Few arcade genres are as immediately satisfying as the humble brick-breaker. The simple act of bouncing a ball into a wall of blocks has endured for decades because, when it works, it’s endlessly compelling. Chico’s Rebound continues this trend, incorporating brick-breaking gameplay into a short, lighthearted adventure. While its colourful world and cleverly designed stages capture that classic arcade appeal, the experience doesn’t always make the most of its strongest ideas.
Chico’s Rebound is a “block-breaker” game with some light puzzle elements that follows the eponymous chipmunk and his bee best friend, Beeatrice. After the events of their first adventure, Chico and the Magic Orchards DX, the duo decides to explore a mysterious tower that suddenly appears in the forest. Inside, they encounter the Orcheans, plant-like beings that ask for Chico’s help to reach the top and meet their leader.
Other than Chico and Beeatrice’s own curiosity, there isn’t any other impetus for the events of Chico’s Rebound, and while I certainly wasn’t expecting an epic, emotional narrative, it would have been nice to have felt more of a pull to persevere. There are no apparent stakes until the closing moments of the game, which felt like a quick way to tie this game up and link it back to the previous title, and our heroes have no initial need to explore the tower, other than being a bit nosy.
The strange structure, which our dynamic duo quickly names the Celestial Tower, is split into two parts: the tower floors and the challenge rooms. To ascend to the next floor of the tower, Chico must collect Star Tokens by completing and beating the high scores of the block-breaker challenge rooms. There are two doors on each floor, with five stages behind each one, and each door requires a certain number of Star Tokens to unlock. If you can collect all ten Star Tokens from behind one of the doors, you earn a Gem, which is used to unlock a special door hidden on each floor, with a further five stages to tackle.
The controls for the stages are simple: move Chico left to right at the bottom of the screen, and choose which direction to throw his nut to break all of the blocks above him. Chico can hit the nut with his tail to keep it moving and the point multiplier up, or catch it to reposition, which also resets the multiplier. Different types of blocks require certain power-ups to break them, like wooden blocks that need to be burned, or water blocks that must be frozen first before being shattered. The power-ups must be collected in the stage to use them, and you have the option to switch between them if you have more than one collected. If the ball goes past Chico, he loses a life, but you can have him dive left or right to grab it if it is in reach. You can adjust the number of lives you have from the pause menu, which is a nice alternative to a difficulty system.
I really appreciated the variety of stages and the growing complexity of their designs, with each one requiring varying degrees of skill and strategy. This is epitomised in the boss fights, which make full use of the game’s power-ups, with my favourite being a giant lizard that needed to be either frozen or burned to stun it before taking damage, depending on what colour it was. The sense of satisfaction I got for breaking every block in a level never waned throughout my 5-hour playthrough, with the mix of obstacles, block types, and power-ups keeping me focused on each challenge, hoping to figure out the best strategy or beat it by sheer bouncing luck!
While I really enjoyed Chico’s Rebound’s block-breaker gameplay, it wasn’t without its issues. There are plenty of Star Tokens to collect on each floor, but with a third of them locked behind fully completing one of the rooms, some players may find it a struggle to keep progressing. I worked out that you need roughly 17 of the 20 available Star Tokens on each floor (or 30 if including the Special Room challenges) to continue climbing the tower. This led to my satisfaction turning to frustration, with a fair few of the levels needing you to play it perfectly, no dropped combos or lives expended, to beat the high score.
Unfortunately, it is the other half of Chico’s Rebound’s gameplay that I felt let down by. Exploring the floors of the Celestial Tower involves pushing blocks, finding keys, raising or lowering pillars to access new areas, and collecting elevator buttons to ascend or descend. Well executed and servicable, none of this is particularly challenging or involved, and it felt like a missed opportunity to include the game’s block-breaking gameplay, which is the focus and strength of Chico’s Rebound, in the tower segments. Instead of siloing these mechanics to the challenge rooms, it would have been great to see the tower puzzles evolve using the same block-breaking mechanics and power-ups.
You also collect Sunflower Seeds to trade with a vendor in exchange for skins for your nut and UI in the challenge rooms. Most of these are found in chests, which you must find by turning stone heads to face the right way according to a riddle. These puzzles were my favourite part of exploring the tower, and I quickly bought the one reactive UI once I had enough seeds. There is also a selection of LGBTQ+ skins to purchase, which is always nice to see.
Chico’s Rebound’s colourful pixel art and upbeat chiptune soundtrack match perfectly with the vibe and setting of the game. It looks and sounds like a long-forgotten Game Boy Color title, and while I enjoyed playing Chico’s Rebound on PC for this review, I imagine that the Nintendo Switch would feel more appropriate. The floors of the Celestial Tower and the stages have a variety of aesthetics, but it is the boss battles again where the game’s art and music are at their best. I won’t soon forget beating two mole creatures, only for them to reappear in a giant mech for a second phase!
Performance during my time with Chico’s Rebound on PC was largely smooth, with no crashes or major bugs encountered. I did notice occasional screen tearing while moving through certain floors of the Celestial Tower, though it never appeared during the block-breaking stages themselves. Outside of that minor issue, the game ran reliably throughout my playthrough.
Final Thoughts
At its best, Chico’s Rebound captures the addictive satisfaction that made block-breaker games a classic arcade staple. The clever stage design, creative boss fights, and charming pixel presentation make every successful run feel rewarding, even when luck occasionally plays a role. However, the repetitive tower exploration and occasionally demanding score requirements can slow the momentum and turn triumph into frustration. Despite these bumps, the core gameplay remains engaging enough to carry the experience, making Chico’s Rebound a fun, if slightly uneven, climb up the Celestial Tower.
Chico’s Rebound is available now on PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch.
Chico’s Rebound was reviewed on PC with a controller.
We would like to thank Daikon Games for the review key.
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