Game Rant recently got together with the Game Grumps and Fantastic Passion, the joint makers of Soviet Jump Game. This new release fresh out of early access is a free to play retro-style 2D platformer battle royale, inspired by bootleg Russian game design of the early 90s. The premise alone is uniquely charming, but playing Soviet Jump Game and speaking with the developers revealed many more layers of interesting background and quirky-fun platforming action. Of course, we also jumped on the chance to pick Game Grump Arin Hanson's brain about being involved in such an interesting project.
Soviet Jump Game is free to play, with the only paid content being cosmetics, sound effect packs, and taunts for the growing, reference-stuffed roster of over 40 characters. The game's promotional lore states that it was the first ever battle royale, made for the Dendy, a Russian knockoff NES clone. Filled with over-the-top, comical Soviet propaganda, the game's forward-thinking, complex mechanics could barely fit on the cartridge, resulting in a charmingly glitchy appearance. Now that it has been re-discovered and re-made by the Game Grumps, Soviet Jump Game's long-lost platforming battle royale combat is playable once again.
Falling in Love With Soviet Jump Game
With so many influences showing up in Soviet Jump Game, from the background lore to the wide cast of characters to the unique gameplay mechanics, we first just wanted to know what Arin's favorite part of doing the project was.
I thought the concept was brilliant. Figuring out the narrative and lore behind Soviet Jump Game, this old Dendy game that was found and recreated- it was just a really cool concept. Then as it was being created it was just so much fun.... I love having feedback and seeing it show up a week later, like 'Whaoh! This is rad!' because they were literally making updates every day at one point.
It seems like that instant attraction to Soviet Jump Game's concept was key to collaboration and development on the game. The Grumps, and Arin in particular, have been known to be unabashedly critical of many beloved games, but when asked how it was to be involved in the creation of a game and put his name on it, Arin had this to say:
That’s an interesting question because there was a lot of not wanting to interfere. For the most part, the game was conceptualized and pitched to us as it is now.... So for me to come in and be very particular about how something would be, it felt like it wasn’t very helpful to the process.... I can come in and have certain inputs, but I mostly want to leave it up to the team to make those sorts of decisions about the game.
Thom opined that working with the Game Grumps was particularly rewarding, with collaboration coming from a place of creative cooperation, and helpful opinions readily available but not overwhelming. "They give us the freedom to explore what we want to make."
Moving Forward in Gaming
Now that Dream Daddy has been so successful and Soviet Jump Game has clearly turned out well, we wanted to know if Arin and the Grumps would continue to be involved in making new games. He was tight-lipped, simply responding that he and video games are inexorably linked, and that "no matter what form it takes there will always be some kind of video game association in my life and my work." Our best guess is that Game Grumps affiliated titles will continue to be released, but its very understandable that details aren't available yet.
The last question we had for Arin was how he copes with fans' attachments to older projects as the Game Grumps expand their creative goals to include new passions such as Soviet Jump Game.
I think it’s great If people are digging something I made a while ago. I always see it as opportunity, if people like something I made, and I make something new, even if they’re attached to the old thing there’s usually an openness to at least try the new thing.... And also, there’s tons of stuff that I’m like ‘I wish it was like this thing from 1998.’ I get it, I totally get it. But so far it’s worked out fine for my career so I don’t have anything to complain about. You know, I didn’t become the- what’s that guy’s name? Jani Lane? The Cherry Pie guy? I didn’t become the Cherry Pie guy.
Jani Lane was a rock star whose career was effectively ruined by the one-hit-wonder song Cherry Pie. We can only expect that the Game Grumps won't end up the same way, and will continue to be affiliated with quirky, unique, and charming titles on par with everything it has been involved with up to now.
Soviet Jump Game is available now for PC.