Go back and read that headline again.
Isn’t it wonderful to live in an age when such things are possible? When one of the more than 143 million people around the world who own a Nintendo Switch can — in a matter of moments — purchase, download and play a game that doubles as a tour of Milwaukee’s music scene?
Let’s set aside the awe for a second and explain a few things. Almost four years ago, in the armpit of the pandemic, Milwaukee musician and homebrew wizard Jordan Davis released Space Raft: The Video Game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Not the Switch. Not even GameCube. The Nintendo Entertainment System, which made its debut in 1983 and has since been succeeded by six home console systems.
Davis did this because, as mentioned earlier, he belongs to a subset of video-game enthusiasts who maintain a deep affection for earlier consoles and have the unique skill set required to produce what are called homebrew games. Space Raft is one of those games.
The idea was to create an NES game starring the now-inactive Milwaukee band Space Raft, of which Davis was a member. Like a lot of passion projects, it launched in earnest with a Kickstarter in July of 2020 and got a relatively immediate response. In 15 hours, Davis reached his funding goal and soon after added stretch goals that resulted in the creation of a poster and t-shirt.
The game itself hangs on a pretty simple narrative: Space Raft must retrieve the master tapes for their then-new album, Positively Space Raft, from former bass player Srini Radhakrishna. To do so, you drive the band’s van, eat chicken sandwiches and other foodstuffs, and control any of the four band members, each of whom possess unique abilities:
- Jordan Davis — ferocious fire attack
- John Heibler — fists of fury
- Tyler Chicorel — brutal bomb explosions
- Tjay Christenson — bowling ball
To give you some classic gaming touchstones, there’s a sandwich/object-collecting mechanic that feels Pac-Man-esque, an exploration of Humboldt Park akin to the original Legend of Zelda, and driving portions reminiscent of operating the Party Wagon in the wickedly challenging Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game.
Since you can only glean so much from a trailer, Davis was kind enough to provide a download code so I could try the game and report back. The thing that stands out more than anything is the affection for Milwaukee that practically oozes from the screen. Locations like Cactus Club and Rushmor Records are lovingly recreated, while local celebs like Mark Waldoch and the Milwaukee Record boys make appearances (and our own Erin Wolf!). It’s as much an ode to the city as anything else.
The gameplay is no joke, either. I quickly gravitated toward Tjay’s bowling-ball abilities that allowed me to attack from range and zip through the first few levels without too much difficulty. The one that ended up getting me was a road trip to Green Bay, during which Srini blasted my van into oblivion.
Even getting exploded is a pleasant experience thanks to the chiptune soundtrack. That’s actually how the project began — with Davis creating bleep-bloop versions of the songs from Positively Space Raft. They’re remarkably complex pieces of craftsmanship as indispensable as the local landmarks to creating the game’s overall feel.
If you’ve got an 8-bit itch to scratch or just want to see Vanguard up and running again, Space Raft is available to download now for Nintendo Switch.
