Coffee Crisis Serves Up a Lukewarm Cup of Sega Genesis Nostalgia

Got a Sega Genesis lying around but no new games to play on it? That could be all set to change if the Kickstarter campaign for Coffee Crisis is successful. The debut project from Mega Cat Studios blends arcade beat ‘em up gameplay with metal music culture – all served up in a physical package.

Gaming nostalgia is certainly all the rage at the moment with the release of the NES mini. Unfortunately Coffee Crisis hasn’t managed to capture any of that magic yet with only $3,500 of the $10,000 goal pledged in the first week. On the surface that’s quite surprising as the Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive to Europeans like me) was a massively popular console. Even as someone who preferred Nintendo, those physical rewards look pretty cool.

Part of the problem is that the Kickstarter campaign is very muddled. There’s a lot of talk about the team behind Coffee Crisis and its inspirations, but very little about the game itself. Coffee Crisis may be the first Kickstarter from Mega Cat Studios, but they’ve backed plenty of projects themselves so should know better. The creators actually admit in the comments section that the Kickstarter was rushed out, which hardly helps matters.

All Froth, No Substance

Another part of the problem is that there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly notable about Coffee Crisis itself. It looks fairly generic and uninspired. Unsurprisingly there’s been no interest at the lowest pledge levels where $25 only gets you a PC digital download. And backers will have to stump up $55 (plus shipping) to get their hands on the Genesis version. At that price it would need to be one hell of a game to get me interested.

Admittedly there are some good signs. Coffee Crisis is apparently 90% complete and due for release in December 2016. But checking out Mega Cat Studio’s website also raises more serious concerns. Coffee Crisis is actually one of 18 retro games they’re developing (for NES, SNES and Genesis). They may be capable of working on all these games simultaneously, but that certainly doesn’t inspire confidence.