Eight classic Rugrats games are out today on modern consoles

Limited Run Games released the Rugrats: Retro Rewind Collection today for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. The digital bundle packages eight classic Nickelodeon games from the 32-bit and handheld eras into a single application.

The collection runs on the Carbon Engine, a development tool built to wrap legacy software in a modern interface. This brings standard emulation options like save states and a rewind function to the late-nineties catalog. Players can reverse their mistakes during difficult platforming sections or punishing mini-games. The digital museum also packs in custom screen filters and a music player.

The math doesn't math

The collection advertises six titles but contains eight playable games. This happens because a few of the handheld releases have multiple versions. Nobody is complaining about extra games, but the complete list covers a wide span of hardware generations.

Rugrats was a massive property for Nickelodeon in the late nineties. The merchandising machine pumped out everything from fruit snacks to band-aids. Video games were a huge part of that push. THQ originally published most of these titles. The publisher hired different development studios to handle the console and handheld versions.

Rugrats: Search for Reptar and Rugrats: Studio Tour represent the original PlayStation era. These 3D platformers look exactly as chaotic as they did in 1998. The wobbly polygons and blank stares are completely intact. Search for Reptar is easily the most recognized game in the set. Players wander through the Pickles' house to find puzzle pieces of Tommy's favorite dinosaur. The levels are loosely based on episodes of the animated series, like the grocery store trip or the alien invasion fantasy.

Studio Tour followed a year later. It uses the same engine but moves the setting to a movie studio lot. The babies wander through different film sets and play mini-games based on science fiction and pirate movies.

Portable spin-offs

The rest of the bundle focuses on the portable side of the franchise. The Rugrats Movie includes both the standard Game Boy and Game Boy Color versions. It is a standard 2D platformer where Tommy tries to find his newborn brother Dil. The collection lets you choose which visual style you prefer.

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is where the platform differences get weird. The console version is a 3D platformer set in a European theme park. The handheld version is a completely different 2D side-scroller. Both formats are included here.

Rugrats: Time Travelers brings another Game Boy Color adventure. The babies find a malfunctioning time machine in a toy store and get scattered across different eras. Rugrats: Castle Capers rounds out the package with its 2001 Game Boy Advance release. Stu gets a job at a fantasy theme park, and Angelica steals everyone's toys.

Rewinding the nineties

The original PlayStation games are notorious for their clunky controls and confusing camera angles. The addition of a rewind button makes navigating these old 3D spaces much less frustrating. You can hold a button to scrub backward through time if you miss a jump or fail a race.

Limited Run Games opened physical pre-orders earlier this month, and those editions remain on sale until May 31. The digital versions are out now across all major storefronts. If nothing else, the bundle is a convenient way to revisit the Pickles' backyard without digging a heavy CRT television out of storage.