The days of the SNES are looked back on quite fondly, and for good reason. Tons of beautiful and timeless classics exist on the system, many on people’s favorite game lists. Pining for these good ol’ days, developer Bonus Level Entertainment set out to make an SNES game with the soon-to-be-released FOX n FORESTS - and from what I played at PAX East, it seems that they are hitting the nail right on the head, with beautiful artwork to match.

Coming as no surprise, the player controls a fox in this action/platformer with interchangeable weapons. Both short-ranged and long-ranged attacks are used when taking on enemies, but one of the main hooks is the ability to change the season at any time with the press of a button.

The level I played was a beautiful forest set in the summer, brimming with brightly colored trees and plants among beautiful landscapes and horizons. Seriously, the scenic visuals here left me in awe while playing through the demo, with impressive character sprites and tight animations as well.

Stumbling upon a lake, I had nowhere else to go - or did I? It was here that the dev told me to change the season to winter, which froze the lake (in a very cool freezing transition) and let me pass easily. Changing seasons does come at a cost though, for a magic meter on top of the screen dwindles down whenever the season changing is in use, so you’ll have to move quickly. The other gameplay element that was fun to mess with was the customizable gun, which let me switch the weapons path of direction and type, also using up magic.

I didn’t get to play a whole bunch, but overall I came away very excited to dig deeper into FOX n FORESTS. Granted, I am a big fan of retro throwbacks and the platforming genre in general, but when playing through this it was an obvious (and intentional) love letter to the SNES, and by golly that’s fine with me.

Check out NWR Staffers Casey Gibson and Perry Burkum interview FOX n FORESTS Game Director Rupert Ochsner below (with direct footage just below that)