Goliath Depot is yet another example of a modern retro game that takes tidbits from the big fish or the greats of old and modernizes them to make a fun and unique experience
At it's heart, Goliath Depot is a mixture of Mario vs Donkey Kong, or Donkey Kong 94 (Aka Donkey Kong for the original Gameboy, which was released in 1994) Mappy, and a pinch of Bubble Bobble
The Mario vs Donkey Kong elements come into play in two different ways. The first is with the campy story and similar pixelated and lightly animated cutscenes. The story is barely there, but the basic idea is that you are a person trying to become the employee of the month and catch up on late warehouse work and during all this, it turns out you need to literally and figuratively save the company because the new owner is an evil maniac and is literally spawning evil possessed products, to save the company, you have to alert the CEO and stop the evil new owners villainous plot. While its no story about an ape hoarding the hottest new toys from the world and everyone’s favorite plumber coming back to get the stolen goods back, the similarities are undoubtedly there.
The other is this shares the way new enemies and game mechanics are slowly introduced. Much like how Mario vs DK had timed bridged buttons or vines In the jungle to swing from to get the key, this game has a similar approach. The first warehouse is a basic set of levels meant to introduce you to the main mechanics and what to do and how to win. Afterwards, you’ll encounter everything from evil snowmen and icicles that fall from the ceiling in an ice world as you eagerly slip and slide on uneasy terrain to a factory that has laser traps to make you have to watch your jumping and timing to avoid getting zapped. While these industrial death traps aren’t as all over the globe akin to Mario’s adventure, this corporate caper has its own chaotic and fun take on this formula.
The Mappy element comes into play regarding the “combat” ( I use that term lightly) as well as the high risk high reward element of score attack focused gameplay and a similar layout regarding the level design. In Mappy, you had no way to directly attack the cats and had to stun them with the doors and wipe them off the screen with microwaves. In Goliath Depot, the same rules apply, only in a different “flavor” so to speak. The major difference is the enemy spawners serve a triple purpose. First being that the doors need to be closed to clear the level open and the bigger exit door. The second is that closing the doors send out a two way shockwave that serves as the only way to stun enemies, you then have to proceed to literally kick them out of the stage and the more enemies you take out, the more points you get and the more they’re multiplied. Third and lastly, is that each stage feels like a more dynamic take on Mappy’s simple and multi floored stages, the main difference being is that there are ladders instead of trampolines and the levels will be more than just a straight flat line, they are 2D of course, but are more dynamic, again, it’s like Mappy and Mario vs DK put together.
Lastly, is the time management and focus on bonus items (in this case occasional powerups and bonus coins) akin to Bubble Bobble. During all this chaos, you’ll have to make sure you finish every level before the timer runs to make sure you do your objective quickly and effectively. But if you want to get that high score that’s so close yet so far, you’ll need to do that while grabbing as many floaty coins as you can and take the enemies out quickly, the better the sucession, the more points you get.
This is a great way to make a modern retro game, It obviously takes inspiration and mechanics from some of the golden era retro arcade games, yet it mixes and mashes things in regards to visuals, music and game design to still stand up on its own two legs and hold its own identity
Its no award winner, but this is right up there with the likes of Donut Dodo, Murtop, and Analynn, these are all new arcade style games where their design takes the expression “What’s old is new” and dials them up to 11 in all the right places
Keep kicking ass Vivad Games and I really hope we get to see user made levels, maybe a rogue like mode, or even some new characters with abilities or new warehouses in the future!
