Hey all! Rigel here. Az WAS going to post this on-the-day like his usual MO, but certain issues sprung up and he kinda got delayed...so while he's in a...ahem...mood...I took it upon myself to do it for him. Thankfully he's got this thing archived so...*cracks knuckles* job, done and done!
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The 90s were an interesting time for Earth.
Disney returned to making animated musical classics like Beauty and the Beast (currently live action), Aladdin (currently in theater I...guess?), and the Lion King (with it's video sequels and try-hard-secret-son series).
Spice Girls, Backstreet, N Sync, and other musical groups became so popular, it would be years before scientists discovered it was due to repeating lyrics in song and, of course, the Garmlich Effect.
A slew of sitcoms dove into television, leading to an uprise in the VHS industry for the people who would one day create the "boxed season". Nickelodeon's first animated series', Doug, Rugrats, and Ren & Stimply debuted. Finally cartoons that gave you thoughtful reflection, child-like wonder, and what-the-heck-is-going-on-here (in respective order).
For the more animated of us, Digimon and Pokemon came on the rise, along with distributed animated movies and the origin of Toonami. Nobody knew how it would affect the world, turning thousands into card-grubbing, tomagachi-parenting maniacs. We didn't know....we didn't know!!!

But seriously, the 90's were great. There was so much going on, that a lot of people fell into one thing or the other because of how drawing it was. But lets go to one for now...
Mario got a rival early on in the form of Sonic, a rivalry that seems to extend merely to olympic events for some reason nowadays...Sony's Playstation numero uno came out mid-way through, bringing with it the beginnings of new awesome games. Final Fantasy 7, the almighty of RPG of the time, came out, and the first Pokemon games arrived...
There were a lot of firsts for games in the decade actually now that I look at it. Hm.

Anyway, the 90s have been brought up a lot for one thing in particular...

Yooka-Laylee.

Considered to be a love letter for 90s platforming games, Yooka-Laylee is a more open platform game featuring the two main characters, chameleon Yooka, and bat, Laylee. It's direct inspiration comes from Banjo Kazooie, and is considered it's spiritual sucessor.

Personally the platformers that I remember are Crash Bandicoot (though that's been a long while), and of course, Spyro (though I came in for his series at Ripto's Rage). So, my experiences at "true" platformers of that time is limited. Sonic's considered platforming, by some, I guess, and I have played a lot of those...

Anyway, I guess Yooka-Laylee's attraction is it's attempt to capture that nostalgic feeling of the platformer. It's a casual genre, and has it's enjoyments in plenty of collectibles. I do remember playing Spyro several times because of collectibles and getting access to that additional world set for my devotion. Hopefully YL will do the same. I've kept myself out of the loop if I decide to venture into it, but the premise seems interesting enough I suppose.

From what I've seen, the game has it's collectibles, it's evolving move-sets, hub areas and sub-worlds, charming visuals, and corny jokes (including poking some fun at itself and other platformers). Wow, there are a lot of characters...even cannons and cauldrens are alive in this game. Well, that brings up about as many unsettling questions as all the objects in Beauty and the Beast...

I definetly am getting a feeling that the game will be success at what it endeavored to do. Trowser reminds me of Moneybags, but seems he's less of a scammer (apparently his stuff is free back at the home-hub, other places, you pay), and Yooka heals himself through butterflies...HMM....SOUND FAMILIAR...?

Of course, upon hearing about platforming and being a POSSIBLE inspiration, Spyro wanted to dive into a YL demo. Of course, I didn't know what he was really trying to do. I guess with his career now being invested in Skylanders, he's trying what he can to get himself back to the good ole' days. Unless Insomniac was series about that "maybe"...kinda doubt this is going to go the way he thinks it is...

I feel for you there Yooka...at least Laylee's got a distraction.
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Gotta admit, the game looks great...may look to picking it up myself sometime. And of course, lizard power! Ahhh...so few of us get staring roles...so sad...oh well, to sleep I go!