Regular Show 3DS game takes Mordecai and Rigby to 8-Bit Land

Regular Show's video game debut will be Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land — a 3DS title that merges a side-scrolling shoot-em up with platforming and top-down exploration, according to developer WayForward Technologies.

Speaking to Polygon, Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land director Jeff Luke said the development team worked closely with Regular Show creator J. G. Quintel to ensure that the game's story and mechanics were in the spirit of the Cartoon Network series. On Quintel's instruction, the development team focused heavily on video game culture, with the game itself paying homage to the 8-Bit era through its music (all sounds in the game are made from emulated old Nintendo consoles), in-game items (players can collect "gold tapes", cash to buy games and mullets to wear on their head) and the game design itself (it merges three popular formats from the 8-bit era).

"The game has three modes that are intertwined, and players will be able to switch between them to complete levels," Luke told Polygon. "So the platforming mode is Mario-like and you can hop on enemies. It's very familiar. Then there's side-scrolling shooting, and also top-down shooting like in Fester's Quest."

Players will be able to switch between Mordecai and Rigby at any time, with Mordecai having the advantage of being able to perform double jumps, and Rigby being shorter and fitting into nooks and crannies.

As players advance through levels, they will have to switch between the two characters often and also switch between modes. In a demo of the game shown to Polygon, Luke played a later level where Mordecai entered a space-like area, which allowed him to transform into a spaceship and play the game as a side-scrolling shoot-em up. Upon venturing into an area that was too narrow for him, he switched with Rigby, who then played the game in a top-down mode that allowed him to access areas that would have been too high for him to jump.

Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land will release on the 3DS this fall.