Now that his frenemy Aero the Acro-Bat has had his time in the sun on the Switch, it’s time for Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel to make his debut! Fans of the 16-bit era have been getting a nice and steady stream of content from that time, and while not all of it may hold up well in modern terms, they’ve absolutely at least had their own flavor.

Compared to the Aero titles I’d actually consider Zero to be a bit more traditional and approachable overall. Comparatively, Zero’s double jump and attack works more as you’d expect, and while his projectile attack is a bit slow to get going because of his throw animation, it is at least generally pretty effective. The level design also has similarities to the Aero titles, featuring a fair amount of verticality and a number of secrets to discover if you’re willing to work to find them.

There are still absolutely some quirks to the game though, just so you’re aware of what you’re getting into. One thing I struggled with regularly was what felt like the narrow screen, because of the scale of the characters and just the nature of some of Zero’s enemies. The majority of damage I ended up taking ended up being tied to how quickly I’d pretty well just plain run into enemies if I wasn't keeping my progress to a slow crawl. What’s unusual is that I didn’t have this problem with either of the Aero titles, but here I was really feeling the limitations of the classic 4:3 screen ratio compared to our now luxurious 16:9 widescreen looks.

In the end, if you’re a big fan of the 16-bit era and are looking for a mascot platformer that’s a bit off the normal beaten path, Zero may not be a bad option. In terms of the overall art and design this is a title with loads of colors and great details, which are worth taking in and celebrating a bit in their own right. While the gameplay may not always be perfect, I do appreciate the evolution this specific developer had from the release of the original Aero until this spin-off. While it may still not match up to the level of quality of the likes of Sega and Nintendo titles, this is at least a solid effort.