Save me Mr Tako: Definitive Edition Review

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Fast Facts

Listen To A Cute Little Octopus Sing!

When I first booted up Save me Mr Tako, my brain got dragged back to my youth. Where a younger me and a friend of mine were camped on his porch playing Gameboys. Those basic, crunchy chiptunes, the muted green and black colour palette, times were a lot simpler back then. Save me Mr Tako harks back to these simpler times, with its pure gameplay and classic presentation, it’s a breath of fresh air in this trying modern era of gaming.

Save me Mr Tako is a story of betraying your people, well, I say, people, I actually mean octopuses. There is a war waging between the realms of man and octopus and you have been given the task of peacekeeper due to your passively helpful nature. You must travel the lands above sea level and spread the love. Hopefully, you can reunite these two warring species, otherwise, I suppose you could always just cover them in ink. That would be fun!

Short and Sweet

This game is essentially a platformer with light puzzle elements and sidequests. Its overall gameplay flow is very much tied to the lovely 90’s style it portrays. Each world has doors with level numbers on top and each door contains a short level full of enemies and platforming challenges. Games are just not made like this anymore and it was a nice change of pace to play something I could pick up, complete a few levels in and come back to whenever I wanted. It’s beautifully quaint.

The main platforming challenges and puzzles come from the ability you have to ink your enemies, turning them into platforms or using your ink to hit switches and the like. Again, it’s simple but there is nothing wrong with a game being uncomplicated. Sometimes I just want to travel left to right, inking folks and finding an exit. No skill trees, no levelling up and no padding. It’s streamlined, it’s pure and I admire that.

A Few Niggly Tentacles Got In The Way

I do have a few issues with the little eight-legged fellow though. I could not find a way to track sidequests or what I was doing. Luckily things are simple so sometimes to unlock doors you would have to go back into a hub to move the story on. It would have been nice to have a reminder of the things you are looking for and quest objectives. Also, sometimes the hit detection and general collision AI was a bit off. I would get stuck on objects or take damage from enemies unfairly. These two things are my only real complaints and in the grand scheme of things are quite minuscule.

Graphically your mileage will vary, I love this old school Gameboy aesthetic but I know some will despise it. In fact, I would go as far as saying some people will see screenshots or videos of this quirky little title and be immediately put off. Luckily, some of us were around when games looked like this and have fond memories of times gone by. I liked the changeable colour palettes and everything about Save me Mr Tako reminds me of simpler times. Both in life and in video games. It’s all rather lovely.

Sounds of The Past

On the sound front, again, it is pretty much the same story as the visual presentation. I love the crunchy, harsh chiptune soundtrack but I know a lot of people won’t. I suppose it depends on what you are looking for. The music and sound effects do match the visual style perfectly and in a title mimicking games from years gone by, this is very important. I did find the tunes catchy and often found myself bobbing my head along to them. The sights and sounds of Save me Mr Tako, in my opinion, are both unique and interesting.

I had no issues with performance playing this quirky little title. No crashes, technical hiccups or bugs apart from the aforementioned niggly issues. I had an enjoyable time from start to finish. It’s a short game, fifty or so levels and will not take you too long. Playing it in short bursts, a few levels at a time between other things is where it shines I think. It never overstays its welcome and is joyous to the end. It may be too basic for most but it is what I needed to play right now, between big epic triple-A releases and something breezy to play while the football is on.

A Fun Adventure, Out of Its Time!

Whether you’re someone like me who remembers this style of games fondly or someone that wants something different. I think a lot of people will appreciate this small yet moreish package. If you’re someone who just wants triple-A shooty bang bangs then it perhaps will not be for you. I enjoyed my time with this charming little octopus and the narrative that came with it. It reminded me of my youth, fond memories when games were more manageable. It’s not expensive, does not require a big-time investment and will make you smile. What more do you want?

If you would like to purchase Save Me Mr Tako on the Nintendo Switch, you can on the EShop, here.