This franchise refresh was only announced fairly recently, as developer Tate Multimedia made the confirmation in January of this year. This combat trailer is the latest of several videos dropped on YouTube to give fans a glimpse at the game as the previous trailer revealed Kao’s companions in Kao the Kangaroo. These staggered videos have given fans more of an idea as time goes on what they’re in for when they experience Kao’s latest adventure.
RELATED: Crash Bandicoot Developer Toys for Bob Might Be Hiring for Non-Call of Duty Project
This new trailer is just over a minute-long, showing several enemy types that players will be tasked with fighting. The enemy design appears to be varied, differing from huge apes with sledgehammers to minuscule flying mutants. Alongside the character design, the trailer also shows off some combat gameplay. Although simple, Kao’s move set looks effective, the basics are there, punch’s and air attacks, along with what look to be special or elemental attacks mixed in too. These snippets of gameplay also show a variety of levels, which ties in nicely with one of the earlier trailers which showed off the environments that players will traverse in Kao the Kangaroo.
The boxing Kangaroo is an old school mascot from the early 2000s. Kao the Kangaroo is a product of its time, playing as a classic platformer, much like the other prevalent platforming characters of the early 2000s, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. These two classic franchises have been rebooted in recent years, with Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy being very well received. These reboots received a positive reception when they launched, which may have played a part in the decision to give this Australian mascot the same treatment.
Tate Multimedia may be hoping that its platforming reboot will be received similarly to those that have come before it. Although, where the N.Sane Trilogy and Reignited Trilogy remade older games, testing the waters before fans got Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, Tate Multimedia is diving right in with an entirely new entry for Kao. Perhaps the success of those that came before paved the way for Kao, giving the developers confidence that there is a market for another old school platformer to make a return.
Kao the Kangaroo is coming out on May 27th for Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
MORE: Why 3D Platformer Fans Should Watch the New Kao the Kangaroo Game
