Nicktoons fans young and old, time is running out to pre-order your copy of Rugrats Retro Rewind Collection on both PlayStation 5 and Switch. This is a brand-new collection featuring all of your favorite Rugrats in six different games, including Rugrats: Search for Reptar, The Rugrats Movie, Rugrats: Time Travelers, Rugrats: Studio Tour, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie and Rugrats: Castle Capers. Yeah, that's a lot of Rugrats games, but are any of these actually worth playing? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Nintendo Power, Pocket Games and more classic magazines that reviewed these games back when they first came out. Get ready to fill your diapers, because it's time for a very questionable episode of Limited Run Review Crew.


When Nickelodeon debuted their Nicktoons block in the early 1990s, there were three shows that defined the brand – Doug, Ren & Stimpy and, of course, Rugrats. Of the three, it was Rugrats that ended up having the most longevity, running for 172 episodes across nine seasons. But despite the popularity on TV, it took seven long years for Tommy, Chuckie, and the rest of the babies to make their video game debut. Their first game was the 1998 action game Search for Reptar. It's a game where a 3D Tommy searches a number of familiar locations in order to find the lost pieces to his Reptar puzzle. It's a simple concept for a game that was clearly aimed at a young demographic. Let's see what the critics thought of the Rugrats.

The first thing you're going to notice about a lot of these games is that the Rugrats were mostly ignored by video game magazines. Perhaps they thought the games skewed younger than their audience or maybe they were just busy, whatever the case, the critics barely reviewed Search for Reptar. Computer & Video Games was one of the few that actually did cover the game, giving it a 2 out of 5. “Unfortunately, instead of being a good use of the Rugrats license, Search for Reptar is a sloppily-made, badly though-out cash-in. As a regular PlayStation game, it's no good – poor graphics, bad controls, basic games, and lots of lazy glitches. It'll also only take about an hour for most people to wander through it all. Maybe worth a night's rental if you want to really distress a small relative.”

Electronic Gaming Monthly liked the Rugrats a lot more than CVG, giving Reptar an average score of 6.5 out of 10. This is one of those times where a simple number doesn't tell the full story, as the reviews ranged from a 4.5 all the way up to an 8. Shawn was one of the detractors: “THQ is aiming this game at kids – which is why many of the mini-games and levels this title consists of are so easy, and why the graphics are so simple looking. Fair enough, but a solid game is a solid game, no matter who it's geared towards. So the question I have: If this game is geared toward 7- and 8-year-olds, what 7- and 8-year-old likes a camera as dumb as a horse, and control as loose and sloppy as ... well; you get the idea.” John disagreed, giving the game an 8: “As kid's games go, I think n-Space has pretty much nailed it with Rugrats. It's simple, easy to get into and, most importantly, there are a lot of activities that will keep young minds occupied. A good kid's game.”

Although there weren't many reviews, there was a lot of disagreement whether Reptar was or wasn't good for kids. The massive divide amongst the EGM editors was interesting, but couldn't save the game from an overall average of just 53%. This is not the debut the Rugrats wanted.

Released the same year as Search for Reptar, The Rugrats Movie is, you guessed it, a game based on the 1998 movie of the same name. This time around THQ targeted the Game Boy Color, creating a more traditional side-scrolling platformer that involves you taking Tommy through eight harrowing stages. Is it good? Let's see what the critics said.

Maybe it's because it's connected to a movie, but this the one Rugrats game that the critics actually paid attention to. Let's once again start at the bottom, which sees Game Informer give this Game Boy Color release a pitiful 2.5 out of 10: “Are your children too rambunctious to put down for a nap? Well then, we have a solution for you! That's right parents, simply have your sons and daughters play Rugrats for a few minutes and they'll be out cold before you know it! Should we play Rugrats again or stick a Bic pen in our eye?”

Game Informer's score is so low that you can double it and not even hit the next lowest score. For what it's worth, that honor belongs to Pocket Games, who gave it a 5.5 out of 10 in their very first issue. “The bottom line is that the game is a tad too difficult for a younger player and much too boring for anyone over 12. It seems like the creators tried to cater to two distinct audiences with The Rugrats Movie, and the ended up succeeding at neither.”

Moving up the scale, we see Nintendo Power give Rugrats a 6.9. While that's not great there were a couple of magazines that actually enjoyed this adaptation. Total Game Boy ended up giving it the highest score, an 87%, but it's the Nintendo Official Magazine that I want to look at. Giving it an 85%, they concluded that “The Rugrats Movie is no baby's game. The ten colorful levels are challenging and the river level's a hoot. Fans of the film will love it. You won't go far wrong with this platformer.”

With multiple outlets covering it, The Rugrats Movie ended up earning and overage average of 70%. That's surprisingly high for the series, as you'll see when we go through the rest of the collection.

Only one year after reviewing The Rugrats Movie, the critics went right back to completely ignoring the next game – Rugrats: Time Travelers. That's right, not even the prospect of seeing a bunch of babies in Ancient Egypt, the sunken city of Atlantis and even the Wild West was enough to get magazines to cover this Game Boy Color title. Let's see what the lone critic had to say.

As it turns out, Nintendo Power was the one and only magazine that reviewed Time Travelers. Keep that locked away for later, because it won't be the only time I say that in this episode. They gave this handheld sequel a middling 5.8 out of 10, down more than a full point compared to last year's model: “THQ's second Rugrats game for Game Boy Color is a step-up from the first, but it still misses the mark. The graphics are excellent, but the platform action is repetitive, simplistic and not very creative. The tiny text and poorly laid-out stages will probably leave young players quite frustrated.”

They say it's a step up, but the review score tells a different story. With only one review, Rugrats: Time Travelers averages an overall score of 58%. Talk about easy math.

When Paramount released The Rugrats Movie into theaters in 1998, it proved to be a surprise hit, making more than $100 million in just the United States alone. Two years later, the gang returned in Rugrats in Paris, a movie that was quickly adapted for both the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Set abroad, all of your favorite Rugrats get unleashed in Europe in order to save the princess of EuroReptarLand, which will involve battling the evil Robosnail. It's a bit more elaborate than their last mission, but does that mean the critics liked it?

If you were hoping that the Rugrats' big-screen antics would once again do wonders for their magazine coverage, then prepare to be extremely disappointed. This is yet another Rugrats adventure the critics largely ignored. Now, to Electronic Gaming Monthly's credit, they were one of the few publications to actually mention the game. Giving it a so-so score of 6.5 out of 10, Ethan likened Rugrats in Paris to Mario Party. “If you thought the Mario Party games offered lousy one-player experiences, the solo mode in Rugrats will leave you suitably impressed. All of the challenges are optimized for an audience of one. The downside to this: The game's multiplayer mode sucks. You can hook up as many as four players for challenges, but the contests are all turn-based, allowing only one opponent to play at a time.”

Unfortunately, the only other magazine to review Rugrats in Paris was Nintendo Power, and they basically agreed with EGM. Although five critics contributed to an average score of 6.8 out of 10, only Oliver had anything to say: “It's like having your own Chuck E. Cheese's at home.”

Is that something that you want? In any case, with both EGM and Nintendo Power agreeing, the overall average is a rather boring 67%. Not the best-reviewed Rugrats game, but also far from the worst.

As the Rugrats entered the 21st century (and their 8th season), they were ready to say goodbye to the old Game Boy and hello to the new Game Boy Advance. Castle Capers is the first of four games released on the system between 2001 and 2004, though only this debut release is available in the Rugrats Retro Rewind compilation. Perhaps one day Limited Run will get around to porting I Gotta Go Party, Rugrats Go Wild and All Grown Up, but for now we're going to check in with the critics.

Wait ... did I say critics? Plural? Well, I meant critic. As it one. As much as I would love to end this episode with a big release with all kinds of polarizing reviews, that's just not the case here. Instead, we get Nintendo Power and ... that's it. Giving it an average score of 2.8 out of 5, they said that “unlike a Rugrat's diaper, Castle Capers doesn't need much changing. Other than its spotty play control, THQ's six-level game is fantastic fun for tots. As you guide Tommy, Chuckie and other characters, you'll run into fellow Rugrats, and they'll tag along with you. Kids will love leading teams of babies around, and the wonderfully rich visuals and platform action are worth going gaga over, too.”

And that's it. a 2.8 and a shrug. Maybe it's for the best that Limited Run didn't include the other games, since it's not like any critic actually covered them. This really is a stark reminder that kids games, especially the ones based on cartoons, were often ignored by critics. They may get around to Ren & Stimpy and even Rocko's Modern Life, but you're on your own when it comes to Rugrats. That sucks, but it could be worse. You could be like Doug and have no games.