planning my own 3D platformer and I wanted to reacquaint myself with the landscape of the genre. 

See? It almost sounds convincing. 

A lot has happened in the game industry since the release of A Hat in Time and Yooka-Laylee in 2017–but as it turns out, not a lot has changed for platformers. 

Super Kiwi 64 was developed by Siactro (a person, not a company according to their Twitter bio). It tells the timeless story of a bird and their dog companion as they gather golden gears and gems to get their biplane airborne again. If there’s a narrative beyond that, I missed it (and I had to do some off the page work to put that vague outline together). This isn’t a bad thing, of course. The aggressive gibberish and honks meant to imitate speech were never my favorite part of those classic games, and once your bleeding ears had recovered from the story dump, it rarely amounted to more than a kidnapping or a banana heist. With no setup and no tutorial there are two less barriers between pressing start and starting to play. 

As the title implies, our hero is a (not so flightless) kiwi bird. This New Zealand native is represented as a pair of fuzzy spheres held together by aviator goggles and a backpack (though SK64 is attempting to imitate the textures of a Nintendo 64 game, so the “fuzz” is mostly in your imagination). Our protagonist has a jump, sprint, glide, corkscrew-attack, and for the real gamer that can handle two button combos, the ability to embed their beak in hard surfaces to gain extra height (it’s literally the same mechanic as the Pokio birds from Super Mario Odyssey with no flicking and no spring). That’s it. This is not Donkey Kong 64 where every button and stick on the controller is pulling double duty. What’s there feels good and responsive. At no point did a mysterious collision launch me into the abyss. I was entirely responsible for my own successes and failures. 

The backdrops to this collect-a-thon are primarily of the generic jungle and desert variety, but there is a darkness lurking just beneath the exterior–sinister details that hint at something more. Robotic sentinels march aimlessly looking for a place to die, mysterious hieroglyphics scar stone monuments, and one level is built overlooking the corpse of a giant alien creature. While it’s never explicitly stated, our feathered friend is plundering a dead civilization for the necessary nuts and bolts to get off the ground. 

Many of these biomes are the perfect size. Small, but there is no padding or wasted space. At no point will you be pixel hunting the perimeter for something you missed (or making a long climb back to the top because of a bad camera angle–I’m looking at you Frantic Factory). Maybe my only annoyance with SK64 is that it doesn't keep track of your progress after you’ve exited a world. Previously picked up gems are grayed out upon reentry, but it hurts to be denied the basic joy of watching the numbers go up on a stats menu. The overall complexity is kept low and you’ll usually be doing the same things in each level. The experience is over before it truly gets repetitive but I imagine some players’ tolerance will be tested when they’re flying through rings and pecking at targets for the fifth time. 

It took me exactly one hour to roll credits with 100% of the collectibles (this play time includes a coffee break and frequently herding cats in and out my house). Calling it a miniature Banjo-Kazooie sets the wrong expectations. It is a miniature Banjo-Kazooie–in the same way a Hot Wheels is a miniature car. But the three dollar entry fee is as low risk as a skin in a first-person shooter and if you understood any of the references I dropped in this essay then you’ll probably enjoy yourself. There’s not much to say beyond that…

Super Kiwi 64: Doomsday

…Okay, there’s one more thing to say. 

I was putting the finishing touches on my write up when the developer announced that after over a year SK64 was getting new content. I had unfinished business. I refuse to leave any shiny, levitating, slowly rotating Mcguffin behind. I went back to work. 

The Doomsday update adds a story (and voice acting!). It involves a kidnapping, a coup(?), realities collapsing (?), and a watermelon wearing a crown(?). 

Don’t think too hard about it. 

You’re actually here for the three new levels packed with a fresh batch of things to collect. The ubiquitous ruins have been swapped out for a space cathedral, a vertical sewer drenched in neon, and a huge wild west town crossed with a 90s screensaver hellscape. 100% will add an additional hour to your play time (more if you get sucked into the time trials that are also present in this update). However, it still doesn’t keep track of your progress on a world by world basis, so try to grab everything in one go. There’s nothing here that fundamentally changes the experience but it’s more of a good thing. It doubles the size of the base game and it’s free. 

This recent wave of independently developed games in the style of the PSX and N64 might stealthily be performing a service. They look old but play new (the quality of life that came with the proper utilization of two control sticks can’t be overstated). Super Mario 64 is one of the most important games ever made and is still worth revisiting for that reason–but it doesn’t feel the way it does in your imagination. The next time you get the urge to revisit your childhood favorite, consider dipping into this cool, faux retro universe that seems to only be expanding. These projects are a sip–the taste of your favorite cocktail without the hangover. Keep your nostalgia intact for a little longer. Maybe things were always this good. 

Side Note: While doing background research for this essay I visited Siactro’s itch.io page and discovered one of their other projects, Silver Trigger 64. Silver Trigger reimagines GoldenEye as a simple rail shooter. It’s free, plays in the browser, and a run lasts less than ten minutes. In the same way that Kiwi 64 is a satisfying bite of retro platformer Silver Trigger could serve as an appetizer before Agent 64: Spies Never Die launches later this year. At the very least, it’s a fun curiosity that deserves your attention.