Pixel Ripped 1995 Review: Virtual Escapism At Its Finest

First released in 2020 for Steam and PSVR, Pixel Ripped 1995 is back and better than ever, giving PSVR2 owners a chance to go back in time and relive those lazy Saturday mornings planted in front of their console of choice. Featuring a host of improvements, including refined visuals, enhanced performance, and the addition of all the bells and whistles Sony’s Sense controllers bring to the experience, the PSVR2 port of Pixel Ripped 1995 is the definitive version of ARVORE’s reality-twisting love letter to the 1990s and the console wars of old.

VR is great for experiencing things many of us likely never will, from soaring through the air like a superhero to climbing the tallest mountains and piloting starships. However, what’s just as compelling to me is being able to virtually rewind the hands of time and relive some of my fondest memories. And, in many ways, that’s precisely what Pixel Ripped 1995 allowed me to do – save for all the pixelated monsters and armor-clad heroines running amok, unleashing waves of devastating lasers with reckless abandon throughout my living room.

Here’s the setup: You take control of Dot, the main protagonist of a game called Pixel Ripped 1995. She’s a Samus Aran-inspired character with a sleek suit of armor and a blaster for an arm on a mission to defeat her arch nemesis, the evil Cyblin Lord. Unlucky for Dot, the villain tricks her into helping him steal a powerful artifact known as the Pixel Stone. With a now-supercharged Cyblin Lord threatening the balance of reality, Dot’s forced to recruit the world’s most skilled gamer, a nine-year-old from New Jersey named David, to foil the fiend’s plans and restore order to every dimension.

Pixel Ripped 1995 is essentially a game within a game. With the action unfolding primarily from David’s perspective, you’ll find yourself planted in front of a TV, playing various games on consoles while interacting with the environment in creative ways.

For instance, during the first chapter, David’s busy mother is rushing around the house, cooking dinner, and dealing with back-to-back phone calls. Not too content to see her son wasting his day away glued to the television, she’ll frequently attempt to turn off the console, which will send you back to the most recent checkpoint in your game.

As annoying as this is, there’s a solution – and that’s where Pixel Ripped 1995’s reality-bending mechanic comes into play. When you find a dart gun in the game world, it’ll manifest itself in David’s living room. David can then use the dart gun in the real world to knock over a cookie jar or blast ornaments off the Christmas tree, temporarily distracting his mother so that he can push further ahead in the game.

Sure, it’s a bit of a dick move. But after all, the world’s at stake, and desperate times call for desperate measures.

Things get even more interesting as the effects of the Pixel Stone start to shape the world around you. One scene involves you jumping between two game kiosks at a rental store, with the items you collect in each game transferring to the other to help you overcome their puzzles. Given one game was a cutesy Sonic The Hedgehog-inspired platformer and the other was a darker, Super Metroid-style adventure, this made for some hilarious moments. I blasted colorful creatures with a grenade launcher and burned down walls made of lovely layer cakes with a flame thrower in the colorful platformer, and guided my heroine across perilous pools of acid and deadly flames with a dainty parasol in the gritty action-adventure game.

That’s just a taste of how creative Pixel Ripped 1995‘s gameplay can be. I’d love to give more examples of some of the hugely entertaining twists it throws at players, but to do so would spoil the fun, considering its criminally short runtime.

I will, however, talk about some of the boss fights, as they’re absolutely unforgettable and easily the highlight of Pixel Ripped 1995‘s package. These encounters typically have you controlling a 2D sprite of Dot as she dukes it out with evil video game characters that have been transported into the real world. As you battle baddies as Dot, you’ll often need to intervene with David in various ways, such as using a dart gun to knock down a tower made of building blocks that an enemy has retreated atop or lobbing bananas at a speeding truck from the back of your dad’s station wagon as you simultaneously fend off biker goons as Dot aboard a wicked looking motorcycle.

With so much going on, you’d think Pixel Ripped 1995 would be a nightmare to play, but somehow, everything combines beautifully to create one of the most engaging VR games I’ve ever experienced. This is thanks in no small part to the PSVR2’s superb Sense controllers, which prove incredibly responsive, both when using your virtual hands to interact with the world around David and when controlling Dot as she explores each game.

Speaking of the games, Pixel Ripped 1995’s lineup is chock full of references to classic titles of the 16 and 32-bit eras. I already mentioned the game’s whimsical takes on Sonic The Hedgehog and Super Metroid, and those are just the start. Throughout the adventure, you’ll play carefully crafted homages to classics like The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Super Castlevania IV, Streets of Rage, Donkey Kong Country, Crash Bandicoot, and more. One boss fight even provides a fun twin on Star Fox as you use your hands to maneuver a toy plane that bears more than a passing resemblance to an Arwing.

While I feel like the beat-’em-up could have used a few more frames of animation and a decent throw mechanic to spice things up, all of the mini-games you can play are well done. This is especially true for the Zelda-inspired action RPG. If, by some strange chance, developer ARVORE were to release a complete version, I wouldn’t hesitate to pay full price; it’s just that good.

When it comes to its presentation, Pixel Ripped 1995 looks great on the PSVR2. From the Pixar-inspired characters to the realistic CRT filter on all of the games, it’s a joy to behold and captures the magic of playing classic 16 and 32-bit games on real hardware. The sprite work here is also top-notch, making each game feel like a genuinely authentic product from the era Pixel Ripped 1995 aims to emulate. Add a soundtrack filled with energetic chiptunes and an endearing voice cast, and you have one seriously irresistible package.

If you can’t tell by now, I loved every second spent with Pixel Ripped 1995. If I have one complaint, I wish the game were longer. There are only six chapters to complete, and most players should be able to burn through all of them in a single evening. Still, once you beat the game, you can always go back and try to find all of the Golden Cartridges scattered in each level, which does add a bit of replay value. Still, I can’t help but feel another few levels referencing other classic games would have been a real treat. Here’s hoping the team at ARVORE is just saving those ideas for a sequel down the road.

While it’s over all too soon, if you grew up in the 16-bit era and love retro games, you owe it to yourself to give Pixel Ripped 1995 a try. And with the PSVR2 version’s improved visual fidelity and superb controls, there’s never been a better time to do so. Pixel Ripped 1995 is escapism at its finest, a nostalgic love letter to classic gaming that will transport you back to a simpler time. If that sounds up your alley, then don’t hesitate to add the game to your PSVR2 library.

Final Verdict: 4.5/5

Available on: PS5 (Reviewed), previously released on PS4 and PC; Publisher: ARVORE; Developer: ARVORE; Players: 1; Released: October 3, 2023; ESRB: E for Everyone; MSRP: $19.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Pixel Ripped 1995 provided by the publisher.