Kudzu, a new non-linear adventure game for the Game Boy, has exceedingly surpassed its $15,000 Kickstarter goal with a current pledge of $46,195 as of this writing. If all goes well, the project, according to the fundraiser, could be expected to be delivered by December 2023.Kudzuis inspired by an invasive plant that is native to Japan and southeast China, which when out of control, can overtake and outgrow anything in its path.
Kudzulead developer Chris Totten told Game Rant in a recent interview that he pulled inspiration from beloved games of the same genre, likeThe Legend ofZeldaandMetroid, but wanted to take it a step further likeHollow Knight, which is also on the Nintendo Switch. Overall, he said he just wants to create a new experience for fellow Game Boy lovers.
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Nods To Old School Nintendo Games
Players must think quickly as they hop into the role of Max, an apprentice gardener who scours for his mentor and master gardener, Zoen, who’s mysteriously disappeared somewhere amid the globally invasive plant species, Kudzu. This is when the first nod to an old-school game comes in as Max wakes up at the beginning ofKudzulike how Link–fromThe Legend ofZelda–was eventually awoken. Here, Max becomes a “vehicle through which people can see, ‘Oh, it’sLink’s Awakening.'”
Other elements that were borrowed, then tweaked, were fromtitles likeSuper MetroidandTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Radical Rescue; inKudzu, players get a jar of Kudzu jelly–a health potion–after killing an enemy, as opposed to getting a heart that fills up the life meter. Though Totten pulled inspiration from all “sorts of games” forKudzu, he emphasized that he still wants to make it his own.
Some of Kudzu’s genre elements are pretty well established in the library. My hope was to make something that was more in tune with modern game design thinking. Looking at something like a Hollow Knight and thinking about the world structure, like I love Metroid too. It’s a fun game, but I have to play it like I’m in 1992 because if you need anything, you got to go hike way back up. I wanted to make something that responds to a few more modern touches.
Unlike the guns used inSuper Metroidand nunchucks the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles protect themselves with, Max is initially equipped with a machete inKudzuto ward off enemies–like snakes, giant bugs, and living plants–and also chop down the invasive kudzu species. But aside from old-school Nintendo games, Totten said Metroidvania’sHollow Knightwas a “big” inspiration as well.
I think a lot about level design structure and there’s a lot in that world that takes the edges off of something likeSuper Metroid…Hollow Knightdoes a really good job of making a very approachable world that you may move through any way you wish. And that’s something that I really wanted to do withKudzu.
The Game Boy Community
The Game Boy was first released in Japan in April 1989 and later made its way to North America that same year, and it easily defined the handheld gaming market. And while the Game Boy was discontinued in March 2003, Totten said that there’s still a big community thatcontinues to reminisce on that gaming era. Totten also said that, to him, it just made sense to makeKudzufor the old beloved console, which took seven years to come to fruition and has since become a bigger project than he originally intended.
I really loved Game Boy growing up. I had one since Game Boy’s first round of popularity in the early 1990s. Part of it was that I did see this engine, GB studio, appear a few years ago, and I thought that was really cool because it was a way that people could make Game Boy games without having to write it in native assembly language. It made Game Boy development really accessible.
One reason was the approachability and the memories that I have of this engine. There’s still that big homebrew community out there. It’s not just, “no, I can’t go to Target and get a new Game Boy.” There is still a passionate homebrew and player community.
Totten has been working with Mega Cat Studios, a Pennsylvania-based video game development and publishing company, to bringKudzuto life. Totten said he has been grateful working with Mega Cat because the studio is known for creating new hard copy games for fellow treasured Nintendo consoles like the Sega Genesis and NES, setting up the stage for a homebrew game likeKudzu. Thehomebrew community has been around for yearsand typically handles development using emulators, which are also playable on mobile and PC.
Kudzuwill probably strike a chord with nostalgic Nintendo gamers, especially if for those who pick up on the tidbits of inspiration that Totten mixed in. While the storyline might not be as complex as an insect warrior fighting through a plagued kingdom or mutant turtles who are on a rescue mission against a Ninjitsu master,Kudzuhas the opportunity to show what a Game Boy installment could be like in 2023.
Kudzuis expected to have a physical Game Boy cartridge by December 2023.
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