Saturday Morning RPG

Lore & Background

Saturday Morning RPG began development in 2010 during the inaugural session of Joystick Labs, a video game developer incubator. Development continued for nearly two years until its release on iOS in 2012. The game's story is structured in an episodic fashion, much like the Saturday-morning cartoons it draws inspiration from. Players control Marty, an average high school student who gains extraordinary power through a magical notebook resembling a Trapper Keeper, allowing him to use everyday objects in battle against the evil forces of the HOOD. As players advance, they discover new battle objects and foes. Mighty Rabbit Studios supported the game with updates adding two new episodes: To Bot or Not to Bot (Episode 3) and Ho Ho HOOD (Episode 4). A fifth episode was in development as of the game's later releases. The game's soundtrack was provided by Vince DiCola and his composing partner Kenny Meriedeth, with a guest appearance by Stemage.

Reader's Guide

Saturday Morning RPG fits into the Japanese role-playing game subgenre, but deviates from standard systems by giving the player active control during battles. Some attacks require additional inputs to power up, and all enemy attacks can be blocked with a well-timed button press. Outside of battle, players explore an open world, discover new items, partake in side quests, and earn experience. Power-enhancing Scratch and Sniff stickers can be found and attached to the notebook; these must be scratched at the beginning of battle to unleash their effects. The game's episodic structure allows episodes to be played and replayed in any order, with player stats and items transferring between episodes. The iOS version received mixed to positive reviews, with praise for its homage to 1980s pop culture and criticism of its difficulty, though an update addressed some concerns. The PC version received generally more positive reviews. The game was released physically for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita through Limited Run Games in limited quantities, and later came to Nintendo Switch digitally and physically through the same distributor in Spring 2018.

Did You Know?

• The game was a launch title for the Ouya console.
• The soundtrack features a guest appearance by Stemage.
• Physical copies for PlayStation 4 were limited to 1,980 copies, and for PlayStation Vita to 2,500 copies.
• The game's power-enhancing stickers must be scratched at the beginning of battle to activate their effects.