Given the fact that retro games have hit a real resurgence in the past generation, whether in the form of remakes, remasters, or simply titles that have aimed to emulate the look, sounds, and feel of previous generations, we’ve seen a little bit of everything in the Switch eShop. That has also made room for there to be some variety in the experiences though as well, with some hewing closely to classic play, others going fully more modern, and some opting to mix and match the old and new. That last option is what Fiz and the Rainbow Planet appears to have opted for, mixing together classic puzzle platforming with some periodic modern flourishes thrown in for flavor.

At first, loading it up and playing can feel quite simple and safe, between its very pixel art characters and design, and what are honestly pretty rudimentary stage layouts. On a positive note though, it then slowly improves with the addition of more characters with different key abilities, and occasional segments that have a somewhat three-dimensional feel. While it doesn’t necessarily keep the game from feeling quite simple overall, it at least keeps it from being completely predictable and merely seeming like a thorough retread of moments from titles you’ve seen before.

That isn’t to say it’s all perfect though either. For one, the controls for doing things like changing between your different characters, or executing some of their key moves, are needlessly cumbersome. In particular, there were times when triggering the special that was the entire reason for switching to another character just didn’t feel responsive. With a little effort you can get what you need done, but as simple as the overall experience is it feels like something that shouldn’t have been inconsistent. Another fair criticism would be that the visual gimmickry of the dimensional stages is nice, and different, but it feels under-utilized and that it had the potential to be far more interesting. Putting it all together, this is a fair retro-styled puzzle platformer that may not have a terribly fresh feel overall, but by proving to be both accessible and less run-of-the-mill than a portion of its competitors, it’s deserving of at least a glance.