Should you buy this? Yes.
Any other questions you should ask? No.

If you like the look of the trailer - just know experiencing it first hand in VR is EXACTLY as fulfilling as you hope it will be. I've been eager to play this since seeing footage of the original test version what seems like years ago now. Games lived up to my self-induced-hype so far!

Only downside - i'm only 50 mins in and over halfway through. This could be a bit of a short one - so i've had to force myself to stop playing so not to go through it in one sitting. But regardless - this is a MUST OWN for any 80's/early-90's kid with fond gameboy/NES memories. Also there appears to be additional secrets (hidden cartridges) in each stage that I need to go back and find them all - similar to finding the KONG letters in DKC. So I think there should be a few more hours of replayability :)

Great work over the years Ana and congrats to the additional devs at ARVORE who helped her complete this masterpiece. Roll on Pixel Ripped 2!

WOW.. WOW.. Double WOW. I am a 36 year old gamer.
This game is one of the best VR experiences I have had with my Mixed Reality Samsung Odyssey headset.
It took a bit of figuring out how to play it at first because the Samsung Odyssey controllers would interrupt the game so I couldn't play it at first, so I had to boot the game, turn off the controllers and use my Xbox controller.. but when it worked. Needless to say I was BLOWN AWAY!

This is one of the most creative experiences I have had in VR. I've played a nice hand full of VR titles and my top 2 are Pixel Ripped and Duck Season. Other games don't come close to the feelings you get while playing.

Pixel Ripped will take you on a nostalgia ride with a very Mega Man'esque toned platform shooter through various levels all while being challenged in creative ways in each of the levels (I will not spoil that for you).

You'll get shout outs to Battletoads, and Nintendo Power magazine just to name a couple of lil Easter Eggs you'll find in here.

Long story short tho, if you miss gaming from the late 1980s.. you can't go wrong here, these developers deliver passionately. I can't wait to see more from them! SUPER HYPED!

At the moment there are already a number of ways to play original retro games in Virtual Reality BUT 'Pixel Ripped' is the first in which you can play a retro game in the most original, and above all realistic, way.
A classic gaming experience within a modern virtual reality game.
Just like you position and control a handheld console with both hands, in Pixel Ripped 1989 you have to do the same thing using your motion controllers.
In the sequel of Pixel Ripped 1989, 'Pixel Ripped 1995' you are sitting with a controller in your hands in front of a good old picture tube. (The TV before the Flat screens)

Check out gameplay of nearly the entire Pixel Ripped 1989 Game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRzPwu6UFWI

In the game, you, a young avid gamer, must save the 2D world through a game threatened by the evil 'Cyblin Lord', who has also found his way through the console's screen, and this will make boss fights dimensional in a way. play in real life.

The whole game takes place in school in different settings such as during class in the classroom, outside during playtime or during a sermon with the principal.
You will always have to operate the handheld console and thus complete the levels in the game (within the game),
while you will also have to stay attentive because like in the first level you will have to prevent the teacher from catching you, because gaming during the lesson is prohibited!
To prevent her from catching you and to ensure that you can continue playing you will have to blow plugs through a pen to certain places in the area to provide the right distraction.
Each level has its unique challenge, with one it's distraction, the other saving, and so on.

In addition to the above, the environments also have a bit more to offer, but more audiovisually oriented,
so lessons are also given in the classroom, and you can also be distracted by that, look around at the environment and you will soon come across a PlayBoy magazine.
The game also brings out that nostalgic feeling, the memories of the years when you yourself were playing every possible place on a gameboy, with all the sounds of these and views of these places that go with it.
You can still have this experience if you have an old handheld console, or just with your smartphone, but we don't get any younger and VR experiences like this easily leave the sense of time behind.

Pixel Ripped games are fun for most gamers but in my opinion just a bit more fun for the gamers who experienced the youthful 90s.
A possible steam workshop in the future would offer this handheld VR experience an infinite replayability, provided it with a non-campaign mode.
I can only imagine how awesome and comfy it must be to be able to play the games from back then.

Great idea, but I did not like how it is executed.

I played with HTC controllers (for screenshots) and a 360 gamepad (to actually play the handheld game). The switch between VR (a classroom in my case) and the handheld is done by looking up or down. Would get a stiff neck within an hour if I continued playing, the looking down position was VERY uncomfortable.

You can distract the teacher by throwing balls, this was operated by looking at things. Very strange, would have preferred to use my "hands"

I have looked forward to this release for about four years.I kickstarter supported the devs but it didnt make it and I was refunded my support.Grateful these guys stuck together and released the game.I havent played it yet as I let my bestfriend try it first and to my amazement my friend who is not into vr as much as me was glued to the headset for hours.Praise Jesus!

I've spent almost four hours in this game so far (with at least another 4-8 hours to go for hidden items, achievements, and an extra game mode), and overall I'm very pleased with it.

There are countless video game, pop culture, and product references sprawled throughout the game. I cannot tell you how many times I called my wife in the room just so I could ask her if she remembered this or that (I will not provide you with examples because I don't want to spoil them for you).

I was so immersed in this game that I forgot I was actually in VR, and when I saw lightning in a few scenes I actually thought it was IRL. I was glad to see the environment change each level because the classroom level took a bit away from the first level of the handheld game as you have to keep looking away from the screen to shoot spitballs every minute to distract the teacher (this could be fixed by increasing the amount of time she becomes distracted for).

PROS:
+ Great blend of 8-bit, 16-bit, and 80-90's theme.
+ 5 hidden cartridges scattered throughout each of the four levels (20 to collect in all).
+ Smart use of the environment (from the 3d levels to the hints/secrets written on paper or audio chatter from people in the world).
+ Worlds differ slightly when you replay them, which helps with replayability.
+ Head tracking is fine and framerate is perfect (you'll easily get > 90 FPS).
+ Touch controllers and Xbox controllers work great.
+ No loading times whatsoever.
+ Good amount of achievements to attain.
+ Extra game mode/difficulty to unlock.

CONS:
- No options to control the graphic settings (like AA or shadow/texture quality).
- Jaggies are present in certain environments, which could be resolved with AA settings.
- During 3d levels, I found that the hands and virtual game pad seem to reset at times, which is distracting.
- Final round of final boss battle can be frustrating due to no level boundries on the edges of the screen, so your character can fall off the side when hit by enemy projectiles, forcing you to repeat the round. I would really love to see this fixed!


TLDR / FINAL THOUGHTS:

I would recommend this game regardless of whether you grew up during that era; this game is very fun, creative, unique, and immersive. You cannot go wrong for $20 and you'll likely spend 8+ hours on this game just trying to complete it and collect all of the hidden items, achievements, and unlock the extra game mode.

Pixel Ripped 1989 is SO COOL! I love the concept so much and they did such a great job on this! You play in VR as a girl in school with a Gameboy-type device with a game on it reminiscent of Mario, Zelda and Pokemon blue/red. I grew up playing those games so playing this was so nostalgic for me.

They seamlessly weave the 2D gaming world with the 3D reality world together with a fantastic story and visual effects. You have to play the Gameboy and it can be pretty tough at times while also playing in the 3D reality world. The first level you have to distract your teacher with spit wads for example otherwise you lose and get sent to detention.

There's 80's synthwave music mixed with 8 bit MIDI video game music and it's perfect.

I would love to see more games like this that span generations of gaming and fuse them into one but for now Pixel Ripped 1989 stands alone uniquely and wonderful.

Total playtime for the main game was 2.5 hours, short and sweet, but there's also a Halloween themed arcade mode.

This game takes the spirit of what we remember made video games in the 80s and 90s so cherished and mixes it into the rise of modern VR.

This is not your typical locomotion fps VR title. This is a well-crafted and challenging side-scrolling game done in proper VR style!

You take the role of a young child obsessed with a handheld video game that becomes intertwined with the real (VR) world. In order to save both the real (VR) world and the video game world, you have to simultaneously play your handheld and deal with the outside world like your teacher who will end your fun if she catches you playing, or saving your classmates from flying creatures, battling your principal to progress and get back to the game, etc.

The visuals are colorful, bold and the scale of everything looks bigger than "normal" as you are living through the perspective of a kid and that works really well. The music and sound effects bring everything alive. The graphics change from simple greenish colored pixel designs to more mature bright, glowing, vibrant, muti-colored character designs that maintain that retro pixel feel.

Unlike most VR titles, the story works well as a background to the gameplay. There are a lot of references and homages littered throughout the story, environments, and level design - things that will bring a smile to your face.

Do yourself a favor and play this game with tracked controllers to feel immersed during the first level or two, but if you are on the Vive, grab yourself an xbox controller because the challenge ramps up and unfortunately, the vive controllers will only cause a lot of frustration as they are not well-suited for the faced-paced, reflex driven input precision needed to move forward in the later levels.

This is an enjoyable, well designed, must-play title, that though only lasts 2-3 hours, is worth your attention if you are a fan of video game nostalgia and tight side-scrolling gameplay (or if you just want to go back in time and remember what life was like when you were a kid growing up during the earlier years of video game entertainment)

Stylistically wonderful but unfortunately the gameplay itself is incredibly tedious, with no need to interact with the ‘real world’ outside of occasionally looking up - apart from the novelty factor it may as well not be there. Difficulty spike on the final boss is incredibly frustrating due to perspective issues which turned a mediocre game into a poor one. Very disappointed.

So in this game you turn into a little girl and get kissed by a boy. I had no idea that Pixel Ripped was literal.

Experienced on the Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers & Xbox One controller

You can view my review & gameplay here: https://youtu.be/YOaPU2qHA80

I got this game on a Steam sale back in March for $12.49 USD (50% off). It took me about 3 hours to finish the game. While I had some fun moments, I found the core gameplay to be uninspired. You are retro platforming for most of the gameplay. Unfortunately, this is a bland, uninspired version of the platforming which you may have fond memories of playing. If you remember such classics as Super Mario Bros or Metroid, this game will turn those memories into nightmares or make you swear off platformers once and for all.

It's not just the dull, basic gameplay. The controls are iffy if you use motion controls. You're basically using your motion controllers as a gamepad. Unfortuantely, they are not the best controllers. I ended up using my Xbox One gamepad controller and found the controls to be much better with it. On top of that problem, a key part of the gameplay involves the use of gaze-based navigation.

Now, I like the idea of the spitball. Using the spitball to distract the teacher while you're trying to game during school brings backs lots of fond memories for me personally. However, using gaze-based navigation for that really takes out any immersion you might have had doing that. And a lot of the fun too.

At the end of the day, I was glad I finished the game. I have no desire to play it again or even go for some of the hidden game modes, achievements, or unlockables. There were some nice moments in the game, but when the core gameplay is so dull & tedious, it just doesn't matter how nice those other ideas were.

Rate 6/10. Buy on a deep sale recommendation only and only for the nostalgia.