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If you’re a millenial, like me, or have a thing for experiences and games that give a dose of nostalgia, like me, then you’re probably at least aware of the existence of Neopets as a brand. Founded in 1999, Neopets has served as a hub for kids and kids at heart to adopt, care for, feed, and adventure with colorful creatures. Primarily based online at the Neopets website, users have for years been able to play a plethora of minigames to earn points, get items on the site, and achieve high scores. Finally, after all that time, the Neopets - Mega Mini Games Collection - The Neopian Arcade Odyssey makes playing those games outside of the website, and even on the go through the Steamdeck system, possible. Overall, 26 classic, retro-inspired mini games were recreated within Unity for this collection. Was the foray beyond the walls of the Neopets website worth it after all these years? Unfortunately, I believe it’s only for the hardest of hardcore Neopets enthusiasts who want to earn Neopoints on the go, or those who don’t mind pushing through a way-too-buggy experience just to scratch that Neopets nostalgia itch.
Gatekeeping Nostalgia
My memory of Neopets consists of taking pieces of a big omelette and clicking around on an early 2000s website to collect items, and occasionally play one of the many minigames available on the site. The essences of the Neopet designs themselves are also unforgettably defined in my mind, and any time a new one popped up on the screen in this games collection, it’s like a synapse buried deep in my mind awoke from its slumber and sent a reminder that yes, I had seen this cartoony visage before. I love stuff like that, and I actually wish the collection had taken more advantage of the wealth of fun Neopian references they could’ve used, or lore they could’ve explored. Instead, what the Mega Mini Games Collection tries to do is lay out a convoluted story that involves you competing in an arcade “odyssey” through a brightly illustrated single-image map of Neopia, with many individual lands that are shrouded in cloud coverage.
Along the way you’ll have to achieve a certain score on each newly unlocked lands’ minigames to be able to reveal & play the next set. Each land has about 2-4 games of wildly varying difficulty. Some (four) are even playable in multiplayer, but don’t get excited. Those multiplayer experiences are few and far between, and playing them in multiplayer mode doesn’t add anything to the game that’s worth noting as a positive or negative here. I had actually hooked up a second controller and my player two sat there through my entire playthrough of all of the games initially, having to wait until I completed the entirety of the campaign to play the games in any order I wanted. Yes, in possibly the most confusing decision of any mini game compilation I’ve ever seen, you have to not only play every game, in a specific order, before being able to play an “arcade-like” mode where you can pick and choose which games to play, but you must achieve a set score in said game before being able to move on. With 26 games that are, admittedly, not Bloodborne-esque in difficulty, this isn’t an insanely ridiculous task, but it is when you consider that at the time of my playing for this review, many of the games had glaring bugs or scoring issues, and not everyone is going to have decades of gaming experience to make it through every game (like perhaps younger gamers.) Perseverance and experimentation, along with a dash of dumb luck, is what was necessary to press through and complete all 26 minigames up to the game’s “goal” scores, before I could go back and pick and choose whatever I wanted to play freely. As of the time of writing, there is a “cheat code” that you can put in to unlock them all right out of the gate, but this is such a weird choice for this type of game. There’s no harm in letting people who paid a pretty penny for a collection of games they probably have fond (and not so fond, when it comes to certain games) memories of to get straight to what they’ve been looking forward to for so long.
Squashing the Bugs
As I mentioned earlier, at the time of my playthrough of the game and its mini games, there were a metric ton of bugs throughout. To the developer’s credit, they have issued at least three big updates full of fixes, and seem dedicated to the refinement and success of the title, so that’s a big plus for them. I hope they continue to listen to specific feedback and keep it as a nice collection for those who want it to enjoy. I won’t harp on the bugs too much, as I have hope that they’re going to continue tackling them as they’re brought up, but just know, the experience I had wasn’t a smooth one when it came to the individual games. Issues I encountered included, but weren’t limited to, scores not updating correctly, instructions given at the beginning of some games either not reflecting the actual gameplay, or not being helpful enough to explain what was going on, sprites not moving smoothly, or getting stuck, and some graphical glitches like scores that pop up not going away. Lots of the specific ones I saw have been resolved now, according to their notes, but it was hard to keep track of them all. However, no matter how frustrating or glitchy some things got, I was able to fully complete every game’s goal and unlock the Arcade mode. So, hey, that’s something!
A Dash of Delight
As for the individual games and how much fun they all were, I’d say it was a mixed bag with nothing standing out above the rest. Honestly, these games are part of this collection because they are part of the internet’s history, not because they’re going to be sitting in the “fun and replayable” hall of fame. In fairness, I really did enjoy getting to sit down with my wife, who was much more into playing the mini games on Neopets than I was, and laugh and talk about what she remembered, and how tough and luck-based some of the experiences were. But that was part of the charm of the website, and how you really did have to win the RNG game to win prizes and points now and then. Unfortunately, this charm didn’t age well enough to make it worth going back to again and again in our older age, and with the bevy of other much more addictively replayable and smooth games we have now. But I don’t regret the time I spent playing through them all at least once, and if you were a big fan of Neopets games back in the day, you’ll for sure get a kick out of it all, even if some of the experience is as frustrating as it was back then. I will say, from my research, these remade games don’t fully reflect some of the native games they were based off of on the website, but I can’t speak to that comparison myself.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye!
Audio interspersed throughout the games and in the background was low-key and understated, reflecting their original counterparts that were made for the web. I came in expecting this, and nothing surprised me in a bad or good way. There are periods of near silence for background noise for some games, and nice melodic repeating tracks for others. The sound effects employed are appropriately “arcadey” and helped with understanding key points in some of the minigames’ action, but I felt they were too minimalist at points. Some additional environmental sounds, fun commentary, or the like would’ve brought some extra life to the odyssey they were trying to create for us. Alas, it’s what it needs to be and not much else in the ways of aural entertainment.
What You See Is What You Get
Visually, the game runs smoothly, with all graphics feeling sharp and bright while running at 60 fps. The style of Neopets is felt throughout every game, and is recreated admirably. To the game’s credit, it doesn’t advertise itself as a revamp or upgrade of the original classic mini games, but rather as a remaster. Does the simple style of the menus and UI add to the game or make it look modern? No, but it fits the brand, so it sorta works. I would’ve loved maybe some additional Neopets galleries here, or an “archive-like” experience where fans of all things Neopets could browse through some of the Neopet creatures seen in the game or website, along with possibly a history of the world and stories that they throw us into the middle of during the Story mode, but the most we get is a picture of the world map in the story mode. A missed opportunity to possibly hook new fans to the idea of exploring the full Neopets website, but I don’t think that was ever remotely the goal with this collection.
In Conclusion
At the end of the day, Neopets - Mega Mini Games Collection - The Neopian Arcade Odyssey (and yes, that’s the full title of the game) isn’t made to appeal to everyone. It plays like a set of games that still need refinement to play like they're designed to, but employ a dash of nostalgia to cross the finish line in terms of gamer interest. I’m not a fan of relying simply on a known brand to get an audience, and with a price tag of $24.99 MSRP, it needs to pull its weight as a game that can stand on its own. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do that all too well. I’d say if you’re a big fan of Neopets, just simply being able to play the games on the go won’t be enough to keep your interest, unless you -really- need to be able to earn Neopoints through a connected account while not in front of a computer. If that’s your desire, then this is the game for you. Otherwise, look for a heavy sale and for more of these bugs and issues to be resolved before journeying into the Arcade Odyssey.
