Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum

Everything about this game is frustrating. If you are looking to get that nostalgia feeling of the wonderful Garbage Pail Kids trading cards from this video game... don't!

It looks and plays just like an NES game....and it is one. So if you still own an NES, you can pick up the actual cartridge if you want. I don't know why you would want to, but it's an option. This game is just a platformer. Not much more to say about this. It's not bad.

2.50 on sale, nes like, easy to 100% and you can trade GPK cards in game.

Only took about 3 hours to 100% the game on Normal difficulty. Got it on sale and had a lot of fun honestly, will probably come back to mess around a few times but I think once you've beaten it and gotten all achievements there's not a whole lot to return to. The different characters and their mechanics are really fun to learn, and while it's a fairly simple platformer the added elements give it some strategy. I love the music and art in here, the gallery has some fun and interesting concepts and artwork as well. If you're a GPK nerd (like me) there's no doubt you find this enjoyable, do recommend.

Great platformer, a bit short but really effective and fun !

This was a nice surprise. The trailers I had seen didn't get my hopes up, but in the end while Garbage Pail Kids might not reach the heights of a 1st-party NES game or even Konami or Capcom's 8-bit output, I'd put it at the level of a good Ocean-developed game. The graphics aren't great and much of the spritework struggles to capture the GPK aesthetic, but there is a great variety of environments to get through with a lot of fun little details and creative set pieces (such as Hell's Kitchen, where at one point you traverse a giant grill where cockroaches, shoes and eyeballs are cooking). The GPK license goes beyond character sprites, as there is a "gross" theme that permeates throughout the entire game including in the environments and in the dialogue. Also included with the game are a couple of interesting promotional videos, including one where Christian Slater does the voice of Mad Mike (one of the game's playable characters). It's quite surreal that this game exists and was apparently given a lot of love in its creation. The controls are fairly solid and the jank is kept to a minimum (although you have to train yourself to jump before you reach the end of a platform as it has a misleading hitbox, and I found one spot where the game behaved very bizarrely, making it difficult to orient myself and navigate between two screens). You've got 4 playable characters you can swap between at any time, although you'll likely spend most of your time with the character who can fire snot projectiles. There are multiple difficulty levels and a well-implemented rewind feature that comes in very handy if you like that sort of thing (I sure do appreciate when it's an option). There's also a toilet-fishing mini-game (a great place to use that rewind feature), and an oddly deep trading card meta-game where you find GPK trading cards in trash cans and trade them with NPCs to try to fill out your collection (which includes paying attention to their hints about cards other NPCs are looking for). Really, I was not expecting this much effort and attention to detail. I am reminded of several NES games while playing this. In terms of sprite work and graphic presentation I'm reminded of the likes of Ghoul School and the Simpsons games. Thematically and stylistically it evokes Monster Party and Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffitti. Mechanically it feels similar to the Addams Family games. It manages to push my nostalgia buttons and make me feel like I've travelled back in time. If you like imperfect but charming 8-bit fare, you might like this. Recommended.

I love gpk stickers and was happy to find this game. I would have preferred the whole game in the art style of the stickers not translated into pixel graphics but I get the idea and it works as well. there is an easy mode with infinite lives and there's also a time reversal mechanics so anyone can play through the game and see the levels and bosses. there's some additional content like concept art, a short animation and a short mockumentary. the only thing really missing here are the trading cards and badges!