Aero the Acro-Bat

The Game

Aero the Acro-Bat was published by Sunsoft who we last saw back in ACME Animation Factory, and developed by Iguana Entertainment who we haven't discussed yet so let's get into it.

Iguana Entertainment developed quite a few popular games in the 90s including the Turok series, and the N64 South Park games (love them or hate them), before being bought out by Acclaim in 1999.

Gameplay

This is a really difficult one for me, I never played it when it came out so there is zero nostalgia for me, and I know a lot of people really love this game, and I don't hate it at all, but god damn is it frustrating! It's really hard, and not in a fun way. Firstly Aero controls in a really slippery way, and a lot of the game revolves around accurate platforming. Aero builds momentum and starts moving fairly quickly, similar to Sonic, but without Sonic's ability to damage enemies at speed, very similar to the issue I had with Yogi Bear, and enemies move quick too, sometimes flying in off the screen before you even have a chance to react. You can get hit multiple times, and there are health collectibles throughout the levels, but even with save states just navigating the levels could be really frustrating. The levels are really big as well, and each level has some sort of objective, which is something I do like, collect 20 stars, jump through 10 rings, find the hidden exit, but when the levels are so big it sometimes gets confusing to know where you've been and where you need to go.

The game does have a lot of variety at least, it's mostly a circus setting, hence the Acro-Bat, there are diving boards that send you down into a small pool of water, bungee jumps, rollercoasters, high wire, trapeze. There's definitely plenty of moments that keep your attention which is really nice, but I found the game did start to outstay its welcome a bit by the end. Every world has 5 levels and a boss, there are 4 worlds, Circus, Funpark, Woods and Museum. The Circus and the Funpark are very similar in style, the Woods and Museum change it up a bit but the enemy variety doesn't really change until the very last level, and as I mentioned the levels are long, so by the time you've done the 5th level fighting the same enemies, you're ready for a change.

There is some insane difficulty spikes in the rollercoaster style levels too, think Battletoads on the NES and the auto scrolling section, you have to remember patterns of ducking and jumping instant death spike towers, and you don't just do it for a minute or two, it's the full level. Without save states I would've given up long before the end.

I haven't even started on the jumping. The game has a double jump, kind of, it works as your attack and has you do a diagonal screw attack when you press jump when you're in the air. You can either go at an angle upwards, or downwards, but it's a set distance and path, so to use it to reach platforms above that are sometimes a single block wide, is insanely difficult, then imagine having to do that while you're riding a raft on lava that kills you instantly, while also avoiding fireballs bouncing around, oh, and the raft is moving the same speed as the rollercoaster. Then imagine using that jump on the final boss of the game that requires you to continually move up the level while a laser below you continually rises, meaning if you're not fast enough you're dead. It's a fun idea, but it just goes on and on, you climb, fight the boss, climb again but this time the boss is spawning enemies, fight again, climb again, then fight again final time at the top. The whole thing must last 10 minutes at least, which might not seem like much, but that's with continual save states. If you had to deal with dying and going back to the start you'd be there a lot longer.

There are also some enemies that can't be killed by your spin attack, quite a few actually, and to hurt them you collect stars you can throw at them, but half the time I just tried my hardest to avoid those enemies, tank a hit and move on to try and make it through the level quickly.

I really wanted to love this game, and I don't dislike it as such, I like what they tried to do with it, I'm just hoping the sequel tidies some of the issues up, or I'm in for it all over again very soon.

Graphics

This is something the game does very well, it's bright, colourful, well animated and with some nice looking sprites. While the clown enemies do get a bit boring after a while, they always look good and are very well designed, including one that looks like Keith Flint from the Prodigy.

The graphics are definitely this game's highlight, especially the animations, get too close to an edge and Aero will wobble backwards and forwards, jumping out of water and he'll do a cool flip, this was the era of edgy cool mascots and they wanted him to be the next big thing, and they definitely got that side of things right.

The enemies, while not exactly varied, are nicely detailed, with small clowns, Keith Flint clowns, fire breathers that remove their mask before spitting fire at you, clowns flying above you on little helicopters, they all look good, even when they frustrate the hell out of me.

The levels look great as well, again, they do grow a bit old after 5 levels, but there's no denying the theme of the game visually is on point.

Sound and Music

And now we fall right back down again, I hope you like circus music on repeat for multiple hours! The soundtrack is 45 minutes over 23 tracks, so not an awful average of minutes per track, but the music all sounds so similar, and starts to repeat after thirty seconds or so, it's insanely grating and painful to listen to after a while. Why does the music in The Woods still have to have a circus beat? I get that he's an Acro-Bat, I just wish they could've done something a bit different once the game broke away from the circus location. Not really much to talk about with the sound either, besides the weird sound the game makes when you collect an extra life, it's such an odd choice because it always came across to me like a negative sound, and I kept wondering what I'd done and if I'd lost health or something.

The People

Let's start with the music, because it's an odd one! Sound Effects and music were simply credited to Fox Productions, which after a bit of digging that it was the name used by Rick Fox for his work on video game soundtracks. He did the soundtrack for this, the spin off game Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel (yes, that is the name of the game, and yes it will be a long time before I get to it!) Pirates of Dark Water for the Genesis/Mega Drive and NBA Jam. He also played keyboards for David Bowie on the 1990 Sound and Vision tour. Just casually throwing that in there. That's such a bizarre link and one of the reasons I love looking into the people behind the games, he's obviously a skilled musician, just a shame that didn't really show here.

The character design was something I said I quite liked, and three people worked on it here, David Siller, Justin Siller, and Nigel Cook. David Siller created the design of Aero himself, and worked on the sequel, and the GBA version. He was also credited as the Executive Producer for this game and that's where he continued to push forward mostly. He was executive producer on ACME Animation Factory that I already reviewed, and moved on to be producer for Crash Bandicoot on PS1.

Justin Siller, who I assume is David's brother did the art and design for this and its sequel and spin off among other games, nothing too stand out, he also did a lot of QA testing but fell off the radar in the mid 00s.

Finally Nigel Cook worked art and design in a lot of games including Turok and Turok 2, he also got into production and was Vice President of Product Development and Design for the Turok 2 rerelease in 2017, and VP and General Manager for the Turok 3 remaster in 2023.

6 people were credited on the programming for Aero, most worked on similar Iguana developed projects like Turok, one interesting find was Jeff Spangenberg who was Executive Producer for a controversial game in 2004 called The Guy Game. The reason for the "game's" controversy is that it was essentially an adults only trivia game with real footage of "spring break" girls flashing if you got the questions right. Unfortunately for everyone involved it turned out at least one of the girls doing this was a minor. So yeah, pretty gross, and Aero the Acro-Bat is linked by one degree of Kevin Bacon to it.

David Brevik also did some programming and has a much cooler link, he went on to become senior designer for Diablo, Project and Design Lead in Diablo II, got a very special thanks credit in Diablo III, and is still working in the industry today! With not an underage boob in sight.

What an interesting line up this time!

Box art

This is an interesting one, looking at the front they've gone for something a lot of things did in the 90s, a 3D animated, CGI looking version of Aero, flying out of a cannon, with the logo above his head. Now I have to think about what I'd think in 1993, because adult me thinks it looks a bit shit. But back then those 3D looking graphics were new and shiny, and I think I'd think the front cover looked fairly cool, I don't think it would be an instant pick up and take to the counter situation, but I wonder if the back of the box will seal the deal.

Here we go again with the 4 screenshots laid out in a square, they have picked 4 good ones, and I think that would be enough for me to show an interest, no bullet points here sadly, but there are a couple of issues I have with the write up. Firstly it mentions skydiving with Mode 7, and I don't recall seeing that anywhere in the game at all. I know there were some bonus levels I missed, but if it was in a missable bonus level it's a bit cheeky to advertise it on the back. But the biggest issue I have is "Spine tingling terror unfolds as AERO tackles Ektor's wicked henchmen."

Why spine tingling terror? There are so many better ways of describing this game they could've used there, there is absolutely zero terror in this game whatsoever, it's not even like it's trying to be a scary game and it's not remotely scary, it's a cutesy mascot platformer. Really bizarre word usage!

So with that in mind this box gets my rating of - Slightly misleading. It doesn't out right lie about the game's content, but it definitely had some odd choices in there.

The Press

GamePro:

It's big fun under the big top with Aero the Acro-Bat, a bodacious, high-flying bat in an above-average platform product. Sunsoft converted the Genesis version to the SNES, enhancing the graphics and sound, and adding a mod Mode 7 bonus stage.

4.5/5

Computer and Video Games:

Normally, lots of object interaction in a platform game means a puzzle orientated adventure. Not so with Aero. This is an action platform game. Balanced with the crucial ingredients of variety, humour and a strong central character, it's rough and cute at the same time, while being huge and unmanageable with it. At first it seems to be quite basic stuff, but you soon discover a range of creative stages which make Aero all worth while. If you're good you might even reach the hilarious Bungee stage! Recommended.

88/100

Super Play:

The graphics are very simple but very effective, with some lovely touches. Aero's buggy eyes when he dies are worth watching out for, as are many of the well animated mobile baddies. The graphics improve vastly the further into the game you get, with such levels as the roller-coaster and the woods looking very nice indeed. Overall verdict: A strange one, but once you give it a chance you'll be hooked. Aero handles well and you'll learn to live with the tricky, but cavernous, early levels. What puts it in the "very good" league is its sheer size and variety. Just when you're bored with a game-type, it's gone and there's something new there.

84/100

Electronic Gaming Monthly:

It's very difficult to come into the market with a great platform game, but Sunsoft's Aero is a rare gem. This has some of the most impressive graphics I've seen. The near-perfect calliope music really sets the tone of the game and get you into it as well. There are tons of out-of-the-way areas to get to and find. The gameplay is very good and responsive with his double-jump-spin attack. I dig this game!

33/40

GamesMaster:

Congratulations! You're the SNES' one thousandth platform game! You win a slightly more generous mark than you really deserve, by virtue of being sneakily lovable, albeit in a 'so-average-it-hurts' kind of a way. Hurrah, hurrah!

79/100

Game Players:

Sunsoft's mascot character is a daredevil bat who performs amazing feats while fighting off foes in the Big Top. Great graphics and animation are the highlight.

76/100

Digitiser:

Later stages put Mode 7 to work, and see you leaping into a bucket of water Pilotwings-style, performing a bungee jump from a bridge, and trotting around a turpentine truss. But by this time, you'd probably have given up on the whole affair. A shame, as at heart this fellow's a cracker.

76/100

Definitely the most reviews I've had for a game by far, and mostly very positive, although I did see reviews for the rereleases on switch and PS4 and they weren't quite as favourable, we just expect so much more now.