Developer Mega Cat Studios announced today that its long-in-development 16-bit top-down RPG shooter Lethal Wedding is moving into a new phase of development since it was announced back in 2019. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Lethal Wedding is its platforms: Sega Genesis and Mega Drive.

I'm not as familiar with the Genesis and Mega Drive as our very own Zoey "Retro Queen" Handley, but for even a layman like me I'm immediately getting Zombies Ate My Neighbors vibes from Lethal Wedding, so sign me up.

According to Mega Cat Studios, the story of Lethal Wedding kicks off after a drug ring of cri?minal clowns crashes a bachelor party and kidnaps your groom the day before the big ??wedding. Of course, it falls to the players, the bride-to-be and her mother-in-law to rescue him from the psycho circus performers. You know, just another day.

Lethal Wedding features couch co-op, over 25 upgrades, over 30 levels, fully animated cutscenes, and an innovative "Vow System" that gives?? you the option to earn upgrades at the expense of taking on new chall?enges in the ultimate risk vs reward situation.

Mega Cat Studios will be taking Lethal Wedding to Kickstarter o?n November 4 ahead of its Sega Genesis and M??ega Drive release.

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Atari has surprise-dropped Mega Cat Studios' Food Fight: Culinary Combat on Steam today. Previously, the title was only available on Atari’s own VCS console.

Food Fight: Culinary Combat is an arena shooter take on the classic Food Fight arcade game. There’s local and online mu??ltiplayer, four modes, six maps, and even split-screen.

Strangely, a lot of the marketing information focuses on what goes around the multiplayer itself. There’s an Atariverse hub where you can talk to characters from other games and the creators of the original Food Fight. You can also find circuit boards to unlock Atari arcade games, and more cosmetic items for character customi?zation. Which sounds rad, but I still don’t know much about how the game actually plays. 

The four game modes are Buffet Brawl, King of the Cone, Cookie Collector, and Crumbling, which aren’t very descriptive names. The Steam listing has a tag for PvE, which ??is suggested in the trailer but not in the store blurb.

Atari fans seem to look favorably on the VCS version. The most ??significant complaint I could find was that, because the VCS is a US-only console and it has a small userbase, it was sometimes difficult to find people to play with. Hopefully, with the Steam release, things will be more lively.

Food Fight: Culinary Combat is now available for the Atari VCS a??nd PC. Console versions are planned.

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Atari and Mega Cat Studios have released Food Fight: Culinary Combat, a multi-player reimagining of the somewhat bizarre 1983 arcade game, into Early Access. The catch is that, right now, it’s exclusiv?el?y available on the Atari VCS.

As a note of disclosure, I did a stint with Mega Cat Studios writing for their blog and for a still unannounced (and maybe canceled?) game. They weren’t working on Food Fight at the time, as far as I know.

By the looks of things, Food Fight: Culinary Combat doesn’t really have anything to do with the 1983 arcade game. Maybe. It’s hard to tell. It’s the type of trailer that cuts so frequently that you donâ€?™t get a very good look at things. There is a single-player mode, and maybe you fight chefs, or perhaps instead, it’s zombie food.

What I do know is that there’s multi-player. There are four modes across six different maps, all with food-related names like King of the Cone, Buffet Brawl, Cookie Collector, and Crumbling. There are shades of Splatoon in all of this, though I don’t think the formulas are related. There’s also a hub world where “you can play classic arcade games, purchase new gear, and interact with the locals.�/p>

It’s interesting to see an Atari VCS exclusive release, even if it is early access. It will supposedly be released on PC and other platforms at a later date.  Released in 2020, the console �or �a href="//venturebeat.com/games/atari-ceo-wade-rosen-interview-returning-to-classic-video-game-roots/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">home entertainment computer��has had trouble establishing a place in the market. It has a seemingly loyal fanbase but hasn’t seen much mass? market adoption. However, Atar??i continues to work to not only support it but also see if they can gain some traction.

On the other hand, Food Fight: Culinary Combat isn’t for me. I’m not much of a multiplayer person, and I don’t own an Atari VCS. On top of that, a lot of the early footage s??eems rough, not only in terms of gameplay but also ??in fidelity for some reason. I guess that's what Early Access is for.

Food Fight: Culinary Combat is currently available in Early Acces on Atari VCS. PC and console versi?ons will be coming at a later date.

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Full disclosure to start off with: the reason I’m not doing a formal scored review of Wrestlequest is because I did a stint of remote freelance writing for the developer, Mega Cat Studios?. It wasn’t anything glamorous, but I got the opportunity during one of the lowest points in my life. COVID was in full swing, and I had lost my job. It helped me hold onto a shred of self-worth for a while. I faded off shortly after, but I enjoyed the time I spent collaborating with them.

I didn’t work on WrestleQuest, though. The closest I came was when I was asked if it looked like one of the crowd members was fl??ipping the middle finger. I didn’t even remember that until I noticed that same cro?wd member.

Anyway, the real reason I’m playing WrestleQuest is because of Macho Man Randy Savage featuring prominently. He was one of the finest entertainers of all time, absolutely captivating whether he was dropping elbows or hocking nitrite-filled meat sticks. Sometimes you just have to load up one of his promos to feel better. Unfortunately, WrestleQuest doesn’t carry the same macho charisma.

[caption id="attachment_398014" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

WrestleQuest (PC [Reviewed], Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, Switch)
Developer: Mega Cat Studios
Publisher: Skybound Games
Released: August 22, 2023
MSRP: $29.99

While WrestleQuest is chiefly an RPG in the Japanese s??tyle of wrestling, it has another wrinkle in the fact that it’s all communicated through toys. While everything is kept legally distinct, you’ll no doubt spot a few classic playthings scattered around the thematic world.

However, the most important part of the toy theme is that it allows for a divorce from actual wre?stling history. It certainly taps into the ebb and flow of the industry and alludes to things like Vince McMahon Jr.’s crusade against smaller promotions in forming the WWF. However, the protagonists are all (mostly) original characters, and the events of the game don’t require any knowledge of wrestling to know what’s going on.

You play? as alternating parties that you switch to throughout the story. Macho Man heads none of them, but one of them stars a Mexican counterpart named Muchacho Man. It works. The story about the protagonists taking different routes to rise in the world of professional wrestling is enjoyable.

At the same time, you’ll see greats like Andre the Giant an?d Junkyard Dog mixed in as summons. It’s a decent tribute to pro wrestling while also allowing for unique storytelling.

[caption id="attachment_398015" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Cuppa coffee in the big time

As a game, however, Wrestlequest is just okay. It uses a Super Mario RPG system where you can improve the effects of your attacks and defenses with timed button presses. The downside is that these are ?presented more as QTE, and some attacks are absolutely useless (or don’t work at all) unless you manage to pull off the QTE. It’s okay, at first, but having to repeat these sequences every time you want to use a move gets really tiresome.

Your characters also wind up learning way too many special attacks. One character learns multiple different versions of the same attack, each with a different elemental effect. However, if enemies are weak against certain elements, I never really found a good example of it. I mostly just rotated between them, trying to figure out if they were weak ?against fire or microwave.

The dif??ference between attacks was often mystifying to me. What benefits did each hold? I could never tell. For every other character, out of the dozens of moves they learned, ??I’d often just stick to two or three that seemed to have the best effect.

The dungeons are another matter. I appreciate the fact that there are no random encounters and a dead enemy stays buried, but I feel like Wrestlequest’s wonky difficulty makes it necessary to fight ever??ything. Or not. There were sections where I had to tip-toe between encounters to keep my party alive and others where it felt like I was extremely overpowered. I guess that’s the scripted nature ??of wrestling.

[caption id="attachment_398016" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Spice so nice, brother

I also feel like Wrestlequest doesn’t cash in on the wre??stling theme very well. There are custom walk-ons, a hype meter where you excite the crowd for bonus?es, and special goals in some matches where you have to put over your opponent to increase the drama. However, only the hype meter is present in smaller battles.

I think it would have been more beneficial to Wrestlequest’s mechanics if it focused more on boss battles. Less combat would have made the QTEs more? tolerable and got more mileage out of the theme and the mechanics built around it. Even if some bosses repeated, it would still feel more like wrestling.

Actually, a lot of its design would have been better if it was smaller. I put dozens of hours into Wrestlequest and still haven’t seen the ending. I’m not sure I ever will. It’s certainly ambitious to try and meet the runtime of games like the genre greats like Final Fantasy VI,?? but it resu??lted in a lot of bloat that is difficult to sort through.

[caption id="attachment_398018" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Art thou bored!?

It feels lik?e a lot of time was spent?? on crafting a big game, and not enough of it was spent tightening up what was there. At the very least, its themes and visuals help it stand out from the glut of Kemco JRPGs on digital marketplaces.

To be certain, Wrestlequest isn’t a bad game, but it doesn’t quite feel like the main event it should be.? There are a lot of great ideas mixed in here, but they’re piled on by unnecessary bloat. An infectious love for the subject matter doesn’t quite manage to hide all the flaws. It’s got the spice, but not the execution.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Mega Cat Studios�WrestleQuest has turned heads thanks to its gorgeous pixel art world that blends RPG fantasy exploration with wrestling action. Though it was originally slated for an Augu??st 8 release, the game has since been delayed to August 22 on all platforms.

//twit??ter.com/skyb?oundgames/status/1688712585175261184

It is a brief delay triggered by a slight bug developers found. As a Tweet by Skybound Games explains, it was “discovered that it was possible for players to lose their save game progress when playing WrestleQuest on multiple different devices.�/p>

[caption id="attachment_360115" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Mega Cat Studios.[/caption]

WrestleQuest gets pushed back a few weeks

The delay may be disappointing, though the stated reason for it is understandable. WrestleQuest has hours of content, taking players on a journey to become the greatest pro wrestler. The tweet also suggests that WrestleQuest will have cross-save capabilities.

Early impression??s of the game have been mostly positive, with critics praising the art style and its engagement with the wrestling world. A few real-world wrestling superstars also ??mak??e an appearance, including Andre the ??Giant, Jake “The Snake�Roberts, and Jef?f Jarrett.

The delay may have been necessary, but it does push WrestleQuest into quite a busy time in gaming. It launches in the same week as Immortals of Aveumn and Armored Core 6. Sea of Stars, another pixel art ??game, releases the following week on August ??29.

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