If you grew up in a certain time and place, the name Sunsoft likely means something to you. What exactly it means depends on where you hail from, admittedly. For Japanese fans of a certain age, the name is mostly associated with some of the Famicom’s most beloved kusoge, rough yet lovable messes that some players cannot resist. That generation’s North American counterparts likely remember Sunsoft for top-tier NES games like Batman: The Video Game or Blaster Master. Over in Europe… well, you can’t win them all. It’s interesting how little overlap there is, really.
This is a challenge for the modern Sunsoft, which has in recent years been trying to make a modest comeback in video gaming after being largely absent since halfway through the original PlayStation’s lifespan. It has some nostalgia chips to cash in, but none of those properties have true global appeal. Perhaps to compensate for that, Sunsoft has opted to attach some of its classic IPs to tangentially-related game designs inspired by more modern hits. That brings us to Ripple Island Kyle and Cal’s Restaurant, which is pretty clearly drawing from Ghost Town Games’ Overcooked series.
It’s not an idea that can’t work, especially if the IP fits the game. Ikki Unite might have been biting hard off of Vampire Survivors, but it still felt like a cousin to the original Ikki in terms of look and feel. With Ripple Island, I’m not sure it’s such a natural shift. The original game was an adventure game, and that’s a genre where the story and characters matter as much or more than the puzzle-solving. I’m not sure what any of that has to do with what’s going on here. Well, it’s not like most Western players would have much attachment to Ripple Island. It wasn’t even localized until very recently as part of the Sunsoft Is Back compilation.
Without that nostalgia, Ripple Island Kyle and Cal’s Restaurant has to survive on its own merits as a time management party game. On paper, it has a few things going for it. In addition to the cooking portions of the game, it also features fishing, farming, and gathering. A little extra variety can go a long way. It also offers online multiplayer for up to sixteen players, which sounds like it could be tremendously good, chaotic fun. The game also uses the Ripple Island setting and characters to tell a story, but it’s not a particularly interesting one. Some sort of cooking contest is being put on by the king, with a treasure promised to the winner. Sure, fine.
In terms of modes, you’ve got a Challenge Mode that you can play alone or with another player, and this is your only local multiplayer option. It works well enough, though it sometimes feels like the levels are tuned for four players. Probably because they are, and this Nintendo Switch 2 version, for whatever reason, cut that feature down to two players. There’s a story mode that you can play on your own, of course. This mode gives you control over multiple characters at times, allowing you to switch between them using the shoulder buttons. I suppose this is meant to be used to handle simultaneous tasks, but the nature of the game makes this quite difficult to do smoothly. Finally, there’s that online multiplayer mode for sixteen players. I would absolutely love to tell you how that mode turned out, but I was never able to find enough players online to actually play it. Take that as you will.
I think if the game actually worked the way it was meant to, Ripple Island Kyle and Cal’s Restaurant would be a decent enough option for Overcooked players looking for their next meal. It really does hew closely to that game’s design, so a player comfortable with one could, in theory, smoothly move to the other. Even the new activities fit the general mold. Fishing has the usual timing aspect to it, but it’s easy enough to learn. Farming is like a more casual take on the likes of Story of Seasons, with the process obviously hyper-compressed so that it works with the time management motif. Gather ingredients how you may, prepare everything, put it all together, and take care of the customers on their way in and out. Do it quickly, lest they get angry. You wouldn’t like them when they’re angry.
That qualifier at the start of the previous paragraph is important, though. If it actually worked like it was meant to, it would be okay. It doesn’t. I ran into a near-constant stream of glitches, bugs, and even full-stop crashes to the home menu while playing this game. Sometimes timer displays would bug out. Sometimes the timers themselves would glitch. Buttons would occasionally stop responding. Objects would sometimes get stuck in inaccessible places. HUD elements would flicker in and out, and essential information that was supposed to appear simply did not at times. The game almost feels haunted.
When you combine all of that with the ghost town-tier online multiplayer, a local mode that only supports one player, and a solo mode that wants you to do the work of multiple players at once, you end up with a real hot mess. Not a lovable one, either. I could see Ripple Island Kyle and Cal’s Restaurant reaching an acceptable level if the developer commits to patching it, but in its current state, I really can’t recommend the game to anyone. Not even the Sunsoft diehards should bother with this.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review Copy Provided by Sunsoft
