Zero the Kamakazi Squirrel

Thirty years ago, Sunsoft published Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel was actually a spinoff of another Genesis and Super NES game called Aero the Acrobat, released in 1993, where Zero aided the main antagonist named Edgar Ektor. A year later saw the release of both Aero the Acrobat 2 and Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel. Both Aero games have had re-releases on modern consoles, and now it’s Zero’s turn to step back into the spotlight.

So how does the nemesis of a video game protagonist become the hero of his own game? Well, it turns out that a lumberjack named Jacques LeSheets is destroying the trees in the forest where Zero lives in order to make paper to print counterfeit money using stolen printing plates. Sounds basic, but for a 16-bit game from the 90s, that’s all you need. Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel is a platformer where Zero must traverse several levels filled with enemies that he must dispatch using either shurikens or nunchaku. Zero can also spin into enemies, swoop down from above to attack, and perform a powerful dive that can hit enemies as well as enable him to gain a great amount of height if timed correctly.

While the original games were developed by Sunsoft, the ports were published by Ratalaika Games and did include some extras. You have gallery and soundtrack options as well as the ability to save and load save states (hitting L and R together will bring up the extras menu to allow you to save). During the game, you also have Turbo and Rewind abilities. While the extras menu looks kind of basic and plain, I can forgive that with the extras you get—except for one thing: the instruction manual.

This port provides a copy of the manual, but if you’re using it to check out the controls, it’s kind of useless. This is because anytime the game talks about the controls, it never displays what button goes with each action. Initially, I figured that was because this game originally came out on both the Super NES and Sega Genesis, which had different controller layouts. However, another move you can do is called the Flic-Flac, where Zero hops, tucks in his legs, then kicks his legs out to damage enemies. This is done by hitting the back triggers of whatever controller you’re using. That indicates that this is specifically a port of the Super NES version, which had L and R buttons, so why that’s not indicated in the manual is kind of befuddling. It can be even more confusing when the manual explains how to perform dives, and you have two buttons that seem to do similar things. In short, I ended up looking up a copy of the Super NES manual to figure out a couple of things.

This is where this review gets interesting. I’ve talked about the extras the port gives you, but when it comes to the game itself, it’s not a remake or a remaster; it’s the exact same game that came out thirty years ago. This means I’m reviewing a game where everything is kind of out of Ratalaika Games’ hands since they just put together the port. That being said, I thrive on games from that era and am not afraid to dish out a little criticism about it.

To start with, Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel is kind of brutal at times. You’re given five hit points to start a stage with and can find some extra hit points along the way, plus you’re given a few lives to start with. The first couple of stages are your typical side-scrolling fare with some secrets thrown in here and there to encourage exploration. The rest of the stages, though, are a mix of not-too-bad and somewhat frustrating. Most are at least kind of linear, while a couple are essentially mazes where, if you take the wrong path, you’ll find yourself back at the start of the stage, forcing you to redo large sections—or waste a life to return to your last checkpoint.

A lot of the platforming is also a little rough, especially in later stages where you must jump up to a platform occupied by an enemy, leaving you little room to attack. Zero’s spin attack when he jumps isn’t really a double jump. If you perform it almost immediately after you jump, you’ll go a bit higher, but doing it while Zero is on the way down gives barely any lift. Since you can’t attack while spinning, dealing with enemies on platform edges becomes a bit annoying at times. Then there are the bosses. You will definitely spend some time, hit points, and lives figuring out their patterns, but once you do, they’re easily defeated with patience—except for the final boss, which absolutely wrecked me.

Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel is definitely a product of its time: a tough game from the 80s and 90s that will take you a while to complete due to its difficulty more than anything else. Thankfully, the port has a rewind option and save states, which I used extensively to get through it, and I’m not ashamed of that. I’ve played some rough Super NES games in my time, and Zero is right up there with them. Is the game good? I wouldn’t say it’s great—it has some flaws, and it’s a bit too difficult for its own good. This is especially apparent in the cavern stages, which occasionally have slime on the ground that makes you slip and lose your footing, causing you to fall and have to replay sections. Due to how fast Zero moves, there are also several instances where you can’t see what’s ahead, giving you little time to react.

That said, I did enjoy my time with Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel. I think I’d look at it more favorably if it were a remaster instead of just a port of the Super NES game with a few extras added to a plain menu. But for about six dollars, it’s worth checking out, especially when a loose copy of the original SNES release goes for about forty times that.