Wouldn’t it have been great to have a Garbage Pail Kids video game during the 80’s GPK craze? Well, iam8bit and Topps agree! Today the companies have announced the Garbage Pail Kids Mad Mike And the Quest for the Stale Gum video game for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, and the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Yes, you read the right, the NES, originally released in 1986. The company has developed a completely retro GPK game, complete with releasing it on a retro gaming console.
The game was made by game studio Retrotainment. The game is an old school side scrolling adventure that picks up right after the events of the Mad Mike Fury Load short videos by Adam F. Goldberg. Goldberg worked with the game studio on the game. NPCs and boss characters are all based on GPK cards. Card collecting and trading are part of the game which has 6 levels. Players can play as Max Mike, Luke Puke, Leaky Lindsay, and Patty Putty. They company has launched a dedicated website to promote the game, gpkgame.com. The website initially launched with a 24 hour countdown timer with Beth Death keeping watch.
iam8bit began promoting the game yesterday by releasing a short mockumentory. The video depicts a number of “gaming journalists” discussing unearthing this long lost video game. The video is fantastic, and plays off of a number of historical video game events. The game has been in development for quite some time. Topps licensing VP Ira Friedman first publicly mentioned, at a virtual Topps presentation in Sept. 2020, that Topps was working with a company on a new GPK game.
The PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC versions all launch on 8/25/22 ($9.99). The special collectors NES cartridge will launch in the first quarter of 2023. Collectors can join the list now to preorder the NES version. The cartridge is available for $79.99, and includes 1 cartridges (Either blue or the rarer pink version (1:8), instruction book, four 5×7 GPK cards, retro box, and a code for the Steam Windows version of the game.
Here is the company’s press release for the game:
The Garbage Pail Kids™ Are Back In An All-New NES Game
iam8bit Presents is publishing Retrotainment’s 8-bit romp on cartridge, along with a contemporary console and PC release
LOS ANGELES – October 4, 2022 – The Garbage Pail Kids are ready to party like it’s 1985 again. The gross-out icons are hopping off the trading cards and into your TV thanks to an all-new NES game – yes, you read that correctly – from iam8bit Presents and Retrotainment, in collaboration with and under license from Topps, the brand creator. Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum cartridges are now available for pre-order on iam8bit.com. The 8-bit platformer will also be available digitally on console and PC on October 25, supported by a suite of quality-of-life features and bonus content developed and curated in partnership with the team at Digital Eclipse.
“For years we’ve wanted to bring the Garbage Pail Kids to life in 8-bit form and we’re honored that Topps allowed us to give GPK the game it’s deserved for 30+ years,” says Tim Hartman, producer at Retrotainment.
Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum, created by lifelong GPK fans Retrotainment, is a rollicking and repulsive good time. Players control four unique Garbage Pail Kids throughout their time-traveling adventure, in a story written by Adam F. Goldberg and Retrotainment. Each Kid has their own nasty arsenal, including Mad Mike’s melee attacks; Leaky Lindsay’s snot rockets; Patty Putty’s diaper slams; and Luke Puke’s self-explanatory skillset.
Players can instantly swap between each kid depending on which challenges they’re facing at any given moment. Tricky side-scrolling levels including Egypt, Transylvania, and Hell will test the mettle of even the most hardcore old-school gamer. Players can collect and trade 8-bit versions of the official Garbage Pail Kids cards, including some that can be used in battle (Adam Bomb, anyone?). Minigames, including porta-potty fishing, round out Retrotainment’s loving tribute to Garbage Pail Kids and classic retro games.
Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum is the second game iam8bit is releasing under its iam8bit Presents publishing imprint, following Coin Crew’s acclaimed virtual escape room opus, Escape Academy.
“Looking back with fondness is fun, but our joy for publishing Garbage Pail Kids, as if an NES game resurrected from a bygone era, comes from a forward-looking place,” say iam8bit co-owners and co-creative directors Jon M. Gibson and Amanda White. “To make a game within the limitations of what’s possible while deploying NES development tools requires a lot of imagination. More than 35 years later, it’s pretty amazing how much more is possible, given the ingenuity of a dedicated fanbase to break and remake codebases. So that’s what the Garbage Pail Kids game is – a relic from the past, seen through the lens of the present and developed by the maestros of old-school themselves, Retrotainment Games. It’s a perfect fit for iam8bit Presents.”
The Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum NES cartridge ($79.99) comes in two randomly distributed color variants: Mad Mike Blue and the ultra-rare Stale Gum Pink. Both are packaged in a high-quality retro box and sleeve (complete with that new NES game smell!), with a premium full-color instruction booklet and four jumbo 5″x7″ trading cards featuring the cast of playable kids. Pre-orders also come with a download code for the digital edition at no additional cost. Cartridges are expected to ship Q1 2023.
The digital edition ($9.99) will be available for download October 25 on PlayStation 4 (PlayStation 5 via backward compatibility), Xbox One (Xbox Series X|S via backward compatibility), Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. It includes Retrotainment’s complete game and a full suite of extras carefully curated and proprietarily developed by Digital Eclipse, the team behind best-in-class, critically acclaimed retro collections including The Disney Afternoon Collection, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, and the upcoming Atari 50: the Anniversary Celebration.
Digital edition extras include:
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Video Extras
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Fury Load – Check out an exclusive supercut of Adam F. Goldberg’s Garbage Pail Kids – Mad Mike: Fury Load stop-motion animated shorts – which directly inspired Retrotainment’s game
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The Quest for Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum documentary trailer – This video digs into the mystery behind Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum. Why wasn’t it released in the 8-bit era…?
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Concept Art – Browse through these behind-the-scenes production images to see how Topps’ original card creations made the transformation from cardboard to silicon
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Archival Card Scans – Did your parents toss out your trading-card collection? Want a quick refresher? Take a look at some of the most memorable Garbage Pail Kids in their original form through high-res scans
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Music Player – Love a particular track? Play it ’til your speakers melt!
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Gameplay Extras – Save states and rewinds help players who may be a little rusty; visual filters simulate a variety of old-school displays; and all-new screen borders fill the edges for those who aren’t playing on a 4:3 CRT.
For more information, please visit iam8bit.com.
About iam8bit Presents
iam8bit Presents is a new publishing label from the Los Angeles-based creative emporium iam8bit that aims to create meaningful experiences by bringing whimsical, soulful games to players everywhere. iam8bit Presents offers a soup-to-nuts approach from financing to publishing, and works to foster meaningful, supportive relationships with developers who share their attention to detail, obsession with aesthetics, and commitment to quality.
About Retrotainment
Retrotainment was born out of a love for the 8-bit era of gaming and retro culture. Being exposed to the golden age of gaming really left its mark on us in the early 1980s while growing up in suburbia. That love has carried through to today motivating us to start Retrotainment Games. Our dream was simple, we wanted to create an NES game that could be put onto a cartridge and played on the original hardware. With each new game release we do our best to improve mechanics, backgrounds, gameplay and music without compromising our vision and all while staying true to the NES’s complex hardware restrictions. https://retrotainmentgames.com/
About Digital Eclipse
Digital Eclipse is a game development studio founded in 1992 in Emeryville, California. Our focus is on the digital restoration of classic video games, keeping them available for current and future generations. Games are more than just playable code. They are snapshots of a certain time, a certain place. We work closely with our partners to present original concept art, packaging, advertisements, and development history whenever it’s available. And when it’s not… we find it. Learn more at http://digitaleclipse.com.
About Topps
Topps was initially founded as a family enterprise in 1938. Known for its confectionery business, including Bazooka bubble gum, and as the originators of modern-day baseball cards and other novelty cards and collectibles, the Company launched Garbage Pail Kids in 1985. The sticker cards created a bonafide craze spanning the world and translated into many languages. Today, in addition to ongoing card releases, licensed toys, books, comics, apparel, and games keep the Garbage Pail Kids franchise flourishing for passionate adult collectors and a new generation of fans. In January 2022, Fanatics Collectibles announced the acquisition of Topps, ensuring GPK’s long-standing legacy and popularity.
Garbage Pail Kids is ™ & © The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved
The partnership between Garbage Pail Kids and Madballs will continue in the comics. Dynamite Comics announced Madballs vs. Garbage Pail Kids Slime Again Issue #1. This will be the second limited comic series to feature the two iconic 80’s brands together. This time the story will tell the origins of the their feud through the history of time. The preview for this issue reads, “In this issue: At the dawn of time, the Earth is ruled by furry, apelike beasts – oh, wait, that’s just Kim Kong! From their neighboring caves, the Cro-Madballs and Neanderthal Pail Kids constantly try to one-up each other! Plus: the star-crossed crush between Hornhead and Scary Carrie triggers war between the Trojan GPK and Greek Madballs!” Jason Crosby returns as the artist of the comics, along with writer Sholly Fisch. So far there are announced covers from Joe Simko, Jason Crosby, and a vintage fight poster cover. There are sure to be many move limited covers announced. The comic will be available to preorder soon wherever comics are sold. Issue #1 is set to his store shelves on Feb. 15, 2023.
