Review Fix Exclusive: Inside the Piko Interactive Switchblade Kickstarter

Review Fix chats with Piko Interactive founder Eleazar Galindo Navarro, who lets us know all about the company’s new Kickstarter and why revitalizing the Switchblade IP is just one part of their master plan to bring back the memories of your childhood.

Review Fix: How was this Kickstarter born?

Eleazar Galindo Navarro: This Kickstarter was born out a mixture of my love for old school action figures and the company’s wishes to expand to other products.

Review Fix: How did the original Switchblade affect you?

Navarro: Switchblade it is one of the IPs that I care a lot about because it was one of the first major IPs we acquired. I really wanted to get some IPs that had anime style. However I found out that it was quite hard to work with Japanese companies. This game in particular I knew it was licensed to another publisher from the States so I never thought to inquiry about it until later years. I was very excited to be able to work with it.

What I love about this game is its simplicity it is basically a “Rick Dangerous on Steroids” were instead of playing in levels, you play through a very very long level that you have to explore. So it doesn’t really breaks your concentration when you finish a level and start a new one. It just keeps going and going and going until you reach the end. And it gradually starts showing you more difficult enemies etc, so it is a very well balanced game with a very unique fighting system.

Review Fix: Why bring the series back on the Sega and Jaguar?

Navarro: Besides our main business is to produce cartridge based game; the game was developed for both the Amiga and Atari ST which share the same Motorola 6800 processor than both the Genesis and the Jaguar so it was definitely a technical decision.

Review Fix: Is there any desire to bring these to other consoles as well?

Navarro: As a straight port probably only to the NES, however I’d love to start producing a sequel for 24 bit or even 64 bit systems (as well as modern PCs).

Review Fix: What makes the action figure special?

Navarro: Well what I think it makes this particular model of action figure special is that the line of action figures we want to produce will include a card with a Steam Key code. Which will allow the customer to download the game featuring the action figure for free. The customer then would be able to play the game on their PC, learn more about the character, story, enemies etc. Kind of like the figures that had a mini comic book, but instead of that, and actual interactive commercial video game.

Review Fix: Bottom line- why does the world need these games and action figures?

Navarro: First off to learn about the history of video games, Switchblade was a popular title in Europe, but we didn’t get to see it back in the day in the US. We missed it at the time (well until the sequel that was on lynx). Retro gamers in general are looking to new exciting games to play, and sometimes they all have played all the games available on their region at the time. So now with this Kickstarter they can get a new game was well as anction figure (if they are Action figure enthusiasts as myself)

Review Fix: What’s next?

Navarro: We hope to have a long line of action figures based on video games from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. 

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Navarro: Thank you for this opportunity and any readers out there that like either Retro video games or Retro Toy, support the kickstarter as this would be the start of a long line of products celebrating the toys and games of the past!

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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