Reviewed on PS5

Somehow, I missed the announcement of this back in October, and I’m still not sure how. I could sort of get it if this were just a digital release that could get lost in the cracks, but this is also getting a physical release, which feels like a rarity for this type of thing.

For those who might not know: Neopets is a browser-based pet-raising game where you play minigames (that are typically reskinned versions of other popular games like Snake, Bejeweled, and Bubble Bobble) to earn the site’s currency and use that to spend on new things for your pet. It was huge in the late 90s and early 2000s, but has somewhat dropped off since then.

Whether you are still a loyal user or might want to try it now after playing the collection, the game does let you link a Neopets account to collect Neopoints while you play and access the leaderboards for the individual games.

Just for research, I made an account and linked it, but I only ever got errors while trying to submit my scores for Neopoints. As the game isn’t out yet, I’m just going to chalk this up to the feature not being quite online yet, even if it did let me link my account without issue.

The whole concept of The Neopian Arcade Odyssey is to give players 26 mini-games over the history of Neopets. I think that’s the point here, because there are a handful that I have no memory of ever seeing before, and I can only assume they came after my time. Honestly, 26 feels a little light when there’s at least double that on the site.

Before you can simply enjoy the 26 minigames at your leisure, you first must complete the story mode. It takes place during the Starlight Festival, where three characters (that I didn’t know, but better fans than me might) seek to reach the top of the leaderboard in the games available as part of the festival.

Story Mode amounts to brief visual novel sections that happen in between you visiting different Neopia locations to play related minigames. The story isn’t all that interesting, and it definitely feels like it exists as just a buffer before you inevitably get bored with the minigames, because the collection has nothing substantial to offer.

For the most part, the games are what I remember and are pretty well remastered/recreated. It was nicely nostalgic playing things I had loved forever ago with a new look.

I was impressed with how well they played. Ice Cream Machine, which is a dodge ’em game, controls comfortably. That one I was unsure about going in, as it is a game that requires tight movement, which was why the original was controlled with the mouse.

However, some of them are kinda buggy, and it made playing them annoying. In more than one game, I experienced overlapping elements, which would then break how the game played.

The worst offender was Destruct-O-Match, where blocks would overlap or fail to appear where they were supposed to, leaving gaps. This meant I had to just frantically hit X, looking for the gaps that should be usable blocks. I don’t know if it was because I was clicking too quickly or the game went on too long, but it had me ready to be done.

Meerca Chase also felt off to me, because they removed the mechanic of different value Neggs, making it just a basic Snake clone. The greatest joy of that game was when the Neggs worth the big points would appear, so you could really rack up the awarded Neopoints. It also lacks the hard variant, which had you turning in an arc instead of 90 degrees.

On the whole, I enjoyed getting a new look at games I sunk hours and hours into when I was younger. My only real issue is that the overall presentation is kinda weak. If you aren’t going to link a Neopets account, I don’t see this collection being all that worthwhile. I am never going to just get a random hankering to play Hasee Bounce for no reason.

It was nice playing the games to get PlayStation trophies, but only three games even had a dedicated trophy. A vast majority (14) of the game’s 23 (excluding Platinum) trophies were gained just from playing through and finishing Story Mode. I ended up with all but two trophies, as I have no idea what I have to do for them.

If you’re interested in The Neopian Arcade Odyssey for the chance to re-experience games you played in your childhood, you’re better off just going to the Neopets website and playing them for free, as I don’t think there is any part of this collection that is a must-have.