''Guacamelee!'' is a

Metroidvania Metroidvania is a sub-genre of action-adventure games and/or platformers focused on Nonlinear gameplay, nonlinear exploration and guided progression with a need to acquire key items to enter certain areas. The term is a blend word, partial blend ...

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

platforming

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed and published by DrinkBox Studios, initially launched in April 2013 for platforms

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and

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

and was later ported to

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in August and to

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and

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in February 2014. The enhanced ''Super Turbo Championship Edition'' was released for

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PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

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, and

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in July 2014 and later on the

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in October 2018. The game is inspired by traditional Mexican culture and folklore, like

alebrijes Alebrijes () are brightly colored Mexican handcrafts and folk art, Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical (fantasy/mythical) creatures, traditionally made from papier-mâché or wood. The art form originated in Mexico City in the 1930s, whe ...

and

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. A sequel, '' Guacamelee! 2'', which includes four-player co-operative gameplay, was released on August 21, 2018.

Gameplay

''Guacamelee!'' is a hybrid 2D

-style action platform and brawler. Players control the luchador Juan and explore an open, non-linear world to complete the central story objectives while collecting necessary character upgrades and battling enemies. Coins collected from defeated enemies are used to buy new skills at shops, which also double as checkpoints. The game features drop-in co-op play, with the second player assuming the role of Tostada, Guardian of the Mask. As players progress through the game, Juan breaks open "Choozo statues", a direct reference to ''

Metroid is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the power of the parasitic M ...

s "Chozo statues", to gain new abilities. Some abilities give Juan new combat options with each move's color corresponding to similarly colored obstacles in the world, requiring Juan to learn specific moves before accessing certain areas. Other abilities include movement upgrades, such as a double jump, a chicken transformation to traverse small corridors, and the ability to cross between the world of the living and the world of the dead to access areas and combat enemies that reside in one plane.

Plot

Just outside the small Mexican village of Pueblucho, Juan Aguacate is a humble agave farmer. On the ''Dia de los Muertos'' (

), he goes into town to meet with his childhood friend and love interest, El Presidente's daughter, Lupita. An evil

charro ''Charro'', in Mexico, is historically the horseman from the countryside, the Ranchero, who lived and worked in the haciendas and performed all his tasks on horseback, working mainly as vaqueros and caporales, among other jobs. He was ren ...

skeleton named Carlos Calaca attacks the village and kidnaps her from ''el Presidente's Mansion''. Juan confronts Carlos but is no match and is killed. He is sent to the land of the dead, a parallel world where the dead reside. There, Juan finds a mysterious luchadora named Tostada. She gives Juan a mystical mask that transforms him into a powerful luchador and brings him back to the world of the living. The game then follows Juan's battle to rescue his beloved and to stop Calaca's plan to sacrifice her in a ritual that would unite the worlds of living and dead under his rule. While he confronts X'tabay, the first of Calaca's lieutenants, he ends up transformed into a rooster and brought back to human form by another rooster with mysterious powers. After defeating X'tabay, she reforms, revealing that Calaca was once a great rodeo man who broke his arm just before an important competition, and sold his soul to the Devil to have it healed time enough for the competition, but just after winning, the Devil enacts his payment and drags him to hell, but with X'tabay's help he deceived the Devil by having him transformed into the same kind of rooster as Juan, having helped him against Calaca in order to restore his power. Juan gains the power to confront and defeat the rest of Calaca's forces. Juan pursues Calaca to the altar where the ceremony is being held and defeats him, but does not arrive in time to save Lupita. In the normal ending, Juan returns to his village and lives his life in peace until reuniting with Lupita in the afterlife and the mask disappears. In the true ending, attained if the player clears all the hidden trials, Lupita is revived by the power of Juan's mask which breaks apart, and the two return together to the village where they get married.

Downloadable Content

The Costume Pack was released on June 3, 2013, and includes several new costumes and abilities. The Pollo Luchador costume regenerates health, but stamina regenerates at a slower rate. The skeleton costume includes infinite stamina but does not allow health pickups, except at save points. Lastly, identity swap switches the costumes of Juan and Tostada and makes attacks stronger and throws weaker. The DLC also includes six new trophies/achievements. El Diablo's Domain was released on July 23, 2013, and contains seventeen challenge areas, three new character outfits and seven new trophies/achievements. Players can earn bronze, silver or gold medals for each challenge, depending on performance. Gold medals require "nothing short of a flawless attempt". Each of the new character outfits requires a certain number of medals to unlock and grants new abilities while being worn by Juan or Tostada. The outfits are: bronze medals unlock El Portero which has powerful throws with weak melee attacks, silver medals unlock Alberije which deals massive damage, but also takes massive damage and lastly gold medals unlock El Diablo which gives more stamina and less health, but attacks give the player health. Gamespot rated the DLC 7.5/10 and said "El Diablo's Domain is a solid addition to an already great game that will make you laugh and push you to your limits, for better or worse." All downloadable content was later included in both ''Guacamelee! Gold Edition'' and ''Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition''.

Development

The idea of the Mexican theme was originally proposed by the animator. Former ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' editor Colin Moriarty is credited with advising DrinkBox to add D-pad movement to the control scheme, earning a special thanks in the game's end credits.

Release

The game was originally released for

and

in April 2013, with cross-buy support and additional missions and costumes released as

downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

(DLC). ''Guacamelee! Gold Edition'', released on

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

in August, includes that DLC and Steam Workshop support, allowing players to create their own character skins using

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and share them online. This version was later released for

and

in February 2014. ''Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition'', which adds additional levels and bosses in addition to previous DLC, was released for

, and

in July 2014. The game became a

PlayStation Plus PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

free release in May 2015. The

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version was released on 8 October 2018, with DrinkBox's plans to also bring the sequel ''Guacamelee! 2'' to the Switch before the end of 2018. In July 2015, DrinkBox Studios teamed with the

subscription box Subscription boxes are a recurring delivery of niche products as part of a marketing strategy and a method of product distribution. Subscription boxes are used by subscription-based ecommerce businesses, referred to as "subcom" for short, which ...

company, IndieBox, to distribute an exclusive, custom-designed, individually-numbered physical release of ''Guacamelee!'' This limited collector's box includes a flash-drive with a

DRM-free Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DR ...

game file, official soundtrack, instruction manual,

key, and various custom-made collectibles. In August 2017, Vblank Entertainment released a limited retail version of ''Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition'' for the PlayStation 4. This release was limited to 3,800 copies.

Music

The game's soundtrack is composed by Rom Di Prisco and Peter Chapman. The soundtrack includes 30 original tracks for the game with an additional 4 bonus tracks made up of additional mixes and remixes. The soundtrack is inspired by Mexican music that is composed with electronic beats, colorful synths, and EDM inspiration. A 1xLP vinyl pressing of the OST was released, with a select 20 tracks from the original digital release of the soundtrack.

Reception

''Guacamelee!'' was selected as a nominee at Indiecade in August 2012. The game was also nominated for the 2013

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

for Excellence in Visual Art. IGN gave the game a 9.0, citing that the game's only misfire was the short length. Super Turbo Championship Edition of the game received additional reviews when it was released in July 2014. Switch Player's review called this edition of the game "the best way to experience DrinkBox Studios’ best game.", giving it a 4.5 out stars out of 5.

Legacy

Juan and Tostada are playable guest star characters in the Wii U game '' Runbow''. Juan appears in '' Indivisible'' as a guest character. Juan also appears as a playable character in the fighting game '' Brawlout''. He was added to ''

Dead Cells ''Dead Cells'' is a 2018 roguelike-Metroidvania game developed by Motion Twin and Evil Empire (company), Evil Empire, and published by Motion Twin. The player takes the role of an amorphous creature called the Prisoner. As the Prisoner, the pla ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2013 video games Action games Cooperative video games DrinkBox Studios games Indie games Linux games MacOS games Metroidvania games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Switch games Platformers PlayStation 3 games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Network games PlayStation Vita games Side-scrolling video games Video games developed in Canada Video games scored by Rom Di Prisco Video games set in Mexico Video games with Steam Workshop support Wii U eShop games Windows games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games Xbox One games Deal with the Devil