Home » Kidbash: Super Legend (Preview)

We had the opportunity to preview the roguelike action-platformer game Kidbash: Super Legend. It carries a retro-inspiring gameplay that’s visually fun and entertaining, a purrfect blend for nostalgia .

A Hero in Need

The story takes place in O.D.D. (Obscura Disk Drive), where forgotten video game characters who had been left behind in their games reside. You play as Kidbash, a hero with no memory of his past, except for knowing his name and his desire to be a hero. To get stronger, Kidbash must travel across lands to be the hero he wants to be.

The retro-inspired game carries a fast-paced gameplay where you’ll run, jump, bounce off walls, shoot, and fight enemies on generated levels. Controlling Kidbash feels smooth while tackling enemies with the weapons on-hand. The unique style of Kidbash is the ability to mix weapons. You can carry two different weapons, such as a sword and a gun barrel. Swapping between the two is as simple as a button command on a controller. The neat feature is there’s a special gauge called “Mix” where players will gradually fill, and when full, they can combine their weapons into a stronger Kidbash. It’s not just a visual change to Kidbash, but his attack power hits enemies harder with a new weapon style, such as throwing blades as projectiles. It’s for a limited time, so use this power wisely. Kidbash’s movements and combat mechanics are well-suited for platformer enthusiasts. With the game in development, I expected to run into small hitbox hiccups, but the game’s mechanics showcased a strong performance.

A Retro Power-up!

While travelling, you earn special power-ups when clearing a stage. You’ll have an option to choose between three power-ups that resemble Famicom cartridges. For example, your primary attack can deal 40% extra damage at close range, stomp deals more damage, or your dash deals 40% damage and inflicts fear on hit enemies. There are other opportunities that’ll occur in areas you complete where you can upgrade your weapon for better stats. The longer you travel, the more powerful your little hero becomes. Initially, it took me some time to notice a difference in my character, but as I observed the enemy’s health depleting faster, I began to see the rewards.

However, since the game is a roguelike, when your health bar is depleted and you perish, you will lose those hard-earned stat buildups and return to your home base. Players will learn and experiment with the character progression. While playing, I didn’t come across any ways to replenish my health gauge, and after a few deaths, I didn’t feel too discouraged because I realized that I could have made better choices regarding the mistakes I made along the way. Returning to the levels, I saw improvements in my abilities and chose upgrades more wisely.

The game offers other mini-games such as fishing for treasures and carries a whole new visual style that resembles black-and-white LCD handheld games from the 1980s and 1990s. Remember Mr. Game and Watch and those Tiger Electronics handhelds? This indie game visually draws inspiration from those styles, and I love the aesthetics it brings.

There are so many detailed visuals that make Kidbash shine. The clay animation designs look very fun and resemble designs you see in creative-looking games like the recent Yoshi and Kirby games, and the adorable anime super-deformed chibi art style makes these character and enemy designs really pop. Kidbash’s visual designs resemble the popular Capcom character Mega Man. Enemies have fun designs that look like they’re from the Kirby universe. Regarding the game’s audio, the sound effects, from hitting enemies to coin collecting, sound great. However, I found the music itself to be somewhat lacking in energy. I was expecting a little more energy; whether using chiptunes or orchestrated, it didn’t carry enough power I was expecting. Since everything is still in development, I am curious to see if any updates will be made to the game’s soundtrack.

Landscapes carry the same design aesthetics too, with some depth of field for a playful visual that also resembles the Kirby world. Going underwater makes Kidbash perform differently by feeling floatier and its movements sluggier, which makes sense due to the environment you are interacting with. There are additional little details added, such as the glitch effects that’ll occur while playing, which carry over from the story of Kidbash’s arrival on O.D.D. I had an amusing time just catching the details and how they resemble specific retro themes, and I’m excited to find more when the game releases in 2027.

A Mega Blast

While Kidbash: Super Legend is still in development, it’s on a steady and positive pace that fans of retro platformers would enjoy, with the roguelike experience adding additional difficulty. I appreciate the team giving us the opportunity to play the demo and am eagerly looking forward to its release next year. You can check out our gameplay action below of the game’s development.

Kidbash: Super Legend (Preview) is scheduled to release in 2027 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (Steam). Fans can visit the game’s official website on Acclaim for more information and wishlist options.