Rytlock's Critter Rampage

Rytlock's Critter Rampage
Rytlock's Critter Rampage
	Spoofed box art, depicting Rytlock Brimstone in battle with a toad.
Developer(s)	ArenaNet
Publisher(s)	ArenaNet
Designer(s)	Delly Sartika
Programmer(s)	Delly Sartika
Composer(s)	Maclaine Diemer
Series	Guild Wars
Engine	Construct 2
Platform(s)	HTML5
Release	April 19, 2013
Genre(s)	Action-adventure ; Platform-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Last updated May 11, 2023

Rytlock's Critter Rampage is a 2013 HTML5-based action-adventure game published by ArenaNet, developed and programmed by Delly Sartika. While not an official sequel to the Guild Wars series, it takes place in the same canon realm known to Guild Wars 2 players as the Super Adventure Box.

The gameplay of Rytlock's Critter Rampage focuses on exploration, the search for baubles that are used to purchase items such as potions, defeating foes, and rescuing defenseless creatures known as quaggans. The game's story takes place some time before the events of Super Adventure Box, and follows legionnaire Charr warrior Rytlock Brimstone as he goes on a rampage, destroying hostile creatures.

Rytlock's Critter Rampage was an unexpected addition to the Super Adventure Box release, and is considered by many players a prime example of ArenaNet going above and beyond with their game development and marketing strategy..

Gameplay, graphics, and sound

Rytlock does battle with a giant bunny rabbit boss. The figures and icons on the top of the screen indicate his health, baubles, and treasure found. RytlockBoss.png — Rytlock does battle with a giant bunny rabbit boss. The figures and icons on the top of the screen indicate his health, baubles, and treasure found.

Players control Rytlock Brimstone, a fierce Charr warrior who is a protagonist in the game Guild Wars 2. The goal is to explore and survive the game world while collecting baubles and treasures. Combat includes many foes, Guild Wars 2 players will recognize from Super Adventure Box, such as snakes, turtles, beedogs, rabbits and monkeys which can all be dealt with using Rytlock's kick attack.^[2] Players can also rescue some friendly creatures, such as pink quaggans, which act as savepoints, and purchase items like potions from shopkeepers. The game also includes boss fights, which are a combination of bullet hell and platforming.

The game's graphics are designed to appear like a halfway point between a retro 8-bit NES game and a SNES game, even though the game is coded to be experienced in flash. It was designed this way to make it appear as if the release of the Super Adventure Box was replacing the old fashioned SNES/NES-style gameplay with a new and mind-blowing graphic enhancements. (Similar to the way N64 was an upgrade from the SNES) ^[3]

The game also features two game modes (Easy Mode or Rytlock Mode), Ten secret treasures players can find, a save feature, and four different endings.

Development

The game was originally intended to be nothing more than a prop for a Guild Wars 2 advertisement video, simply making an appearance briefly before the Super Adventure Box debut in the Adventure Box promotional video. The original plan was simply to create a couple of fake sprites, but one of the developers, Delly Sartika, decided that he would in-fact take the initiative and create an entire platformer. The entire process took him about three weeks.

-Matthew Oswald, the ArenaNet Cinematics team lead, said "Originally, we just wanted to build out a couple sprites to fake the game in After Effects, but one of the cinematic artists on my team (Delly Sartika) has long harbored an interest in building his own retro platformer, so he volunteered to build out a playable version of our totally fake game."^[3]

Release

Rytlock's Critter Rampage was released as a free flash game and made available for everyone with internet access on April 19, 2013. It can be played here

Reception

Stories of an April Fool's joke leading to a fun and challenging game that was free and available to all, sparked the interest of several popular gaming sites such as PC Gamer, Giant Bomb, Joystiq and many others. Fans of the Guild Wars franchise and 2d platformers alike greeted the release of Rytlock's Critter Rampage with open arms. Many people who previously lost interest in the Guild Wars franchise, or had never displayed interest in the first place, had a spark of interest that ignited in both Guild Wars 2 and ArenaNet as a company. Overall, ArenaNet accomplished exactly what it set out to do, and the game received generally positive reception from audiences - working wonders for the company's publicity. Some players find Rytlock's Critter Rampage to be a bit too challenging for their tastes, but do not commit negatively to the title, since it is completely free.^{[ citation needed ]}

Related Research Articles

<i>Super Mario World</i> 1990 video game

Super Mario World, known in Japan as Super Mario World: Super Mario Bros. 4, is a platform video game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released in Japan in 1990, North America in 1991 and Europe and Australia in 1992. The player controls Mario on his quest to save Princess Peach and Dinosaur Land from the series' antagonist Bowser and the Koopalings. The gameplay is similar to that of earlier Super Mario games: players control Mario through a series of levels in which the goal is to reach the goalpost at the end.

<i>Killer Instinct</i> (1994 video game) 1994 video game

Killer Instinct is a fighting video game developed by Rare and published by Midway. It was released as an arcade game in the fall of 1994 and, the following year, ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and the Game Boy. The game's plot involves an all-powerful corporation organizing a fighting tournament. The story was adapted in a limited comic book series published under the short-lived Acclaim Comics imprint.

Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! is a video game for the Super NES console that is based on the animated TV series Tiny Toon Adventures. It was developed and published by Konami, released in 1992 in Japan and in 1993 in Europe and North America.

<i>Batman Returns</i> (video games) 1992 video game

Batman Returns is the name of several video games for various platforms based on the 1992 film of the same name.

<i>Rocket Knight Adventures</i> 1993 video game

Rocket Knight Adventures is a 1993 platform game developed and published by Konami for the Sega Genesis. It was released in North America on August 5, 1993, in Japan on August 6, 1993, and in Europe in September 1993. Rocket Knight Adventures was designed by Nobuya Nakazato, designer of Contra games such as The Alien Wars, Hard Corps and Shattered Soldier.

Kirby Super Star, released as Kirby's Fun Pak in PAL regions, is an anthology platform video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1996. It is part of the Kirby series of video games by HAL Laboratory. The game was advertised as a compilation featuring eight games: seven short subsections with the same basic gameplay, and two minigames.

Equinox is an action adventure puzzle video game developed by Software Creations and published by Sony Imagesoft for the Super NES. A sequel to Solstice (1990) for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Equinox depicts Glendaal saving his father, the predecessor's playable character Shadax, from the imprisonment of Sonia, Shadax's apprentice. The player acts as Glendaal, exploring 458 rooms in eight underground dungeons. The player collects 12 blue orb tokens while solving puzzles, killing enemies, collecting keys, navigating platforms and blocks, and battling bosses. It continues Solstice's isometric puzzle game style, with greater emphasis on action adventure and Mode 7 overworld map.

Cool Spot is a 1993 platform game developed and published by Virgin Games for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was ported by other teams to Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy, Amiga, and MS-DOS in 1994. The title character is Cool Spot, a mascot for the soft drink brand 7 Up. Cool Spot's appearance in his own video game came at a time when other brand mascots were appearing in their own video games.

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, known in Japan as Super Demon World Village, is a platform video game developed and published by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. As the third game in the Ghosts 'n Goblins series and the first not to be released for the arcade, it again depicts knight Arthur saving Princess Guinevere and the kingdom from Emperor Sardius, who has cast a spell that has revived the Ghoul Realm.

Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse is a 1994 platform video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Sony Imagesoft for the Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Sega CD. In the game, the player controls Mickey Mouse, who must navigate through various side-scrolling levels, each designed and based on classical Mickey Mouse cartoons. The game was later released on the PlayStation in 1996 as Mickey's Wild Adventure. A second game, Mickey Mania 2, was intended to be released but was canceled due to Traveller's Tales focusing on other games.

Super Bomberman is an action, maze game, part of the Bomberman series, released for the Super NES in 1993. It is the first in the series to be released in Europe keeping the Bomberman title instead of being called Dynablaster or Eric and the Floaters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barcode Battler</span> Handheld game console by Epoch Co.

The Barcode Battler is a handheld game console released by Epoch Co. in March 1991.

<i>Guild Wars</i> (video game) 2005 video game

Guild Wars is a multiplayer online action role-playing game developed by ArenaNet, a subsidiary of South Korean game publisher NCSOFT, and released in 2005. As the original installment of the Guild Wars series, its campaign was retroactively titled Prophecies to differentiate it from the content of subsequent releases. The game contains a co-operative role-playing portion and a competitive Player versus Player (PvP) portion. In PvP, players may use either their co-operative characters or PvP-exclusive characters who are inherently maximum level and have account-based access to unlocked content.

<i>Guild Wars: Eye of the North</i> 2007 video game

Guild Wars: Eye of the North is an expansion pack to the multiplayer online role-playing game Guild Wars by ArenaNet, a subsidiary of NCSOFT. It was released worldwide on August 31, 2007. Unlike other games in the Guild Wars sequence, Eye of the North requires players to own one of the earlier three campaigns. It features no tutorial content and is intended for characters that have reached level 10 or higher.

<i>Guild Wars 2</i> 2012 video game by ArenaNet

Guild Wars 2 is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the core game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedicated to fighting Elder Dragons, colossal Lovecraftian-esque entities that have seized control of Tyria in the time since the original Guild Wars (2005), a plot line that was concluded in the latest expansion End of Dragons (2022). The game takes place in a persistent world with a story that progresses in instanced environments.

The Wizard of Oz is a 1993 platform video game released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and loosely based on the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Developed by Manley & Associates, it was published by SETA Corporation and released in North America in 1993 and in Europe in 1994. The player assumes the role of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, or the Cowardly Lion in a series of levels containing hidden areas, mazes, and puzzles to bring Glinda's magic ruby slippers to the Wizard of Oz.

<i>Retro City Rampage</i> 2012 action-adventure video game

Retro City Rampage is an action-adventure game developed by Vblank Entertainment. It is a parody of retro games and 1980s and 1990s pop culture, as well as Grand Theft Auto and similar games. It was first released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and Microsoft Windows in 2012, with ports later releasing for several other platforms. An enhanced version, Retro City Rampage DX, was released for Nintendo 3DS in 2014, followed by later ports for other platforms. Previous ports of the original version were later updated to the DX version via free updates.

<i>Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind</i> 1993 video game

Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, often shortened to Bubsy, is a platform game first released for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System by Accolade in 1993. It is the first entry in the Bubsy series of video games. The game's title is a play on words in reference to the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the game revolving around Bubsy defending the planet's supply of yarn balls from alien invaders.

The Lost Vikings is a puzzle-platform game developed by Silicon & Synapse and published by Interplay. It was originally released for the Super NES in 1993, then subsequently released for the Amiga, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS, and Mega Drive/Genesis systems; the Mega Drive/Genesis version contains five stages not present in any other version of the game, and can also be played by three players simultaneously. Blizzard re-released the game for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. In 2014, the game was added to Battle.net as a free download emulated through DOSBox. In celebration of the company's 30th anniversary, The Lost Vikings was re-released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as part of the Blizzard Arcade Collection in February 2021.

References

↑ Potato (Delly Sartika) (2013-04-19). "Rytlock's Critter Rampage, Guildwars fan made game". Scirra Forums. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
↑ "Guild Wars 2 Retro Platformer Rytlock?s Critter Rampage Now Playable | CINEMABLEND". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-12-13.
1 2 Matthew Oswald (April 19, 2013). "Presenting the Rytlock's Critter Rampage Game – GuildWars2.com". GuildWars2.com. Retrieved 2018-01-06.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Potato (Delly Sartika) (2013-04-19). "Rytlock's Critter Rampage, Guildwars fan made game". Scirra Forums. Retrieved 2017-08-30.

[2] "Guild Wars 2 Retro Platformer Rytlock?s Critter Rampage Now Playable | CINEMABLEND". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-12-13.

[gw2_press-3] 1 2 Matthew Oswald (April 19, 2013). "Presenting the Rytlock's Critter Rampage Game – GuildWars2.com". GuildWars2.com. Retrieved 2018-01-06.

[1]

[2]

[3]