Get some great games for 30% off

Renegade Kid has been pumping out some amazing retro experiences lately, and if you've yet to bite, maybe this 3DS and Wii U sale will change your mind. Starting September 12th, you can get 30% off of Mutant Mudds (3DS), Bomb Monkey (3DS), ATV Wild Ride 3D (3DS) and Mutant Mudds Deluxe (Wii U).

I honestly consider all of them to be "must haves" outside of Wild Ride 3D -- especially for the price. Bomb Monkey even has a mode where you can turn your 3DS to the side and play multiplayer on one device, which is pretty awesome. As a side note, the sale will be running for the next two weeks, so you have plenty of time to read reviews and d?ecide!

The post Renegade Kid is holding a Wii U & 3DS eShop sale appeared first on Destructoid.

...or any other game for that matter?

[Update: Jools Watsham of Renegade Kid has clarified that 'No' votes do not directly cancel out 'Yes' votes on Greenlight, but it's not clear if 'No' votes have any other impact on a game's chances to make it onto Steam. In fact, it  is not 100% unclear what effect either 'No' or 'Yes' votes have on the Greenlight process, as some games that have reached the to?p 20 on Greenlight have not yet officially been "Greenlit", and vice versa. We'll be asking Valve for comment on Monday.]

What if the U.S. electoral process allowed you to vote "yes" for a candidate you want, but also "no" for the candidates you don't want? What percentage of people would go to the polls just to voice their discontent for their least favorite politicians? How about with TV shows? Would Jersey Shore and Tosh.0 become ratings sensations if all the people who hate those shows had equal s?ay?

Such is the situation with Steam Greenlight, where people who don't want the option to purchase the game through the online storefront can speak just as loudly as those who do. Renegade Kid's Jools Watsham has written up his perspective on the situation and all the ambiguity that comes with it, leaving me wondering why would someone ever vote "no" for a game on Greenlight, especially a critically acclaimed title like Mutant Mudds.

Is it because they are Nintendo fans and they want the game to stay exclusive to Nintendo consoles, increasing the perceived value of those systems? Is it because they feel left out (or otherwise annoyed) by games with "retro" graphics and want to try to stop all games that utilize them from existing? Are they just virtua-bullies that like hurting something or someone's chances of success in life? How about games like Divekick! or C-Wars? Who gave them "no" votes?

I'm genuinely curious -- why would anyone ?bother trying to actively stop any videogame succeeding?&nb?sp;

Muddy Steam - Before and After Greenlight [Gamasutra]

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Sweetie pumpkin, could you please visit Mutant Mudds' Steam Greenlight page and give it your approval? Thanks so much! ??You're a peach!

Renegade Kid's amazing eShop darling turned PC game is available on a host of downloadable services, such as Desura, GamersGate, and GOG.com. But there is one service, the most significant one of all, that is noticeably missing: Steam. A lot of you guys expressed disappointment when it was announced that Valve denied a Steam release for the retro platformer, so now is the time to prove that we can make a difference! Let's get Mutant Mudds on Steam!

If you have a Steam account, visit the game's Greenlight page and click the "Yes" button. I guarantee that it won't take more than a couple of seconds, and you won't be inconvenienced in any way. Mutant Mudds currently only has 3% of the necessary votes, whi?ch is not cool at all. It deserves the opportunity, and you all have the power to make i??t happen.

The post Be a dear and vo??te for Mutant Mudds on Steam Greenlight appeared first on Destructoid.

20 new levels are coming in an eShop update

Well this is pleasant. When Renegade Kid brought Mutant Mudds over to PC, 20 additional levels were added. It's not uncommon for later vers??ions of games to pack in more content, but then the question becomes "What about the original supporters?" In this case, they're being treated nicely too.

In a post detailing why Mutant Mudds appearing on Steam via the Greenlight system will lead to good things for us all (namely, more eShop games from the developer), Renegade Kid co-founder Jools Watsham says that those 20 new Grannie levels will make i??t to ??the 3DS version as a free eShop update.

Downloadabl??e content on a handheld Nintendo plat?form. These are exciting times indeed.

Download 20 Extra Levels for Mutant Mudds 3DS [Cub3d via VG247]

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Steam is one of the few powers in the game industry that everyone seems to love. Smaller multi-platform developers routinely report that Steam is their biggest money maker, and diehard fans of the service will tell you flat out that it's the only place they'll buy games on PC. It sometimes seems like there are only two types ?of people -- those who who love Steam, and those who just haven't signed up for it yet.

It's looking like there may be at least one person who exists outside those two categories, at least for the moment. Renegade Kid president and Sup, Holmes? alumni Jools Watcham (episode 10) recently had his critically acclaimed 3DS eShop title Mutant Mudds rejected from the Steam storefront. Why didn't they want th??e game? Reportedly, Jools was told that "Steam was not a good fit for distribution" and that was it. No request to fix specific bugs. No constructive criticism. Just a "No Thank You" and that's that. 

There are a lot worse games than Mutant Mudds on Steam, which makes me wonder if there is something else going on here. Is Valve unhappy with the fact that the game was on the 3DS first? Do they hate the id??ea of another bespectacled scientist hero taking charge? on their storefront, while their own nerdy hero remains in permanent limbo? I've reached out to Valve for comment. Hopefully they'll give us some answers.

In the meantime, Jools is planning to resubmit to Steam, and is reportedly interested in shopping the game around to other services like Good Old Games and GamersGate. You PC owners will get Mutant Mudds eventually. Trust me, it'll be worth the wait. The soundtrack alone is worth the price of the admission. 

3DS IN?DIE HIT ‘MUTANT MUDDS’ REJ?ECTED BY STEAM – ARE VALVE DOING ENOUGH? [IndieGameMag]

The post ??Critically acclaimed Mutant Mudds denied Steam re??lease appeared first on Destructoid.

Renegade Kid does not give up easily. The developer's latest title, Mutant Mudds, had a long, rough journey, first as a polygonal third-person shooter for the DS that never found a publisher and then as a DSiWare hopeful that likewise never garnered enough support. Only when Renegade Kid returned to the drawing board and remade Mutant Mudds as a basic 2D platformer for th?e eShop did the game get ??greenlit.

When I say "basic," I mean basic. It is not innovative at all. The hero is not gaming's next major ic??on. His weapon couldn't be any more utilitarian. T??he platforming couldn't be any more straightforward. There are no sudden play style departures. It is, in every sense of the word, archaic.

Why should you play Mutant Mudds? Because it's a damn fine game.

Mutant Mudds (Nintendo eShop)
Developer: Renegade Kid
Publisher: Renegade Kid
Released: January 26, 2012
MSRP: $8.99

A quick glance at Mutant Mudds and you instantly think "retro." It would be easy to dismiss the game as trying to capitalize on nostalgia, but that isn't its goal. It doesn't just look retro, it is retro. This isn't a bad thing, because it allows the game to stand on its own merits without relying on gaudy presentation or cheap gimmicks.

You play as a young boy named Max as he tries to save the world f??rom the titular aliens with nothing but a water cannon and a jet pack. You enter a stage, jump over pits of spikes, pick off a few baddies, collect some diamonds, reach the g?oal, then move on to the next stage. This is the routine; it never changes.

How can a game with rarely threatening enemies and an entry-level assortment of floating platforms and lava pits possibly succeed? By ensuring that those barest of platforming challenges are as tight as they can possibly be. It literally cannot rely on anything else, so its success hinges entirely on how well Renegade Kid has mastered base platformin??g mechanics.

Mutant Mudds nails them big ??time. The challenge curve is spot on -- the pattern of platforms and hazards is mixed up just enough from level to level that you never feel mentally unprepared. It's plain ol' satisfying -- there is no way else to descri??be it.

Though the adventure can be challenging, it is never frustrating. Mutant Mudds is a fair game. With the except??ion of a single stage, there are no instances of blind jumps, near-unavoidable obstacles, or demands of pixel-perfect accuracy. Every hurdle lies in plain sight, allowing you to devise a strategy that best suits you. When you die, it will be because you were le??ss than careful. The "retro" ideal is demonstrated not by cheap deaths or game-length padding but by pure platforming goodness.

The one allowance that Mutant Mudds makes in regards to gimmicky tomfoolery is the oft-touted plane traversal. When Max jumps off special pads, he is launched either into the distance or towa?rds the screen. By populating the fore, middle, and backgrounds, the game is able to pack more action per level than it would if you w?ere merely running from left to right.

Because of how basic the sprites and environment appear, it can sometimes be difficult in 2D mode to determine on what plane an object sits. With the 3D effect activated, the confusion is erased. And because the art is so basic, the game is especially easy on the eyes for any length of time. I had previously complained that art of Mighty Switch Force was so complex that the 3D had the adverse effect of actually breaking the illusion of depth. Here, there is no ??such i?ssue.

Within each of the 20 main stages is a door that you typically can't access until you collect enough diamonds to unlock gun and jet pack upgrades. These doors take you to secret challenge levels sporting color schemes reminiscent of Game Boy and Virtual Boy software. Yes, I said Virtual Boy. Though we may try to suppress the memory of Gunpei Yokoi's failed "portable," it's nonetheless an important milestone in Nintendo's 3D gaming development. At least it gave us the stellar VB Wario Land, which obviously served as an inspiration for Mutant Mudds.

There really isn't anything to hate about this game. Even the chiptune soundtrack is ?delightfully peppy and infectious from beginning to end, though I wish there was slightly more thematic variety from one world to the next. I guess that's ?not much of a complaint, is it?

If I had to mark Mutant Mudds down for anything, it would be because of the same simplicity that makes it so refreshing. Had this game appeared over two decades, I guarantee it wouldn't have made any waves. It would have been viewed as another bare-bones platformer in a sea of me-too software. But it wasn't released over two decades ago. It's out now, during an era when developers regularly invest so much time and effort into flash and presentation that the core mechanics of?ten suffer due to negligence. It's a game that came out at the right time and said, "I don't care about being the best dressed dude at the party! I just want to dance!" You have to respect that attitude.

Mutant Mudds is platforming distilled to its essence. It cuts the fat in order to deliver a pure, satisfying experience. More than anything, it demonstrates that?? "retro" should not just be pixel graphics and chiptunes but rather a thorough understanding of the basics that made a genre popular in the first place.

The post Review: Mutant Mudds appeared first on Destructoid.

Renegade Kid, the team responsible for pushing the DS to its limits with games like the Dementium series and Moon, is about ready to make its grand 3DS debut with something a little more scaled back. On the official Mutant Mudds Twitter feed, it was announced that the game s??hould most likely drop in December.

I had a chance to play Mutant Mudds during E3, and it was a very pleasant experience. It's a no-frills platformer with solid colors and basic jump-and-gun gameplay. In short, it's exactly what the doctor ordered. Sometimes, you don't need to "push boundaries" or "be innovative." Sometimes, you just need to go back to something simple yet fun. I just hope everyone wit?h a 3DS remembers to put aside some dough for this one.

Maximilian's response [Twitter]

The post Mutant Mudds is shoot??ing for a December eShop rele??ase appeared first on Destructoid.

Renegade Kid has sent over some new screens of its once-canceled now-resurrected Mutant Mudds for the 3DS eShop, and it's looking pretty good!

The 2D side-scrolling plat?former has a decidedly retro flavor, with some adorable sprites and a colorful world. In these sreens we see the game's protagonist Max embarking on his adventure, and get? a first look at a new world, Cloudsville.

Mutant Mudds is set for release on the 3DS eShop this year. This may be the first eShop t??itle I decide to purchase for my 3DS!

The post Latest look at Renegade Kid’s Mutant Mudds appeared first on Destructoid.

Jools Watsham of Renegade Kid has released some off-screen footage of the Mutant Mudds E3 build. The 3DS eShop game is a straight-up, no-frills sidescroller in the vein of classics like Commander Keen. The hook is that you can jump into the fore-, mid-, and background planes, a twist inspired directly by Wario Land on the Virtual Boy, perhaps the only good game on that ol' red tumor.

As you can see, it's a pure experience with extremely Gam?e Boy-ish music. But hey! Those are good things! I can't wait to play th??e full game later this year!

The post This Mutant Mudds video channels Wario Land appeared first on Destructoid.

Yesterday afternoon, I sat down with Renegade Kid co-founder Jools Watsham for one of the most laid-back, informal meetings ever. Actually, it was much less of a meeting and more of a fireside chat, only replace "fire" with "giant Gears of War 3 poster." It was a nice c??hange from the typical? E3 hustle and bustle.

Renegade Kid was the developer of the two Dementium games, Moon, and the recently released ATV Wild Ride, all available on the DS. Not the biggest company in the world, but the folks there have a lot of heart and passion and just want people to enjoy their work. I mean, these are the cats who released not one but two M-rated DS games!

So anyway, I'm sitting here with Jools when he pulls out his 3DS and launches his upcoming title, Mutant Mudds.

Mutant Mudds almost didn't happen. It was originally a retail title on the DS with full polygonal graphics. That fell through, so Jools pushed for a release on DSiWare and asked fans to support the endeavor. That also fell through.

Back to the drawing board -- Mutant Mudds was reimagined as a 2D sidescrolling for the 3DS. ??And since the 3DS eShop allows so developers to self-publish, Renegade Kid won't?? have to worry about the ground falling out from under them again!

Drawing inspiration directly from classic Nintendo platformers, Mutant Mudds is 100% old-school with very few unnecessary frills. The colors are solid and rich, and the visuals as a whole give me a strong Commander Keen vibe. The soundtrack also is&nb??sp;chi?ptune-tastic. As I said, old-school.

Your he??ro Maximilian carries around a water gun and jetpack combo that allows him to clean up enemy Mudds and hover for limited periods, respectively. The goal in each level is to reach the goal while clearing jumps, taking down foes, and collecting gems along the way. The three levels in the demo were split into easy, medium, and hard difficulties, with the harder levels being more representative of later ?game challenges.

Since this is a 3DS game, it naturally makes use of the 3D capabilities. In this case, it takes a page out of Wario Land on the Virtual Boy by giving you three different planes to travel along. By jumping off arrow markers, you will be launched either into the background, foreground, or middle. It's a fun effect, but the leve??ls I tried out didn't quite demonstrate if it'll serve any crazy new purpose later down the line.

The game is very chill, very simple, and just knows what it's good at. It's shaping up to be a solid time in the vein of the SNES era. You can tell there's a lot of Nintendo love in here. You can check out Mutant Mudds when it releases later this y?ear on the 3DS eShop!

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