Review Fix chats with Justin Silverman, Creative Director of Retroware, who breaks down the fun of the upcoming Toxic Crusaders beat-em-up, as well as their new gameplay trailer.
Review Fix: I saw this at PAX a few years ago and was super excited. How far has it come since then?
Justin Silverman: Pretty far, a lot has been refined with the combat. At PAX we only had the demo for the first level, since then the full game has been fleshed out.
Review Fix: What has development been like?
Silverman: It’s our first time making a game from the ground up, as we typically were more of a publisher before 2023. But now that we have a few other titles under our belt it’s going great.
Review Fix: What do you think makes this game special?
Silverman: Being canonically connected to the source material is really cool. It’s the second season that never happened of the 90s cartoon show.
It’s also cool to play as new characters that were never in the 90s games for Gameboy, NES, and Sega Genesis like Yvonne and Toxie’s Mom.
The voice acting and custom music from Pyschostick really ties it all together too, it’s like playing a Saturday morning cartoon.
Review Fix: How does that come through in the new trailer?
Silverman: We see new gameplay showcasing new characters like Toxie’s Mom, plus art of our new bosses as well. There’s shots of the fully voiced motion comic cutscenes that tie the levels (i.e., episodes) together.
Review Fix: Any fun stories or wild moments during development that fans may like?
Silverman: It’s a ton of fun going TO the events like Monster Mania or Tromathon (which is hosted at a huge drive-in movie theater.) This game really reaches outside the gaming community into the Troma-verse and horror fan circles. There we’ve met cast from the old 80s movies that are IN our actual game now. The fan support is also overwhelming there.
Review Fix: What were the major lessons learned?
Silverman: I think we learned a lot about how to set up our pipelines and not bottlenecking during development.
Review Fix: Do you think preserving older gameplay mechanics in new games is important?
Silverman: Yeah, we are all about retro experiences with modern conveniences. Games need to feel like they did back in the day, but be refined for the average gamer nowadays. Plus, so much amazing foundational groundwork happened in retro games that many devs today really forgot about.
Review Fix: The marketplace is crowded. How do you think you stand out?
Silverman: There’s a LOT of licensed beat ’em ups nowadays, we are kinda living in a renaissance of sorts. But I think ours has a different edge to it.
We are REALLY putting a lot of time and effort into a solid final project.
Since our announcement there’s been a LOT of games that went from new to released. We’re giving ours as much time in the oven as possible.
I’ve played a few of these IP-based beat ’em ups… and I won’t name names, but I think ours is going to stand out, especially for fans of the brand.
Review Fix: How have your previous experiences in industry helped this game?
Silverman: I think most of this comes down to marketing plans and recruiting artists and stuff.
Review Fix: How has Troma left input for you guys?
Silverman: Troma has been very supportive but also pretty hands off. They trust us with the IP, as big fans/friends. We’ve tried to incorporate as much “Troma” into the game as possible, like old movie references and even Uncle Lloydie himself!!
Review Fix: How do you want this game to ultimately be remembered?
Silverman: I’d like it to be known for its cool combat system and hoping it rekindles appreciation for the show and brand it’s based on.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Silverman: We are motoring forward with polishing off the game and getting a cool physical edition package together. Got a few months of testing and porting for home consoles as well. Lots to do. Gonna get back to it, haha.
Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?
Silverman: It’s the YEAR OF TOXIE thanks to the Ahoy comic series, 4K upscales of the cartoon and movies, plus the NEW movie this year. I think the game fully fits into this pantheon. Expect some huge game news at the San Diego Comic Con Troma panel.
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